No Requiems Left

What Happened to Charlotte?

After walking the long trek back to Bill's Honda, Bill slipped into the passenger seat while Charlie situated himself in the front seat, changing the mirrors so he could see around the car. While Charlie changed things around, Bill turned on his GPS machine, easily typing in the address and setting it on the dash where Charlie could see it.

"Thank you Chris. I appreciate you driving for me." Bill announced with a small smile.

"Wha — oh. Yeah, no problem." Charlie said in response, momentarily forgetting who 'Chris' was.Bill rolled over and was out like a light basically as soon as Charlie drove. It was a nice break to drive. Letting the cars fly by him on the highway like passing memories. he hoped he could go home one day, be able to tell his family he was sorry for the pain he put them through. He wanted to find a way out, a way to be with the people he loved and not behind bars. He wasn't stupid. He knew that since he was almost eighteen, they would most likely try him as an adult for murder, and since he left the scene, it would be even worse. There wasn't a doubt in his mind they would put him away for a very long time, and since he was fairly small, he knew it wouldn't be a cakewalk.

It would be like Nico.

He took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind, instead trying to hyper-focus on the road and 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd that played softly on the radio. He hummed along as the song played, along with reading license plates of passing cars, hoping to collect all 50 on the trip.About two hours went by until Bill grunted and furrowed his brows in his sleep. A moment later, he shot up and looked around in a daze of confusion. He let out a sigh and stretched his arms behind his head.

"You okay?" Charlie asked as he took a glance at the man, whose eyes still had the same dark bags under his eyes.

"Eh, bad dreams." he answered simply, not elaborating much on the subject.

Charlie thought for a minute before shrugging. "We all have our demons I guess." he mumbled as he drove, silence covering them like a heavy blanket for a handful of minutes. "If you ever wanna talk, I doubt we'll be together much longer. Might be good to get it off your chest." Charlie added, which would have been a nice gesture, if it wasn't completely hypercritical of him to be saying it.

Bill hesitated, but then he sighed. "Thanks, kid." he said before sitting up. "When my daughter was little, me and her mama lived in this nice house. It was perfect for us. But it used to get real cold, and one night I went out to get more wood for the fireplace, but while I was outside, I guess I had left the door to the stove open and a spark flew out. Set the house in flames in seconds." He explained before taking a second to breathe. It was obvious he hadn't spoken about it in a long time.

"Take your time." Charlie said with an encouraging expression.

He nodded at Charlie before rubbing his forehead slowly. "I ran back in when I saw the fire. I kicked down Charlotte's door, and I got to her before anything serious had happened... but her mother. God." he said as his eyes became glossy. "I failed her." He added.

"It wasn't your fault. It was an accident."

"An accident that left my daughter motherless and burned, and me hardly scraped up." he sighed with a flare in his eyes. He blamed himself.

Charlie hated he could imagine this poor family at their worst. A beautiful two story wooden house, maybe a little picket fence and a dog that lived out back. Charlotte, just a little girl, playing with dolls in her bedroom while her mother was listening to music upstairs in her own room while she read some romance novel, unaware of the disaster that was soon to come. Only minutes after a smiling Bill walks outside, their dream house bursts into flames, starting in the room under the stairs, which spreads to the staircase, keeping Bill's wife trapped upstairs. When the fire spread, the Man would know his wife was gone, and he had to focus on his terrified toddler.

It broke his heart.

"... I'm sorry Bill." He said softly, risking a sympathetic glance towards his traveling buddy. "Why did Charlotte move to Iowa?" he asked with a curious expression.

"After I lost my wife and my house, my daughter had medical needs from after the fire, and I had to focus on her. So I lost my job, then I fell into some bad things. Gambling, drinking." He explained with a guilty expression. "I lost so much money... and Charlotte wasn't safe in the apartment we lived in. She was only eight, and I was hardly home for her. Child services put her into foster care, and a family adopted her in Iowa. They still let me talk to her, but she wanted less and less to do with me as she got older." He added before sighing and punching the glove box. "I am a bad parent."

"She invited you to the wedding though... maybe she feels bad about what happened between you two?" Charlie asked as he imagined young Charlotte watching her father melt away into gambling, losing the little money they had, and becoming an entirely different person when he drank. He knew it must have been hard for her, not to just lose her mom, but in a way she lost her dad, too.

"I don't know why she invited me. I wouldn't have."

And with that, the car ride was silent again. Charlie didn't know what to say, he felt awful for this family; they had all lost so much. He always was told 'life isn't fair.' when things didn't go his way as a kid, but Bill's story gave a whole new meaning to the saying. Why should Bill have to lose his entire family when there were people living in mansions, caring so little for the one's they are supposed to love? Charlie had heard Ashley talk about how her daddy took her phone away and that she hated him more than once. Nico had also complained about how his mom was an idiot who only married his dad for money. They were so ungrateful. People like Ashley and Nico took things for granted, they took their parents for granted.

Charlie had a mom and a dad. His mom loved him, his dad didn't. growing up without a dad was hard, especially since the same people who bullied him about how much his father hated him were the same ones to complain and curse their own parents. It was a vicious, hypocritical, power circle.

He wondered how Charlotte felt now. She had parents who loved her, but after the accident, feelings must have been hard. Maybe she felt like her dad didn't love her anymore? Since he was working so much after, it must have felt like he was avoiding her. But if Charlotte came to that conclusion, why would she have reached out to Bill?

It all seemed like a big emotional mess. But Charlie still hoped everything would work out for them.

He hadn't known Bill for very long, but Charlie thought he was a good man. Maybe Charlotte was giving him another chance.

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I know it's a bit short but I had to split it up so the second chapter wasn't too long for you guys <3

thank you so much for reading this story means a lot to me.. its actually a huge part of my senior project and I wanted it documented.