traumatized minds, luke hemmings

charlotte adelaide hemmings.

[ Third Person,
Two Years Before ; 12:03 AM ]

"Mom? Is everything okay?"

Little Charlotte Jennings had come down the stairs after hearing a rather loud crash from her dining room. She wasn't sure what it was, and she was nervous, but she wanted to make sure her mom was alright.

But she froze when she saw her mom on the ground, passed out. She began to scream but froze again when she noticed a tall man, standing in front of her mom with his fist moving around as if he'd just punched somebody.

Charlotte screamed even louder. "Who are you?!" She asked, "What did you do to my mom?"

"Hey, hey it's okay." The man tried to calm the screaming girl, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Your mom is fine, I promise, but I need you to come with me."

Charlotte may have been nearly thirteen, but she was smarter than the average thirteen-year-old. She shook her head.

Charlotte was smarter than that. She shook her head quickly and said, "You think I'm going with you? You hurt my mom."

The man exhaled a breath. "I need you to understand this, Charlotte, your mom is a very bad person. She has done very bad things to you, right? I only want to bring you to safety. With your father."

"You must be insane." Charlotte snapped, tears in her eyes. "My dad is dead."

"Your mom has lied to you, okay?" He explained. "Trust me, I am not going to hurt you. I know what has happened to you, Charlotte, your mother has hurt you and so have her boyfriends. I want to protect you. You won't ever feel pain again."

Charlotte looked down at her passed out mom, back at the man, and back down at her mom. "How can I trust you?"

"Well," He exhaled. "You can either stay here, and deal with abuse from her boyfriend. Or, you can come with me safely and hide with your dad. If I end up being wrong, you can run as far as you want to a police station."

"Who are you?"

"My name, sweetie, is Aiden Dalefeld."

[]

Somehow, Aiden had gotten Charlotte into the car by giving her his phone that had 911 on speed dial. Charlotte knew that she couldn't deal with anymore abuse from her mother and her boyfriend.

"We need to change your name." Aiden said, driving down the neighborhood road.

"No." Charlie said. "I like my name." She was looking around for signs of danger due to having high anxiety.

"Well then we'll shorten it." He compromised. "How about Lotte?"

"No." Charlotte quietly said.

"Char?" Aiden suggested.

She shook her head.

Aiden bit his lip, thinking. "Charlie?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes and nodded. "I guess."

She had noticed about 20 minutes later that they were parking in a big parking garage that was next to a high skyscraper. She looked out the window, a teensy bit fascinated by all the things around her.

Aiden took Charlie's hand and led her up to an office that was high up. She was getting odd glances from people all around, and it made her uncomfortable.