Attached By String

05. Sleepy Child

| Elsie Taylor |

I awoke to a jolt, feeling like I was back in the truck, but I wasn't. Sitting up, I wasn't sitting with Ollie, the boy that I had grown attached too. I was pretty sure that I had seen him before, but I wasn't sure. I had seen a lot of people over time. I sat up, being in someone else's arms. I felt the person's eyes on me, as I finally looked up. "Good afternoon" the man muttered, with a small smile on his face. 

It kinda took me by surprise how deep his voice was, but I just tried to snuggle back into his warm body. A deep chuckled resonated from him, as it was no use trying to sleep now. "Hen, can we get some doughnuts? I'm starving and all I see is doughnuts" someone called out from in front of us, as I now realized that I was not sitting where I had been. 

I was sitting in what I know as the way back, with only one seat, as it looked to hold two but the other was covered in bags. Mine had been propped up on the top of all of them. "Jack, don't wake the whole car up, and yes we can" and with that, we were pulling up somewhere. 

I wanted to get to know these people, as they all seemed nice and almost comforting. Like I knew them from somewhere. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. But I didn't want to be left alone, as I had nowhere else to go. My dad was dead, and I had some of his blood on me. 

I just realized, I had some of my dad's blood on me. I started to panic, right as the car had come to a stop. Grabbing my shirt, I tried to pull it off anyway that I could, but it was no use. I couldn't get it off, and that made everything worse. 

I felt the tears at the backs of my eyes as I could feel my chest starting to rise and fall faster than what it had been before. I didn't like that my dad's blood was still on me, as I had left him in the car, in all of that pain. Pulling and tugging at my shirt, I couldn't seem to get it off. Usually I did this all by myself, but for some reason, I couldn't get it off. 

"Hey, hey, shhh, calm down" a soothing hand made its way to my back, but that didn't help. I reached around, pushing the hand off of my back, before starting to claw at my back for any way to get the shirt off. Everything that I was doing was not helping and the feeling of tears was starting to get worse. I couldn't prevent it anymore. 

Letting out a cry of frustration and exhaustion, I blew a breath, before blinking and allowing the tears to fall down my cheeks while tugging uselessly at my blood covered shirt. "Do you want your shirt off?" the man questioned, as I could vaguely hear other people talking and doors slamming, making me jump. 

I looked up to the man, as the tears continued to trail down my cheeks, before nodding my head. He slowly reached down to the bottom of my shirt, keeping eye contact with me, before pulling it gently over my head. His movements were so soft and slow, that I barely felt them. Blowing out a breath, I was glad to have the shirt off, as I was no longer covered in my daddy's blood. 

But now, another problem had arisen. I was just in my small, tattered yellow shorts, and no shirt. It bothered me even more that I didn't have a shirt on. A cry broke past my lips, when I could feel the aching of my ribs return. They had been good the last few days, but now they were coming back worse, and I knew that this man could see them, as his face showed it all. 

"Hen!" he called out, making me shiver and move away from him as much as I possibly could in the small space, while using my small, skinny arms to cover as much of my body that was not covered with a shirt. I felt really exposed now, and I had no idea why this man was getting someone else. 

Whenever other people had seen my scars and bruises, they had always looked at me like I was something at the school art exhibition, but then I would be moved away from there and too somewhere new. It was like that if someone ever found out that I was occasionally hurt by my dad's work friends, and on the rare occasion, my own daddy, then we were going somewhere else. 

But right now, there was no escape. I couldn't just get in the truck and go somewhere else, where this could all go away, and no one knew who I was. Then again, I liked it with these people, as they had fed me and made sure I have stayed warm and comfortable, right up until this point. 

"What's wrong?" another man appeared, and I knew this man. He had been the one that had helped me when John had driven off, leaving me to hide behind the truck. I shrunk back, even though I knew who he was. He had helped me, but I wasn't sure. I had known my dad, just like I had known John, but they all had another side. 

They were all two sided. Reaching for my teddy that had been propped up at my side, I used it to cover myself. It was the best that I could. This teddy had saved my life one too many times, taking some of the hits that were destined for me. "Oh poor baby" the second man murmured, as I peeked out from behind. 

The man's lap that I was sitting on, had a few tears running down his face, so I removed my teddy from my body, while handing it to him, as I slowly reached up to wipe the tears that had run down his cheeks. If I was crying, I would want him to do the same for me, so that it wouldn't feel half as bad for crying. 

He laughed softly, before I felt hands around me, causing me to shriek, before I was twisting every which way that I could, feeling everything in my body burning. I couldn't let them see anymore. The person needed to let me go, and stop holding on. My chest was starting to rise and fall faster and faster every time that I took a breath. 

"Shh, calm down. I was just helping you" the hands immediately let go, and I stopped moving, before looking back to find the voice. It was someone that I hadn't met yet, but I had seen him passed out when I was sitting with Ollie. 

I slumped forward, as my head hit the persons chest that I was sitting on, as the tears fell down my cheeks, before my eyes were closing. I was exhausted, and at that point where I didn't care. It didn't bother me that they were seeing the real me now, as there was no way that I could hide it anymore. I was just so so so tired, and couldn't fight the sleep that was consuming my body. 

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thoughts? xx

so sorry for the bad ending, but needed to get this out for all of you!