Dear diary- I thought I was happy

2. The meeting

Charlotte managed to get Carly back inside the building and took her straight to the office. "Marjorie, Carly is going to stay in here this afternoon. Then, after your meeting, I'm taking her home with me," Charlotte said calmly as she walked to the office and sat her on Autumns seat. "Alright, my love, thank you, Charlotte," Marjorie smiled as Charlotte left. Marjorie gave Carly some easy jobs to keep her busy, but also so she felt like she was helping.

The pair of them chatted quietly throughout the afternoon. It got to 4.30pm when Autumn came back into the office and saw Carly sat at her desk. As soon as Carly noticed Autumn, she stood quickly and went to leave, but to everyones surprise, Autumn wrapped her arms around the young girl. "You are okay. We will get you through these demons together. Carry on with what you were doing. it looks like you are doing a great job. I can sit on the other chair, " Autumn whispered into the young girls ear, tears welling up in her eyes.

Marjorie watched the pair of them. Autumn made eye contact with her. "Thank you." Marjorie mouthed, Autumn nodded slightly back. Them both trying to keep it all a secret from Carly. "You know what? I've never realised how good Winter was at his job," Autumn said while filling in some paperwork. "Autumn, you are getting more and more soppy as the days go on." Carly giggled. "Don't push your luck," Autumn smirked at Carly. This interaction brought tears to Marjorie, but she discreetly covered it up.

"Auts tonight we have a meeting to talk about everything thats going wrong for me, if you want you can stay and be apart of it but if you would rather not be there but you want to know you can ask Reece and he could tell you" Carly said quietly. "Carly, I will let you have the meeting with just Marjorie and Reece so its not over welling having us all in the room with you but I will speak to him later on" she said and Carly smiled. "Thank you, Auts." Carly smiled softly. Marjorie sent Autumn a look, the look of appreciation.

It didn't take long for all the children to go home. Before anyone realised, Reece was walking into the office. He walked over to Marjorie and kissed her temples. "Hello, my love and Carly." he smiled at Carly to make sure she felt included. She smiled at him. "Guys, can i just talk to you both without you saying anything, please?" Carly asked. "Carly, my love, you can talk, but move your chair over with us at least." Marjorie said softly as Reece walked over and pushed her towards Marjories desk. Marjorie took her hand on her own. "When you are ready, we are listening."

"Right, so this has been going on for months now. My parents really don't love me anymore. They have done nothing but push me away. They have verbally, mentally, and physically abused me. " Without missing a beat, she rolled her her trouser leg and showed her legs covered from top to bottom in bruises and healing wounds. They both looked while Carly continued. "They have triggered my eating again, which is kind of the reason I go walking at lunchtime. I didn't want to hurt you, Reece, after all the days you put up with me. They have tried to find a way to get me fired because they know how much you all mean to me, but thankfully, I have stopped them before they even started. I have pushed everyone away because that way if something does happen to me everyone will hate me and they won't miss me" At that point Marjorie let out a sob that she was trying so hard to hold in, she quickly covered her mouth so Carly could continue. "Everyone has their own problems, and no one needs my extra drama, so I just put on the best brave face, but its getting too hard to hide everything now. I dont see the point in waking up in the morning. If I didn't wake up,  it wouldn't be the worst thing. " Carly finally took a breath. Reece stood up and moved to be with Carly. He knelt in front of her, pulling her into a tight embrace. She hid her face into his chest before breaking down. Marjorie was watching the both of them with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Carly, I hope you know how much we all love you. Even Auts has a soft spot for you. I'm not angry at you. I just wish you spoke up sooner. Im not letting you go home tonight,  though. You can stay with us if you want, I know Charlotte offered as well." Carly didn't answer and just cuddled into Reeces chest. Marjorie moved and sat on the edge of her desk. She placed her hand on Carlys back. "My love, can I check your legs? You stay with Reece. " Carly nodded. Reece moved slightly, so Marjorie had more room. Marjorie crouched on the floor with the first aid kit that she got off the shelf. Most of the wounds were healing. Marjorie cleaned up two and applied plasters, placing kisses on the top of them. "You are safe, my love." Carly looked up. "I agreed to stay with Charlotte tonight, but she has Mia over all weekend, and I don't feel I can put up with Mia." Carly was honest with them both. "My love, you can stay with us the weekend. We will tidy up the spare room and you can stay in there and I promise you dont have to eat Marjories cooking" Reece joked, making Carly smile. "Guys, I really appreciate you both," she muttered while moving from Reece to hug Marjorie. They wrapped their arms around each other. "I love you both,"

Once they had all calmed down, they walked together to find Charlotte. She was setting up all the rooms ready to surprise everyone in the morning. "Char, can we go home?" Carly asked quietly. Charlotte turned around and wrapped her arms around Carly. "Come on then," she whispered before letting Carly go with Reece to get their bags. Charlotte looked at Marjorie and pulled her into a hug. "Just message me later about what was said." Charlotte whispered while rubbing Marjories back. "She's going to be staying with me and Reece over the weekend when Mia comes, but we will look at next week when it comes." Marjorie said quietly, Charlotte nodded. "Thank you, Marjorie"