Hidden with a smile.

Its quiet without you.

Charlotte paced around the staff room, biting her nails, desperately waiting for somebody else to arrive.
After what felt like hours of waiting within the overwhelming silence, Sorscha walked through the door, worry plastered all over her face.
Quickly scanning the room, she spotted charlotte. "Charlie!" she ran to her friend, as they immediately held eachother within their grasp. "Marjorie told me what happened. i can't believe it." Sorscha felt charlotte start to sob on her shoulder, before allowing a few tears to fall down her own face.
They both stood in silence for a while, just holding eachother tightly, breaking the quiet with the occasional sniffle. Eventually, they broke apart, wiping their own tears.
"Let's just get through the day, and we can text marjorie and ask to visit her after work." Sorscha put her hand gently on Charlottes shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah." Charlotte caressed her cheeks, discarding of the tears that rested upon them. "Right, let's get downstairs."
About to leave, Charlotte and Sorscha gave eachother a slight smile; a smile of reassurance that rested on their faces, symbolising their support for one another.
They were soon disrupted by Autumn walking into the room, with winter by their side. Unusually, their fingers were interlocked, they never did that.
Charlotte noticed and was slightly taken aback, slightly confused, but didn't show it.
She knew that they'd hold each others hands, but they'd never done so in the nursery, charlotte wasn't sure she'd ever seen them share physical contact with one another.
Winter was looking down towards the floor, clearly trying to hide his puffy eyes.
"i'm sure you've all been made aware-"Autumn began to speak, clearing her throat as she did so.
She was clearly feeling some sort of emotion, not that it was positive. Yet with Autumn being her usual self, she internalised and hid it well.
"Carly is in the hospital at the moment. She won't be in for a while, and today, Marjorie and my brother are both with her. I doubt they'll be in work for a couple days, so for the meantime i shall be covering for Marjorie. I believe Siobhan is covering for Reece." Autumn looked at winter, then returned her gaze back at Sorscha and Charlotte, who were now also looking at the floor.
"If anybody needs to talk, we're all available for a chat, but my office door is always open. Let's all be here for eachother. We don't want a repeat of what has happened."
Autumn cleared her throat again, and turned back to winter.
"See you at lunch my sweet."
Winter looked at her, teary eyed. "I'll be there my love."

Shortly after, they all made their way to their designated places.
Sorscha began handover with a parent as Autumn walked in, accompanied by a younger woman.
Leading her towards Charlotte, she began to introduce her.
"Charlotte, this is Hailey. She'll be our temporary staff member until Carly returns."
Autumn twisted the wedding ring on her finger.

Charlotte smiled, greeting the woman with open arms.
"Hi Hailey! i'll show you around. Thank you Autumn."

"No problem."
Autumn left the room, still fiddling with her ring.
Charlotte showed Hailey the room, and introduced Sorscha, who also showed a warm, welcoming smile to the new staff member before returning to handovers.
Charlotte gathered that Hailey was probably around thirty, and most likely experienced, as her confident demeanour definitely projected that way.
She had short brown hair that fell at her shoulders, with half tied back into a neat ponytail, and two springy curls hanging either side by her face.
Her black glasses sat on her nose and the circular frames surrounded her eyes.
She looked smart; Charlotte was impressed that somebody like her was only temporary staffed.
Then again, she knew not to judge a book by its cover. Not everything is as it seems.

Eventually, all the children had arrived, each and every one filled with energy and joy.
Even though they were, nobody else felt the same.
The nursery felt quiet, despite the constant chatter of children, the silence was deafening.
The constant worry lingered throughout the building, everyone felt it. Nobody talked about it, but they were all in silent agreement with one another. Each and every one of them worried for their beloved apprentice.
"Charlie, come on. it's break." Sorscha tapped her shoulder.
"Coming." Charlotte responded, trying her hardest to sound enthusiastic.
They both made their way to the staff room, nothing was said but they both knew what they were planning.
As soon as they made their way to the table,  Charlotte pulled out her phone.
"i'll ring her."
Sorscha nodded in agreement.
"Marjorie?" Charlotte placed a hand onto the table.
Sorscha immediately looked up at Charlotte, impatiently waiting for her to continue.
"How is she?" Charlotte took a deep breath in.
Sorscha couldn't quite hear what was being said from the other end of the phone all, but she was reassured by the slight nod and relief on Charlottes face as they continued to conversate.
After what felt like hours, Charlotte finally said her goodbyes and turned to Sorscha.
"She's okay. She's being discharged today." Charlotte took a small sigh of relief before continuing to Sorscha, who was now fully attentive and slightly pleased.
"She's perked up a bit now and we can go to see her after work."
"That's grand. i was so worried. I feel so bad Charlie, how didn't i notice?"
Sorscha glazed her eyes down towards the floor.
"Sorscha, it's not your fault. she very clearly hid it well, but now we know and it will never happen again. We're all here for eachother just like we need to be." Charlotte looked down at Sorscha.
Returning her gaze to Charlottes face, Sorscha continued.
"Thanks Charlie. I suppose it's made us all more aware now. It just can't happen again"
Charlotte quickly responded "And it wont. Don't worry so much. We will see her later." Charlotte placed a hand on Sorscha's shoulder.
"I've got to go take this down to Autumn, i'll be back in a minute." Charlotte waved a few pieces of paper infront on her.
"Alright." Sorscha replied.
Making her way to the office, she eventually heard Winters voice.
He sounded upset, and Charlotte didn't want to disturb, especially if it meant being on Autumns bad side.
Either way, she knew she needed to give Autumn the lists, so she knocked on the door gently, waiting for a response.
"Charlotte." Autumn raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry- i hope i wasn't disturbing anything."
Charlotte could tell by the glint within Autumns eye that she clearly had some deep emotions towards the young apprentice, and the recent events.
"No. You're fine. What is it?" Autumn kept her stare at Charlotte.
"I just have these lists for you." Charlotte walked towards Autumns desk to hand her the papers.
Autumn scanned over the papers with her eyes. "Thank you charlotte. Anything else?"
"No that's it, unless you need me for anything." Charlotte took a glance at winter, who was watching his wife twirling her fingers around one another, tracing them with her thumb.
"It's okay. Thank you Charlotte" Autumn returned to look back at the papers.
"Okay, see you later. See you Winter" Charlotte left the room, hearing the pair get back to conversation shortly after.

As her shift ended, Sorscha walked up to the staff room, to meet Charlotte who was already putting her things in her bag.
She grabbed her belongings and placed them onto the table, before placing them into her own bag, and turning to Charlotte.
"Ready?"
"Yeah." Charlotte spun to face Sorscha, as they both began to leave together.