I Can Hear Your Silence (A Heartstopper FanFic -- BOOK 2)

8. Remember

Charlie froze with his hand grasping the side of Nick's t-shirt.

Nick glanced between him and the man at the grave. He realised with some confusion that the pair of them were just staring at each other, or at least Charlie was staring -- the man was just watching them, eyes a little piercing and intense now Nick really looked.

He felt a tug at his side and Charlie began to stride along down the row of graves, pace quickening as he led them back toward the main path. By the time they'd left the cemetery proper, Charlie was practically running.

Nick panted to keep up. "Charlie? What's going on? Why are we running?"

Charlie merely gave his hand a squeeze and hurried him along. It wasn't until they had reached the end of the path and they were back on the main road that Charlie stopped again. Charlie was out of breath too. Sometimes Nick forgot about Charlie's new lung condition. He suspected Charlie did too.

"Sorry," Charlie breathed. "I just... let's go home."

"Okay." Nick frowned. "Have you seen that man before?"

Charlie quickly shook his head, but Nick could tell he was no longer really listening.

"Isabella Harding," Charlie murmured absently. "Mr Harding..."

"Um... yeah," said Nick. "If that was Isabella's dad."

Apparently, Charlie had not realised he had spoken aloud because he looked up in alarm.

"Do you think we should have stopped to speak to him?" Nick wondered.

"No!" Charlie said it with such fierce conviction that Nick blinked in surprise. "No. D-don't speak to him, Nick." He stepped forward to place his hands on his shoulders imploringly. "If you ever see him, like, about, please, Nick, promise me you won't speak to that man."

"Charlie... what?"

"Promise me!"

"Okay, okay, I promise," said Nick quickly. "Are you going to tell me why?"

But Charlie had let go of him and let go of all awareness of Nick's words or his comfort. As he chewed at his Costa straw, Charlie's mind raced, only vaguely aware of Nick hurrying to catch up with him.

He couldn't believe had just been feeling sorry for the man, for Mr H.

Mr Harding -- his most recent tormentor -- was Isabella's dad? It didn't make any sense. Why was he going around kidnapping people? What was his purpose for kidnapping Tony and Helen? Charlie had assumed it was something to do with the Kane case before but now he was almost certain it did. Was it some kind of revenge for his daughter?

Nick's hand was back in his though Charlie had no memory of taking it again. He saw Nick's tentative smile but also the worry in his brown eyes. Charlie had to look away again...

How long could he keep this up? How long would it take for everyone to be found? For Mr H to be discovered guilty? He supposed these were all the same question, really.

They reached Charlie's house first and quickly realised they didn't have all that long before they had to be at Tao's. Nick reluctantly kissed Charlie temporarily goodbye on his front doorstep and trudged off alone towards home.

They had planned to grab their things for the sleepover and then meet back at Charlie's in half an hour so that Julio could drive them to Tao's.

Charlie's reaction to seeing Mr Harding at the cemetery had been strange... hadn't it? Nick could not shake the image from his head of all the times over the last few days when Charlie had been suddenly overtaken by some kind of horrible, silence-inducing thought. No matter all the ways his boyfriend struggled, with all the reasons he had, Nick always wanted to squash them. He wanted to make it all go away so no one could hurt Charlie ever again.