Broken (Broken #1) SVU

Eight

Olivia's POV.

Me and Amanda arrived at Charlotte Baker's house and jumped out the car. I hoped she had  remembered more information to help us with our investigation. 

I knocked on the door and a woman of around 40 years old opened the door.

"Hi. We're here to talk to Charlotte." I said, showing my badge.

"Sure. Come in." The woman said. "I'm Maria, Charlotte's mom."

We walked into the house, and I immediately noticed how immaculate it looked. Everything matched, and pictures of Charlotte and other children hung from the walls. The smell of home baking tickled my senses, and I felt my own hunger bubbling up in my stomach.

"Charlotte's in her room." Maria said. "It's the first room on your right." She said, gesturing towards the staircase.

"Hi Charlotte. Its Detective Benson and Rollins, can we come in?" I said, when we arrived at the shut door.

"Yeah!" Charlotte shouted through the door.

We entered and found Charlotte sat at her desk, writing in what looked like a diary.

"Take a seat." Charlotte said, pointing towards the bed as she shut her notebook. She looked well considering the ordeal she'd experienced.

We took a seat and I gazed around the room. Charlotte reminded me of Sky which scared me. I shook my head again and pushed all thoughts of Sky away.

"Do you recognise this place?" Amanda asked Charlotte, passing her the photographs.

"Oh, I do. This is the place he took me first." Charlotte said, tears welling up in her eyes as she flicked through the photographs. "He said this is where I'd end up, but I needed more training first."

"What do you mean by training?"

"I have no idea."

Charlotte started hicciping as she tried to stop herself from crying.

"Its okay to cry, you know." Amanda said, standing up and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I wish I remembered more. There could be girls in trouble out there."

"You've done your best. It's not your fault you don't remember."

"Thank you for you help." I said, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

I couldn't get out fast enough, I ran to the car and took several deep breaths to try and soothe the panic inside me.

"Liv, are you ok?" Amanda asked.

"Somethings not right." I uttered. "Something is very very wrong."

Sky's POV.

I paced back and forth on my bedroom floor, my hands shaking and my head pounding.

I slumped down to the floor and started hitting my head off the wall. I couldn't keep this from my Mom, I needed her.

My phone buzzed and I grabbed it.

'I'll be coming for you soon.
Be ready or your Mom will be sorry
Jakthelad'

Bile rose up in my throat and I ran to the bathroom, where I threw up until I spat blood

I'd done this. I'd put my Mom in danger. This was my fault.

"Sky sweetie, I'm home." My Mom shouted through the apartment.

I flushed the toilet and splashed some cold water on my face. I looked in the mirror and knew my Mom would notice I'd been crying.

I bit my lip to try to calm myself. I hated this, I hated it. I didn't want my Mom to hate me.

I was never in trouble, never stayed out late, never got in trouble at school. I always did my homework, did my chores and was never rude to my mom.

"Sky, I've got some dinner. Hurry up."

I took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen. My Mom stood in the kitchen, a smile on her face as she dished out chinese. She looked so happy, so normal. She had no idea I harboured a terrible secret.

She looked up at me and her face fell.

"Sky, what's wrong." She said, rushing over to me.

She tried to pull me into a hug but I flinched away.

"Sky."

"Please." I said, tears falling down my face. "Please don't touch me."

My Mom stood there looking hurt, worry written all over her face. I tried to leave the room but she pulled me back.

"No. We're going to talk. Something happened, I know it."

"Please Mom. Nothing is wrong. I'm stressed with school, there's so much going on. The work is harder this year."

"I don't believe you."

"It's the truth. Mom leave it, please."

"Sky, don't talk to me like that. I'm trying to help you."

"Don't bother!!" I shouted and stormed out the room, slamming my door behind me.

I threw myself onto my bed and cried until I fell asleep.

Olivia's POV.

I stood gaping at Sky's door after she'd freaked out on me. She had never spoken to me like that before. I threw the Chinese in the bin and texted Amanda.

'Meet me at Franny's at 8?'

She replied  saying yes. Still feeling shaken, I left the house.

I took a taxi to Franny's so I could drink. I also needed to speak to Amanda. She knows the state we found Sky in, and she believed something awful had happened too.

I walked into Franny's and true to her word, Amanda stood at the bar. When she turned around, she had a drink in each hand. She walked over to me and handed me one of them.

"I figured you'd need this." She said, as we walked towards the nearest booth.

"Definitely."

We sat down and I sipped my vodka and coke.

"So what's up?" Amanda asked me.

"Sky." I said, letting out a massive sigh. "She's falling apart. I went home and found her in a state. She said it was school but I don't believe her. I persisted but she shouted at me and slammed her door in my face."

"Wow. Sky has never shouted at you."

"I know. She's a good kid. I know she's a teenager but she's never acted like this before."

"Do you want me to talk to her?"

"Yeah. I wanted to give her time to open up to me but we're running out of time. I can't lose her."

"We won't. We'll find out what happened. I'll come to yours the day after tomorrow. Sometimes it's easier for a kid to talk to someone that's not their Mom. She'll be ok, Liv."

We sat in the bar and had a few more drinks before we decided to head for home. We said our goodbyes as I jumped into a taxi. My head whirled with so many thoughts but the alcohol had helped some.

The apartment was silent when I arrived home. I poked my head around Sky's door and found her fast asleep, the duvet tangled around her. I resisted the urge to go and hug her tight, and instead I shut the door and headed to my own room.