Charlie Rose

eighteen

We stay there and wait for the bomb squad to come. None of us have moved, none of us have talked. The bomb guys said that it's no use, if they cut any of the wires Dad dies. He stays excatly where he has been for the last 20 minutes. Our silence is broken by my ringtone. Nick.

"Hello Charlie." I don't answer.
"Our little project has made almost $300,000. Isn't that fantastic?"
"What do you mean has made money?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I was selling them to old men who need a tug every now and then, you know what I mean."
"What the FUCK have you done?!!" I am going to kill him!
"I have made myself money. And only $200 will be going to you, actually make that $100, you owe me because you have a small freckle on your left thigh." I hang up and storm off.

"Where are you going sweetheart?" Dad says in a groggy voice.
"Just beacuse you are hooked up to a bomb, it doesn't change what you have done!" I storm off. To the place where I know where Nick will be.

*****

I reach his front door and I don't even bother knocking, I stomp right in.

"Nick where the fuck are you!" I here a bang. Then a smash. He is on the run. I run faster. He is now outside his house and I hunt him down. I pull him to the ground and pound every single ounce of anger I have into him. After a small moment of five seconds, police pull up and it's the cops from before, when Dad was strapped to a bomb.
"Charlie, Charlie! You need to get off him right now!" The police man pulls me off.
"You sent the pictures! You sent them!" I'm a mess. Fists flying into Nick, arms pulling me off, elbows fighting off the police.
"Charlie, what do you mean, Nick sent them. What did he sent?" I stop, tears running down my face, cuts and bruises all over my knuckles, Nick lying perfectly still.
"The pictures." I'm sobbing now, my words don't make sense.
"What pictures?" The policeman asks, his voice too calm.
"Of me, they were of me." I've slowed my voice down. I'm calmer.
"Charlie, were they child pornography? Are you naked in these pictures?" I nod.
"Yes." I've calmed down, staring down Nick. "Yes, they were of me naked, illegally obtained." The police stood right up and grabbed Nick by the arms. He looked like a criminal.
"Nicolas Grey, you are under arrest for possession of child pornography, blackmail and illegally obtaining child pornography. You have the right to remain silent." He was dragged away giving me a dirty look. I've had enough, he deserves it.

As soon as Nick is put in the back of the car, a huge explosion blasts my ears. It comes from the direction where Dad is. I know it's him, who else would it be.

*****

"He wanted to be put out of his misery, he asked us to get his phone from the hotel room and he gnawed through the wires." I was told by Gaynor, his voice so gentle it bring tears to my eyes.
"Okay, I just need time. I just..." I walk off before I finish my sentence.

Why I'm I crying, I hated him, I hated him so much. I hop in my car and I drive, I drive far far away. The music is off. It is completely silent. I have time with my thoughts. What thoughts? I end up at work, why the fuck am I here? I go in the building, I think I might pack my stuff up. I need a break from, I don't even know.

I walk up to my office. No one is here, except me. I enter my office and look at everything. One last look at everything, one last look before I pack up. I hear footsteps. I turn around. It's Brandie.