Way Down We Go

Chapter 1: Fate

Chapter One: Fate

Charlotte's Point of View

When I was growing up I always believed that I would go off to an amazing college, meet a great guy, fall in love, get a good job and start a family, because that's what we see in all the movies and what we're all taught from a young age but, what actually happened was the complete opposite.

Five months ago I moved away from Chicago to Charming, California because life wasn't going exactly how I'd always imagined it, I wasn't living how I wanted to be living. I may have had a good job working in a hospital, may have been in a relationship but it wasn't the kind of love that I imagined myself being in. It wasn't what I deserved. See it wasn't the nicest relationship, he was crazy obsessive and controlling and I decided to leave one night when it got really bad.

Out of all places I could have chosen I chose Charming. I don't even know how I ended up here, I was driving all the way from Chicago. It just seemed like the right place at the right time. I used cash only, tossed my cell phone so he couldn't find me. It had been pouring down rain and I was driving through Charming, it got bad so I stopped in at the diner that I now work at.

The town was small, but it was one of those small towns where everyone knew everyone's business and the old women liked to gossip and share secrets, it seemed like the perfect place for me to start fresh, start my life over. It seemed like the kind of place I'd be able to find out quickly if an outsider moved in. Say, my boyfriend coming to hunt me down.

I mean I could be working at St. Thomas Hospital here in town, but I want something low profile so that's why I stick with the diner, because with the way my ex is, he'll try and find me and I want to make it as hard as possible.

Nobody really questioned why I was here in Charming of all places, except for deputy Hale, he was the first person I had met when I started working at the diner besides Mabel the owner who so kindly gave me the job. Hale had warned me about a group of bikers that I'd saw around town a few times but I never spoke to them, he told me to stay away from them because they'd get me into a lot of trouble.

Honestly, the few times I had saw them around which was usually when I'd go to work at the diner, they'd be driving passed going towards a mechanic shop they convened at. They didn't seem that bad. Not as bad as Deputy Hale made them out to be anyway. Surely they weren't as bad as my ex, right? They were actually intriguing to me. I kept to myself most of the time though, I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself, there was enough attention on me already since I was new here.

W.D.W.G

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, my hazel eyes looking back at me. I'd just gotten out of the shower. I had the morning shift at the diner today which wasn't going to be so bad, it was mostly the older couples who came in, and the lunch rush always gave out the best tips. Which was always a plus.

I had been here a total of five months. It was odd, because I thought I would miss my parents, miss some part of my old life, but I didn't.
My parents and I didn't exactly see eye to eye, they wanted me to stay with my ex and continue to be treated badly, but they were the type of parents that weren't really there to raise me, I was raised by my grandmother up until she passed away right before I graduated high school, so I saw it as my parents didn't deserve a say in my life. We haven't spoken since I left an it was better that way.

I turned around walking out of the bathroom into my bedroom, towel snug around my body. I got dressed in a pair of jeans that had rips in the knees, then I grabbed the diner t-shirt I was given to wear and I pulled it over my head letting out a breath, I turned around going back into the bathroom and I semi dried my hair and pulled it up into a messy bun on top of my head, I wasn't in the mood to dry it and do something with it when it'd just end up in the state it was in now.