Brothers I Never Knew ✔

Chapter Twenty Four - Cold water

Unedited 

Cameron could feel her body tiring. The numbing cold of the water rising past her shoulders; the darkness around her leaving her sight useless; the sound of the water sloshing around as she tried her best to keep Arlo's head above water; the utter fear stemming from the helplessness that she was unable to do anything but wait.

Wait for her brothers to come.

Wait and hope.

Wait.

A low airy cough forced it way past her shivering lips. Her eyes felt sluggish, her tongue heavy in her mouth as she tried to dampen her lips. Her arm felt frozen around Arlo, the low temperature taking away the ache of her muscles of keeping her brother alive.

She hugged Arlo closer, small shivers running through his body. 

She just needed to wait a little longer.

They would come.

The oddness of knowing that she was standing, but not being able to feel her legs was something she had never experienced before. She wouldn't even know if anything floating around in the water had touched her. 

Mainly her fake parents' dead bodies.

Her slitted eyes closed, the pickle colour disappearing behind the pale lids. Her stiff fingers curled into a clenched fist around Arlo's jumper. That's what she hoped it was anyway.

A shallow breath left her as she tried to shut out the cold.

She pounded on the door, her school bag wet and heavy on her back.

"Mum? Dad? Are you home?" Pickle orbs glanced behind at the water droplets falling from the sky and bouncing along the street. The nine year old peeked her head back out into the rain, to see a light on in the living room window.

Her parents were in then.

She pounded her fist on the door again, leaving a red mark along the side of the palm in its wake. "Mum! Dad! I know you're there. Let me in."

The silence left frustration brewing in her gut. She lifted a leg up, booting the door with her wet, muddy trainers, the water soaking her socks. A sharp pain spread across her toes and up he r foot. Gasping, she grabbed her toes, hopping about wildly.

"Bad decision, bad decision." Her muttered words came out quiet, followed by a couple of curses she knew her parents would punish her for if they heard her. Thankfully, they didn't.

Once the pain of stubbing her toes had subsided, she stood unsure what to do. The ill-lit street filled with the worst rain storm of the winter season was something she did not want to go back out into, especially in just her school uniform and a holey coat. She had already tried to wait it out at the school but it only got worse.

A shiver ran through her body, from the tip of her toes, all the way to the top of her head. Her sorrow-filled gaze moved from the front door and back out to the street. Her parents weren't letting her in and she had no where else to go. It wasn't worth getting soaked again if she didn't know where she was heading.

A sigh and another glance around. 

She slid the weighty bag of her aching shoulders, dropping it onto the porch. The splat of it hitting the porch made her wince.

Another sigh. 

She brushed the dull, moist hair out of her face, leaving it to stick in all directions. 

Following her bag to the floor, she shuffled back so she was against the door.

She was stuck on this porch, with no where to go and no one to help. The biting cold easily made its way to her skin through her wet shirt.