Onward Journey (Broken Descent Sequel)

Imagine

The following day, Bruno grabbed his keys and put his wallet and phone in his pockets. Kim looked to him in pure confusion after looking at the twins still waking up in the bed next to them. Charlotte emerged from the other room with a small purse slung around her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Kim asked.

Bruno hesitated for a moment. "Uh...Charlotte and I are going out for a little."

"I thought we were going out as a family today?" Kim asked.

Charlotte's gaze switched between the two of them, with eyes big and wide, anticipating the conversation that would follow.

"Char," Bruno said, handing her over a few dollar bills. "I'll be out in a sec...how 'bout you go get us waters from the vending machine down the hall and I'll be right there."

Without a word, Charlotte left with the money and headed to the right, down the hallway.

"You guys all went out yesterday and Charlotte didn't go..." Bruno said.

"She didn't want to."

"Yeah...yeah I know...I need to see what's up...she said she had something she wanted to talk about."

"Okay," Kim replied quietly.

Once Bruno noticed that Kim wasn't exactly happy about it, he pouted like a puppy.

"Bruno it's not that big of a problem," Kim said, "it just seems like I'm taking care of the kids a lot."

"It's still early," he replied. "We're all still getting used to the tour life. Give me some time to adjust...I promise that you won't be taking care of the kids as much. I definitely don't want you to be doing all of that."

"Okay good," she sighed.

"I'm sorry," Bruno pouted, cracking a smile.

"It's okay," Kim said, opening up her arms for a hug. "Have a good time with Charlotte."

"I will...I always do."

Bruno and Charlotte walked down the streets of New York. The weather was perfect, bright and sunny. After a few minutes of watching her scroll through her phone, Bruno swiped it right out her hands.

"Hey," Charlotte whined.

"You can go a couple hours without a screen," Bruno said, as they entered Central Park. "You used to love going to the park."

"I still do," Charlotte said, taking a sip of water and averting her eyes and attention to the far right distance. Other visitors noticed and stared to one particular spot.

At the center of many pathways, two dogs barked viciously. The slightly larger one lunged, puncturing the neck of the smaller dog. It took some time for the owner of the larger dog to pull away and put it in the car. Bruno and Charlotte, as well as others watching, continued to stare even though the fight had finished.

Charlotte jogged slowly toward the scene, water bottle in hand.

"Where are you going?" Bruno yelled after her and following. "Be careful!"

The injured dog lay on the grass, with its owner holding him to calm him.

"Is your dog okay?" Charlotte asked, kneeling on the grass.

"I don't know," the man said. "He's not movin' too good."

When the man lifted the dog's paw, he whimpered and yelped.

"What's his name?" Charlotte asked.

"Lucky...he's not so lucky today," the man said. "I need to take him to the vet...right now."