☁️Little Charlie☁️

CH 20// Clouds

A/N Hey yall! sorry for the delay ^^' Lifes been hectic the past few weeks. But I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. Anywho, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

*****

When the police arrived at Charlies house, two of them went up to the front door and knocked. Meanwhile, a third officer started to make his way around back incase the suspected abuser tried to make a run for it out the back door. David saw the police cars coming from five blocks away from his window. He didn't answer the door, but he didn't try to run away either. Instead, It was Charlie who darted out the back. He knew that if he stayed, he would be taken away to an unfamiliar place full of strangers, either an orphanage or some foster home. He couldn't bare that sort of change, even if it did mean being taken away from the monster.

He didn't make it far, only a few feet away from his small backyard. The overwhelming pain in his sides and stomach brought him to his knees in agony. He suddenly felt it almost impossible to breath. The officer quickly caught up to him and waited beside him until paramedics took him out on a stretchor to an ambulance.

At the hospital, they did an MRI on him to make sure there was no internal bleeding. Luckily for him there wasn't but after an X-Ray was done it was shown that he had fractured two ribs on his left side. Surgery wouldn't be needed as it was minor enough to heal on it's own.

Alex was furious when he found out through Charlie's texts.

'And you're sure there wasn't any internal bleeding right?!' Alex texted.

'Yes'

'Good. That bastard better rot in prison! I can't beleive he did this!'

'Alex...'

'Yeah?'

'I'm probably never ganna see you again after this.'

Alex's heart skipped a beat.

'Charlie, sure we'll see eachother. I'm sure CPS will take you to a foster home here in town. And if not..I'm sure my mom would probably drive me over for a visit :)'

Charlie couldn't respond. He didn't plan on going with CPS.

He sighed and turned his phone off and put it in his pocket. He shifted in his hospital bed and looked out the window until he heard a knock on the door.

"Hey there champ" A man with curly red hair greeted him. The man walked up to Charlies bed side holding a clipboard. "My names Mark, I work with CPS. I'm just going to ask you a few questions if thats alright?" Charlie nodded. Mark smiled and had a seat. "So, can you tell me your name?"
Charlie reached into his hoodie pocket and quickly wrote down a response.

'Charlie Adams Foster'

"Nice to meet you Charlie" Mark said flashing another smile. "Whens your birthday?"

'March 12th'

"Good" Mark said writting something down. "Do you like school?"

'No. But my friend makes it better'

"It's good to have friends"

The conversation went on like this for a few more minutes until Mark started to ask more serious questions.

"What happens when you get in trouble Charlie?" Charlie bit his lip and looked out the window. He stared up at the clouds for almost a minute. "Charlie?" Mark said. One of the clouds reminded Charlie of a dragon. Alex likes Dragons. He felt a hand on his shoulder and flinched. "Sorry" Mark said pulling his hand away. "I know this is hard Charlie...but your father isn't here right now. He can't hurt you". Charlie took a deep breath through his nose and shakily wrote something down.

'He hits me'

"Is that where you got that bruise?" Mark asked after reading the note. Charlie put a hand up to his cheeck and nodded again. "I heard you fractured some ribs. Did your Dad do that too?" Charlie's hands gripped onto the sheets. His eyes started to tear up but he nodded anyway. As Mark asked more questions, Charlie grew more and more distant from this world, until his mind was filled with clouds and he could imagine himself as a Dragon who could fly far away.

****

That night Charlie tossed and turned in his hospital bed. Carefully though, he didn't want to damage his ribs any more. Try as he might, he couldn't sleep. The sheets felt too tight, and the heart monitor was too loud. Soon he gave in to his restlessness and threw the tight sheets off of him. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. His bare feet touched the cold tiled floor, almost sending shivers up his spine. He stood up and walked out of the room to roam the halls.

His fingers traced over the walls as he walked. He glanced at all the paintings on the walls, avoiding eye contact with anyone who rushed by him. After getting bored of art on the wall he looked down at his feet and counted the floor tiles. He reached 116 before his neck started to hurt. He lifted his head up and tilted his head side to side to ease the tension.
Thats when he saw it.
Room 4 in the ICU.
The room where his mother died.