Creature (CENTURIES series: Book #7)

13

It was time to get things back on track again. Things in my house had been so fucked up lately that if it wasn't because I knew I was on the shot, I would've blamed my period for being the dominant component in my recent behavior and choice-making. Sadly, though, I couldn't blame it on hormones. Only myself.

And that's why I'd given my brain a mental ice bath and slapped it back into what it should be doing; focusing on educating and teaching Charlie the way he was supposed to be.

After our mall incident, we hadn't really been outside that much, except for my yard. I had deliberately kept him inside because I didn't want him getting that kind of downer again from society that he was supposed to join one day (what kind of example had that set for him?), so I had kept our 'outings' to my backyard.

But in light of recent events, I decided that now was as good a time as any to get Charlie out and about to catch some fresh air, maybe even to help him clear his head like I had. If anything, also to distract him. He didn't say the words, but I could tell he was still hung up on my rejection of him yesterday. He was a bit quieter, but not by much. Still, my intuition told me I had left a bad imprint on his memory.

And I was going to rectify that.

Walking with Charlie to the local park was surprisingly easy and uncomplicated. Especially when the weather was nice. He hadn't objected when I had suggested another outing, only nodded and then put on his dark sunglasses to shield his eyes – but today it didn't look that odd when the sun was shining on full blast.

He looked like a tower walking next to me, but at least nobody was paying attention to him as we entered the park. Everyone was enjoying the warm weather and laid on their towels and blankets in the grass, sunning. The park was full of people for that same reason and I could tell it brought Charlie a little more on edge, but on the other hand it distracted him from all the other stuff I wanted him to forget. Which was the point exactly.

"So what do you think?" I asked and gestured into the park, to the people cozying up on the grass or walking their dogs or playing with their children on the playground. "Do you have any questions so far you'd like to ask?"

Charlie adjusted his shades a little, but shook his head. It seemed he was too focused on just blending in to take it all in – unlike the first time we had been out when he had been too overwhelmed to focus on anything. It was completely the opposite now, and that alone showed how far he had come in his development.

"Well, if you think of something, just speak up," I told him, smiling a little as we walked along the graveled path. "I figured we'd walk to the end of the park and then walk back. Are you comfortable with that? It's not too far."

He nodded this time. "Okay."

He was much quieter today than the other days, more so than before, and I had a feeling it wasn't because of our incident this time. I frowned a little at that. It was like he was happy to be out, yet at the same time oddly silent and concentrated. There was a small crease between his brows and his lips were pressed together, but he didn't say anything. He was focusing, but on what exactly?

I was just about to ask him when he abruptly stopped up. I looked up at him in confusion and automatically stopped as well. "What is it, Charlie?" I asked when I saw him clench his jaw.

The next second I discovered the reason why. A loud voice speaking through a megaphone caught my ear and I quickly turned my attention to what was right in front of us; A giant mob.

Charlie was looking at it and now so was I, staring at the huge crowd I had somehow missed in my concern for Charlie. They were standing in front of a guy who stood on a wooden crate and who was the one holding the megaphone I heard. A few people behind him – his followers most likely – were holding up homemade and might I say creative signs, and it was those that Charlie's eyes were pinned directly on.