Mistakes ||Sequel to Party||

37

Charlie's POV:
When we arrive at the house I don't know whether I should run into the building as fast as I can or if I should just sit here and stare at it. It's been almost a week without me and Leondre talking to each other. It has been the worst week of my life. And I never want to experience it again.
Harvey turns off the engine and I sigh sadly. I bury my face in my hands as the tears burn in my eyes. What have I done?
I feel a warm hand on my shoulder and a head leaning against mine.
"It's okay, Charlie. It's gonna be okay." Harvey whispers. At this point I can't hold it back anymore. I want to let it all out, but I can't. Now we need to save Leo. And if he's already dead.... Then I'm gonna blame myself for the rest of my life. I won't even be able to live with myself.

I don't want to make you even more sad, but I think we should go in now before it's too late..." Mia says quietly and Harvey squeezes me one last time before pulling away. I immediately raise my hands to my eyes and dry my tears even though I know they're not gonna stop flooding.
I hear the car door behind me open and Mia walks out of the car. Then Harvey does the same, but I just can't. I don't want to walk in there and they'll tell me that he's dead. I just...can't. And I don't want to be the reason that he dies either.

Mia opens my car door and squats down on the ground beside me.
"You know what? Harvey is going to go in there now and just see how it's going, okay?" She says softly and I slowly nod my head, letting out a loud sob. I have my eyes closed, because I don't want to see the world right now. And if Leo dies then I never want to see the world ever again. Mia pulls me into a tight hug, in an attempt to comfort me. She embraces me for like a minute before she pulls away and I hear Harvey's voice again. At first they start to whisper and in that second it feels like my heart is going to stop beating right there and then. Because if he is still alive then they would have talked loud, wouldn't they?

"Charlie, come on. They need your help in there as fast as they can." Harvey says and I squeeze my eyes shut even harder. Then I feel a hand on my leg and a comforting voice saying. "He's still alive, Charles."
In that second I just don't know what to do. I slowly open my eyes and look at Harvey.
"He's still alive, man." He repeats with a smile on his face, talking louder this time. I am just about to break down in tears again (yes, I'm an emotional wreck, okay?) when Harvey talks again. "We can't wait another second, come on."
He holds out his hand to me and I grab it, getting out of the car.

When we walk into the house I see three familiar persons; Joey, Tilly and Leo's mum. I have a lump in my throat and I try to swallow it away, but it just won't disappear. They are all standing at the top of the stairs, right outside Leo's bedroom door. When Victoria sees me, she rushes down the stairs to me, pulls me into a hug and speaks.
"He has been in there for hours and he won't open the door. Please, get him out, Charlie." Victoria begs. Her face is stained with tears, her make-up is ruined and her voice is desperate.

She pulls away and walks before me over to the stairs. Suddenly my eyes meet Joey's. I notice that he has been crying a lot, so have I.

Leondre's POV:
I get up from the floor and look up at the rope hanging from the ceiling. I gulp as I put my knife back into the wardrobe. This is it then.
Suddenly I hear knocking on my door, or rather banging.
"Leondre? Please, come out, I just wanna talk with you."
It's mum. She's been outside my door all the time. It's a shame I have to end my life now that she's finally nice to me. But oh well, she had 18 years to be nice, but she chose not to.
"I promise I will never hurt you again, I will do anything and everything for you. Just please, unlock your door."
She seems desperate and her voice is cracking up all the time. I can tell that she's crying. She has done that the whole evening.

After talking to me for like ten minutes and I still haven't opened the door, she gives up. I sit down at my desk and flip through my notebook. It is full of texts and letters. I've written them all myself, but I'm not gonna give them to anyone.

A few minutes later I hear a knock on the door again.
"Leo?"
I turn around to look at the door, even though I can't see the person standing on the other side.
"Are you in there?" It's Joey. What is he doing here? Did mum call him?
"Can you show me any sign of that you're still there?" He asks. I think whether I should say anything or not, I decide not to.

Joey waits patiently, but he doesn't get an answer.
"Look, I have no idea what you're doing in there, I just have a feeling that it's bad. I'm not gonna force you to unlock the door, but could you at least talk to me? I miss you little bro, so does Tilly. We haven't met you in like a month. If mum did anything then I understand that you don't want to open the for or talk to her, but I haven't done anything, have I?" He continues. I get tears in my eyes, but quickly wipe them away while I try my hardest not to let out a sob or any other sounds.

I want them to understand that this is serious, that I'm not kidding this time. And I want them to realize that they won't see me again, alive.
"Leo, let me in." I hear a crying Matilda sniff. "Don't do anything stupid, I can't live without my big brother. I need you, Leo, I really do. Please, come out."
I close my eyes and try not imagine her sad face. I will miss them. I will miss them all. But in a few minutes the pain will be gone and I will not have any feelings left, so it doesn't matter.

The time goes by and now the clock is half past six already.
I sigh and take a look out of the window. A few birds are flying past, singing happily. I want to be that happy. But I can't.
I walk over to the window and make sure that the curtains are fully covering it so that nobody can see into my room from outside. Then I turn around and take a last look at my room.
In a few minutes this is gonna be 'the room of the dead boy' and the kids will tell stories about 'the house where the boy hung himself'.

Then I take the chair from my desk and lift it over the room. I place it under the rope and step up on it. I gulp again and look at the rope. I tried it before, and it should be strong enough to hold me up, at least until I'm dead.
I grab the rope and start to place it around my neck when I suddenly hear footsteps in the stairs again. I sigh and roll my eyes. I hear some whispers on the other side of the door, but I don't really care about it.

I close my eyes and prepare myself for the end. I blink away a tear that is starting to form in my eye. I take a deep breath and start to push the chair away.
"Leo?"
I freeze. Am I dead yet? I open my eyes and look down at my feet. Nope, still alive.
"Leo?"
I can't believe it. It has to be a dream.
It's Charlie.