over it...

Chapter 4 : La Nueva Casita

Chapter 4 :
La Nueva Casita :

Trigger waring : Abuse, Assault, and Bad Writing.
Charlotte's POV :
    Vic left me there with Katie. I wasn't mad, though. That girl needed help. I still silently wished I had gone with him. Staying there with her made me nervous. It didn't used to be like this. We used to be friends. We used to be in love. At least, I used to think we were.
    "So," She rolled her eyes, pointing at Vic's back as he disappeared. "Him?"
    "What?" My stomach was in knots.
    "Hah." She almost shouted. "Don't act all innocent. I saw you two."
    "Oh. Yeah." I shrugged, my eyes burning a hole in the ground.
    She snorted. "He's such a sissy. Not your type at all. But, I guess sluts don't have a type." Katie sneered at me.
    "Excuse me?" I stiffened, moving my attention back to Katie's face. I felt a fire burning in my gut.
    "Don't get mad at me," she laughed.
    "Hey, ladies!" Tony walked up, putting an arm around my shoulder. His presence relaxed me, but only a little.
    "Hey, Tony."
    Katie took a sip from her cup, mumbling, "it's not my fault you're a slut."
    I felt Tony tense up, unsure of what to do.
    Suddenly, I wasn't in control of my voice. I simply watched as my thoughts spilled out with a snarl. "You," I growled, slowly stepping closer to her. "Have NO fucking right. YOU cheated on ME. YOU hurt Me. Physically. Mentally. You've had me so fucked up since we started dating. And worse since I balled up and left you. You are always with a different girl. You're drinking like crazy. You're fucking drunk right now," I motioned to her cup. "And you are STILL trying to blame it all on me."
    Tony just stood there, wide eyed.
    Katie's mouth hung open. "Well..." She stopped.
    "Well what?" I was done. "I don't even know if it's worth putting up with you for the sake of the band, anymore."
    She put her hand on my arm, softening her voice. "Hey... You don't mean-"
    "Do NOT fucking touch me!" I ripped my arm away, causing her to stumble back and lose her grip on her drink. I turned on my heel and stormed off, ignoring the glances from onlookers. I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
    "Hey!" Tony chased after me. "Char..." He called out, stopping me in my tracks.
    "Don't... Don't call me that." I swallowed, that damn lump forming in my throat. That was her nickname for me. A nick name which I despised.
    "Sorry, I... Are you okay?" His concern was apparent.
    "Yeah. I think I'm just ready to call it a night." I lied to his face. I wasn't okay. Not at all. And crying myself to sleep certainly didn't count as 'calling it a night.'
    "Okay. Just call if you need anything?"
    "Of course," I nodded.
    Tony pulled me into a hug before making sure I made it back to my bus. "Good night," he smiled before turning back to the party.
    I climbed onto the bus, finally allowing myself to feel. I didn't want to cry. I hated crying. But, I couldn't fight it any longer. I shot Vic a vague text and flung myself onto my bunk like a child.
"going to sleep. have fun.
see u tomorrow."
    Maybe I should've put a little more effort into it that text? Or tried to sound less pathetic... Fuck it.
    I layed in bed for what felt like an eternity, just crying. I found, upon checking my phone, that it had really only been about 10 minutes. I hated every part of this.
    Then, the door crashed open, causing me to jolt up. To my surprise, Katie stumbled through the door, spilling the contents of her cup on the floor, filling the room with the smell of booze. I didn't mind drinking, in fact, I quite liked it. But she was overdoing it.
    "There you are!" Her speech was just barely slurred, but she was noticeably struggling to stand up straight.
    "What do you want?" My voice came out cracked and small.
    She skipped over to my bunk and jumped in, craning her neck to face me. "I'm sowwy," she whipped out the baby talk.
    I hated that. "Go away."
    "Shh... You don't mean that." She giggled, reaching towards my face.
    "Stop trying to tell me what I mean! That's twice tonight." My tears were replaced by anger.
    "Okay, well," she bit her lip. "How's about I show you, then?" She crawled towards my face, pinning down my legs with her knees.
    "Katie. Stop." I didn't want her touching me.
    "Hey," she whispered, squeezing my wrists as tight as she could. "Just relax." She smiled, licking her lips.
    I struggled underneath her. "Dude. Get the hell off of me." I forgot how strong she actually was.
    "Stop fighting me."
    I tried to buck her off. She reached for a bottle I'd long forgotten about somewhere on the floor. I heard the shattering of glass before she brandished the broken bottle against my neck.
    "What the fuck?" I screamed struggling even more.
    "Hot, right?" She dug her hips into mine while pushing so hard on the bottle. I felt a warmth trickle down my neck. That's when I knew she'd broken the skin and she wasn't just fucking around.
    For a moment, I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. Fuck, I could hardly breathe. As she peeled of my shirt, I felt myself come back down to the reality of the situation.
    She kissed my neck, licking the blood that escaped me.
    "Katie... Stop. Please."
    She just giggled. The sound was horrifying. "It turns me on to hear you beg, baby." She had now worked her way under my bra, removing it and flinging it to the floor. "Do it again," She whispered.
    I shook my head hard, refusing to give in. I winced as the bottle cut a longer, deeper gash into my neck.
    Katie ran her finger through my blood, tracing it along my jawline and down my chest.
    "Fucking psycho," I whispered.
    She smashed her mouth into mine, squishing my face with her free hand. I pressed my lips together, hard. "So you'll kiss that fucking brown kid, but you won't kiss me?!" Katie screamed. "I love you!"
    I spit in her face, feeling like I was out of options.
    "You absolute fucking WHORE.!" She slapped me across the face before dragging the bottle across my ribs and my stomach.
    I screamed out as she sliced. "STOP!" I heaved, giving in and begging. "Please..."
    "Say you're sorry." Her voice was cold and demanding. She raised the bottle back to my throat. "Say it."
    "I- I'm sorry." I gasped at the words, my voice slipping into a panic. "Please let me go."
    Katie just smiled, deciding instead to cut my stomach, again, latching onto my breast for balance.
    I screamed as she slowly worked my skin, reveling in the pain she caused me.
    Once more, the door burst open. That didn't stop Katie, though. No. Nothing stopped her until Liz ripped her off of me, tackling her to the floor and throwing the bottle into the sink. She was like a lightning storm. And unstoppable force.
    With eyes like a doe, I looked around the room, taking in the severity of things. It wasn't until I saw Vic just standing there in total shock that I realized I was half naked, not to mention bleeding profusely. I quickly scrambled to cover myself with a blanket. Slowly, his eyes moved to Liz and Katie struggling on the floor, and then back to me. I was so fucking embarrassed. In that moment, I prayed for death.
    Finally, he snapped out of it and rushed over. He scooped me up and squeezed me tight, stroking my hair as he tucked my head under his chin, slowly rocking back and forth. He didn't seem to care that my blood was now all over his white shirt. He did his best to turn me away from the scene on the floor. I didn't need to see to understand the beating Liz was handing out, though.    
    I started to fall out of my panicked state, raising a trembling hand to my neck. My chest tightened, and I found myself at a loss for air, once more. I gasped, clinging to him as I desperately tried to breathe, screams taking over any shred of air I found.
    "Hey, hey. Calm down," He whispered into my hair before softly kissing kissing my forehead. "You're safe, now."
    Tony and Ronnie were the next two to rush in. I was terrified for this many people to see me. Ronnie ran over and picked Katie off the floor, slamming her against the wall.
    Tony moved his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Liz walked up to him, panting. I heard her whisper something about security or a medic before he bolted out the door.
    Liz gingerly stepped towards us and crouched down, meeting my eyes. She had a freshly forming black eye. "Hey, I," she observed my wounds, her face full of worry. She found my hand and squeezed it. "You're alright. I'm so sorry." I could hear the sadness in her voice. I'd only seen her this upset once before. She wasn't the type to openly show her emotions like that.
    I buried my face into Vic's chest and squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could. I wished I could stop crying. I felt so helpless.
    I stayed there, curled up, until an unfamiliar voice spoke my name.
    I turned my head to see the on-site medic staring at me. Security was dragging a very angry Katie out. Her nose was bleeding from being slammed into the wall.
    After my neck, stomach, and chest were stitched shut or bandaged, local law enforcement took my statement. Everyone had to go through what they saw. Eventually, Katie was detained and banned from the entire tour, indefinitely. Everyone filtered out until it was just Liz, Vic, Tony, Ronnie, and me. For a while, everyone stayed silent, no one dared break the silence.
    Oddly enough, Ronnie was the first to say something. "Fucking cunt."
    "Ugh!" Liz groaned, loudly. "I'm so unbelievably pissed."
    Tony looked at me, silently whispering, "I'm so sorry. I should've made sure things were really okay. I should've kept a better eye on her."
    I shook my head before speaking with a broken voice. "I don't need a babysitter. What are we going to do for the rest of the shows? We're out a bassist and Drew already made it clear he's staying in town with Katie." I hung my head in my hands, my feet dangling off the edge of the bed. I was ready for this nightmare to be over.    
    Liz reached over, placing a hand on my back. "Oh, honey... You shouldn't be worrying about that, right now. You know, we could always just go home."
    "No!" I accidentally shouted. My palms started to sweat when everyone went quiet. "I... I don't want to. I want to keep playing. I need to. Besides," I wrung my hands. "If I go home, I'll be alone. I don't want to be alone. I can't..."
    I didn't have any family. Liz lived over an hour away. Minnesota winters got lonely when you had no one. I absentmindedly reached for the scars hidden under my bracelets. I wasn't ready for the silence. Not yet.
    "Alright," Liz smiled softly, pulling me back to the conversation and back to Earth. "So, what do we do now?"
    "Well," Vic spoke up immediately. "I can help fill in. I can play bass."
    "Really? You'd do that?" I looked at him, trying hard to hide the very obvious tears still leaking out of my eyes.
    "Yeah. We play right after you guys, anyway. You can steal Tony. Then, we don't even have to switch much equipment between sets. We can get longer play times."
    "You'd really do that?"
    "Of course." His smile warmed me, just a little. "I texted him, already. He's in. We're here for you."  He rested his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer.
    "Thank you guys. Really. Everyone. For-" I choked.
    There was a sort of silent understanding in the room.    
    Liz threw on Young Frankenstein, and I felt my eyelids grow heavy. I didn't want to fall asleep. I loved this movie and I loved the company surrounding me. It was comforting to have them all here. The last thing I remember watching was Terri Garr's character taking a "roll in ze hay." And then, nothingness. Sweet, dark, empty nothingness. There were no dreams to be had, tonight.