Chuck walks around behind me and I can feel him fiddling with my hair. I try and jerk my head from his fingers, but then he just grips tighter, pulling a few strands from my scalp and forcing me to look up at him from behind me.
“She accused me of trying to turn her into you. I couldn’t be mad at her because she wasn’t wrong. She already looked like you but needed some finishing touches. So, I lied. And lied. And lied. Eventually I wore her down and she kept the gifts, but she never trusted me the same. I could feel her slipping away from me, just like you did. That’s when I started to get angry.”
Chuck releases my head, and I glance over at Brad again. He’s looking very uncomfortable now.Imagine how I feel, you fucking asshole.
“I thought if I told her all about you it might make her understand. That it might make her realize howspecialyou are and make her want to be just like you. But she didn’t like it. She didn’t want to be like you, and she threatened to leave me. I couldn’t let her do that, but she just wouldn’t listen. I hit her and hit her and begged her to stay. Then she finallystayed still.She’s stayed with me ever since.” Chuck glances over at the freezer Brad is leaning against.
My heart turns to lead in my chest. He killed her. What's going to stop him from killing me? Certainly not Brad. He’s probably dead too, just for getting involved.
“Chuck, please,pleasedon’t do this!”
“Do what? I would never hurt you Charlie,” he says with a smile that I assume he thinks is comforting. It’s actually probably the most terrifying that I have ever seen him look. Then he pulls a knife from his pocket.
“Woah man, this isn’t what we-“ Brad’s words are cut short as we all hear the sound of thundering footsteps from upstairs.
“Go check that out,” Chuck growls. Brad grabs a metal baseball bat that was leaning against the wall and heads upstairs.
This has to be my boys. It just has to be. I let out the loudest, most blood curdling scream that I can manage which causes Chuck to slap his dirty, disgusting hand over my mouth.
“Hush up Charlie, or our fun is going to end,” Chuck murmurs in my ear, pressing the cool metal of his knife to my throat.
“Put the knife down Chuck,” I hear from the top of the stairs. Ben stands there, his fear masked by the pure rage in his eyes which flicker between me and the blade.
Chapter 43
Andy
I’m right behind Ben as he tells Chuck to put the knife down. Before I have a chance to react, he’s flying down the stairs and tackling Chuck to the ground. I stop in the doorway to the basement and take in the scene. Ben has Chuck pinned to the ground landing blow after blow to Chucks face. I’m not even sure he’s conscious anymore. A knife lays at Charlie’s feet, where she is tied to a chair, sobbing. That sicko must have had a terrible grip on the knife, because other than a nasty looking goose egg on her head and an endless stream of tears, she appears to be alright. Scared out of her mind, but alright.
I head down the stairs quickly and use the knife to cut the ropes binding Charlie to the chair. I scoop her up into my arms and hold her close against me. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
She answers with a sob and a shake of her head. It takes everything for me to carry Charlie upstairs instead of helping Ben with ending this fucker. We make it into the living room and Max is standing over Brad’s unconscious body, on the phone with the police. He takes one heartbroken look at Charlie and mouths to me, “get her out of here.”
I take Charlie out onto the porch and hold her close. It’s freezing out here and she doesn’t even have a jacket. “Sweetheart, I’m going to put you down for one second. I just want to give you my coat.”
I let her feet gently hit the ground and she whimpers. My heart is breaking into a thousand pieces right now for this girl. I shrug my coat off awkwardly, not wanting to take my hands off Charlie more than I can help it. I get my coat on her and it swallows her up. Between her shrunken posture and the coat, she looks so small and fragile. I wrap my arms around her again and she sinks into my chest.
“The police are on their way. He is never going to hurt you again,” I murmur into Charlie’s ear. “Never again.”
Ben and Max join us on the porch as the cops show up. Max leads two inside so that they can arrest Brad and Chuck, and Ben starts chatting with another to explain what happened. I know they’re going to need to talk to Charlie, but I keep her close anyways, hoping that she can have a moment to calm herself before she has to relive this.
I scoot Charlie to the corner of the porch and face her away from the door as the cops bring Brad and Chuck out. Both are conscious now. Brad is sporting swollen cheeks and black eyes, but Chuck looks like something out of a nightmare. Blood coats his entire face and mats his hair. His nose is definitely broken. Jesus Christ, Ben really did a number on that guy.
Whats messed up though is that this crazy bastard is still fucking smiling.
Brad is taken away in a cop car, but an ambulance shows up for Chuck. He’s handcuffed to the gurney, and one of the cops accompanies him as he’s taken away. At this point, the remaining officers have taken Max and Ben’s statements and are looking over at me expectantly.
“How are you doing, sweetheart?” I murmur down at her as the police approach. Charlie isn’t sobbing anymore, but the wet spot on my shirt tells me she is still crying.
“I think he killed someone,” she whispers into my chest.
I barely hear her. What happened in that basement? I want to ask her what she means, when we’re approached by one of the police men.
“Miss, we need to ask you some questions.”
Charlie turns in my arms, but I don’t let her go. Her face is red and puffy, and she takes a deep breath. She’s shivering, but I don’t think it’s from the cold.
“Can you tell me what happened here tonight?”
