Dilemma

Chapter 2

Charlotte's POV

A voice repeated the word 'bitch' over and over again. I covered my ears in an attempt to block out the single word; this only made it louder. My ears started to hurt and I wailed in pain. Suddenly I looked up and saw Andrew in front of me. Awkwardly enough, he was shirtless and wearing only a pair of boxers. He stared me down, his eyes seemed like they were burning my skin. He stepped closer.

"Back off Andrew!" I screamed at him. His arm went back and flew at my face.

He slapped me.

There was a ringing in my ears. I cried and screamed.

"Charlotte! Charlotte are you alright?" I heard a distant voice ask me.

My eyes flew open. The concerned faces of my parents came into view. I gasped for air. There was a lump in my throat and tears on my face.

"Charlotte? Can you hear me, Charlotte?" My dad said, his mouth moved fast, but his words seemed like they were in slow motion. I blinked my eyes slowly, my eyelids were heavy.

"What's going on?" Someone else said. It was my brother. "Oh my God." He said when he saw my face.

"Charlotte are you okay?" My mom asked me. The lump in my throat grew bigger. I jumped up from my bed and ran. I was soon hugging the porcelain of the toilet in my bathroom, vomiting.

"Chance, go call Dr. Lancaster!" My dad's voice boomed. I was completely disoriented, what was going on?

I continued to hurl into the toilet, my mother rubbing my back and holding my hair away from my face.

When I was done, I curled up in a fetal position on the cold, tile floor of my bathroom. I remembered the dream that I was having a few moments before and I began to sob.

"Oh honey, what's wrong?" My mom questioned, sitting cross-legged and rubbing my shoulder.

"I- Don't- Know." I said each word in between sobs.

*******

After a few minutes of me sobbing and shaking on the floor of my bathroom, Chance entered the room.

"Dr. Lancaster said that we could meet him at his office. We're lucky he was still there finishing up some paperwork." He said.

"Thank you, sweetie." My mom said to my brother. "Will you go get the car started?"

"Sure Mom." He replied. He looked at me worriedly then went to start the car.

"Can you walk to the car, hon?" Mom asked. I shook my head in reply.

"I'll carry her." My dad offered. I hadn't noticed him leaning in the doorway. He walked over, leaned down, and lifted me up. I held on to him like a little kid.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them we were in the car, Chance sitting next to me and my parents in the front. My dad was driving and my mom was in the passenger seat checking on me every minute, asking if I needed anything or how I was feeling. We pulled over a few times so I could get out and throw up again.

We finally arrived at the hospital and met up with Dr. Lancaster. He took us into a room and I laid down on a padded table with a bucket by my side.

"When did you start feeling icky, Charlotte?" Dr. Lancaster asked me. He always talked to me like I was one of his younger patients and I hated it. I imagined him saying 'When did you first start to feel like shit?'

"I was having a nightmare, I guess. And I, um, I woke up screaming and crying, I was all sweaty. Then I just felt, like, super disoriented and stuff; I didn't know what was going on. Then there was this lump in my throat and I couldn't breathe. Uh, then I threw up for a while and when I was done, I curled up and I couldn't stop crying." I described. I shifted uncomfortably, everyone was staring at me intently.

"Do you remember what the nightmare was about?" My mom asked.

I hesitated, my eyes darting back and forth from the posters on the right side of the room to the door on the left. I had blocked it out of my mind but my mother brought it back. The lump in my throat rose again and I leaned over to throw up into the bucket.

"Um," I wiped my mouth. "No. I don't remember what it was about." I lied. Chance stared me down, like he knew I was lying.

"Okay, well I'm sure it's just the stomach flu." Dr. Lancaster said.

"We're going to keep her home from school tomorrow. Is there any medicine that we should give her?" My dad asked, his hand rubbing my mom's shoulder.

Dr. Lancaster gave them the medicine and they discussed for a few minutes. Chance continued to stare at me. He walked over from the wall that he was leaning on and sat next to me.

"Are you okay?" He inquired.

"Considering the fact that I'm having a dilemma, no." I replied unhappily.

"What's your dilemma?" He asked.

"I pretty much just barfed up all the food I've eaten in the past, like, week and I'm starving now. But, I can't decide if I should eat, where I that case I'll probably just throw up again, or if I should not eat, but then I might throw up from lack of food." I answered. Being sick was a real pain in the ass. Chance chuckled.

"It's not funny." I told him. "I feel like complete shit." I pushed a piece of loose hair behind my ear.

"Sorry." He said.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Around one in the morning." Chance shrugged.

"Ugh." I groaned.

*******

Chance's POV

I knew she was lying when she said she didn't remember her dream. I needed to find out what her dream was about.

"I know you lied." I said as I walked into Charlie's room at around 1:45, 15 minutes after we had gotten home. Mom and Dad were asleep.

"What?" She attempted to ask nonchalantly, though I could see worry in her eyes.

"About your dream. You said you didn't remember it, but you were lying." I told her. Her muscles tensed for a second or two, then she relaxed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to cover up her freak out by relaxing.

"Charlie, I've lived with you my entire life. I know when you're lying." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Shit."

"Yup, you've been caught." I said. I walked to her bed an plopped down next to her. "Now spill your guts... Not literally, there's been enough of that tonight."

"You're not gonna like it." She warned.

"What do you mean." I asked her. She sighed.

"Okay. So..." She started. I listened to her description of the nightmare, then she told me about what Andrew was doing and fury built up inside of me.

He was going to pay.