Mine // Carl Gallagher

Chapter 10

Carl and Sophia stood in front of her house, slightly hesitant to go in. She slowly creeped up to the patio and looked inside the window to see if anyone was inside. It looked empty. She started to open the front door to go in when Carl suddenly pulled her back and whispered, "Are you crazy? We can't go through the front. It's safest to take the window." Sophia sighed, "But it looks like nobody's home." "Yeah, it looks like no one is home, but we don't know that for sure. Come on, use your head babe. Let's go around back." Sophia groaned as she followed Carl, hopping the fence and sneaking into her backyard. He looked up at her bedroom window that was on the second story, "Dammit how are we suppose to get up there? Please tell me you have a latter." Sophia nodded and opened the small shed, "There's one in here but I can't lift it." Carl walked over to her and picked up the latter for her, then sat it on the ground beneath her window. He said, "Okay I'll go in first just to make sure everything is clear. Stay right behind me." Sophia agreed and followed him as he climbed up the latter and climbed into her room through the window.
He looked around and whispered, "It's clear. Come on." She then climbed into her room and went straight to her closet, grabbing a duffle bag and shoving in random clothes and shoes. Carl helped her out by grabbing things she would definitely need like her toothbrush and toothpaste. As the two were desperately taking and throwing things into a bag, Sophia suddenly froze in place when she heard the sound of the wooden floors boards creak in the hallway. Carl whispered, "Why'd you stop? We gotta hurry and get out of here." She shushed him and barely whispered back, "Shh, did you hear that? I heard the floor creak in the hall." Carl stopped what he was doing and slowly pulled his gun out of his back pocket, making Sophia extremely anxious about what would happen next. He very quietly and slowly opened her bedroom door, peaking through the crack to see if anyone was in the hallway. Nothing. He sighed and said, "I heard it, too, but I don't see anyone. Let's just get out of here."
Sophia trusted him that they were okay so she zipped up her duffle bag and they headed toward the window. Just as they were about to climb out, the bedroom door bursted open and her mother screamed her slurred words, "What're ya doin here?! You bitch, you left the house and didn't come home *hiccup* last night when I *hiccup* specifically grounded you and said you couldn't leave the house! I'm gonna kill you!" Melissa then looked over and saw Carl, who had his gun tightly gripped in his hand, "Who're you? Get outta my house!" She ran at them with a knife as they quickly climbed down the latter as Carl yelled, "Go, go, go!" They made it just in time and ran for their lives back to his house.
Carl and Sophia ran straight into his house and he slammed the door shut, immediately locking it. The two of them were out of breath as he leaned against the door, "Goddamn she's crazy! You weren't kidding. I can see why you can't stay there anymore." Sophia let out a small laugh, "Yeah that's what I've been living with for the past 16 years." She let out a deep breath and the two of them headed up to his bedroom, she dropped her duffle bag of belongings on the floor then laid down on his bed. There was a short silence before she sat up and asked, "Where's your family? They haven't been here all day." He sat next to her, "Frank is out of town for a couple weeks, Fiona has been at work all day but she'll be home in time for dinner, and my siblings have been at school but after school they always go to the pool so I bet they're there right now. They'll all be home later." Sophia nodded, "What if they don't like me? I mean I don't even know them. What if they don't want another person living in their house? I mean it seems a bit hectic and crowded here. I'm just really nervous." Carl stared off into space because he didn't even think about all that but he responded confidently, "Come on, stop worrying! They're really cool people. They'll understand your situation, they'll like you, and they'll totally let you live here. It'll be nice to have a new member of the family. Besides, there's no way they'd want you to go back to living in your house anyway." Sophia gave him a small smile, "If you say so."
The sound of multiple people entering the house filled their ears. Carl smiled and stood up, "Speaking of which, it sounds like my siblings just got back. Let's go downstairs so you can meet them." Sophia slowly and hesitantly stood up, following him down the stairs. They entered the living room and saw Debbie laying down on the couch watching TV, just as she was last time Sophia saw her, and two older boys were at the kitchen table doing homework. No one even looked up from what they were doing when the two of them walked into the room, like they didn't care at all. Carl scoffed, "Wow hello to you, too. Guys this is Sophia." Debbie looked behind her to look at the two of them and she said, "Hey you're the cryin' girl I saw yesterday." Sophia gave her an awkward smile, "Yup..."
Carl and Sophia then walked over to the kitchen table so he could introduce her to his brothers, "Guys come on. Be nice." The boys put down their pencils, sighed in annoyance, and just stared at Sophia, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. One of them said, "Hey, I'm Ian. Nice to meet you. Uh, you're a friend of Carl's? I've never seen you before." "Um yeah. We're good friends," said Sophia, hoping that it wouldn't be weird for her to say that when she only had known Carl for a few days. Ian nodded and went back to doing his math homework when the other brother spoke up, "Oh cool. I'm Lip, by the way." Sophia couldn't help but mentally laugh at his name. She gave him a smile, trying to be friendly, and said, "Cool.. I'm Sophia Carter." The two boys smiled at her and went back to doing their work. Ian took a drink of water but spit it out immediately when Carl awkwardly said, "So... guys, she's moving in with us." Lip's eyes were wide and Ian wiped his mouth, "What? What are you talking about?" They didn't seem mad, just really confused. The two brothers listened carefully for an explaination and Carl responded, "She's been living in a really dangerous and unstable home. Her parents are just terrible and she can't keep staying with them you guys. You guys should understand, we've been through shit, too." Lip looked between Carl and Sophia as if trying to figure something out, "Wait, okay, so does Fiona know? Do her parents know? Where the hell is she going to sleep?"
          Carl sighed, "Fiona doesn't know but I'll tell her when she gets back from work. She'll be fine with it. Sophia's parents don't know and they won't find out because I don't need them coming after her. And she can sleep with me in my room since there's no other space." The brothers sighed in defeat. Ian said, "Alright then. Well, I'm okay with it. I don't care who lives here as long as she doesn't become a problem." Lip nodded in agreement with Ian and Sophia took a breath of relief. Debbie then spoke from the couch, "Yeah I'm okay with it, too. It'll be fun to finally have a girl around here who's my age." Sophia smiled at Debbie. She was so excited to have a brand new family who seemed amazing, but who would also be her new friends. She could tell that life from now on would be great. Now all she needed was to meet Fiona and get her approval since she apparently ran the house.

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