Orchards and Moonlight - a Mialotte story (TNN)

Bruises

TW for mention of rape, abuse and blood

Charlotte woke up naked on the floor of her living room. She couldn't move. Everything hurt. 

She just laid there, images of what he had done to her scattered her brain. She could feel the tears sliding down the sides of her face. She took a deep breath in and winched at the pain in her ribs. 

She slowly got up and started making her way to her bathroom. She was too scared to look, but she could feel the sticky substance between her wobbly legs. She made her way to the shower and turned it on as hot as she could. She could still feel his hands on her body. The way he held her against the floor and gripped her thighs. 

She glanced at the mirror, gasping at herself. Her stomach, arms and legs were covered in dark bruises, and she was right, the inside of the legs were covered in blood. She looked away, not even recognising the woman staring back at her. 

She got into the shower, trying to scrub her body until it was red, wishing she could get rid of the feeling of his and on her. How his nails dug into her skin. Her tears returned and she slid down onto the floor.

She couldn't keep it in anymore, she just sat on the floor crying. The water mixed with her tears streaming down her face. 

If only she were strong enough...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 This had become a recurring thing. 

Every time Charlie would come to pick up the children or drop them off, she would first want to 'talk' with Charlotte. The kids would go to the room, and he would grab her by her hair and pull her into the guest room. If she fought him, he would make it worse. He always left her sobbing on the floor, with a threatening whisper of "You owe me"

Everyone at work had noticed how she would become more and more distant as the weeks went on. It worried them all, and any time they would try and talk about it, Charlotte just said that she was tired. No one truly believed her.

It was a Monday morning and Charlie had come to pick up the kids the day before. It was getting worse. last night he had kicked her in the stomach, leaving a dark bruise on her. She was as pale as a ghost when she walked into the nursery. She hadn't even noticed Mia in the office talking to Marjorie, but Mia noticed her. 

Mia immediately saw that she was pale, and she was much skinnier than she was the last time she saw her. Her face was covered in worry and Marjorie could see that.

"Is it Charlotte?" she asked the redhead, and Mia just nodded. 

"Okay, that's it. she is telling us what's going on. Come on." Marjorie said as she stood up from her chair.

The two women made their way up to the staff room where they found Charlotte packing her things away.

"Charlotte," Marjorie said in a stern voice.

"Oh hi, Marjorie. Mia, what are you doing here?" she asked, trying to put a smile on her face.

"I am covering for Winter, he and Autumn both got food poisoning. The real question is, what is wrong with you? And don't you dare say you are just tired, we can see it is much more than that?" Mia said, her brows knit together in worry. 

"I am fine really, just a restless night you know." Charlotte tried to explain but neither woman was having it. Marjorie took one step closer.

"No, you have been getting worse and worse for weeks, what is going on?"

"Majorie, I told you, I'm..." Charlotte couldn't even finish her sentence before her face when even more white, and her eyes rolled back.

Mia saw it and quickly stepped forward to catch Charlotte the moment her knees gave in. 

"Charlotte! No come on, wake up." Mia said softly as she sank down to the floor with the woman in her arms. her hand making her way to Charlotte's cheek.

"Mia," Marjorie said in a soft voice. mia looked up at the woman and saw her eyes focusing on something else. Charlotte's shirt had risen up and the bruise on her stomach was visible. besides that, there was blood that had started leaking through Charlotte's jeans. 

The moment Mia saw this, she jumped up with the woman in her arms and rushed outside. She didn't even wait for Marjorie as she put Charlotte in her car, and sped off to the hospital. She ran through every red light she saw, swerving between cars.

When she pulled up at the hospital, she didn't even care to close her car door, she just lifted Charlotte's limp body and ran inside screaming for help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been 3 hours before Mia got any news about Charlotte. Marjorie had brought Char and Mia's things to the hospital but had to go back to the nursery. 

Mia has never been so scared yet so angry in her life. She was close to murdering whoever did this to her girl. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the doctor coming over.

"Miss Roberts?" the doctor asked, catching Mia's attention.

"Is she okay, where is she?" Mia rambled on, jumping up from her chair.

"She is stable. We have put her into a private room.  we almost lost her due to the amount of blood she had lost. But we got her stabilized in the end. her entire body is covered in bruises, some weeks old, and some... as new as yesterday. We have already contacted the police, do you have any idea who did this to her?" 

Mia's hands were trembling. One man flashed in front of her eyes. A murderous rage came over her.

"Her husband." was all that she could say. The doctor nodded.

"Right, well I will inform the officers when they get here. She is in room 203 if you would like to see her." Mia nodded and made her way to the hallway.

"Miss Roberts, one more thing..." Mia turned around and looked at the doctor.

"The reason she was bleeding so much, was because she had a miscarriage."