"She's your sister?!" Violet asked kind of dumb founded. Since the child looked like the had been living in squalor and an abusive situation. He just nodded. Slowly patting her head, trying to calm her.
A flood of questions hit her brain all at once. How did the little girl find him? Why was she so dirty? Why was she bleeding? How did her clothes get so torn? What caused her to pass out? Violet stood there tongue tied, not able to decide which question she should ask first.
A loud booming sound came from the front of the house. Causing more confusion to the already chaotic situation that was going on. With the adrenaline already still very active in her system Violet's thoughts were going all over the place. Violet tried taking a deep breath to help ground herself.
Then her brain finally clicked, it was the paramedics. They had finally arrived, they could help the little girl. Violet dashed to the front of the house to open the door. She slammed it open, with the relief and shock mixing in her body. Violet felt like everything was almost in a surreal state.
"Where's the child?" They asked in a demanding tone. All of a sudden Violet tongue felt like lead in her mouth . She couldn't seem to form words. Everything was starting to overwhelm her. What was she doing to say? "Well turns out the creepy child that was passed out on my couch is my friends sister? Yeah that doesn't sound made up at all." she thought to herself.
As if God was answering her prayer for some kind of help, Marcus came up behind her, "Follow me." He said in a calm yet assertive tone, to the people crowding the doorway leading the way to the sunroom at the back of the house.
People poured into the house in a long line and Violet followed close behind. They rushed to the other side of the house and stopped when they saw Samuel with the small girl. They looked at one another as if silently asking on how to approach the situation that was before them. One by one they slowly began to move forward toward the center of the room. Where the girl and Samuel stood.
When a male in his mid thirties went to try to take her from him, the small child let out an ear splitting shrill scream, making everyone cover their ears. She clung even harder to her brother, shaking more as she looked around at the people surrounding her. She looked terrified. She started to cry, "Don't let them take me, please bubba." Her voice was raspy and shrill. Other than when the child said help me this was the first time Violet actually heard her speak.
Sam pulled her closer to him then sat crisscross on the floor. Holding her in his lap he then turned her to where she was facing the emergency responders. The little girls frightened expression hadn't changed. She looked up at Samuel, as if silently asking him what he was doing.
"You have to let them check you, I am right here I am not going anywhere." he reassured the little girl in a calming tone. Even though at that moment he was anything but calm. You could tell by his body language that he was on high alert.
She craned her head back to look at him, tears still streaming down her face, "Promise." she asked her eyes still wet from her tears, "I Promise." he responded.
The paramedic attempted to approach her again and she scooted back further into her brother. Not wanting to be anywhere near the man, even with her brother being there at her side. Violet walked forward. Looking at the child her eyes were filled with fear as the man in front of her kept reaching in her direction. Violet guessed that the child felt her walking closer toward her because she turned her attention towards me. Violet didn't know why, but she felt like she was secretly pleading with her not to let the man touch her.
The little girl seemed to be frightened by the men in the room. Violet decided to test it to see if her feeling was accurate. Violet walked up next to Samuel and sat down the same way he was. Just as she did the paramedic grabbed the child's arm and she went back to screaming. But this time she attempted to kick the man away. Her little mud covered foot found the man's jaw, effectively making the man stop and move away from the child.
Violet saw that Samuel was starting to get angry and defensive over the small child. His body language became more hostile toward the people in front of them. And even more so protective toward the small girl. He seemed liked a loyal animal protecting his master. Ready to attack all that caused her harm in any way. Violet reached for the child's arm, gaining a warning glare from Sam. She gave him a reassuring look in return. Then she moved her hand toward the child's shoulder.
Carefully Violet lightly tapped her on the shoulder, gaining the small child's attention. As Violet looked at her, she saw terror and anxiety swirl in the small girl's amber colored eyes. "Hold on." Violet said to the man who had just got kicked by the child and was going back in for another attempt to grab her from her brothers embrace.
Violet carefully lifted her from Samuel's lap to hers making him reluctantly letting her go. The child settled onto her lap. She reminded Violet of a rabbit she once had, skittish and frightened. The dark haired girl kept looking in her brothers direction to make sure that he hadn't somehow disappeared. Still testing her theory, Violet looked in the crowd to spot one lone female EMT standing at the back of the gathering of people. It seemed like a long shot, but Violet had taken it as a good sign when she had allowed her to take her from Samuel. But at that moment Violet was praying to any god or higher being that her theory was wrong.
"Ma'am, can you help her instead?" Violet asked. The paramedic looked at Violet and nodded, she seemed to understand what she was attempting to do. She made her way to the front of the group and approached the child, even getting down to her level. The young female reached out cautiously, which Violet couldn't blame her for. The other person, who had done the same, was now nursing a nasty whelp.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she was able to grab the child's arm without incident. The little girl, though not completely relaxed, complied with the female care giver.
"What's your name?" the woman asked. The little girl looked at Samuel as if asking if she could trust her. Samuel nodded.
"She's here to help you." The child seemed to understand and looked back at the woman.
"Jessica." the little girl whispered.