FREAK SHOW

Chapter 17: The Rest is Rust and Stardust

Chapter 17: The Rest is Rust and Stardust

WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER

~"'She still believes in the innate goodness of humans,' he says. 'And that I believe, is what makes her quite so easy to love.'" ~unknown

Scarlett had a hard time breathing when the body was finally cut down from the tree. She was shaking all over too. As the thin figure finally smacked against the ground, the head of it cracking against the roots of the maple tree, Scarlett truly start freaking out. She knew that bald head, that hooked nose, and that tall skeleton frame from anywhere. And when Bruce shined the flashlight on the older man's face, revealing a head snapped at an odd angle, Scarlett had the overwhelming urge to puke. She knew, she knew something was wrong with Archer. And yet she did nothing.

He didn't have anyone to help him when he felt most alone. Unlike her, when she had Charlie there for her, he had no one. He died thinking he was by himself in the world. That thought alone made her eyes collect a watery film over them.

"He committed suicide, no discussion needed," Alex plainly said from beside them, wrapping her arms around herself. Her robe didn't offer much protection against the night's cold. Scarlett didn't bother looking at the women, only feeling more distraught at her words.

"But why would he?" Nia quietly asked. Nina was still in bed, the scene was deemed to graphic for her to witness. It was almost too graphic for Scarlett to witness. But what happened couldn't be unseen.

"Maybe someone murdered him," Irene interrupted the conversation from her position a few feet away. Scarlett glanced up at her voice and met her eyes.

"Now why would you say that?" Alex said back, her tone none too friendly towards the woman.

"I told you guys that I saw him talking to himself," Scarlett sighed, her voice almost as sad as she looked with her glassy eyes and sagged shoulders, "He obviously needed help, someone to talk to."

"I think what we should be focusing on how we are disappearing. Two acts gone in one year." Felicity brought up, "They're gonna' have to paint over his icon on the side of the caravans and get rid of his poster. The freaks' car is almost empty now." Scarlett's heart clenched painfully, remembering Bonnie.

"Here's the ladder he used to get up the tree," Charlie suddenly walked up to them, holding up a wooden ladder, "found it on the other side."

Scarlett could barely look at it. She was starting to get nauseous. It wasn't like she was going to mourn Archer, but she still felt sick to her stomach. She thought about how someone just died in front of her...just like that, within one second and a blink of an eye, and to know that she could have stopped it. To know that she almost forced Charlie to experience that when she had broken the mirror in her bathroom months ago didn't help her guilt.

She blinked rapidly when a familiar calloused hand wrapped around her wrist, dragging her out of her thoughts. Scarlett hadn't even noticed she had been scratching at her scarred wrist. Looking up from the reddened skin, she whispered to Charlie, "Sorry."

He could tell she was getting overwhelmed when she would start up that habit, able to read her like a book these days. "Shh, it's ok, don't worry about this anymore Letty'," his hand was on her back, "there was nothing we could've done."

Scarlett remained quiet. She only bit on her lip and let him guide her away, his arm wrapped around her as he excused her from the scene, "I think she's tired, I'll be back in ten minutes."