noisy neighbours

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Age 10
Warnings: physical abuse, lazy writing

Scarlett:
At the beginning of the week, a father and daughter moved into the house next door and tonight I've taken a guess as to say they're throwing a housewarming party.

I can't really complain about the volume of the music because it is a Friday, but it's nearly midnight and Rose still hasn't been able to get to sleep and now I have a crying child because she's exhausted.

I picked my daughter up from her bed and carried her into my bedroom considering it's at the other end of the house, therefore slightly further away from the music.

"I just want to sleep, mama," Rose cries as her head rests on my shoulder. "I know honey, I'm sorry," I speak softly. I reach for my AirPods on my night stand once I've laid Rose down, and put them in her ears, turning on some white noise which will hopefully help her fall asleep. I mean, anything is better than falling asleep to whatever shitty music they're playing next door.

It took another half hour, but Rose had finally drifted off. I however, knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep for a while so I went back downstairs and into the kitchen to get a drink of water.

As I was filling up my glass, I looked out the window to see the young girl that moved in, sitting on her front steps. Nobody else is outside and she only looks a few years older than Rose, so there's no way that she should be outside at midnight on her own.

I haven't met her and her father yet, so I don't know what they're like but I've heard a lot of yelling since they've moved in.

The girl lifted her head from her hands and wiped under her eyes and it's only now I see that she's crying.
My motherly instinct wants to out there and ask if she's okay, but I can't leave Rose alone in the house.

A couple of minutes later, her father walks out. He's very obviously drunk. I can tell by the way he's walking. But truth be told, he looks like he's a bit of a drunk in general. I watched as the girls body language changed when she started speaking to her dad. She seems anxious now. Unsettled.
Then he started yelling and practically pushed her back inside the house. My face fell into a frown as I watched him do so.

•••

Over the next few days the yelling didn't subside. Today has been the worst of it. I can never make out what's actually happening, but the dad always seems angry.

Rose is at school and I'd just finished up with a zoom meeting when I heard the yelling start again. Again, it's only the dad and if I'm being honest, I'm really starting to become concerned for the daughter.
I'm almost thinking that I should be calling the police about it, just so that somebody can go in and at least check if everything's okay.

The yelling got louder. And louder. And louder. Then I heard something smash and their front door was slam shut only a few moments later.

I quickly walked into my kitchen so I could see who'd left. It was the father. He wasn't walking straight, he looked drunk and possibly like he was on drugs of some sort.

My gut was instinct was screaming at me to go check if everything was okay, so I waited for the father to be out of sight and quickly grabbed my keys and walked next door.

Technically I shouldn't walk into a strangers house with permission, but if that girl was in there and her father did something to her, I couldn't exactly just leave her alone.

I walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. As expected, there wasn't an answer, but the door had been left unlocked so I slowly opened it and let myself in.

The sound of a child's cry came from the nearest room. I walked in to see the young girl curled up in the corner.

Her neck is bleeding - it looks as though a bottle was thrown at her and she has a black eye. When she saw me, her eyes became filled with even more fear.

The fact that somebody could do this to another person let alone their own child, makes me sick to my stomach.

"I promise, I'm not going to hurt you," I assure the girl as I carefully start to approach her. She doesn't say anything as she tries to contain her cries. "Can I help you?" I question softly, crouching down in front of her. "I just want my mommy," she cries.
"Okay honey," I coo, gently taking her hands in mine, "do you know if I can contact her in anyway?" I ask. I have no idea of her situation so I don't know what her mothers role is, if she even has any. But I mean anything can be better than living with her asshat of a father.

The young girl shakes her head. "She's in heaven now. She accidentally took too much medicine last year and it made her go to sleep forever," she explains through her tears.

Oh my god.

I look up at the ceiling to blink away my tears and take a deep breath before looking back at her. "I'm so sorry," I smile sadly, softly wiping her tears. "It's okay, I get to see her soon," she speaks quietly.
"What do you mean, bubba?" I question with a frown. "I have cancer and the stuff to make me better costs too much money."

Oh my god.

Now I can't help but let a few tears fall. I think a piece of my heart just broke.

"What's your name?" I ask softly. "Y/N. What's yours?" She answers. "I'm Scarlett," I tell her with a small smile. "You're very pretty, Scarlett," she mumbles. "Thank you honey, so are you," I smile lightly.

I gently stroke Y/N's cheek with my thumb whilst I think for a moment of what to do. First thing would probably be to get her out of here considering I don't know when her father could walk through that door again.

"Y/N, would it be okay if you came with me? I live just right next door and I can help clean you up. I won't let your dad near you," I explain. She nods in response. "Alright," I smile gently and help her up from the ground.

"Can I carry you?" I ask. "Okay," she says quietly, reaching her arms up to me. I carefully lifted her up into my arms. Her legs wrapped around my waist, her arms around my shoulders and her head resting in the crook of my neck.

I carry her over to my home and lock the front door behind me before sitting her on my kitchen counter. "I'm just going to put something on your neck to help heal it and stop it bleeding, is that okay, bubba?"
"Okay," she nods.

I pour a small amount of detol onto a sterile pad and take one of her little hands in mine. "It might sting a bit so you can squeeze my hand if you need," I tell her gently to which she nods.

She winces and squeezes my hand tightly as I press the pad to her neck. "I'm sorry sweetheart, you're almost done though," I say.

A couple minutes later I throw the sterile pad into the bin and lift Y/N down for the counter. She lets out a big yawn as I do so. It's only eleven in the morning, but she's had one heck of a day so far and obviously being sick would make her a hundred times more exhausted already.

I know that the police are going to have to get involved in this, but for now I just want to know that she's safe, and help to her to know that she's safe.

Two Years Later

"Rose, can you go tell you sister to get out of bed. Otherwise we're going to be late."

Y/N's nearly thirteen now. When I fostered her I made sure she got the treatment she needed and nine months ago she became cancer free. Nine months ago I also adopted her.

Rose and Y/N get along so well too. They're best friends...even though they fight over the most ridiculous things. But hey, that's what sisters do, right?

"Hi mama," Y/N says as she comes downstairs and into the kitchen. "Hi bubba, how did you sleep?" I ask as she sits at one of the stools. "Good," she yawns and I giggle. "I made pancakes. Are you hungry?"
"Always," she chuckles as I slide the plate over to her.

"Mama, I love you lots," she smiles before shoving her mouth full of food. "I love you too you weirdo," I chuckle.

___________
A/N: heyooo
my brain feels so scattered today so sorry about the crappy writing

I hope you have a good day/night 🫶🏼

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