☁️Little Charlie☁️

CH 40 // Court

"Alex, Charlie! Mia's here!" Heather's voice shouted from the livingroom. Charlie jumped awake and looked over to Alex who was still sound asleep. He must have been a heavy sleeper. He lightly shook his shoulder

"Hm?" Alex said sleepily. "Oh, hi cutie" he said grinning at Charlie. "I was dreaming that you and I were having a party with pinkie...and Fluttershy was there..." he let out a yawn and started to lay back down.

"Boys!" Heather called again. Alex quickly sat up.

"Coming!" He shouted back. He crawled out of bed and the two boys made their way into the livingroom.

"Hey Charlie" Mia greeted. "You ready to go? We have to be at the Trial in two hours". Charlie hands tightened into small fists. He gave a hesitant nod.

"Uh I think Charlie left a few things in my room" Alex said. He had noticed that Charlie had tensed up and wanted to quickly reassure him that it was goingto be fine. "One sec" He said before dragging Charlie to the bedroom. As soon as they were in the doorway he pulled him in for a hug.
"You'll be okay" He spoke softly. "You can do this".

Charlie took a deep breath.
"Okay" He whispered. Alex gave him a kiss for encouragment, then they headed back.

"Got everything?" Mia asked.

"Mm-hm" Charlie replied. He hugged Alex goodbye before walking out the door and heading to the car.

"I let them know ahead of time that you have selective mutism" Mia said as she drove. "So you don't have to worry about speaking. It will be perfectly okay for you to jusy sign as they have a translator for that. Or you can write".

Charlie nodded and let out a sigh. That was one weight lifted off his chest. He was still worried about it though. He was going to be asked dumb questions that would remind him of what it was like living in hell. He had been trying so hard to just forget. To not think about it. To distract himself. And now he wouldn't be able to escape from the tourmant of his mind.

***************

The Hearing was just as awful as Charlie expected. It started out with simple questions like his name, date of birth, stuff like that. But it quickly advanced to asking if his Dad had hurt him. As soon as they asked that, flashbacks came flooding back to Charlie. A deep pit of dread had reappeared within him. After long moments of no reply, they asked him again. He finally gave them a small nod as tears ran down his cheecks.

It only got worse from there. They started asking things like how long it had been going on, what bones did he break when he went to the hospital, was he neglected, could he confirm that the bruises in the pictures were a result from his Father hurting him.
It all buzzed in his head. He wanted to cry. Scream. Tell them to stop. He wanted it all to stop.

He showed no signs of his struggle though. He didn't move, aside from his hands when he signed and when he had to wipe away his tears.

It seemed like hours before they were done. He could finally go home. He felt differnt when he came back out of those court doors though. He felt an all too familar emptiness within him.

The next day Mia had asked him if he wanted to see a therapist. She explained to him that she found one nearby. She said that she truly felt that it could help him. Despite her best efforts In trying to convince him however, he refused. He didn't feel like sharing his past with some stranger. He didn't want to talk about his trauma when all he wanted to do was just forget. When Mia tried to ask him again, he felt like exploding. So he fled upstairs to his room and refused to come out until the next morning, Sunday.

"Hey Charlie" Mia said in a soft tone as he made his way down the stairs. "Are you hungry? You havn't eaten since yesturday morning" She said.
Charlie shook his head. He lept his gaze down at the floor. His movements were slugish, as if he hadn't slept well the night before. "Are you sure?" Mia asked concerned. He nodded and had a seat on the couch. She sighed and had a seat by him. "I think we should talk". She said. "I know it wasn't easy what you did yesturday." Charlie felt himself tense up. "It's not easy bringing up our past. You did very well though, and I want to say that I'm really proud of you. But.." She paused for a moment. "I'm concerned that you're bottling up your feelings. Or trying to avoid them all together, and that's not healthy". She said. "Now, I don't want to pressure you at all into seeing a therapist, thats your choice. But please do think it over. I promise you It can help". Reluctantly, Charlie nodded, promising that he'll atleast think about it.