"Ok Charlie, I need you to go into my closet. Okay? Be really quiet. It'll be fine.." I whispered as I ran her into the closet. I took the bedspread from my bed and buried her with it.
She hugged her hedgehog. She started crying silently.
"Hey, Hey... it's okay...you're okay.. Olly, Greg and I will get you out of here."
Suddenly, all I could hear was Olly screaming.
My heart stopped.
I shut the door as quietly as I could and came out to the living room.
My father was standing over Olly, who was holding her forehead. I saw blood seeping through her fingers.
Time slowed. I couldn't hear anything. I remember smacking the pocket knife out of my fathers hands and my mother holding me back. Her maroon, overgrown nails dug into my arms and I could smell the cigarette and whisky in her breath. I screamed. Greg burst in the door holding his phone.
"I'll call 9-1-1!!" He yelled and ran to Olly's side.
I bit my Mom's hand and she shrieked, pulling her hand back and loosening her grip around me.
I took this opportunity to run to my bedroom and pick up Charlie. Tears were running down her cheeks and she held on to me so tight. I grabbed her suitcase and sprinted through the house.
"TO THE CAR!!!" I screamed at Greg, who was shirtless and compressing Olly's wound with his t-shirt. He was on the phone with the police. He nodded and picked Olly up with one hand.
"I DONT THINK SO!!" My Mom yelled, covering the front door.
I smacked her in the back of the knee with the suitcase.
"FUCK"
I slammed the door and ran into Greg's truck.
As soon as we were all in, Greg locked the doors and just sat there. Olly was crying, and it broke my heart. She almost never cried out loud. Some stray tears now and then, but her screams were heart-wrenching. Greg hung up the call when we heard police sirens from up the block.
It was starting getting to get hot, so we waited outside the truck. It was so hard seeing my parents in handcuffs. I've seen them contained before, but not like this. Charlie laid her head on my shoulder.
The police called an ambulance for Olly, and they pulled Charlie aside and asked her so many questions. She kept looking back at me with the saddest face.
A police officer told me that they had found a bong, and a crackpipe under the kitchen. She also told me that they'd received multiple disturbance calls from neighbors because of screaming. She put a hand on my shoulder and told me the worst news I'd ever heard in my life.
She said:
"Charlotte has to go into foster care."
