In Charlotte's Eyes

ONE: Out of Parker's Hands

“Hey, Parker?” Rebecca asked, a blunt in hand.

“Yeah?” A tipsy Parker responded.

“Do you miss Aaron?”

The question seemed silly; out of the blue, too. Parker stifled an amused laugh. “What are you talking about?”

“Aaron told me he stopped hanging out with you after Char-Char disappeared.”

“Heh.” He frowned. “He's not the only one, either.”

“Hm?” She perked her head his way, eyes wide with curiosity.

Parker shook his head and laughed pitifully. His voice broke slightly, and he covered his eyes. “All of them hate me now.” He weeped quietly, curling in on himself a little. “All of them.” He repeated.

Rebecca hummed sympathetically. “Is it because they all think you murdered her?”

He sniffled. “..Yeah.” He forced out.

“Yeah.. Ron told me about that.” There was a moment of silence. “I'm sorry about that, Parker.”

He kept his face hidden. “I didn't kill her..” He muttered, a fist tensing.

“I believe you.” She positively—politely— remarked. That thought didn't do much to make him feel better, though.

He finally removed his hand from his eyes, a shaky sigh escaping him. “It doesn't matter if you believe me.” He gulped. “Nobody else does.”

As he took a sip of his alcohol, Rebecca looked down, trying to find the right words to cheer him up. “I'm sure they'll come around!” She leaned back, gesturing both her hands at him. “I mean, look at you! You don't look like you'd hurt a fly.”

Except that was wrong. He had violently attacked Charlotte once before. Remembering that day always made him cringe, and now was no different. He turned his head away scornfully. “I doubt it.”

She set down her blunt and gave him a warm side hug. “Just have faith, Parky, honey.”

While the affection did feel nice—and even made him smile for half a second—he didn't have faith. He had nothing to believe in other than that detective looking into Charlotte’s disappearance.

Parker took a sip of his drink.

He had already forgotten the woman’s name.