Red (sequel to TYG)

Chapter 9

Anna's pov:

Charlie takes a cigarette out of a drawer in his desk and motions for us to sit down on the chairs in front of the desk.

There's only two chairs in front of the desk so Carl sits down on one and pulls me down onto his lap and wraps his hands around my waist.

As Charlie opens another drawer of his desk to get a lighter he meets my eyes. He tilts his head to the side, signaling for me to get up.

I start to stand up but Carl firmly pulls me back down, locking his fingers around my waist. I accept defeat, not that I'm disappointed. I wrap my arms over Carl's so my hands are piled on top of his.

Charlie looks at us but doesn't say anything about it.

"Now as you may have already guessed, I have no intention of letting Red go." Charlie says calmly.

"Like hell ya' won't." Daryl says.

Charlie takes a puff of his cigarette and blows out the smoke with absolutely zero emotion on his face.

"The two of you I could care less about. If you want to go, go. If you would rather we kill you, than fine. Whatever your decision is, make it quickly." Charlie says.

Carl and Daryl exchange a look.

"We're not leaving without her." Carl says firmly.

"So we kill you." Charlie says thoughtfully.

"You wanna know what we did to the last group of people who screwed with us? It won't be a pretty story, kid." Daryl says menacingly.

If he wasn't on my side, I'd be pretty scared.

"You wanna know how I got my position of power here?" Charlie asks.

He puts his cigarette back in his mouth and pulls the back of his shirt up to show off the scars on his back that I had wondered about.

"My old man, he wasn't like other fathers. Instead of being happy to see me when he came home from work everyday, he abused me. Do you know the kind of power it took to kill my own father? He was a man of honer to the soldiers here. One of the top soldiers in his day and then a Commander."

"You wanna talk about Daddy issues? We've all got them." Daryl interrupts him and chuckles.

Charlie sits on his desk and smokes for a second surveying us.

"Does it bother you that your girlfriend is cheating on you?" Charlie asks Carl thoughtfully.

I wince and try to play it cool. It's not like I actually cheated on Carl by trying to kill Charlie.

Carl's jaw tightens but then relaxes.

"I'm not gonna fall for your stupid mind games." Carl says. Oh thank God.

"Ah, smart kid. I must say, she's like an animal though. It was just before your reunion actually." Charlie says smugly.
I spoke to soon.

"I can see you questioning her. Your eyes show signs of panic and you just have to ask yourself, does she really love me? Tell me, what was it that happened that made Red be all alone in the woods when we found her? What happened that night?" Charlie asks.

Dang it he's good. How does he even figure this kind of stuff out? He's a freaking genius.

"Shut up." Carl growls.

"Jeez kid, if you're stupid enough not to believe me, look at the length of those pants on your girlfriend. Those were for me. The evidence is right there." He says and shrugs.

I turn to look at Carl and I notice he really is questioning me. I think I need some ice for this burn on my heart. I need to remember that it's Charlie messing with his head. Not that he's lying, but I was trying to kill him!

Carl's face is unreadable for a second while he thinks. Suddenly his eyes meet mine and I know his mind is made up.

Charlie stands up from his desk and walks around to the other side of it, thinking of a new way to mess with them.

"Have you ever heard the story of the two women who were fighting over a baby? Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not exactly caught up on my Bible stories. Anyways, their King said that if they couldn't agree on who was to keep the baby that he would cut it in half and they could each take a half. This ringing a bell?" Charlie asks.

"Just get to the point." Daryl mutters.

"Sadly, we're not sharing her. Either the two of you can leave peacefully and never come back and I won't kill Red, or you can put up a fight and bye-bye Red. The choice is yours, but if you don't decide soon I will choose for you. She's either staying with me or with God." Charlie says.

Neither of them answer him. I just glare. I think he might have gone off the deep end. You find these kind of people sometimes. People like the governor. This world makes them literally go nuts. I guess though, who am I to talk? I'm the freak show that won't talk anymore.

"Well gentleman, it's been a lovely talk, but I have some business to attend to." Charlie says, finally finishing his cigarette. He puts it in an ash tray and nods to Tucker and the other soldier who I don't know his name.

I stand up and hug Carl for a long time until Charlie clears his throat. I let go of him and hug Daryl quickly.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, kid." Daryl whispers in my ear when I hug him.

I bite my lip and nod my head. This isn't gonna end well for me most likely.

Charlie walks over to me and wraps his hands around my waist from behind while they exit. I let the tears fall from my eyes once they are gone.

I'm never getting out of here. I can feel it. Even if I do escape, I know that I will
never be able to leave mentally. I'll spend the rest of my life in this pace trying to figure a way out. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I can just feel that it's gonna be bad.

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(I've already written to chapter fifteen, and I seriously love where this is going. It's playing out exactly like I wanted it to when I thought of the idea for it. I've probably spoken to soon though.
Anywho, I hope y'all are having a good day. Xoxo, Isabella.)