"CHARLOTTE!" The loud yell echoed all through the house to a little girl desperately trying to stop gushing blood coming from her thigh.
"CHARLOTTE GET YOUR LAZY A$$ UP HERE NOW! WERE LEAVING" The voice yelled again.
Leaving? She thought, extremely confused. She barely left the house, and almost never with master. She had snuck out a few times to find food and one time to throw up. What did he mean "leaving?"
She didn't have any more time to think about it. Loud foot steps started descending into the basement. She grabbed a roll of duck tape and taped the rag onto her cut to keep more blood from coming out, then scampered into the corner, in a small space between a broken washing machine and wall. She curled up as tiny as she could and tried, for the hundredth time, to pray like her mom had taught her. Her mind flashed back to a couple years before..
"That's it, sweetie." She encouraged. "Close your eyes, fold your hands, and tell God what you're feeling. If you do, matter where you are, He'll be with you too.
"But I don't see him mommy!" She argued. "Are you sure he's here? Is he invisible?"
She smiled down at her and Charlotte smiled too. "Not invisible, honey, he's here" she replied, pointing to her heart. "Always."
Charlotte crawled over onto her mothers lap and wrapped her tiny arms around her neck. Her mother returned the hug and kissed her on cheek. "I love you, Char. No matter what." She told her.
"I wove you too mommy" she replied.
A frustrated yell pulled Charlotte from her memory and back to her reality. She put her head between her knees, closed her eyes and kept trying to pray, but was very aware of the fact that master was just feet away from her hiding place.
"I'm not going to say it again." he growled "We. Are. Leaving. NOW!"
She watched him walk over to the shelf where her few possessions were, and pick up her most prized one: a small wooden jewelry box with a porcelain figurine inside. It had been her mothers before she died. He lifted it over his head and smashed it too the ground with all his strength. Charlotte watched, horrified as the box came in contact with the ground: the cover unhinged and flew in a separate direction, a spring flew up, and the dancer inside shattered.
It took all the strength she had to not let the tears leave her eyes. But she wasn't allowed to cry. She knew better.
"Still not coming out, huh?!" He yelled, clearly enjoying himself "last chance princess!"
She cringed at the use of her old pet name. "If not I'm leaving and never coming back for you! That means no food! No water! I'm locking the doors and no one will find you. You'll die in here like your whore of a mother did!" He yelled.
Charolette weighed her options quickly, but knew that he wasn't kidding. He never was. She watched as he picked up a snow globe that her mother had also left her and raise it above his head. She quickly jumped out of her hiding spot. "No! Please! I'm sowry" she said, a tear slipping from her eye.
He slowly started walking towards her, getting angrier with every step. She coward down against the wall.
He towered over her and looked down. "Is that a tear?" He questioned.
When she didn't respond he yanked her up by her hair curly blond hair. She stood, terrified as his nostrils flared. "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" He screamed, inches away from his face.
"N-no master!" She replied, wiping it away. "Please don't hurt me, please, I sowry, please no hurt me, I sowry, sowry! She said quickly
"You have exactly five minutes to be at the back door with anything you can carry. If it's not in your hands, you'll never see it again. We're never coming back here."
He started running up the stairs and yelled out again "Five minutes!"
She stood, frozen in place for a minute, before running to her shelf. She took down her two books, and stuffed rabbit. She was about to try and reach her last possession, an old blanket when she heard a voice upstairs.
"FBI- We have a warrant!" Followed by a loud crash. The door gave way and the team ran inside, spreading out to the different rooms. "Clear!" Morgan yelled.
"Over here!" Reid yelled. Hotch and Rossi ran to him and they watched as their suspect, Michael Hosben pointed a gun at them.
"I'll shoot!" He said "Get out of here or I will shoot!"
"Michael put the gun down" Hotch said, sounding almost bored. "You know you can't shoot your way out of this one. It's over." Michael looked frantically between the three men and blocked doorway before throwing the gun and sprinting towards the window. Before he could even make it there, Hotch had tackled and handcuffed him and Reid secured the gun.
"Michael Hosben, you're under arrest for 3 counts of assault and 5 counts of murder. You have the right to remain silent.." Hotch recited, leading him outside. Reid and Rossi walked into the kitchen where the rest of the team was.
"Good work everyone." Rossi said "Do a quick sweep of the house then secure it for local police" he instructed. They fanned out in different directions, with Prentiss going to check downstairs. She was on alert as she got down, seeing some drops of blood and sensing another presence. Charlotte had crawled back to her corner hiding spot with her stuffed animal still in her hand. She held her breath, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Emily walked around the perimeter, noting the child's clothes and books on the floor. She walked over towards the old washing machine and dryer and saw the tiniest bit of a pink shoe sticking out. She shifted her shirt to cover her gun before crouching down slowly.
Prentiss was not prepared for the sight that met her eyes: a little girl, not more than 4 or 5 sat curled with her knees hugging her chest, clutching a extremely beat up stuffed animal. She could see her hands physically shaking. Her green eyes were filled with fear, and her bright blond ringlets had clearly not been brushed in some time. Her clothes were stained and dirty, she was covered in bruises and burns, and there was blood coming from a rag that was tapped on her outer thigh.
Prentiss took a deep breath, gave a smile and said softly, "Hi sweetie, my name is Emily. What's your name?"
Charlotte didn't even look at her, and Prentiss saw her breathing start to increase rapidly.
Just then, Morgan strode down the stairs. "Prentiss, got anything?" He called. He saw her crouched in the corner and walked over to her. He looked down and saw the girl, who immediately upon seeing him tried to crawl backwards, only to hit the wall. Frustrated and panicked, she started hyperventilating, and tears filled her small eyes. "Please no" she said in a small voice "I'm hurt already. No more"
Morgan immediately lifted his arms as if surrendering and started back up the stairs. "I'll call an ambulance." He told Prentiss.
Once he was gone, Emily looked back at the girl. "It's ok, he won't hurt you. No one is going to hurt you anymore. You can trust me." She said sincerely.
Charlotte still refused to look at her, but her breathing calmed and she sat up more.
"What's your friends name?" Prentiss asked, nodding towards her stuffed animal. The girl shrugged.
"Sweetie I see your leg is hurt. I know you're scared, but I need you to trust me that no one will hurt you now. We need to fix your leg though. Do you think you can be really brave and come with me upstairs to fix your leg? There's no bad people up there anymore." She said
The girl made eye contact for a small second. "Charlotte." She said carefully.
"Your name is Charlotte?" Emily asked "it's nice to meet you."
Charlotte gave a small smile but then looked back down at the ground.
"Charlotte do you think we can go upstairs to fix your leg so it doesn't hurt anymore?" Emily asked again.
Charlotte contemplated it for a second before worriedly asking, "No master?"
Emily took a deep breath to calm her anger at whoever hurt this girl. "No master" she confirmed. She put her arms out and Charlotte carefully climbed into them. Emily stood up and carried the girl up the stairs.
This case was far from being over, she thought.
I hope you liked the first chapter! Please review and let me know your thoughts and ideas so I know if I should continue writing it or not :)