Charlie Rose

Seventh Chap

Charlie's plans on sleeping in the next day did not work out, sadly. She woke up at the middle of the night for some unknown reason and stayed wide-awake when she tried to fall back asleep. Marsha slept soundly beside her and didn't seem to notice Charlie's tossing and turning as she tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. After trying for some moments, she heard something and stopped dead cold. She thought at first that it was Marsha coming to, but then she heard the sounds, which were thumps and footsteps. Charlie didn't move a muscle and hoped and prayed that the sounds outside were not coming from Jeremiah and that he was not making his way to her. 

After awhile of waiting for the worst and nothing happening, she felt reassured and let herself breathe again. Whoever was outside at this hour was not going to come over to her, he was probably paying a late visit to one of the whores. She hoped so. The thumps got louder and now they were followed by grunts, not like someone having sex but more like someone fighting. Charlie's curiosity drew her to the door and for a moment, she was ready to open the door and peak outside. Then, her common sense kicked in and she realized that the sounds were coming from right outside her door and that if she'd open the door, the people outside would spot her immediately. 

Her curiosity, though, overpowered her practicality and she told herself that the people outside weren't right by her door. She grabbed the door handle and slowly and very quietly, turned it. She opened a crack and peaked outside. She felt like she had a mini heart-attack when she saw Jeremiah standing only ten feet away from the door. Her hand gripped the handle and she got ready to slam the door shut. But, then she noticed that Jeremiah didn't acknowledge her; his attention was focused on a guy on the ground. He had his gun in the guy's face and was growling something she didn't quite hear. After adjusting her eyes to the darkness, she saw that the guy on the ground was Jameson. Not that she was surprised. 

She was about to close the door and give Jeremiah the privacy he needed as he would kill him, but then a voice spoke up from the darkness. "Jeremiah," Carlton's cold voice said. He stepped out of the shadows and appeared behind him. "That's not how we handle things in this town." His cold, sadistic grin made a shiver go down Charlie's spine. She wanted to close the door and pretend like nothing happened, but it was like she couldn't. Like she was stuck that way; standing with her whole body pressed to the door, especially her head, which was cocked to the side a little to see out the small crack between the door and the door frame. 

Jeremiah looked behind his shoulder and met Carlton's blue eyes, which seemed to glow in the dark, then nodded and let Jameson go. "Tomorrow, as soon as possible" He said to the frightened Jameson who was rubbing his collar, where Jeremiah had been holding him down, and nodded before scampering away. Charlie closed the door as quietly as she could and backed away from it, watching out on keeping as quiet as she could to rise no suspicion. She crawled back into bed and half waited for Jeremiah to barge in, she knew he would want to unwind after what happened and she knew he'd probably be in the mood to get the answers from her. 

She somehow fell asleep as she waited and the next time she woke up, it was Marsha telling her that she wouldn't want to be late for the first shoot-out. 

"Is it morning?" Charlie mumbled confusedly and sat up before rubbing her tired eyes. She hadn't noticed that she had fallen asleep until now, feeling the tiredness wash over her like a strong tidal-wave. She was so sure she had stayed awake the whole night. 

"Yes, and the first shoot-out will be starting at any minute" Marsha answered and tried again to usher her out of bed. "You wouldn't want that white man to come and get you now, would you?" 

That sentence snapped her away. Not out of fear that Jeremiah might come, but because of what happened last night. Charlie jumped out of bed and got dressed in a hurry. She didn't know why, but something inside her drove her towards the outside world where everything she feared and hated awaited her.