Page 30 of Graveyard

“Mommy, I broke my arm!” Daisy tells her in an excited voice. “Can I have some ice cream?”

I nearly fall over laughing. There’s little chance this incident will cause her serious trauma. She’s already moved on and she hasn’t seen the doctor yet. Abigail grabs Pocus by the hand and pulls him up. He pulls her into a tight embrace, and they get Daisy out the door. I wave goodbye and tell them to text me with updates.

The danger has passed, but another little girl in the house might very well be traumatized by the afternoon’s events. I walk up the stairs slowly and listen for sounds of distress. Sure enough, I hear the sounds of crying as I walk down the hallway. I knock on the guest room door, but an angry voice tells me to go away.

“Charlie?” I call through the door. “Can I please come in?”

“Leave me alone!” she cries out. My heart breaks for her. There’s so much pain in her voice.

I slowly turn the doorknob, glad to see she hasn’t locked the door. I open the door slowly and step inside. She’s lying on top of the bed, curled into a small ball, shaking from sobbing so hard. I sit on the edge of the bed and reach my hand out to her. The pain seeps out of her immediately, and she looks up at me in confusion.

“How did you do that?” she asks, suspicious.

I hold up my hands and turn them over. She sits up and moves closer to me, inspecting them.

“You’re special too,” she whispers.

“I am,” I confirm cheerfully. “I can take pain away with a simple touch.”

“Did you take Daisy’s pain away?” she asks, a guilty edge to her voice. “She fell really hard.”

She hangs her head in shame. I see that she’s blaming herself for what happened. Such a heavy burden for such a young girl.

“Charlie,” I say softly. “You know that Daisy getting hurt wasn’t your fault, right?”

She shakes her head. Her eyes fill with tears again. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she stills.

“You know, when I was a little girl, I got hurt a lot,” I tell her. “It wasn’t always an accident. There were a lot of people who did bad things to me because I was different. But I was lucky to have a big brother who protected me.”

She looks up at me in confusion. “Mr. Pocus is your brother?” she asks in shock.

I nod and smile. He can seem intimidating to people who don’t know him, but he’ll always be my hero.

“And you know, that experience helped me learn who the good guys and the bad guys are,” I tell her. “You aren’t a bad guy, Charlie. I know that it’s not your fault Daisy got hurt.”

“It was my idea to climb the tree,” she says sadly. “I should have known better. Daisy is little. She didn’t know she could get hurt. And she’s not as tall as me. She couldn’t reach one of the branches and she fell.”

She sniffs hard and swipes at her eyes again. This poor girl. Somewhere in her life, someone made her believe she was responsible for every bad thing that happened.

“You’re a little girl too,” I tell her. “It’s not your fault. Daisy’s been eyeing that tree up for months.”

She shakes her head and stares at her hands. “Mr. Pocus is going to kick us out. He’s not going to want me here now that Daisy got hurt.”

My heart aches for her. I feel as if I’m looking at myself as a child. I know the pain of feeling like no one wants you. Pocus and I bounced around a lot living with people who didn’t want us. He would never let that happen to another child.

“He would never do that,” I tell her, lifting her chin so she can look at me. “And if he even tried, I’d beat him up.”

This makes her smile, and I pull her against me for a hug. Again, I feel the pain seeping out of her, and I realize it runs deep inside of her. Whatever she’s been through is more than I can possibly fathom. She carries it inside of her all the time.

I meant what I said. I won’t let Pocus make this sweet girl leave. She needs to be around people who care about her.

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

Iwake up in the middle of the night, my heart pounding in my chest. I glance at Charlie, who’s sleeping peacefully beside me. For a moment, I watch her. Her breathing is slow and even, and I see the hint of a smile on her lips. She’s been happy here, despite today’s incident. But it’s time to go.

The moment I heard about Daisy’s accident, I knew we had to go. Pocus wasn’t angry about it. He said he’d had a long talk with his sister. He knew Charlie wasn’t responsible for Daisy’s broken arm. But I’m not so sure. Frankly, I’m not sure what Charlie is capable of.

No, I don’t think she pushed Daisy out of the tree or anything like that. But Charlie’s gift is powerful. She can do so many things I can’t understand. If she wasn’t responsible for this accident, it doesn’t mean that something won’t happen in the future. I can’t risk it anymore. We never should have come here.

---