A/N: sorry for the wait, I've been busy...that's it nothing else. This is a pretty long chapter so read and enjoy.

Chapter 16

There was a sharp ringing in Charlotte's ears as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head felt like it was going to explode from all the times the car flipped. She looked around to see that the car had landed upside down. She slowly pulled off her seat belt sending her body jolting forward only to be held upside down by her leg. She leaned against the passenger's seat in front of her to gain balance as she tried to move. However every time the girl inch forward in her seat her right leg felt like it was being twisted. She looked around at the car, to her left was the shattered side of the car where there was now a gaping hole where the truck hit them, but there was no truck. Charlotte moved her hand around beside her but was immediately met with pain as she felt a sharp piece of glass enter her palm.

"Dad?" Charlotte asked trying to get his attention as he leaned against the airbag, the glass from his window broken and his seat and door slightly crushed inwards from the impact, "Dad!"

She was met with now response so she tried to move forward to grab him but was met with resistance around her leg. She moved once again before letting out a loud scream as the pain in her leg reached a new peak. She quickly looked down to see that the car had been pinched in on her side too. Her leg was trapped at an awkward angle between the crushed door and her seat. She couldn't move it. She was dangling from her leg and blood was starting to rush to her head. It wasn't a far space between her head the roof of the car, only a couple inches, but it was enough space to where Charlotte could place her hands on the ground to steady herself.

"Dad please wake up...m-my leg is stuck….dad?" she was still met with no response

Charlotte felt burning, hot tears well up in her eyes as she grew frustrated. There were small sounds now surrounding the car. Small murmurs of what sounded like people talking. How could they be talking when she was in so much pain, when her father was not replying? Shouldn't they be in pain for the family, shouldn't they be trying to help her instead of just talking? There were also the birds, scavengers, circling around above the car that had come to the scene as if to pick at the young girl's dead body, but she refused to die. This was not the picture perfect scenario of her death which she envisioned. The blond girl had planned everything in her life to be perfect and any disturbance to that was unacceptable.

"Hello….can anyone hear me?" A voice called from the windows but the girl's awkward angle made it so that Charlotte couldn't see the man's face

She didn't want to respond, she didn't know this man and she certainly didn't trust him, but she looked to her father and decided, "yes...I can hear you.. my leg is stuck and my dad is asleep"

The shadowed figure repeated this information back as if he was mocking began to grow he moved to her window seeming to grow in inches as he stepped on something.

"The car is pushed against this tree...I can only pull the door open a little" the man said again before there was a sound of wood snapping as her side of the door moved slightly, further crushing her leg.

Charlotte could see the tree partly coming through her side of the door as it push against her leg. She placed her hand on her knee and gave a tug on her leg but stopped when she saw blood and let out a pained cry.

"Hey there's a little girl in there!" a new voice said from beside the shadowed figure and the door began to be pulled again

"STOP...MY LEG" Charlotte screamed as she felt a snap in her leg from the pressure of the tree being pushed against her leg from the car door opening

Sirens could now be heard in the background and Charlotte was starting to lose consciousness from the blood rush. Footsteps rushed to the car and loud voice towered over each other. Her father's door was snatched open and hands began to peel him out of the car. Still he didn't move but Charlotte could see smeared blood across the side of his face.

"Dad!" Charlotte screamed as her father's body disappeared, replaced by a woman in a fire fighters uniform

"Hi princess"

"Don't call me that...only my dad calls me that. Is he going to be ok?"

"My friends out there will do everything in their power to help him and my job is to help you so first I need you to hold on to this seat and prop yourself up. That way the blood stops rushing to your head"

Charlotte did as she was told holding her body up by the chair so she was no longer hanging, but she could only partly see the woman's face anymore, "My..leg..it's stuck against the door"

"I see...I think we can get you out of here. The tree is holding the door shut and the metal of the car is wrapped around your leg. If we can cut the tree...we can get your leg free" The woman explained as she leaned forward and examined the girl's leg before pulling out of the car and repeating this somewhere outside the car

"Wait!" Charlotte called after the woman, not wanting to be alone. Once she returned Charlotte said, "Don't leave me here"

"I'm not, I'm going to stay right here and talk to you while my friends get you out of here" She said with a smile, she was a dark skinned woman with long hair and bright red lipstick, "My name is jacqueline...what's yours?"

"C-Charlotte"

"How old are you?"

"Nine"

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes….three younger...ahhh" Charlotte let out a cry of pain, causing the men outside cutting the tree to stop

"What's wrong Charlotte?"

"My leg, it feels like something is pulling it" She said with tears now flowing down her face, "It hurts please stop"

"Jac...I think a piece of the wood might be inside her leg" a man said from outside the car, "the way it's split...it looks like a chunk tore straight through the car and is in her leg"

Charlotte cried out in pain again causing Jacqueline to surge forward and say, "Ok...cut off the piece where it pierces the car" The man disappeared again and footsteps came and went, "Charlotte...you were telling me about your siblings"

"I...uh..I can't..I can't"

"Charlotte look at me...it's going to be ok alright...you said you have three younger siblings right? Tell me about them"

Charlotte shut her eyes tight, ignoring the pain as they power sawed the piece of wood from the other side of the car, "Sasha….Bayley...and...and Becky...those are their names"

"That's good...and what about your mom?"

There was a silence as the saw was finished but she could still feel the wood that was in her leg and cutting through the door. Through the opposite side of the car where there was a hole Charlotte could see people with their phones recording and starring with shocked looks. Each pair of eyes pouring into her soul, judging her, her father for driving, the truck wherever it was that hit them. She wasn't sure, but she was sure about one thing...these people were not here to help. They wanted a show, they wanted her to cry and they wanted something to post and talk about with their families on the way home. 'Oh honey, I just saw the most awful thing' 'you wouldn't believe the traffic to get here' 'poor girl, her father should have been more careful'. Charlotte felt tears in her eyes as she began to cry, letting out piercing sobs that filled the silence of car. Where was her father, he would surely be blamed for whatever happened right? That's how it worked, he was driving so he'll get in trouble?

"Charlotte...sweetie-"

"Where is my dad?"

"He's being taken to the hospital to get some help, and we will take you there as soon as we get you free"

Charlotte's arms felt weak and she let go causing her body to fall forward back into a hanging position. She let her head roll to the side to look at the people before she murmured something to the firefighter, "Please tell them to stop"

"What?"

"Tell them to stop recording" at this Jacqueline looked out to see the crowd of people that were around the car, each with a phone raised towards the girl, "Please"

Jacqueline nodded before turning her head out of the car and calling to someone, telling them to clear out everyone, "There...everyone's going to leave but I need you to hold up your body, you can't let the blood rush to your head"

"I can't"

"I know that it hurts but it's only for a little bit longer.."

There was a small tug on the piece of wood in her leg causing Charlotte to groan before a man reappeared, "We have to peel the door away...we need you to hold her leg and pull the piece the wood from the door so we can free her"

Jacqueline nodded and reached out for Charlotte's hand, trying to get her attention, "Charlotte sweetie I'm going to hold on to your leg while they pull off the door okay…"

Charlotte didn't understand, none of what they were doing made sense and she just wanted her dad. She knew that was a first but she actually wanted him here. She wanted him to comfort her and for him to be okay. She would never forgive herself if he wasn't….she was the reason why they were driving at the time. If she had stayed at her appointment like she was supposed to then maybe this wouldn't have happened. The sound of metal brought Charlotte out of her quickly darkening thoughts as Jacqueline stood over her holding her leg and the wood still.

"Don't worry Charlotte everything going to be ok"

The door was removed from the car and Jacqueline pulled the wood out of the hole in door causing Charlotte's body to fall. The older woman quickly caught the girl and carried her outside, placing her on a stretcher that was waiting for her. She was strapped down and placed in the back of the ambulance.

"They're going to take you to the hospital now and make sure everything is ok alright?" Jacqueline said earning a nod from Charlotte before the ambulance doors was slammed shut and the car began to move.

"She's bleeding"

"We can't remove the wood, we don't know if it's pierced the tibial artery"

"We need to stop the bleeding"

Charlotte's head began to throb from the talking, the lights in the truck, and from the blood rush. She felt dizzy, but tried to focus on her dad and her sisters and her mom. However the more she thought the more she wanted to cry. She hated the thought of how her family would react to her injuries, she didn't even know what injuries she had. Obviously her leg, but her hand was cut on glass and there are plenty of cuts and scrapes on her face.

"Hey sweetie I need you to stay awake for us ok?" a man said

Charlotte hadn't even noticed her eyes were closing but once he said that they immediately felt even heavier. She felt a hand on her face as a tall pale woman checked her cuts. She said none were too deep to where they required stitched but there was some bruises along her arms that would need time to heal.

"Hey...talk to me...sweetie..I need you talking and awake...we don't know if you have a concussion or not"

"I don't" Charlotte mumbled as she tried to turn her head to the side, trying to block out the light but was stopped when the woman grabbed her face and shined a light into her eyes. This caused the girl to pull back and flinch at the harshness of the light but it only sent a jerk of oain down to her leg, "I don't have a concussion"

The light was pulled away from her eyes and she let them close as the adults around her carried on talking. Charlotte let her mind go back to her family, how would they know that she was at the hospital? Now thinking about it, she hated the hospital, bad things happened there, that where she woke up after her father killed her siblings. It was also were he threatened to do the same thing to her. The only good thing was that Stephanie and Hunter had been at that exact same hospital the day that she was.

Flashback

Charlotte's head was pounding as she laid in the hospital bed. The sound of monitors beeping and nurses and doctors running around filled her head, making the pounding worse, but the loudest thing was screaming. As Charlotte slowly opened her eyes she saw pale, rough hands grabbing at her throat. Her father stood over her, his face red and his white blond hair drenched in sweat as he was being pulled away by three police officers. He wore a dark blue suit that was disheveled and a white collared shirt which was stained red and had been half unbuttoned. The beeping from her heart monitor raced to a new beat as she sat up in the bed and clutch onto the blanket that was now red from having been touched by her father's blood covered hands.

"I will kill you...I swear to God..I will kill you" he shouted, "Just like the others…..just like Reid…" he shouted with burning, blue eyes, the same blue eyes that she had. How could this man...this monster be her father? How could they share the same DNA? Surely if they did then she was doomed to be just like him. They were the same, science said so, which means that she held the same burning anger that he did, right?

Charlotte's eyes widened at that, she couldn't kill anyone like he did. Wait, did he...he was covered in blood and he said he had but Charlotte couldn't remember anything, everything was blank. Has he really killed her siblings, were they in the hospital too, if they were...where were they? Her father broke loose for a split second as he was dragged to the door, allowing him to surge forward and rip at the young girl. However he only managed to snatch away the girl's blanket leaving her cold and feeling vulnerable to him as she had been some many nights before.

The head doctor rushed in and barked for the police to take her father away and as they did so her father's word rang clearly through her head, "You can never escape me...you will be next...I will kill you….I will haunt your every nightmare...your every waking moment will be filled with thoughts of me until you beg me to kill you"

Charlotte pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face as tears openly flowed down her face. Her father continued to repeat all of this as he was pulled out and dragged down the hall. Eventually the only thing she could hear where the mumblings of nurses and the fast beating pace of her heart monitor. After a few minutes Charlotte had calmed down and was tended to by doctors for half an hour before the clicking of thousand dollar heels filled the halls coming up to her door, revealing the tall brunette that Charlotte knew as her step mother. The woman had been away on a business trip in Bora Bora, but Charlotte's older brother had said that that really meant she was off screwing her first husband that she cheated on with dad year before. Charlotte never understood this and didn't care to, she hated this woman, simply because she knew that the woman hated her back.

"Ashley darling, how are you feeling?"

"Nobody calls me that" she said, wanting to scream it at her step mom knowing that this was the millionth time that she had said this, but her pounding head was killing her.

"I'm sorry who are you?" A nurse said after sensing the tension between the two

"I'm her step mother, Wendy, and I would like to know what is happening to Ash...Charlotte" She said as she removed the pair of shades that she wore and dusted off imaginary dust from her skin tight leather dress.

"Why don't we step out and let the little one rest while we talk" Doctor Bost said before ushering the woman out into the hall leaving Charlotte and a nurse in the room.

"What did you say your name was...I can't remember" Charlotte said to the nurse who was exchanging her blankets

"Thats alright, you might have a concussion so it may be difficult to remember things" she said politely, she had wild red hair, tanned skin and the edge of a tattoo was peaking out of the sleeve of her uniform, "My name is Lita, now...would you like something to eat?"

"No"

"Alright..something to drink?"

"no"

"How about just somebody to talk to?"

"N-...uh" Charlotte thought for a second, she didn't need someone to talk to. She wanted someone to explain everything to her, "Can you just tell me...what happened? What happened with my family?"

The nurse frowned as she placed the new blanket over the girl, "Well nothing is broken...you have some bruising around your collarbone and some on your face that should all heal. You have a concussion like I said early but that will get better even-"

"Not..not that...what happened..how did...why am I here? My father..he said that he killed my brother..my siblings. Was he tell the truth?"

Lita paused and thought for a second, "Yes...I'm sorry sweetie but your father had a mental breakdown and he...he attacked you and your siblings"

"How…"

"I don't think that I should be telling you all of this. I think your step mother should tell you everything else that you need to know" Lita said sadly before apologizing and leaving the room just as Wendy walked in.

"Ashley dear how are you feeling?" Charlotte stared off blankly still processing the idea of her siblings being dead, ignoring the fact that her step mother continued to call her by her first name, which she hated, "We'll have to get you out of those nasty old gowns and get you back into our house, maybe even get a new one. A bigger one, once the money kicks in of course"

"Tell me what happened" Charlotte said, with anger growing in her voice, she just wanted to know all of the details. She wanted someone to just tell her what she was missing. How did her father attack them? Were they all dead? How did she survive?

Wendy had begun to pace as she thought about the money and was so lost in thought that she completely ignored Charlotte's question. She had long awaited the mental break of the millionaire, politician so she could get his money and now it finally happened. However the only problem was Charlotte, the money was technically hers but since she was too young her legal adult would be in possession of the money in order to provide for her.

"Didn't you hear me I said tell me what happened!" Charlotte snapped at the woman causing her to spin around sharply and look at the girl, "I want to know what happened"

"Your father went off the deep end, he killed all of you siblings...well almost all of them and I see he failed to do the same to you." Wendy said in a sharp tone causing Charlotte to bite her lip and pull away from the woman in fear

"What do you mean almost?"

" Your sister Megan...she's in critical condition but she'll die soon. So there's no point in us wasting our time with her. You on the other hand are perfectly fine so you're going to stop acting like you're hurt and tell the doctors that you are fine so we can leave"

Charlotte's mind began to race and her heart pumped blood into her ears blocking out any other sound. How dare this woman say that to her, how dare she not value her older sister's life.

"I want to see her…"

"No"

"Why?"

"Because she's in critical...no visitors, besides, i already told you...she is a loss cause. Now once the doctor gets back in here what are you going to tell him?" Wendy egged on in a cold, unfeeling tone, "That you're fine"

"But I'm not fine….the lady said I have a concussion and my neck hurts"

"You are overreacting, you fell out a window...not off a cliff. You are fine" the woman groaned, giving an annoyed face

"I went through a window?"

Wendy went to say something but quickly changed her mind once a doctor walked in, "Oh thank goodness you're here...uh...Charlotte has something to say"

"You do Charlotte?"

"Uh..yeah" The young girl saw her stepmother's harsh glare from over the doctor's shoulder, "my neck also kind of hurts…"

"Well then we can get some x-rays on that. I don't think it should be anything too serious, just a possible strain and of course some soreness from your fall" the doctor said before flashing a smile and turning to the brunette woman, "Oh and for you….some police and people from social services want to talk to you"

Wendy gave a shocked look but wiped it away and place her shades back over her eyes and walked out with the doctor, leaving Charlotte to herself. After twenty minutes of waiting, Charlotte began to grow anxious, she had no idea what was going to happen to her. What was going to happen to her father? Was she going to have to live with that monster of a stepmom?

After a couple more minutes went by Charlotte pulled the blanket away from her and swung her leg to the side. She took notice of the small cuts that ran along then and a few stitches were just above her knee. The young girl pushed herself up and wobbled a bit on unsteady legs before managing to walk to a mirror that was on the wall by the door.

She could see the redness in her face, along with a long cut across her cheek which was closed by what looked like eight was also a dark rim under her right eye and another cut along the top corner of her hairline where blood caked together. Charlotte ran her finger along each cut, recoiling in pain when she touched her bruised eye. She then pulled at the collar of her hospital gown revealing bruised marks along her neck. Some looked to be left by hands while another was a harsh slash across her collar bone.

"Where were at the time of this attack?"

"Work"

"A woman married to a rich politician working? Why?"

"I like to work, it keeps me busy"

Charlotte could hear her stepmother answering questions from the door of the hospital room.

"Did you know of Ric's issues with mental illness?"

"...yes"

"Did he ever make any threats to you or the kids before….did he ever get violent with you all?"

Charlotte's eyes began to water and tears rolled freely down her face, but she kept silent. She didn't know why she was crying, she just felt the need to, but more than anything she felt the need to leave. She wanted to get out of this room, to get out of this hospital. Charlotte peeked her head around the doorway to see the grown ups talking around the corner. The hospital room was at the very end of the hall with an empty space around the right corner and a long hallway of rooms on the left side. She thought for a second before making a quick dash to the left and down the hall. Well it wasn't that quick because of the soreness in her body but the cops didn't notice her.

There were a lot of people in the rooms, some with family members standing close by, other along watching TV or sleeping. Charlotte wished her siblings were here, she wanted her family to stand around her and comfort her now. She didn't want to be left with the uncaring woman that her father had decided to marry not long after her real mother gave birth to Reid.

"Yes babe, I'll be home soon, it's not that bad...just a few scratches" Charlotte could hear a man say into a phone in the room to her left, "Yes..ok tell your sister not to worry so much"

"Sister" Charlotte muttered to herself before quickly remembering that her older sister was here somewhere.

The girl quickly moved down the rest of the hall before coming to a large intersection where people moved around quickly. Each passing by her without a second glance. There were large signs along the walls saying where everything was but Charlotte's head was pounding and she couldn't make out the words. There was a large reception desk down the right side of the hallway, double doors to the left and another long hallway of rooms straight ahead.

Charlotte went to the left and headed through the double doors to where she was met with a long and wide hallway that held multiple rooms on either side. However these were operating rooms instead of rooms for healing patients. Charlotte walked up to one door on her right and stood up on the tip of her toes in order to peer through the window. There were three people standing over a man who's chest they were cutting open, Charlotte fell back onto her heels and pulled away from the door. She couldn't remember what her stepmother had said about where her sister was but that didn't stop her from wandering further down the hall. She check in every room under she came to and set of stairs at the end of the hall, there was a large sign to the right of it but the words were blurry to her so she ignored it and kept pushing on.

Once again on the next flight there was a long hallway, some rooms held sick people, others from car accidents, and even some that looked to be perfectly fine on the outside. There was a little boy whose father played guitar for him as he layed in the hospital bed with his ribs wrapped and Charlotte felt drawn to this. She stood with her back to the wall beside their open room and listened to the man sing, until she felt her body feel heavy. He sang a song that she didn't know, it told a story of family and love and Charlotte knew it was meant to calm the boy but it only made Charlotte feel sad. She wanted her family..she wanted her brothers to argue like they always did and she wanted her sister to come and braid her hair like she always did when either girl was nervous. Her sister….Charlotte pushed herself from the wall and headed down the hall again, searching room after room until she finally looked into on where there was a blond girl with tubes spilling from her body and doctors standing around her.

"Her father did this?"

"Yes"

"Any others?"

"A little girl on another floor...she made it...their other siblings I don't believe did"

"Do you think she will?"

"It's up to her body to pull through….she's in a coma now…"

Charlotte leaned closer into the door, the doctors had their backs to her but she could see her sister's solemn face laying still on the bed. One doctor made to say something else before his pager buzzed and he motioned for the other doctor to follow him causing Charlotte to spring into action and hide behind a cart of supplies that was in the hall. Once the doctors passed the young girl looked both ways before heading into her sister's room. She slowly walked around the bed, never taking her eyes off of her sister before she sat down in a chair that was pulled up beside the bed.

"Hi..megan" Charlotte whispered not daring to speak to loud in case she woke her sister, "I know you're sleeping but...I really wanted to see you"

The beeping of her sister's heart monitor filled the young girl's silence before she began talking again, "They...they said that David and Reid were gone….that..that they died like your mom"

"I don't know if they told you too, but I thought you should know…."Charlotte looked around the hospital room, it felt cold and lonely. She grabbed her sister's hand slightly, fiddling with the hospital wristband around her arm, "Look...I have one too...were like twins...Charlotte and Megan flair"

Charlotte trailed off as she said their last names, Flair. Like their dad, "They said that dad did this….I don't really remember all that..but he tried to get me earlier in here. Did he try to get you too?"

There was silence, "I'll just ask you when you wake up….cause you will wake up..right? You won't leave me right?" Charlotte felt tears roll down her face as she pushed herself up from the chair forcefully and began shaking her sister, "You're gonna wake up okay….p-please….I need you Megan….I-I..I don't want to be alone."

Charlotte let out a sob as she shook her sister more forcefully yelling for the girl to wake up as she leaned on the edge of her bed. There was a sharp skip in the heart monitor that took Charlotte's attention from her sister, she stared at the monitor as it went back to normal, but she saw it. She saw the skip, it wasn't good….her sister was dying, "p-please Meg..you have to wake up right now...I don't want you to go with David...you always go with David. You alway chose him over me, please….stay with me this time."

There was another skip, a pause in the older girl's heart that lasted longer than it should have causing Charlotte to sob out louder, choking and gasping for air as she cried, "Please"

The monitor gave a loud noise before it flatlined causing Charlotte to pull away from her sister immediately and fall back into the chair. There were running footsteps and yelling coming from the down the hall causing Charlotte's head to hurt as visions of her father screaming rushed through her head. The young girl held her head in both hands before rushing out of the room and around a corner where she sat with her back to the wall. Her head began pounding, yelling and beeping filling the space between her ears as she let more tears fall from her eyes. This was all her fault, her sister left. No, she chose to leave, because she didn't want to stay with her. Why? Was she not good enough, that had to be it, she wasn't perfect...like David was...David was the oldest and the best at everything, he was who Megan looked up to not Charlotte. She wasn't perfect enough for her sister to stay. She wasn't perfect enough for her brothers to stay. She wasn't even perfect enough for her own mother to stay. But her father...he wasn't perfect either, they were the same, both imperfect.

Charlotte couldn't think about this anymore, she got up from the ground and wiped her eyes before walking. Her head was still pounding and the ground was swaying slightly causing her to stumble as she continued walking as far away from her sister's room as possible. FInally after some time the girl stops and leaned her head against the cold wall in a hall letting tears roll down her face. She hated this, this hospital. She hated her life. She hated her father. She hated her sister. She hated herself.

"Hello" a voice called out from behind Charlotte causing her to turn around and see a small looked to be around her little brother's age, "my names Bayley...I'm four"

The girl held a big smile and one ponytail in her head with a bright pink headband. She swayed on her feet slightly as she looked at Charlotte with an innocent look but Charlotte said nothing back to the girl.

"What's your name? Are you okay? You look sad...are you sad? Where's your mommy and daddy? My mom and dad are in there" the girl pointed to a hospital room two doors down but Charlotte continued to say nothing as blood rushed around in her head and age began to feel light headed. Her eyes began to drop slightly as she tried to keep blinking to make them stay open. However she was in a losing battle as she felt all of her energy leave her and her eyes fell closed as her body began crashing the floor.

When the girl woke up she was surrounded by four people, her stepmother, the young girl she had met earlier and a couple that seemed to stare at her with more worry than her stepmother had ever shown. The man was tall and had a beard, he wore a plain white shirt and jeans and his arm was in a cast. While the woman wore a blue jean, dress shirt and tan leggings with her hair up in a ponytail.

"Ah..Charlotte, you're awake, you shouldn't have wandered off...you're very lucky that this family found you when they did"

"Hello..my name is Stephanie and this is my husband Hunter"

A/n: make sure to review and favorite or follow this story so you can get alerts for new chapters.