Hidden in Plain Sight

*Jaime's POV*

I found Carly on a beach, about 10 minutes away from her house. She sat in the sand, her hair messed up by the wind. The sky was grey and overcast. The sea was rough. She was alone on the beach. Not another soul to be seen for as far as the eye could see. Her knees were closed to her chest, her chin resting upon them. Her toes we slightly covered in the sand.

She wore only a pair of shorts and a thin jumper. Nothing she was wearing was keeping her warm on this cold and windy beach. The salty sea spray lightly covered her bare skin like the morning dew. I could see this from a distance. I was standing at the back of the beach, on the pavement. I was just watching her. I don't know why. Tony, Mike and Vic all stood beside me too.

We stood in silence, just watching Carly. She didn't move at all. It's like she's not even alive. Her hair and clothes just keep blowing in the wind. I couldn't imagine how long she has been sitting here. Alone on this beach. I look at Vic to my left, and then to Tony and Mike on my right. They're sympathetic smiles and small nods tell me to go to her. One small step sent my heart racing.

As I neared her, my shoes were making plenty of noise, but she had no reaction. She was still. I walked up to her side, and took my place by her side. I glanced at her face. Her face was red underneath the makeup that has been washed down her face by her tears. Makeup stains and tear stains, Carly looked lost. Her shining blue eyes were shining anymore. They were deep black holes, lost in time and reality.

There was no smile. There was no glow in her face. She didn't even react to my presence. She was still, still. Her knees curled and her head resting. But when I moved in front of her and wrapped both my arms around her body, she completely collapsed. Her body wasn't a rock, it was a soft wreck. Powerful cries of pain came from her and were soaked up in my shoulder. We stayed like that for ages. The guys were still standing at the top of the beach. They weren't going to leave. They wanted to know Carly was okay. They care about her not only as a boss, not only as a friend, but as a family member.

Carly slowed her crying and racked sobs before looking Up to me. "I'm so lost Jaime. I don't know what or how to feel". There was no light in her eyes. But she was still pleading to me. Begging or looking for something that can bring her back. I want to find her, but for me to find her, it will be a long journey.

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*Carly's POV*

I woke up late in the middle of the night. I could hear my daddy crying. And I could hear my brothers too. I opened my door and walked out to the kitchen were dad was sitting on the floor. He had a glass bottle in his hand. His head kept moving sideways along the draws, he couldn't stay still.

"Daddy, are you okay?" I asked innocently.

"Oh Carly. My precious gem. You look just like your beautiful mother, you look just like Kate. You have the same beautiful curly hair and the same shine in your eyes. Oh how beautiful your mother was" he spoke.
My brothers walked into the kitchen from the living room. They asked why I was awake and I explained to them I heard dad crying. Blake picked me up and took me back to bed. I couldn't understand why dad was upset. Blake sat me in the bed and tucked me all tight in my bed, so I was all comfy.

"Blakey, is daddy okay? Where is mummy? She can make daddy better" I said to him. The small smile that was on his face quickly left. His face fell and I saw the same pain in his face that was in dads. He took a deep breath.

"Carly, sweet heart, you're far too young to understand but mummy isn't coming home. Mummy has gone to heaven now. She's flying with the angels. And daddy is sad that mummy had to go to heaven, but he'll be okay. Duss is tucking him into bed too. Now how about you get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning precious".

Blake kissed my forehead and i smiled. He walked out of my room and turned the lights off. But someone else walked into my room. It was dad. He bent down by my bed and I smiled at daddy. I said goodnight, hoping he would say goodnight and kiss me. But he didn't. His large hand was reefed across my face at an unimaginable force. I burst out crying instantly.

My screams alerted my brothers and they took him away. He resisted them but to no evail. He was taken away from me. They must have forgotten about me that night, because i lay crying my bed all night from the pain. I begged for mummy so I could hug her. But she never came.

Years passed and the same thing happened. I grew up so quickly and soon learned a lot. My dad began to use alcohol as a way out from the pain of the loss of my mother and soon that wasn't enough, he turned to drugs. My dad was a mess, and I was a mess. When my brothers weren't around. He would slap my face and he occasionally kicked my ribs if I ever fell on the ground. He would always scream my mothers name. "Kate, Kate why did you fucking leave me. Kate I fucking loved you and you left".

It was the same each and every day almost. At the tender age of 7 and a half, I had learnt how to hide my bruises and pain from my brothers. But when they noticed, I had just told them lies that I had fallen over from school. But it wasn't as easy when i kept telling the same lies. The lies were proven lies when Dustin walked in.

My father was high and drunk and had hit me multiple times on the face. My eyebrow was cut and my nose was bleeding. Dustin tackled my dad in a mad fit of rage. I was 8 at this stage, and knew entirely why. I had suffered this abuse for 2 years now. That night, my father was taken by the police when my brother called them.

When I was 10, and my brothers were both 18 and 19, they had moved out of dads home and into their own. They both had lovely girlfriends at this stage. Grace is now married to Dustin and together, they have a small child Ben, my nephew.

They had both agreed to share me around like they were divorced parents. I would constantly be moving between each house. To one brother to the other. It got easier though when I grew older. My brothers were my everything. They were my father figure. I had never spoken to my father since the day I officially left his house and moved into Dustin's. We all stopped talking to him.

But this morning when I got the called. That my father had overdosed and died, my entire world came crashing down in a fiery mess. Old pain and old emotional scars and wounds were reopened. The thought or mention of my father sent me into unimaginable rage. A rage that I was unable to control.

My brother being back home in Australia and the other on some boat in the middle of the ocean, he found it hard to tell me and was incredibly pissed off he couldn't be here to protect me. To stop me from acting out. And I wish he was there to protect me. Or Jaime, or Jack even. Because now, my house is a shattered mess of glass and alcohol and I have been freezing on this beach for god knows how long.

Jaime soon came, and I felt a little better. A sense of safety and security came with Jaime. I felt he could protect me from my father, even though he was dead and in another country. Jaime made me feel okay again.

Notes