The Outbreak (The Nursery Nurse)

Twenty Five

HUGE TW: SUICIDAL THOUGHTS!!!!!
Please take care of yourselves darlings, it's never the answer. Ever.

There are people here to support you if you are ever feeling this way.

I have dealt with these thoughts before and I'm glad i never went through with them.

I love you! Please be cautious whilst reading.

-
-
-
-

Charlotte froze when she read the name.

She thought she'd never see that name again, let alone hear of it, the name was never mentioned it was unfamiliar.

Her fingers slowly grazed the indents of the page where her name was etched, the handwriting was beautiful yet it was scrawled in a rushed manner.

She turned to move her head so she could carefully look out into the hallway, she sighed in relief when she confirmed she was alone.

She turned her attention back to the journal, rubbing her fingers along the black leather cover gently and contemplated.

She tried to recall what she remembered of Siobhan, they'd had very few interactions over the years she had worked in the nursery.

She remembered the look in her eyes every-time they'd reluctantly meet hers, they were swimming with helplessness, every-time Charlotte had tried to reach out to her Siobhan would brush her off with a quick breath of tainted panic.

She had considered that maybe she and her were more alike than they knew. They both had silently drowned in a marriage alone, they'd both watched the world burn around them and they choked in the smoke without making a sound.

She went to turn the page but stopped herself.

Should she be doing this?

The Charlotte she used to know would of never dared to invade someone's privacy like this, however the Charlotte who had been moulded by the outbreak and left with only grief and anger decided that this very journal could have some answers and the group was running on dim survival fumes, they desperately needed new information.

Not only answers for herself but answers for Reece and Autumn about their father.

And the biggest one, is Siobhan still alive?

As Charlotte turned the pages she couldn't crack the code, the first few were filled with nursery procedures, staff meetings and oddly enough child observations.

They were detailed too.

Charlotte read them over and smiled wistfully, a couple of the children's names brought back memories of young and carefree faces, she prayed silently that they were safe somewhere.

She apologised that they were born into a world that had ever so quickly turned dangerous before they even got the chance to navigate it.

She flipped through more observations pages and stopped when it became blank in the centre of the book.

Charlotte frowned slightly and worked her way through more blank pages until she neared the end, diary entries began to appear.

She then understood very quickly, Siobhan had disguised this journal as nothing but a work related keepsake. If Roger had of gone looking for something so personal he would have to really look, turn all of the pages.

-

I don't understand him. When I first met him I was intrigued and wanted to know him. He was clever, abundantly clever but he was greedy.