Chapter 3 {Joey's POV}
I silently followed Charlie and April into their house, As soon as we walk inside April rushes into her room and slams the door behind her, I can't help thinking: 'GOSH WOMAN! CALM YO TITS!' Charlie asks me if I want to play truth or dare and I gladly accept, following her up to her room. The walls in their house are so thin, I can here the conversation April is having on the phone, 'ugh, he's such a weirdo, I don't know how Charlie puts up with him..... Argh! He bugs me so much!...... He's just so annoying I can't stand it sometimes! I swear if he annoys me one more time I swear I'll lose it!' I can see the anger and sadness in Charlie's face as she too processes what's being said, as much as I hate to upset her, I'm just so sick and tired of people talking shit about me! Especially when they barely know anything about me. I jump up and storm out of Charlie's room, then forcefully swinging April's door open and watching as she puts down her phone.
"knock!"
"If you have a problem with me just say it to my face!" I shout at her, gently pushing Charlie away when she tried to stop me from yelling.
"Geez no need to spy on me"
"Shut up April! You don't know anything about me!" I breathe heavily and try to calm myself, there's not really any point in fighting with her, she doesn't give a shit about me anyway.
"Get out of my room! Get out of my face! I hate you!"
I step out of the room and slam the door shut, holding my hand up to stop Charlie from saying anything, "don't."
Charlie leads me into the lounge room I slump down onto the couch next to her and sigh softly, she gets out some DVDs, "scream four or paranormal activity?"
My face brightens and I smile cheerfully, "scream four of course!"
Charlie goes and puts the DVD in before coming back to the couch and huddling under the blanket with me, I put my arm gently around her in a friendly way to comfort her, she gets scared so easily. Charlie hides her face under the blanket for most of the movie and I have to laugh and reassure her it's ok to come out when the movie is over. We sit and talk for a while, about general stuff and in the middle of a normal conversation I shout, "behind you!!" Charlie ducks under the blanket, whining before coming out and hitting me on the leg, laughing, "don't do that!!"
"It's so easy it's not even funny anymore!"
"Good! That'll give you a reason to stop!" We both laugh and every time we'd stop, we'd look at each other and start up again. I love being here with Charlie, nothing fun ever happens at my house and I'm usually left alone with just Chase, who at the moment is fast asleep on my thigh, 'you lazy little shit' I think to myself as I look down at him, still laughing. Charlie and I stop when we hear the window bang shut, we freeze and Chase jumps awake, digging his claws into my skin.
April bursts open her door and come out, "what the hell was that?!"
There's a long pause before I whisper, "you guys have a cat, right?" I gently pull Chase of my leg and put him on my shoulder, where he slides into my hood and clings onto the fabric. We hear more rustling and Charlie quickly tiptoes to the kitchen and comes back with three knives, giving one to me and one to April. She holds our hands and squeezes them, "no matter what happens, we stick together. I love you guys"
I can see the tears forming in both hers and April's eyes, I bite my lip and move to stand in front of them, "don't worry, everything's going to be okay" I say and smile slightly at Charlie, gently wiping her tears with my thumb. I look at April and gently hold her hand for a second, the first sign of affection she's ever accepted from me, "I won't let anything happen to you, you're like family" I let go of April's hand and glance over to the hallways, seeing a shadow of an armed man. I pull Charlie, signalling her that we should escape out the front door and run . I slam the door in the man's face, gently pushing April out first, Charlie turns back to inspect the man for a few seconds before I pull her along and tell her to run. April already ran ahead, which is probably a good thing considering she seems to be a little slower then me and Charlie, we call out to her to keep running and not look back and she does so. I look back then at Charlie's worried face, she's still holding my hand and I can feel her shaking, "it'll be ok, just don't look back. Whatever happens, run for your life" I say to her reassuringly, we all stop at the start of the woods and Charlie suggests we split up but I refuse to and for good reason, I couldn't live with myself if I let something happen to Charlie, or April too, for that matter. We continuing running all together through the woods, I can see April slowing down and grab her hand gently, encouraging her to go faster, yea I'm still angry at her but I for some reason feel responsible for protecting her, 'damn you and your soft heart Joey!' I mentally scream at myself. I feel Chase clawing and my neck and the blood start trickling down, but I don't have time to do anything at the moment, I just need to get April and Charlie to safety. I suddenly think back to the morning with Chase, life really does suck sometimes..
