Keep Me Safe

Chapter Fifteen

They were not able to keep Lottie safe for long.

It had been four days since the incident in town, and no sketchy strangers had been spotted. The family was beginning to feel more at ease, and they eventually got to the point where Papa stopped sleeping on the downstairs couch with the gun next to him.

Of course, as soon as they let down their guard, everything went to hell.

Agnes woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of shattering glass and her sisters screaming. There was shouting and thumping coming from the hallway.

She jumped when someone grabbed her wrist, but relaxed as soon as she realized it was Lottie.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know." Agnes hurriedly got out of her bed and pulled on overalls over her nightshirt. Still struggling with the clasps and half-asleep, she stumbled into the hallway and was met with absolute chaos.

Meredith and Ethyl were huddled together against the wall, both sobbing and shaking. Darryl was trying to comfort them to no avail, and a bleary-eyed Floyd was walking around shirtless and holding a pistol. Mama, Papa, and Abel were all inside the sisters' cramped room.

"What in God's name is going on out here?"

Darryl momentarily tore his attention away from the girls and looked at Agnes. "Someone shot a bullet through their window." His voice was low and barely above a whisper.

"Dammit!" Agnes hollered, kicking the wall.

"What's going on?" Lottie stepped into the hallway, a blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She rubbed her eyes. "Is everyone okay?"

Agnes blocked her view of the girls and gently tried to push her back into the room. "You need to stay in here. Don't come out."

"What are you talking about?" She pushed her out of the way and entered the hallway. Her shoulders drooped as soon as she saw Meredith and Ethyl huddled together on the floor, and the blanket fell off of her shoulders.

Floyd tried to intervene. "This isn't your fault. You need to go back into your room. This just going to upset you." 

Unfortunately, his gentle voice and firm command wasn't enough to deter her. Lottie stumbled into the girls' bedroom and looked around for a few seconds before the adults noticed she was in there. When she saw the broken window and shattered glass, she collapsed onto the floor and began loudly crying.

Papa began to swear even more.  He kicked a few glass shards, which ricocheted off the wall and broke into tinier pieces.

Abel and Mama tried to coax Lottie to her feet, but she was too far gone. Their gentle words had no effect on her. Eventually, Mama signaled for Abel to pick her up and carry her out the room.

"Let me take her." Agnes reached out and took Lottie from Abel. She staggered under the weight, but managed to get Lottie back into their room.

She gently set her on the bed and covered her with the blanket. "I'm going to go get this settled," she whispered, "and then I'm going to come back in here."

Lottie tried to talk, but a new wave of tears began. The only thing she could do was clutch Agnes' sleeve.

"I'm going to be right back. Just breathe." She pried herself away and went back into the hallway.

Mama was holding Ethyl, and Papa was cradling Meredith. Both girls were shaken and had red, puffy eyes. Lottie's outburst seemed to have renewed the tears, which were falling even harder now.