What You're Missing

All she wanted to do was go home.

After the police arrived, they took the three of them in for questioning in regards to the robbery. They asked simple things: what happened, what they looked like, what they wanted. It was all very routine to Henry and Ray, but evidently left Charlotte even more frazzled than she already was.

By then it was already 3am. Charlotte was still in shock, having fought with her best friend, being held at gunpoint, and finding out her ex-boyfriend was Kid Danger all in one night. Henry had offered to walk her home, but one of the last things she wanted right now was to look at him. So when a nice officer offered her a ride home, she quickly agreed. She hadn't noticed the worried and forlorn expressions of Henry and even Captain Man as she walked out of the station. All she could think about was getting home to her bed, where she knew she'd be safe.

When she finally reached her front porch half an hour later, her hand barely touched the doorknob before her mother had opened it. One could tell how stressed she had been with just a glance- her hair was frizzy after repeatedly running her fingers through it, her eyes had sunken into her skin with dark circles rimming underneath, and she fiercely gripped a tissue in her right hand which she undoubtedly had used to wipe her tears of worry.

"Charlotte," she breathed simply at the relieving sight of her daughter. Charlotte shut the door behind her, swallowing the painful lump growing in her throat.

"I've been so worried! What happened? I must've called you a thousand times! Don't you check your phone? A-and then I get a call from the police station saying they're bringing my daughter home and I have no clue as to what happened!" Charlotte stared blankly ahead of her as her eyes began to well with tears.

"Charlotte?" Her mother asked, this time her voice softer as she pressed her palm against her cheek. "Honey, what's wrong? What happened?" Charlotte raised her gaze to look into the concerned eyes of her mom, and she let out a sob. That was it- she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Mom," she barely let out before bursting into tears. Charlotte sobbed loudly, falling into her mother's arms, bringing them both to the floor as her mom desperately held onto her.

"Oh, honey!" Now her mother was crying at the sound of her daughter's painful cries, but she wrapped her arms around her as best she could. Charlotte shook with her sobs as she felt the memory of the gun firmly pressed against her temple and how she trembled in the hold of the robber as his voice boomed throughout the shop. It had hit her.

I could have died.

And Charlotte was left in a series of seemingly never-ending cries of trauma as the events replayed in her mind over and over. She couldn't seem to stop them no matter how hard she tried. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the glowing red eyes of the robbers and it sent her in a fit of tears. She felt like she was losing the ability to breathe with the sound of gunshots ringing in her ears, and her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest when she remembered how scared she was of the sound coming from the gun pressed to her head.

For a week, all she could do was relive these moments over in panic attacks and terrifying nightmares leaving her restless for days. Her mother had requested days off from work to tend to Charlotte, which only made her more upset to have caused a burden. After hearing about what happened, the school excused her absences and said she may take leave for however long necessary. That also took a toll on Charlotte; indulging herself in her school work normally would be her way of coping. But her mother insisted that wanting to do homework while having panic attacks everyday was ludicrously unreasonable.

So Charlotte stayed in bed all week. Underneath her covers, with the curtains shut and her lights off; that was where she felt the most safe. No one could take her hostage or hold her at gunpoint. Her mother would thoughtfully bring her meals up to her, but many of them remained untouched. She wasn't hungry.