Walking the Gallows ✔️

Chapter 11

They sat on the couch in silence. She had her legs tucked underneath her body and was slightly turned to face him. He stared straight towards the television, avoiding all eye contact. He welcomed her into his home rather confused about how she knew where he lived. They hadn't spoken a word since then. He could tell that she wanted to speak. Every few moments that lasted in the awkward silence, she would breathe in a long breath but never dare utter the words she wanted to say.

In a split second that she turned away from him, he took her in. He noticed that she wasn't wearing a dress like she always had. Her pants were black and baggy. Her hair was wild and the gray circles under her eyes made it clear how tired she was. She turned back to face him without warning and they found themselves looking directly into the eyes of each other. Andy snapped his head back in the direction of the off television.

"Is this where you've been hiding?" she said in a tired voice that was laced with accusation. His gaze lowered further towards the floor in shame.

"I had to. Not from you, I swear not from you," he stated. The urge to reach out and touch her was undeniable as he thought about the last time they had seen one another. How he ached to hold her hand in his again or brush the stray hairs behind her ears and out of her vision.

"If this was all about Earl, why couldn't you just tell me?" Moments in silence passed. He acted as if she hadn't asked him such a thing. How could he explain to her how his life was such a mess? How could he tell her about everything that had been happening in the weeks previous? It was so much more complicated than he had ever wanted it to be. He hadn't asked for any of it.

"Charlotte, I swear, there is so much more to it than that. Things have happened..."

"What things, Andy? What aren't you telling me?" He looked at her sadly, unable to tell her anything at all. Their eyes met once again and he prayed that she would understand. He hoped that she could grasp how the life he had just become accustomed to was suddenly turning against him.

"I see," she said, accepting his silence as an answer to her questions. His heart broke knowing that she deserved so much more of an explanation, and so much more of a man than him.

Andy longed to tell her how he truly felt. Since the day he met her in the street when he had done nothing to deserve talking to a person as wonderful as her, his life had been painted in a different color. The dark and eerie tones of loneliness were slowly changing into something beautiful day by day. With his brother and Tony being the only two people in the entire town who didn't hate him, it was nice knowing that maybe everyone else wasn't so bad.

"I know what people say about you. I know it's not true. If that's something that bothers you as well, I need you to know that I didn't come up to you that day for some kind of experiment." she said abruptly. It took him a moment to register what she had said.

"Experiment?"

"I mean I didn't want to be around you to test if you were what they say you are," she said, her eyes pleading with him.

"I...I didn't think you did." Like that, a seed of doubt was planted in his head. He felt it slip into his mind. It grew the more he thought of it. Like his own garden, it produced fruit but they were hard and bitter. Why would she say something like that? His eyes opened wider in his sea of emotions. He never suspected her of playing a part in some kind of sick joke. Had people thought about doing that? Was Tony only playing a part?

She got off the couch unexpectedly and kneeled on the floor in front of him. She was a lot lower than he was despite sitting down. He was resting his head in his hands and wondering if everything around him was crumbling much faster than he thought it was. She looked up at him and put his hands between her own.