Half a heart

Chapter 5

⚠️Tw: anxiety, uncertainty, death of a family member, lonely, depression, uncomfortable, crying⚠️

Charlie's POV:

"Hi, Charlie, we need to have a chat. May we come inside?" Sam asks.

I nod and show them to the living room. I sit down in the armchair I was asleep in just minutes ago, holding Sprinkles.

They sit on the lounge opposite me, and silence fills the room, making me more uncomfortable and nervous.

"Am I in trouble?" I mumbled. Sam shakes his head no, and I feel some slight relief but not much.

"We have some very sad news to tell you. I'm afraid to tell you that your sister was shot in the line of duty tonight," Detective Sam's hands were trembling as he handed me a letter addressed to me from Tori. I felt my chest getting tighter and tears were falling.

I took the letter from his hand and said, "She is okay, isn't she?"

Detective Sam came over to me, crouching down in front of me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Charlie, I am so sorry, but Tori died on the way to the hospital."

I burst out into tears, and Sam pulls me into a hug, comforting me as I cry into his shoulder.

Once I had stopped crying, I broke away from Sam's hug and sat further back on the armchair, staring out into the kitchen.

Detective Lily decides to break the silence and asks, "Charlie, are you okay?" I just sit there and shrugged my shoulders.

"What happens now? I have no one to look after me. My sister is my only family and the only person who looked after me through everything, and now I have no one. Am I just going to be an orphan?" I panicked because I had no one.

Tori was the only person who looked after me and understood me better than anyone else ever could, and now she is gone.

Detective Sam stands up and grabs my hand. "We have found a foster placement for you. I promise these people are very nice."

"One thing your sister said to me before she died was to make sure you went to a nice loving family, and I am keeping my promise to Tori," Sam told me.

Sam's words struck a chord deep within me, stirring up a whirlwind of emotions. Tori's memory loomed large in my mind, her words echoing like a guiding light in the darkness of uncertainty.

She had always been my rock, my protector, and knowing that she had entrusted my future to Sam filled me with a sense of gratitude and determination.

I nodded, unable to find the words to express the gratitude welling up inside me. Sam had been there for us when no one else was, offering a glimmer of hope in our darkest hours. And now, he was fulfilling Tori's final wish, ensuring that I found the loving family she had always dreamed of for me.

"Why don't you go get some stuff, and we'll head to the station and wait for your new family?" Sam suggested to me.

I nodded and walked out of the living room, heading upstairs to my bedroom.

Sam stops me and whispers something in my ear, "Don't open that letter until we get to the station. Tori wanted me to be with you when you open it."

I give Sam a reassuring look that I won't open the letter and head up to my room. As I pack my belongings, tears stream down my face, mingling with the memories of Tori, my anchor in life.