Chasing Love

Chapter 23

Help me

-Charlie

Chapter 23 

Chase blinked a few times as his mind tried to process what was happening. He could hear his sister crying and Robert swearing. He took a deep breath and watched as Charlie collapsed to the floor. It was like he was living a dream. After weeks of not seeing Charlie here was bleeding, bruised and crying out for help.

"Help me." She whispered again and Chase stood rooted to his spot as his mother slowly walked over to her with tears running down her face. He had his family over for dinner. They were just about to sit down when he heard his sister scream. He had turned around and was shocked.

Chase felt a rage building up inside, but he knew he had to get Charlie help first. Everything happened in a blink of an eye and he was rushing towards to when she started screaming. He crouched down to her level and tried to reach out for her, but Charlie scrambled back, covering her face with one hand as her body shook.

"Please, no more. I'll do anything. Please, please no more." She begged him, and he didn't know where to look.

"Charlie. It's me, Chase. You're safe." He tried to reach out for her again, and she scrambled back, crying out in pain.

"Charlie hey. It's Harriet, your friend. It's okay you are safe." His sister crouched next to him and he watched as Charlie lowered her hand from her face and up close, he finally got the full impact of what had been done to her.

Her left eye was swollen shut and the right one was no better. Blood was leaking from her nose, lip and forehead. Her nose was sitting at a slight angle and he could tell someone had broken it. Her lip was also swollen, and he could tell someone had used her face as a punching bag. Chase took in her clothes and noticed she had no shoes on and could see tiny lines of blood on her feet. Her right arm was limp as she held it and he felt sick when he saw her painting hand swollen and bleeding.

He swallowed the bile threating to rise in his mouth as Harriet tried to calm Charlie down. 

"Charlie, you are very badly hurt and we need to take you to the hospital okay," Chase said in a soft tone and watched as her body trembled all over and she started whispering no like a prayer.

"Please, no. he will find me, please don't let me go back. Please, he will kill me." Chase felt his anger rise, and he tried to keep a lid on his temper and the thought of going over to that fucking bastard house and beating the shit out of him until he was dead.

"Charlie, relax. He won't find you okay. We really need to take you to the hospital. We can go private and get you into your own room. We will pay for it, okay, but you are bleeding a lot and have been badly hurt." Harriet whispered to her and reached out, gently placing a hand on her leg. Charlie's eyes moved back and both between them both and he could hear his Mum on the phone to either the emergency services or the hospital. 

"Please, don't let him take me. Please help me." She begged again, and Chase could tell she wasn't all there.

"Charlie, I want to help, but first we need to take you hospital. Let me pick you up and I can drive. We can check you in under a fake name okay." He tried to reach out to her again when she started screaming and trying to scramble away, but she had nowhere to go.

"Chase stop, take a step back and let me." His sister told him and he moved back and watched as his sister whispered softly to Charlie, trying to get her to calm down again. He watched her shake her head again, and he couldn't take it any longer.