Chasing Charlie

Chapter Fourteen | Swimming Disaster

Chase

I continued going to school, still being alone and still getting hit either physically or verbally. The last two weeks of February passed by normally, nothing major happening at school nor at the orphanage. I rarely saw Charlie, other than in Advanced English. When I did see her, she would be frowning at something or her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

In the first week of March, we got our schedules for the mid-term exams that were happening in April. I had five exams, each one happening a different day of the week. We were also informed of the upcoming swimming carnival being held next week, on Monday.

I never went to a school carnival, and there was usually three of them held each year; swimming, cross country and athletics. There was no point in me going, I couldn't swim, nor run, nor do any sport or activity at the carnivals. I didn't have any friends to spend the day with so it was pretty much pointless to waste my energy when I could peacefully draw at the orphanage.

It was early Thursday morning, around 2am when I couldn't sleep. My mind was awake, thinking of the physical therapy session I had gone to the previous day.

Every month I would go to a physical therapy session to prevent recurring muscle spasms. I felt helpless at times but at other times I felt normal again, even if it was just for a few minutes. There were the sessions were I would spend at the gym they had, working on my arm and abdominal muscles, while other times I could stand up using the standing frame they had for patients with spinal issues.

I would stand tall, even if I wasn't actually standing and couldn't feel my feet on the ground, and feel like a normal, teenage guy. This would be the closest I ever got to being normal, I usually thought when I was standing.

The only bad thing about the sessions was that I would get reminded of how I ended up paralysed and in the orphanage. The sadness overwhelmed me, and I couldn't sleep.

I heard a loud, girly scream come from upstairs, mixed with screams of plea for help.

I sat up in bed slowly, curiosity getting the better of me. I knew it was Charlie, I had heard her screams before on her first nights in the orphanage.

The girl was starting to affect me, in ways nobody has ever affected me before. I found her cute when she blushed or how she liked to talk to me, even if I was in this damn chair. How she was curious around me and wanted to befriend me, when no one else did. I didn't exactly know if it was real but I was hoping that I could finally have a friend.

I pulled the covers off and lifted myself into my chair. I left the room without turning back and actually thinking about what I was doing. I think the tiredness was finally starting to affect my mind when I made my way to the bottom of the stairs. I heard another scream and quickly, but carefully slid down to the ground from my sitting position. I left the chair at the bottom as I slowly lifted myself up one step at a time, then dragged my legs up afterwards.

It was a slow process, one I've only done a few times before but eventually I made it to the top. I heard another scream, this time louder than the two previous ones. I shuffled across the floor and into the room I remembered Miss Lancy telling me was hers.

I awkwardly shuffled across the room, another scream escaping her mouth and bouncing across the walls of the room. I tried lifting myself onto her bed, but collapsed back onto the ground.

I sighed in frustration, wishing I had my chair with me. I tried once more, this time succeeding.

"No! NO! You can't die! You can't leave me alone! I can't cope alone without anybody. I don't feel like myself!" She screamed and thrashed around.