“Hey!” He sounds way too bright and cheery. “You guys on your way? Andy and I got stuff to do a taco night.”
“I got stuff to do taco night! You just went home asshole,” I hear Andy shout.
“Dude, put me on speaker. Now.”
I hear quiet shuffling and then Andy, much louder and clearer than before, “What’s going on bro?”
“Charlie got taken. I left her outside the gym for like two fucking seconds to go grab my keys and I’m sure that fucking sicko Chuck took her! There was this rust bucket of a car speeding away when I came back out and she was just fuckinggone!”
“Shit," I hear Max mutter. “Was the car green?”
“Yeah. It was the same one Chuck was standing beside when I beat him up a few weeks back.”
“I know that car.” Andy sounds confident, but I know just like me he’s also panicking. “I’ve seen it around a few times. It’s sometimes parked at that run down house on the corner of 5thand Elm.”
I let loose the breath I was holding and pray to a god I don’t believe in that that’s where he took her. “Okay yeah that’s the direction I am heading right now. I’ll go see if it’s there.”
I take another deep breath before adding, “I’m so sorry guys. This is my fault. Charlie is going to get hurt and it’s all my fucking fault.”
“Ben,” Max cuts in sternly. “This isn’t your fault. This is Chuck’s fault. He’s the sick bastard who took her. This isn’t the curse. Charlie is going to be fine. We’re on our way now,”
“Okay,” I mutter, even though I don’t believe him. “Please hurry.”
Chapter 42
Charlie
I tried to struggle when Chuck and Brad pulled me from the trunk. But it didn’t do me much good with my arms tied behind my back and Brad squeezing my legs together. I must have blacked out again because all of a sudden I’m sitting in an old, rickety chair in a dark and dingy concrete room. A basement, probably. I try to shift my arms and, unsurprisingly, find them tied to the back of the chair, along with my legs. My head throbs, along with the muscles in my limbs from being stuck in one position for so long.
A shadow crawls across the floor, and I look up to see Chuck hovering over me, staring at me intently. I gaze to my left and see Brad leaning against an old cube freezer, smirking.
I am so fucked.
This Chuck is far more terrifying than the boy I knew back in high school. And I never thought Brad, colossal asshole that he is, would be dangerous. I’m so dizzy and anxiety courses through me. My brain is replaying every fucked up thing that these two have ever done to me and I want to vomit. As if this moment wasn’t bad enough.
Then it hits me. There was a time when I could appeal to Chuck’s good side. I hated begging him to be better, but it was better than the alternative. What have I got to lose?
“Chuck, I’m sorry about what Ben did but please let me go.This is so messed up. Even you must see that,” I whine, wincing at my words. “Please.”
“So, his name is Ben? He didn’t seem to feel the need to introduce himself before he beat the shit out of me.” Chuck runs his cold, calloused finger across my lower lip. “Lucky for you, I don’t really care about that. All I’ve wanted is to talk to you. Now I finally have a chance, and you can’t run from me.”
I look over at Brad. He looks blurry as tears cloud my vision. “Please help me.”
Brad snorts. “You’ll find no help from me, skank. I’m just here to beat the shit out of whatever boyfriend decides to come save you.”
Chuck turns quickly, glaring at Brad. “What did I tell you about calling her names?”
“Sorry,” Brad mumbles, throwing his hands up in defeat and averting his gaze.
Chuck turns back to me slowly. His gaze on me is petrifying. “After you left town, I was lost. You were my one and only Charlie. I spiralled into a deep, dark pit of despair, with no hope of getting out. I tried getting your parents to tell me where you went, they wouldn’t budge. I asked our old friends from high school, but you had ghosted them too. You changed your number. I couldn’t find you.”
Chuck takes a deep breath, as if this is painful forhim, before continuing. “I thought about ending it all. If I could never see you again, what was the point in continuing my twisted existence? And I almost did it too,” He uses his fingers to mime putting a gun to his head. “But then I met Claire.”
Chuck looks to Brad for a moment, then back at me. “She looked a lot like you. I figured, if I couldn’t have you, she could be the next best thing for me. And she seemed to like me too … at least at first.”
Chuck’s expression darkens, and he leans in closer to me. His breath is rancid, and it’s clear that it’s been a while since he’s showered. I look down at my lap, too afraid to make eye contact with him but he grips my chin roughly and pulls my face to meethis. He tilts my head side to side, as if examining me and then takes a deep inhale of my hair before continuing his monologue.
“Claire liked the gifts I bought her. The perfume was the one you used to use. The clothes were a similar style to what you used to wear. I even bought her a treble clef pendant to wear around her neck like you did in high school. She liked all of it, until she saw a picture of you.”
