Charming Charlie | ✔

12. Sorrow

Charlie sighed as she laid in the sand. It was October now and the weather outside was getting chilly. But here she sat in a short sleeved shirt and shorts with no sandals on her feet. It had rained about thirty minutes ago but she didn't care to move one bit. She felt horrible and she wasn't completely sure why. Maybe because today was the day that she and her parents would go on their yearly trip. Sometimes it would be road trip, a simple drive to the ocean, going halfway across the world to some random country, or camping, anything. It was more of a throw a dart see where it landed with her parents. This year they had planned on going on a cruise to some random place. She had seen so much of the world and yet it felt like her eyes weren't open to anything.

She could imagine her dad's forgetfulness as he forgot to pack something silly such as socks and ending up having to wear her mom's. Or her moms laid back personality as she would only bring the bare essentials. Or the way that they would talk to her like she couldn't talk back . How it seemed they were listening to her without hearing a word. They knew. They always played it off as, "you're our daughter, you could kill someone and we would know but we would forgive you if it was justified."

The young girl hadn't had much time to dwell on the fact that her parents were dead. It had been about two months but it felt like longer. She couldn't remember their voices or some of their quirks. She couldn't remember a lot of things about them and she hated herself for it. People kept saying that they'll live on in her memory but what was the point when they were dead and slipping further away from her memory more and more each second. There was a void in her heart, sure, but she didn't feel empty. She wasn't even sure the hole was a hole anymore, more like a speck of dust. Her ability to get over something so quickly and so important astonished her.

Once again, the dark clouds above her let rain pour down on her. She knew that this was going to make her sicker than she's ever been but in all honestly she didn't care at the moment. She'll cross the bridge when she gets there.

Suddenly, over the sound of the now pouring rain she heard shouts of someone. They were so familiar but she wanted to stay out in the rain. She supposed that sooner or later she would've been caught. She stopped shivering a long time ago now she was numb. She was sure her lips were blue, her skin pale, and her hair caked with sand. Hell her whole body was probably caked with sand.

"Hey, it's storming, you should go home! Are you okay?" She heard but didn't pay attention. It sounded like Tony, it probably was Tony.

She felt herself being picked up. She cracked her blue eyes open and met the blue eyes of Tony.

"Jesus, kid, you're as cold as ice. What were you waiting for, the water to take you out to the middle of nowhere? Fu- Holden's not going to be too happy. We have to get you inside fast, your temperature is dropping too quickly."

Charlie closed her eyes and felt herself drift into unconsciousness.

Tony hurriedly carried Charlie back to his house where he knew that his wife and son were at. He couldn't believe his eyes when he seen the figure of someone laying on the beach in the middle of the worst storm of the year; they had to be crazy. The last person that he thought it was going to be would be his son's girlfriend. Hell he'd even go ahead and already call her his daughter-in-law. Since a love like hers and his sons didn't come along very often. Most people can't cope with a disability such as being deaf, mute, or blind so for his son to step up and love someone like Charlie really meant something special.

When Tony made it back home he was hunched over the girl that was only a few inches shorter than him to protect her from the vicious wind and rain. Without taking off his sand covered shoes he ran inside.

"Ruth, Holden, quickly." He yelled holding her in his arms still. She looked like death himself was about to knock on her door. He heard footsteps and then the house erupted in chaos. Holden took Charlie's body in his own arms, holding her head to his chest as Ruth told her to follow him to the couch. She told Tony to get out of the room and she almost told Holden that but she was sure that he wouldn't leave. He was as stiff as a board, his muscles straining, not believing what was happening. Unshed tears threatened to fall from his eyes but they didn't.

Ruth told Holden to start taking off her wet clothes as she went to grab all the blankets that she could from around the house. She left her son to take the wet clothes off of Charlie. As quickly as she could she returned with a bundle of blankets but Holden was struggling to take her clothes off while still holding her tight in her arms.

"Son, you need to let go of her to take them off." She said, starting to help him, "the quicker they're off the quicker that she can get better."

"I can't. I won't let go. Not now, not ever." He mumbled.

"Damn it, Holden! Do you want her to die of hypothermia? No? Well then take her damn clothes off!" She yelled at him causing him to break the sort of fog he was in.

"Oh my god." He gasped, setting her on the couch beside him so he could take of her clothes. Once she was void of all her clothes his mother told him to dress down to his boxers.

"What, why?" He asked, embarrassed.

"She needs body heat, son, she can't produce any on her own. She's like ice." So he listened to him mom, stripping out of his clothes right then and there leaving him in his fell fitting black boxers. He was almost tempted to cover himself up.

"Lay down and set her down on your chest, she'll be cold but her body is depending on you." Ruth said. Holden sat down nervously on the couch and looked over at Charlie. Her lips were blue and her skin was as white as a piece of paper. His heart was beating quickly and he knew that in that moment that he would do anything he could to save his Charlie.

He laid down and put Charlie's limp body on him. She felt like ice. He wanted so badly to coil away from her body but he knew that this was for the best and this would save her life. They didn't know if they had enough to take her to the hospital so they did what they could in a short amount of time.

"It's okay, Charlie. I'm here. I love you, please be okay." He whispered in her ear as his mother covered them with almost every blanket in the house. Already, Holden felt like he could sweat due to all the heat but Charlie kept his body cool.

He wasn't religious but in this moment he would be willing to pray to any God.  

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So I may nor may not have wrote this while grinning because the pain and sorrow etched into this but I hope y'all don't hate me for the later chapters. (:

The next chapter is something to look forward to, I promise. And if you could send me scenes that you want Charlie and Holden to experience then you can comment or DM me, please.

Should I start doing questions?

Question:
Where do you want to travel?

-Tabitha.

p.s. it is so hard not to post the rest of the chapters.