Creep Book 1, Charlie-Charlie

CHAPTER 6

Chapter 6

"You okay?" Cooper's breath raced when we reached his truck.

"No, you?"

"I never been father form being okay than I am right now."

"What-What's going on Cooper who could've done that and why?"

"Honestly Sam, I don't know, but I know you're not safe here and seeing as I spend most of my time at the hospital ... you can stay there until we can figure out what to do next." We both sat silently; I truly do not think either of us knew what to say. The situation was so far beyond our understanding ... beyond, beyond our understanding. What was there to say anyway, we had just witnessed and survived a scene straight from a horror movie, and we had no idea how to deal with it? This type of thing did not happen in real, everyday life, or did it?

"As you can see it's not much, but at least I know you'll be ... make yourself comfortable, the couch is fairly decent if you can get passed the squeaky leather, the blanket,"

"Wait is that the same blanket I,"

"You made for me in 7th grade? Yeah, it is."

"You kept it all this time?"

"Never leave home without it." I could tell he felt uncomfortable truth was so did I. We had not been this close since ... for a very long time.

"Oh, the mini bar is over there next to the bathroom's if you; you know need to freshen up or whatever. Uhm, unfortunately there's not much in the way of food, but help yourself to the bottled water and energy bars. Uhm, the coffee maker is ... come to think of it I don't think you want to drink the coffee, unless off course you're feeling brave or want to have hallucinations," He joked.

"Think I'm already there, thanks." I wanted to kick myself as soon as the words came out.

"Look Sam I ... we'll figure this out,"

"It's okay Cooper, I'm just ... Look I'll be fine here you go do what you have too." Cooper nodded, wise enough not to press the matter with any further false promises. I knew he meant well, but we were both adult enough to realize that this, whatever this was went far over our heads.

"There's a couple of my shirts in the closet if you want to get out of ... or I can have one of the nurses bring you a pair of scrubs. They're not as fashionable as you bunny slippers though." I could tell he did not want to leave and although I knew he had to, I did not want him to leave either.

"Oh, before you leave is it okay if I use your laptop? I'd like to see what I can find out about these Charlie parties you mentioned the kids were having." I asked sheepishly, if I was going to be stuck here I was going to make the best of it.

"Be my guest, the software hasn't been upgraded yet, but the Wi-Fi is free. I tried searching a while back myself, only thing I got though was weird pictures of Charlie Sheen. Maybe you'll have better luck; God knows I'm not the most tech savvy person on the planet."

"Thanks, I'll let you know what I find, if I find anything" I assured.

"Just press 9 if you need me or need anything it's connected to my cell and I always have my cell. I try and sneak you some green Jell-O from the cafeteria, Yum." His cheeriness was welcomed, "Oh and there's painkillers in the medicine cabinet if you need ... for your head." I had never seen Cooper act so flustered and uncomfortable not even as a kid it was almost cute.

I lay back on the couch after I changed into one of Cooper's T-shirts and the scrub pants the nurse had brought. My head felt heavy, yet I could for the life of me not fall asleep every time I would close my eyes my mind would start surging. I leaned over lifting the laptop from the small coffee table, which stood in front of the couch.

"Might as well do some surfing. Doesn't look like I'm going to sleep tonight ... today." It was still dark outside, yet I could not tell how late it was; time it seemed had gotten away from me.

"Password?" I stared puzzlingly at Cooper's laptop screen, "Oh great how should I know what his password is. That's just great." I sighed my eyes first falling on the blanket, then the picture frame his certificate was displayed in and then the first place trophy we received in drama club for our rendition of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

"No," I smiled, "It can't be that easy ... can it?" Everywhere I looked I found pieces of our past, and the more I thought about it I realized that I never left Coopers memory even if he left mine, which led me to the next conclusion,

"S-a-m-a-n-t-h-a, enter, wrong password. Okay what about S-a-m? Nope, wrong password. Wait, I've got it now, S-a-m-m-y, password correct. Yes!" I air bunched my own brilliance.

When by 9am my search or should I say searches had only turned up pictures and articles of the actor Charlie along with other faces I could say with certainty was not the Charlie I was looking for, I decided to put in one last ditch effort.

"Okay one last try." I mumbled stretching my stiff upper body, my head was really starting to throb and my blurry vision added to it.

I typed in Charlie, Charlie Challenge and within seconds hundreds of YouTube video's had popped up; one more ridiculous than the next. Teenagers of all ages sat around in groups of four giggling and screaming like idiots at a sheet of paper and two pencils balancing on top of each other. And although the paper and the pencils did resembled the scene Cooper and I had found in Nina's room; minus the bleeding eyeless teddy bear off course, it still seemed ridiculous.

If this was indeed what I was looking for it was nothing, but an idiotic game to scare young children. There was nothing supernatural, let alone scary about it.

"I can't believe," My eyes drifted to Nina's phone again, "N-i-n-a V-a-n-c-e" I typed, and before I even finished her first name there it was. Nina had posted 3 videos on her YouTube account. The first 2 were harmless enough, but it was the 3rd, which drew my attention.

"Charlie-Charlie Challenge Party." It was dated the night before she called me.

At the start of the video Nina was already dancing half naked on the living room table; several seedy looking guys bumping and grinding to their hearts content. Honestly, I was not opposed to a woman showing some skin, but the way my sister was behaving would make even a stripper blush.

I fast forwarded through most of the party wondering when the whole Charlie challenge would come into play when suddenly the screen went black and seconds later the camera was focused on Nina as she lay fast asleep in her bed. I was puzzled at first, but then when someone lifted the camera and started zooming in on my sister's face I began to feel uncomfortable, fearing the worst.

"Oh, God." I gasped someone is filming her while she's sleeping, "No. No, no wake up Nina wake up." Was this him was this the man my sister was so afraid of? I shuddered at the thought of what he did to her or what I was about to witness.

A little while later, the camera zoomed out and I watched as the blanket Nina was covered with was being pulled down slowly. Nina stirred; pulling it up again, yet as soon as she did it would be pulled down again. This time Nina moaned and whined tightly tucking the blanket under her chin.

I prayed that it was just one of her friends playing a practical joke, but those prayers were shot straight to hell as soon as a small hand appeared; wrapping around her ankle tugging her leg. Nina jerked; first looking around then put her head back down again. The hand again tugged, this time a little harder. It was enough to wake her almost completely.

"Oh God, run." I yelled even though I knew she could not hear me. Nina's face changed within an instant, before she was pulled off her bed and the camera was dropped. I moved closer to the screen trying to make out what was happening when I heard the familiar giggling.

"

NO, NO, LEAVE HER ALONE YOU BASTARD." Apart from my own screams, I could hear Nina screaming in the background, then I saw something that I wished I had never seen. Two small feet ran swiftly past the camera lens, followed by the same eery song I heard before, cementing the fact that the presence in the room with my sister in all actuality was not that of a man, but in fact, that of a child. The same child that pushed me off the stairs and had been tormenting us all.