Invisible String-Luke Patterson

Chapter 5

The sounds of rusty swing set chains woke Charlotte up. Of all of the sounds she was used to in the park, that wasn't one of them. Her breath hitched and her whole body stiffened. She didn't know where she would go if she got caught. "Ok, it's okay" she whispered to herself and tried to silently squirm out of the tube just enough so she could take a peek at the swings. Her heart was thumping so hard in her chest that she could hear it in her ears. With her head barely poking out of the tube, Charlotte took a look around. She could tell that it was early in the morning, the drops of dew clinging to the overgrown grass. She dared to pull herself out a little bit more to get a glance at the swing set. She caught a glimpse of a familiar shaggy haired boy as he swung forward and let out the breath that she hadn't realized she was even holding.

Charlotte quickly scooted back into the tube and tried to game plan what her next move would be. She knew if Luke saw her then he would definitely tell Julie and she wasn't ready to come clean about how much of a train wreck her life really was after leaving the Molina household. Her plan to stay put and wait for him to leave was blown out of the water though when her left elbow collided with the side of the plastic tube causing a loud thud. The sound of the rusty swing set chains came to a halt immediately.Luke got up from the swing and headed towards the large playground set to investigate the noise.

Charlotte quickly stuffed her pillow and blanket back into her duffel bag and hid it behind her in an attempt to masquerade her being in the park as something other than it really was.

"Charlotte?!" Luke turned his head to the side, his face scrunched up in confusion. Charlotte looked up, her eyes catching his.

"Luke....hey....." Charlotte trailed off, averting her eyes from his stare.

Luke took it upon himself to crawl into the tube. He faced the opposite of Charlotte, his legs tucked underneath him. Charlotte pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked softly. Charlotte was staring at her feet but she could feel his eyes practically boring through her. She offered a half shrug of her right shoulder and remained silent. Luke didn't really need her to say anything though, he had already noticed that she was wearing yesterday's clothes and as much as she had tried to hide it, he could see the bulky duffel bag behind her. Luke licked his lips hesitantly before slipping his flannel off and offering it to Charlotte.

"Here, take this."

Charlotte finally looked up, her eyes glanced to the flannel that was being held out to her. She quickly shook her head "No, you don't have too" she insisted.

"You are literally shivering and covered in goosebumps, don't be hard-headed." Luke gave her a stern look.

Charlotte unwrapped her arms from her legs and leaned forward to grab the flannel from his hand. She quickly pulled the garment on, the arms hanging down past her hands. She gave Luke an appreciative smile.

Luke squirmed out of the tube and stood on the platform. He bent down so he could see Charlotte and nodded his head for her to follow him. Charlotte grabbed her duffel bag and followed suit Luke to the swing sets. She sat down on one of the swings, her hands held the rusty chains as she lightly swung back and forth; her feet dragging against the ground underneath her.

"Why aren't you in school?" Luke broke the silence. He took in the way the sun reflected against her auburn hair making it appear to glow. He watched as her nimble fingers tightened their grip on the chains, his flannel pooling around her thin wrists. Luke stood up from his swing and walked around to her, kneeling down in front of her.

"Hey" he whispered "you can trust me, I won't tell anyone anything that you don't want me to." Charlotte searched his eyes, waiting for him to falter. Luke remembered what Julie had done yesterday and crossed his heart before bringing his pointer and middle finger up to his lips and holding his hand up. "I promise."

Charlotte nodded her head and exhaled, never breaking her eye contact with him.

" I used to live with the Molina's. I stayed out in the studio for an entire summer last year" She lifted her head up to stare at the sky as she gently started rocking the swing back and forth again.

"Julie's mom was like the mom I never got to have and I didn't handle it very well when she passed away. I-I couldn't stay there afterwards, it felt like a part of me was gone.." Charlotte clenched her eyes shut but that didn't stop a single tear from falling down her cheek.

"I tried to go back home and it was ok for a little while..but m-my parents, they just..." she trailed off and opened her eyes. Charlotte dropped her hands from the chains and let them fall into her lap. "I'm just not good enough for them." Her voice quivered.

Luke shot up and wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her up to her feet. Charlotte's body stiffened for a moment and then the tension melted off of her shoulder and she melted into the embrace, wrapping her arms around Luke's waist. She felt her cheeks heat up as she slowly pulled away from Luke's grasp. She turned away from him and started walking towards the fence.

"So you like, live here now?" Luke questioned, his left hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not really" Charlotte shrugged. "My friend, Chase..y'know from the coffee shop?" She looked up at Luke and waited for him to acknowledge that he knew who she was referring to. Luke nodded.

"His parents travel for work a lot so I usually stay in their loft. His parents are super strict though so there's no way they would ever let me stay there if they knew. But Chase, he keeps all of my stuff safe for me at his house."

"And when they're in town? Where do you go? Here?" Luke urged her on with concern in his voice.

Charlotte looked up at him with sad eyes "...and when they're in town, I rough it. Most of the time I come here but sometimes the town's security guy is out front so I just kinda wander around until the coffee shop opens and hang out there." She pulled the fence back and ducked underneath it and then held it for Luke. He laughed and walked through the fence.

"Oh, yeah, right." Charlotte muttered and double stepped to catch up with Luke. They walked in silence for several minutes before Luke realized that Charlotte never actually answered his question about school. He snuck a quick glance at Charlotte trying to gauge her emotional state, she had already opened up a lot to him and while he wanted more answers, he didn't want to push her too hard. Charlotte rubbed a hand across her face, she never liked when she had to crash at the park. She always ended up feeling tired and sleeping in the tube always made her body ache.

"Where are we going?" Luke asked, deciding that Charlotte probably had enough emotional turmoil for one morning,

Charlotte couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips. "You're like a puppy, y'know?"

Luke shrugged and shot her a smile.