Charlotte Crane is like any other 10 year old girl. She has a mom and a dad, not that she knows who they are, she has a little brother who's name is Daniel who's 6, even though he looks younger, and they keep trying to take him away. That's why she has decided to keep them safe and run.
Those are facts. She always focuses on the facts. It's how she remembers who she is and where she's from. There have been people who have tried changing her name or have wanted her and Danny to call them mom and dad, but that's not who they are.
There have also been bad foster parents though. The ones who would lock them in rooms and not give them covers at night.
Those moments are when the unexplainable would happen. Where if she wishes really hard she can unlock the doors or If she focuses she can keep them warm on the cold nights. She's grateful for these unexplainable moments, but what she cares about are the facts. And right now, the fact is, they want to take her Danny. So they'll run.
If she can get somewhere far away, they can't take the only family she has. She has enough money saved up to buy them both bus tickets.
She had already decided when. It would be in one month exactly. Their foster parents would be at there sons dance recital and they would have Mrs. Juno babysitting them. She was a really old lady who lived next door.
The Stevenson always had her babysit them when they were out being a family. She didn't mind though. She had her own family she had to keep safe. Charlotte had noticed that within 15 minutes of the TV being turned on, Mrs. Juno would fall asleep. It happened ever time without fail. That's when they'd sneak out and leave. She had everything planned and memorized!
The time they would say they would go play after dinner, which window they'd crawl out of and what time the buses left to go all over England. She had decided on London. Her teacher had said that it where people go to get jobs. After all, she would need one to take care of Danny.
She had put a little though in what she could do for work. She knew she wouldn't be able to go to school anymore. Which did upset her to some extent. She wasn't the best student but she did love to learn. She looked forward to school each day.
She liked Math and Science the best. Math was straight forward and the answer was always absolute. Science bled over into cooking. Which was her favorite thing in the world to do, other than playing with Danny of course. Though she loved the way his face lit up when he ate her cooking.
Most girls would be drawn more towards cookies or cakes. Charlotte lover to make breads and stews though. Bread caused for exact measurements and she loved to push the boundaries of what she could do with it. Her favorite was cinnamon raisin.
They had a foster mom at one point who owned a bakery. She was Charlotte's favorite of all her past foster homes. She had accidentally called her mom once. She had hoped the woman wouldn't have noticed. Though when the woman started to gently cry and told her it was ok. Charlotte believed her.
She tried adopting her and Danny a few months later but the judge saw her as unfit for not having a spouse to help her take care of two young children. They were taken away a couple days later. All she had was a garbage bag full of worn clothes and her baby brother by her side. She had never been so heartbroken to leave a home before.
She didn't let it show though she had to be strong in front of Danny. She didn't want to make him sad too. She also didn't want the social service agent to think she wasn't strong enough to take care of her brother. It was that day she decided that he was the only family she needed.