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

18. Brave

The night had been both endless and sleepless. There were no blankets in the room and the blue hoodie could only do so much to keep out the definite chill. Charlie wasn't sure whether it was actually cold or if it was just the internal frost that had settled in his chest making him shiver.

As he lay awake with no way to check the time, he turned over his slowly forming plan in his head. It wasn't really much, and the thought of actually going through with it only made him shiver more... But it was all he had. And if there was any hope of getting home to Nick and the others then -- well, he had to do whatever he could.

And if he was going to put his plan into action, he needed to get some fucking sleep. Lying awake like this, the tension of waiting for the morning was killing him. He just wanted to get started, so it could be over and done.

At some point Charlie supposed he must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew he was being woken up by David's annoyed tone.

"Finally," David whined. "Maybe now you're awake you'll actually shut up."

"Oh, David, leave him be," said Sahar from the mattress beside Charlie's. "It's understandable..."

"What?" Charlie murmured. "What are you talking about?"

David made a big stretch and shook his head while Sahar gave Charlie a soft look.

"You were talking in your sleep," she said. "You weren't that loud, but you sounded..."

"Sad," said David. "Fucking depressing, really."

Charlie swallowed, feeling very awkward. "Sorry."

"Scared," said Sahar. "I was going to say you sounded scared. Terrified. You kept murmuring Nick's name."

"And it was fucking annoying," said David. "Keep your wet dreams about my brother to yourself when in polite company, Char."

Charlie glared at him. Apparently normal-David had returned with the new day.

"Don't call me that!" he spat. "And if it had been a wet dream, I wouldn't have been scared, you dick."

At that moment, the door clicked and was thrown open. The usual guards strolled in and gestured for Ben to take his morning bathroom break. Ben went silently.

This was it, Charlie thought. Somehow, David's lewd comment only instilled more determination inside Charlie. He thought again about how his plan included nothing about the three other captors here. The plan was selfish he knew, but only up until a point. It would help them all in the long run -- as long as it worked.

Both not quickly enough and all too soon, it was Charlie's turn.

He got to his feet and suddenly wished he'd forced himself to eat something yesterday. The dizziness in his head was not ideal but he had no time to dwell on it. He had to focus. He had to be brave, just like Nick and Olly thought he was -- braver than that, in fact.

Charlie stayed as quiet and obedient as he could as he was escorted out of the room and down the corridor again. Luckily, neither Doug nor his friend spoke a word to him. Charlie had not accounted for many possible disruptions -- the places his brain had taken him last night when he tried to were not favourable in the slightest, so he had pushed them aside.

He slipped into the tiny bathroom and, in the second before the door was closed and locked behind him, he glimpsed the corridor beyond. He hadn't been sure his memory from last night had been correct, he had been distracted then, but now he saw again, the door at the opposite end of the corridor -- it had a window and through it he could see trees under a blue sky.