We Go On

Chapter Eleven

     Charlie was the first to arrive at Carter's house. Then Samantha and then the others.

     "Let me guess, no answer?" Erick assumes that nobody could get ahold of Carter, seeing as they were all still outside.

     They all shake their heads no in response.

     "Should I get the key?" Liam asks

     Charlie put his hand on the doorknob and it was unlocked.

     "Never mind." Liam says

     They enter the house, calling out to Carter, announcing their arrival.

     "Carter." Maria calls out

     "We're here!" Erick says

     Silence

     They make their way up to her bedroom, checking the bathroom first this time to see if she was in there.

     The bathroom door was open and empty, and they noticed her bedroom door was open as well.

     "Where could she be?" Liam asks as they enter her room, finding that she isn't in there either. Instead finding the room to be completely trashed.

     "Why is her room trashed? She's never been a messy person." Samantha says, trying not to step on anything that could break even more.

     "Well, this might be why she's not answering. Her phone's right here and it's on silent." Erick says, holding up Carter's phone, seeing all the missed calls and texts from them.

     Maria goes to sit on the bed when she sees Carter's journal. She went to close it when their names on the page caught her attention, and what soon came after them.

     Maria reads aloud, "'They're only your friends out of pity.' Maybe Whitney's right. I don't fit in with them, never have. I always wondered why they chose to still hang out with me once we got to High School."

     "What the hell is that?" Erick asks

     "That's from a few days ago." Maria says, flipping to the previous entry. "I'm running out of cover-up for my scars and bruises. And my sweatshirts are wearing out. I can't suggest the mall, they'll know something's up for sure. Maybe I'll go on my own and hope I don't run into any of them there." she reads

     "Scars? Bruises?" Liam asks confused.

     Maria turns back to the entry before, "I pulled myself out of bed today. It was only 6:30 am and I was already in the bathroom throwing up. Panicking about seeing Damon. No one knows what happened. Not yet... I doubt he'll tell his friends the truth, he'll probably say anything to keep his reputation. Meanwhile, I'll never tell a soul. I can never let anyone know what he tried to do to me. Because even my truth is foggy. He put something in my drink. He was violent. I couldn't get him off. I cried for help but there was no one. I smashed the bottle on his head. I ran until I couldn't anymore and I woke up in the middle of the woods. My friends showed up. Charlie noticed one of the bruises, but I lied. I had to. Would they have believed me had I told the truth?"

     "Oh my god..." Samantha covers her mouth as tears begin to form.

     "He's dead." Erick says, clenching his fists.

     "That bastard." Charlie says, taking the journal from a sobbing Maria, flipping back another entry. He sees his name, and only his name, so he reads to himself, "Seeing them together breaks me more and more each day. The way I feel about Charlie... I can't explain it. Falling in love with him while he falls in love with Maria... I can't handle it anymore. I try so hard to be happy for them because I truly want to be, they deserve to be happy. But I can't keep watching... not when my heart aches for him."

     Charlie turns back to where the page marker was, "Injury log." he says, his eyes growing wide from the realization.

     "How did we not see it?" Liam asks as he stops in his tracks when he hears what Charlie says.

     "Item used: Razorblade. Date: Today... Time: 4:00 pm..." Charlie reads out loud. 

     "That was 45 minutes ago..." Erick quickly stands up.

     "This can't be happening." Samantha starts to panic.

     "Where the hell is she?!" Charlie yells, dropping the book, and running out of Carter's room. Closely followed by the others, they begin searching the entire house for Carter.

     "Carter!" they call out as they check every room, but they hear nothing but their cries and the sounds of their feet running on the wooden floors.

     "Charlie! The basement!" Liam calls out from upstairs.

     Charlie runs to the basement doors with the others in tow. The door was locked. He didn't have time to search for a key. Instead, he yanked it open with all his strength, breaking the lock, and they stampeded down the stairs hoping to find Carter.

     The washing machine was going. A box of razor blades and gauze on the table. And Carter is wearing only a sports bra and shorts. She was lying on the couch, her arm hanging off the side and a pillow covering her face.

     "Carter!" Charlie yells

     "Oh god!" Maria cries

     They rush to her, moving the pillow, surrounding her, and waking her up.

      She yanks the headphones out of her ears. "What the hell are you guys doing here!?" Carter yells