Runaway

The brother and The reason

~~~Check out the new Character in the visual!~~~

Alfie went to find Charlotte and found her at her work. The arena was empty with the runway set up. She was standing at the end as Alfie walked up.
          "You see all of this? The thousands of seats?" She asked.
He nodded.
          "This all happened because of me. Because I worked my ass off and got us this show."
          "This whole place will be filled with people because of you. You made it, Charlie."
          "Yeah, I did. I did it all myself. I didn't use my father or his money. I pulled myself out of that hell hole."
          "I know. You wouldn't take my help." He laughed.
          "And I'm stronger for it."
          "But we all need help sometimes, Charlie."
She started to take off her clothes and he had a confused look. Eventually she stood there in her lingerie.
          "What do you see when you look at this?" She asked.
          "A beautiful, strong woman. I see a body that's been through hell and back a thousand times, but never gave up."
She nodded.
          "Do you know why I like modeling?"
He shook his head.
          "They just see me as a model. I'm just a blonde girl walking down the runway. They don't know my story or see the broken girl underneath the clothes."
He looked at her and could see the pain in her blue eyes.
          "I forget about everything when I'm up here. I'm just normal with a happy childhood. Sometimes I even imagine having that perfect life and no trauma."
          "Having a big house and running around with my siblings, playing on the beach with a friend, eating meals at the table as a family, getting tucked into bed and my parents reading me a story..."
She paused.
          "But the moment I step off this runway...every thing that happened to me floods right back in and those sweet dreams turn into reality, which is really just a nightmare."
She turned away from him and put her hands on her head.
"I'll be lucky if I even make it to this fashion show."
Alfie got up on the runway and put his hands on her shoulders.
"You'll be here, I promise you." He said.
She turned to look at him.
"I'm not going to let them get to you, Charlie."
"Alfie, I can fight my o—."
"Charlie, shut up and let me be protective of you."
She gave a half smile and he pulled her in for a hug.
"What are we going to do about the mutant from down under?" He asked.
          "Put my fist down her throat." She said in his chest.
          "Now that I would like to see."
They both gave a small laugh and then she pulled away.
          "Do you want to?" She asked.
          "Right here? It's pretty open."
She took a few steps back and did a spin.
          "It's my runway. I can do whatever I want."
She took off her bra and looked at him. Alfie walked over and kissed her but pulled away.
          "I'm not doing this if it's about Tommy."
          "It's not."
He looked at her because he didn't believe it.
          "It's for fun and it relieves the stress of Katherine being here."
          "That bitch has caused my shoulders to tense up." He joked.
          "Well let me fix that for you." She said as she undid his belt.
A while later they were getting dressed.
"Let's go eat somewhere." He suggested.
"You go ahead...I think I'm just going to go home."
He gave her a look and they went their separate ways. Charlotte went home and was reading a book on the couch, but decided to take a nap instead. Maybe she'd wake up and the spawn of satan would be gone. Alfie came in an hour later and just let her sleep. He knew she didn't really sleep at night. A few more hours later, Ada came in and yelled Charlotte's name. She jolted awake and instantly looked cranky as she made eye contact with Ada.
"What?" Charlotte hissed.
"Remind me to never wake you up again." Ada said.
"Yeah...it's like touching a dog that's eating." Alfie joked.
Charlotte threw a pillow and it hit him in the face.
          "What's up, Ada?" Charlotte asked nicely.
          "There's a man at the office. He says he knows you and he's from Australia."
Alfie and Charlotte immediately looked at each other.
          "Did he say how he knew me? Or his name?"
          "He wouldn't give anything up...kind of like someone else we know." Ada joked.
          "What did he look like?" Alfie asked.
          "I don't know. I wasn't there. Polly called me and told me what I already told you, so let's go!"
Charlotte started to get up, but Alfie pushed her back down on the couch with one hand.
          "I'll go and check it out first." He demanded.
          "He's looking for me, Alfie....for me. I'm going."  Charlotte tried to stand up again, but he pushed her back down.
          "Bloody hell you two are children. No wonder you can only be friends." Ada yelled.
          "You can both go." She added.
Charlotte stood up and put her shoes on and Alfie handed her a gun.
          "I already have two on me."
          "You can never have enough." He said.
Ada made a face at them.
          "I think you can."
They followed Ada to the office and walked in. Charlotte and Alfie were expecting a shootout, so they had their hands on their guns.
          "Charlotte!" The blonde man said.
He hugged her and she just kind of stood there.
          "Chase? Why are you here?"
          "Kat called and said you were sick, but you look fine."
Charlotte scoffed.
          "I can never live in peace." She said as she took her coat off and walked by him.
          "I'm not here to cause trouble, Charlotte. I came because I thought you were sick. I'm not Kat."
She was about to say something, but Tommy and Katherine walked in.
          "Oh yay! A sibling reunion!" Katherine said.
Chase and Charlotte stood side by side with their arms crossed. Even though he was eight years older, they looked just alike.
          "Why did you lie about her being sick?" Chase asked Katherine.
          "I knew you would come if you thought our dear baby sister was dying."
          "So why am I really here?" He asked.
          "Dad wants everyone to come home."
Chase laughed and Charlotte shook her head.
          "You're stupid if you think either of us are going home." Chase said.
          "Well you know what happens if you don't obey." Katherine said as her and Chase looked at Charlotte.
          "Fuck you." Charlotte said.
Chase pointed at Katherine.
          "Why is your cheek bruised?"
Katherine smirked and walked over to Charlotte.
          "Our darling sister here learned how to stick up for herself."
          "I had to learn because no one else would."
          "And what a great lesson that was for you." Kat smirked.
          "And for you." Charlotte said and then punched her sister in the face.
Alfie was smirking as the rest of the Shelby's watched. Katherine looked up with a bloody nose and she smiled.
          "There's that short little temper you never learned how to get under control. All those years and you never learned."
          "Kat." Chase yelled.
          "Don't act like you care now, Chase." Katherine said as he looked down.
          "You think you're so perfect being a model. Little do they know how broken you are." Katherine said.
          "You've always been jealous because I was the model."
Katherine rolled her eyes.
          "Please."
          "It's true. You're just mad because I made something of myself without our father's money. I worked my ass off and became something I'm proud of and you're jealous because you never did. You're still dad's right hand man and that's all you'll ever be."
Polly smiled because Charlotte was holding her own.
          "And all you'll ever be is daddy's toy."
          "And all you'll ever be is a bastard bitch that no one likes." Charlotte said.
          "Our father likes me....but he loved you....a little too much right?"
Charlotte's eyes went wide and she could feel her face heating up.
          "Katherine." Alfie yelled.
          "You want to act all tough and play with the big dogs, then let's go." Katherine said.
She smiled as she looked at her little sister.
          "Tough people can handle the truth. Can they? Can he?" She asked as she pointed to Tommy.
          "You all want to know why she's so sensitive to touch? Why she's so hostile?" Katherine asked as she walked around her sister.
          "I think it's time for you to leave." Tommy said.
Katherine completely ignored him.
          "Our father loved her, but in a different way. He started touching you when you were what? Seven? Right after your mommy died." She mocked.
   Charlotte was frozen. She couldn't believe this was happening. All the Shelby's looked at her and she just looked at the ground.
          "Shut up." Charlotte said.
          "He never touched or beat me because I was his prodigy and he wouldn't do that to his only son either, so he did it to the child he never wanted." She said.
          "Stop it."
          "Something you said a lot." Katherine laughed.
          "Alright Kat, that's enough." Chase said as he pushed her back.
          "Don't act like you want to defend her now. You knew what he was doing to her."
Charlotte's head shot up and she had tears in her eyes as she looked at her brother.
          "You knew?" She whispered.
He gave her a sad look.
          "I was a kid. There wasn't anything I could do."
          "The day you turned 18 you left. You could've taken me with you. I understand getting out, but I was only 10! You knew what he was doing to me and you left me." She yelled as her tears fell.
          "Charlotte." He said as he got closer to her.
She backed up and ran into John. He held her arm and stood in front of her and pointed at her brother.
          "That's close enough." John warned.
Tommy could barely look at her. It broke his heart.
          "I'm sorry, Charlotte." He said sincerely.
She shook her head.
          "You knew...you knew and you left me there. I had to suffer through eight more years of that. You were supposed to be my big brother. Remember what you told me when mom died?"
He just looked down.
          "I'll always protect you, Charlotte....how foolish was I to believe that." She said and then walked out.
The Shelby's all looked at each other. Katherine walked up to Tommy.
          "Are you ready for our dinner plans?"
          "Get the fuck out while you still can. Both of you. If I see either of you near her, I will kill you myself." He threatened.
          "She'll never let you in. She'll always just be the girl that daddy touched." Kat said.
Tommy grabbed her throat and her eyes went wide.
          "Get out of my city."
The two started to walk out, but Tommy hit Chase in the face. He just took the hit and left. No one said anything...they didn't know what to say. Tommy went to find Charlotte and found her sitting on the edge of the concrete with her legs dangling over the river. He sat down next to her and put his coat around her.
          "How did you find me?"
          "I always find peace at the water, so I took a chance."
She gave him a look.
          "Curly told me he saw you."
She gave a half smile.
          "I figured you would be the last one to come and find me."
"Why would someone that likes you be the last person to look for you?" He asked.
She gave him a surprised look.
"But my sister."
"I didn't know she was your sister and when I found out...I tried to ditch her, but she wouldn't leave me alone."
She sighed.
"Well...you wanted to know why I act the way I do...and now you know."
He didn't say anything. She looked at him and then put her head on his shoulder. Tommy put his arm around her and they just sat and looked at the river.