Page 17 of Fame & Chaos

By then, she’d completely shut down.

One minute she’d been hysterical in my arms, fighting me to get back to her mum, and the next it was like every ounce of energy had drained from her body. She just sat there limp against my chest while I held her on the bedroom floor surrounded by flashing lights, blood, and the worst night of our lives.

A female police officer crouched beside us carefully. “Hey, sweetheart, can you tell me your name?”

Indi didn’t answer.

“Her name’s Indi,” I said quietly. “Indica Malone.”

The officer looked at me gently. “And you are?”

“Caleb Slade.”

She nodded slowly, as if she recognized the surname, but thankfully didn’t comment on it.

Everything after that blurred together.

More police arrived—detectives.

Then paramedics.

Then the coroner.

I stayed on the floor with Indi while people moved around us quietly, removing her parents’ bodies from the house. Now and then, Indi would tense in my arms when she heard movement from the hallway, but otherwise, she barely reacted to anything, and I’d never felt so helpless in my entire life.

Eventually, I asked the policewoman if she could call my parents.

Mum and Dad arrived quickly.

The second Mum saw Indi, her face crumpled. She rushed over and wrapped her arms around her carefully. “Oh, sweetheart,” Mum whispered, stroking Indi’s hair. “Oh God…”

Indi clung to her without saying a word.

Dad crouched in front of me next. “You okay, kid?”

No.

Not even close.

I’d seen two dead bodies in less than an hour.

I’d watched the girl I loved completely break apart in front of me.

But I nodded anyway because I didn’t know how else to answer.

Dad studied me for a second like he knew I was lying, then squeezed the back of my neck gently. “You did good tonight,” he said quietly.

I didn’t feel like I had.

Eventually, the police finished questioning us, and Mum helped Indi shower and change clothes because there was blood all over her nightie and legs. I remember sitting outside the bathroom door waiting while Dad made phone calls downstairs.

When Mum finally led Indi out, wrapped in one of Mum’s oversized hoodies, she looked tiny.

Broken.

And something inside me shifted permanently right then.

Because I realized nobody else was going to take care of her now.