[Edited 11/26]
Sharna's POV
Screams filled my house. I shot up out of bed and ran to where Brooklyn was in bed. Her face was pale with tears streaming down her face. Shrieks and screams filled her room. I got into her bed and pulled her in, calming her down with shushes in her ears. Her breathing was irregular and she wouldn't stop shaking. I heard Val walk and in sit down on the other side of Brooklyn. He started to comfort her, her crying subsided and so did her shaking. I noticed Val looking at me with concern covering his face. I just sighed in confusion.
"Val baby, go back to bed, I'll stay with her" I whispered to him. He planted a kiss on my head a left us two. I picked Brooklyn up and carried her back to bed. I climbed in after her and pulled the covers up on to us.
"Brooklyn, what happened?" I whispered
"I saw them, Sharna. They were coming after me. They wanted to kill me, blaming me for everything when it was their fault. They've already ruined my life, my body is forever scarred from what they did" Brooklyn screams as she shows me the scars on her body.
"Oh, baby girl. I'm so sorry. I've got you now, nobody will hurt you. I have you. Everything will be ok, lie down, try and get some sleep. I'm not going anywhere, trust me." I said pulling her close. She leaned into my body as I gently rocked her to sleep. I placed a kiss on her head and watched her fall asleep. I wanted her to feel safe in my arms. I could feel this being a long night. I looked down and saw Brooklyn fast asleep. I tried to get comfy without disturbing Brooklyn and laid there trying to fall asleep.
Hours Later....
I woke with Val shaking me. I opened my eyes and I saw Brooklyn there, sitting and staring at me.
"Good morning Sharna, you need to get up now or else you'll be late to rehearsal," Brooklyn said smiling at me.
"Morning baby, pancakes are downstairs!" Val said kissing my head. "Brooklyn head downstairs and eat, we will be there soon," he said smiling.
"How'd you sleep, baby?" I asked Val, yawning.
"I slept ok, I kept waking up,m hearing her screams in my head. I kept coming to check on you two. What are we going to do Sharna?"
"I slept the same as you. I was worried sick all night. Maybe we can see if her nightmares subside over the next few nights? I don't feel like we can hand her over to anyone until then" I said sighing. Val nodded in agreement. He held my hand and pulled me up to go and eat some food before rehearsals.
Me, Val and Brooklyn all ate and went to get ready for the day. Val went in the shower and I decided what to wear. I pulled on some black leggings and a pink work out shirt. Last night we washed Brooklyn's clothes she had on. I gave her the clothes and she turned her face upside down.
"Whats wrong princess?" I frowned.
"These clothes. They have bad memories, Sharna. Can we burn them?" She said with anger in her voice
"Baby girl we can't do that! We will go and get you new clothes today after rehearsal, that will be best. For now, wear one of my t-shirts as a dress. That will look better than nothing ay?" I giggled. She laughed back at my answer. I quickly got her changed just before Val walked out of the bathroom. We swapped and we got clean for the day. Brooklyn and I didn't bother with showers. We would have one later. I checked the time, it was 8:50, we had 10 mins to get to rehearsal.
"Brooklyn we need to go, come on," I said grabbing her hand and running to the car. On the way, I grabbed my bag, shoes, keys and Val. He laughed at my urgency until he realised what the time was himself. We all scrambled into the car and off we went.
Thank god traffic wasn't so bad or else we would have been so late but luckily we got there with moments to spare. I got all my stuff and Brooklyn and walked into the studio. We had opening number rehearsals all day again, so we went to Studio A to see everyone. When we walked in everyone stopped talking, they all looked at is like we were aliens. Brooklyn got shy and went and hid behind my legs.
"Wow guys thanks for making us look like aliens," I said laughing.
"Who's this cutie behind you?" Jenna cooed.
"This is Brooklyn" Val started to say "Brooklyn come say hi, they are all really nice, they don't bite" he continued to say. She slowly moves round to the front of me but still clings on to my legs.
"Hi Brooklyn I'm Jenna, you have a pretty name," Jenna said sweetly.
"Guys I'll explain later but for now can we dance. Its been a long day already" I said feeling slightly nervous. The group nodded. I walked over to the steps and sat Brooklyn down. I sat next to her and said: "I and Val are going to dance now and then around 1 we will go and get some lunch, then come to dance again and then we can get you some clothes and stuff yeah?" She nodded and grinned at me.
"Heres my phone, you can play games and take pictures yeah?"
"Ok Sharna, thank you"
And with that, I walked off to Val to get started.
We were really hitting choreography hard today. This season's pros seem to be nailing everything. Every now and then I'd glance over at Brooklyn. She was sitting there staring in awe at us dancing or she was doing something on my phone. She was so cute bless her. In no time at all 1 pm came around and I went over to Brooklyn. "Val is going to take you and get some food. He has to get everyone's food and then you'll come back and eat with us yeah?" I said. She nodded and ran off to Val. She attacked his leg, he looked down at her and smiled. I quickly snapped a photo of them. Those two left to grab the food whilst I had the job of explaining what happened and how we got her.
"Erm guys, yeah I'll tell you to now she's gone with Val. I don't want her getting upset or anything" I said as the group came and sat around me. Peta was also here helping is with choreography so at least she got to hear it too.
"So basically once Val and I had cleaned up last night after y'all had gone, we noticed her outside on the bench asleep. She looked weak, fragile and cold. Val and I woke her up and she instantly recognised who we were. She trusted us enough to let us take her home, get her clean and have somewhere comfortable to stay the night. We didn't ask any question but all she said was that they left her there. They were her parents" I said shakily, some of the girls gasped and looked sad. I continued "During the night she woke up screaming, she scared us so much, she had a nightmare about them, I'm going to details because it was scary. But I stayed with her in my spare room the rest of the night. She didn't get much sleep, Val didn't get much sleep and neither did I. I didn't know what to do with her and I still don't. I can't give her away, I'm scared she'll go back to them and they ruin her even more." By this point, I was crying hard and fast. Peta came up and sat next to me, hugging me tightly. The group was quiet, nobody said anything. They probably didn't know what to say.
"We understand Sharna, we will be here to support you in whatever decision you make. We know you'll do the right thing, you already had by not leaving her there" Peta said calming me down. The group nodded in agreement. They all got up and we had a massive group hug. Then the door opened and I seem Val and Brooklyn. Their faces wide with grins. Brooklyn ran over to me and hugged me tightly.
"I love you Sharna" she whispered in my ear. I looked at her and grinned.
"I love you too Brooklyn" I giggled. "Brooklyn, how you introduce yourself to the group and then they will do the same?" I said in the hope she'd say yes and then not be as scared tomorrow. Fortunately, she nodded.
"Erm hi, my names Brooklyn Rose, I'm 7 years old and I um I um I now live with Sharna and Val," she said standing in front of me. I giggled at the last bit she said and the girls all cooed over her. Everyone then went round and introduced themselves and Brooklyn seemed happy.
"Do you think you'll remember all those names, Brooklyn?" I said pulling her into my lap.
"I'll try," she said laughing. Everyone else laughed too. We all ate up our lunch whilst Brooklyn went round and got to know everyone a bit better. When she got back to me she said: "I like Jenna and Peta the best, but shush don't tell anyone". I winked and put my finger to my lips. "Don't worry your secret is safe with me".
We got back go rehearsal, Brooklyn watched intently again. We hit it really hard again which meant we got all the choreography done. We were all really happy with ourselves. We decided to finish rehearsal a bit early. Whilst we packed down we left the music playing, I walked over to Brooklyn and my stuff. She gasped when I walked over and said: "I love this song". She ran off the steps and started to dance to it. We all turned around and watched her. She started to jive and damn she was amazing for her age. The music came to the end and we all clapped for her.
"You didn't tell me you could dance," I said running over to her, picking her up in a hug. Everyone came over and said how well she did. Her cheeks started to go red and she hid her face in my neck.
We all said goodbye to everyone and went off to the car. "Brooklyn that was amazing, like you did pro stuff there! Who taught you?" I asked excitedly.
"I taught myself when my parents weren't in the house, which was really often. I've watched you guys from a young age and always aspired to be like you" she said turning red.
"Well baby girl, you will be doing some more of that each time we are at the studio, god you were so good" Val cheered.
"Come on let's go and get you some new clothes ay?" I said strapping her into the car. The car ride was peaceful but we didn't know what lied ahead.
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Heres a nice long chapter for you!! Hope you guys enjoyed!! Hopefully going to start updating both books each day now!!!
