18 Years of Bonnie & Clyde

[27] The Accident

Year 12...

"Honey, don't forget you're going to your Dad this afternoon. Did you pack your bag?" Alice finished making lunch for Charles, while checking if he had remembered his schedule for the day.

"Uh-huh." He said absentmindedly, a frown on his forehead.

"What's that?" Alice asked, unamused. There were two rules at breakfast. No phones, and paying attention if you are talking to one another.

"Yeah, I did." Charles said, now using a full sentence.

"What's with you? You're grumpy." Alice was growing worried, especially since he never used to be in a bad mood.

He was her light, her sun, but today it seemed like there was a cloud hanging above his head.

"Sweetheart, what is going on?" She asked him, her eyes turning soft when she tried to get through to him.

"Don't baby me, I'm grown up." Charles spat, annoyed by the way his mother was talking to him.

"You're twelve years old, Charles." She argued with him, a reminder of how young he actually was. If he had a bad day she wouldn't make a big deal out of it, but she wasn't going to listen him talk back to her like that.

He glared at her, clearly done talking about this before it would escalate in a fight. Alice figured that it simply was some teenage behavior, but she didn't support that in any way. Though, with the way Alice and FP had grown up and the tempers they had, it was no wonder Charles had picked up a little from that.

"Hey, don't give me that look." She warned him, before he could get any ideas of this being the new normal.

She and FP gave him a stable, loving home and she demanded at least a little bit respect in return. Especially since they had never had a supportive family to grow up in.

"I don't know what has gotten into you, but you better change that attidute real quick." Alice placed his lunch box in front of him while giving him a stern look, making sure that she wasn't playing around when she told him to cut it out.

"I'm going to school." He grumbled lowly, as he snatched his lunch of the counter, not much of giving her a second look.

**

FP was about to finish a blueprint for a new project he and Fred had with Andrews Constructions, when his mobile phone began to rang. He figured it was a client who wanted to check up with the progress, which is why he answered it calmly and casually.

"Hello?" He leant back in his chair as he dropped his pencil.

But then the following words made the blood disappear out of his face, something totally unexpected that made his stomach twist.

"Wait what?" He exclaimed confused, almost forgetting how to breathe.

"Yes, we'll be right there." He said, swallowing the tears in his throat.

Chloe picked up on the changing expression on her boyfriend's face and immediately frowned in concern, asking him with one look what the news was that he had gotten. When he hung up, he immediately met her eyes, his own brown ones glossing over.

"It's Alice... she had an accident. A car hit her. She's in the hospital." He managed to get out, his voice cracking.

"What?! Is she alright?!" Chloe asked worriedly, her mouth going dry.

Over the past two years she had been getting along with Alice pretty well and the thought of something bad happening to her was truly making her sick.