Treacherous

by L. L Hunter

  “You have to go. I know it will be hard, but you have to be strong like I know you are. I’ll be there, so will your Mum, right beside you.”

  “Don’t leave my side.” She collapsed against me and I whispered back.

  “Never.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Charli

  I ran my fingers through my hair once more making sure it was straight. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and couldn’t help but feel the sense of déjà vu wash over me. The last time that I had done this, my life had changed forever.

  * * * *

  “You look hot, Charli,” said a voice behind me. I turned around and immediately cringed. It was the town player, the school man-whore. And now he was standing in front of me with that hungry smirk he always wears.

  “And you too, Michael. You haven’t changed one bit. Still the same virginator, I hear?”

  “Still playing hard to get, I hear?”

  “Look, what do you want, Michael?” I crossed my arms in front of my body and waited for the scum to disappear. He didn’t.

  He leaned in closer and lowered his voice, speaking into my ear. His breath was hot on my skin.

  “Why don’t you just give it up, Charlotte? Or I’ll tell the press who daddy’s little girl really is.”

  My eyes widened and I pushed him away. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Oh, I would dare. Sleep with me and your secret will be safe.”

  I hesitated. “You promise?”

  “I swear on my life.”

  I followed him out into the parking lot, but he didn’t keep his word.

  * * * *

  The scars still remained from that night, both physically and emotionally.

  Michael had told everyone he knew about my ‘habit’, my coping mechanism, and the media ate it up. So my parents did the one thing they knew how to do—they made me go away. Out of sight, out of mind was there motto. They admitted me to the rehab clinic for three months.

  I adjusted my wrist cuffs to cover the fresh red scars on both wrists. Keep sakes from my nightmare.

  Someone knocked.

  “I’m coming.” Before I could finish my sentence, my mother poked her head in, her eyes immediately falling to the black fabric around my wrists.

  “Please don’t tell me… Oh God, please, Charlotte.” Holding her hand to her heart, my mother ran to me and grabbed one of my wrists, yanking back one of the cuffs.

  “Heaven forbid! Charlotte…”

  “I’m sorry, Mum. You know it’s my only way of coping. It’s the only way I can take away the pain.”

  “No, its not, Charlotte! God…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. She collapsed on the bed and put her head in her hands. “I almost lost you! Twice! I just lost your father! I can’t… I can’t do this! Not today!”

  “I’m sorry, Mum. I’ve stopped. That was my last time, I swear.”

  “I don’t believe you. In fact, after today, after we bury your father I’m taking you back to the clinic.”

  “No, Mum! Please not that place!”

  “You’ve left me no choice, Charlotte. I’ll be in the car.” As she leaves, she slams the door in her wake.

  I want to scream, I want to smash the mirror that held my broken face. Like I did that night before I used the glass to cut myself. But today was not the day. Today I had to bury my lying, treacherous father, and then my treacherous mother was going to take me back to the place where my nightmares began. No, slash that, my nightmares began the day I lost my childhood. I didn’t look at my reflection again after that. I slammed my bedroom door and walked to the car.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Nathan

  There were already a lot of people at the cemetery—a lot of people who either liked Stephen or hated him. I just hoped none of them hated Stephen enough that Charli was in further danger.

  A black town car pulled up, and I watched as Susan exited. I waited for Charli to get out, and when she did, I noticed she was wearing a simple yet elegant black shift dress, and adorning both wrists were what looked to be tattered pieces of black cloth. I wasn’t sure if it was a fashion statement or not, but it triggered a memory. The morning after we had made love, the night of her twenty-first birthday, I noticed something poking out from underneath her silver bangles—jagged pink scars. It suddenly dawned on me that there was much more to Charli Jayne than I first realised. As she righted her dress after climbing out of the car, her head popped up and even though she was wearing dark sunglasses, I knew she was looking my way. I put my hands in my suit jacket and nodded. I glanced back at Stephen’s coffin sitting just right of the hole where he was to be buried. Before I knew it, Charli was standing next to me.

  I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t know whether to confront her about her wrists, or talk about what happened yesterday, or ask if she was okay. I decided the latter was the best move.

  “How are you?”

  “Fine. Considering.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She took her sunglasses off and gazed up at me. She gave me small smile. “There’s nothing to talk about, Nathan. Nothing that would fix the situation. What’s done is done.”

  “You shouldn’t think like that.”

  “You’ve already saved me, Nathan. You don’t need to save me again.”

  Her words cut me deep like the knives Levi and Courtney had thrown at me. But this knife cut particularly deep. So deep, I was afraid the wound wasn’t going to heal.

  “Charli, I’m here for you. You know that right?” I reached out for her hand but she pulled hers away.

  “Let me go, Nathan.” She walked away from me and went to stand beside her mother and her friend, Rochelle.

  I knew I wasn’t going to let her slip away from me that easy.

  * * * *

  When the coffin had disappeared below the ground, everyone began to disperse. I found Charli standing by her car with Rochelle.

  “Hey, Nathan,” waved Rochelle.

  “Hey, Rochelle. How are you?”

  “Fine, thanks. Can’t say the same for Charli here.”

  “Why?” My gaze found Charli, but she turned her head and crossed her arms. “Charli? What’s going on?”

  She ignored me for a moment then ripped her sunglasses off her face and turned on me. Mascara tracks painted her cheeks and her fists were clenched.

  “Why do you care so much, huh? Why won’t you leave me alone? I told you I don’t need protecting, but you’re always there. I don’t need you, Nathan.”

  “Your parents hired me because they care about you. They love you and I… I love you, too. I’m here because I love you, too, Charli.”

  “You can’t love me! I’m damaged goods! I’m un-datable! I’m defective!” With each word, she pounded her fists into my chest harder and harder until she finally caved and only crying remained. I took her arms. She tried resisting, but I was immune. I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her, kissing her head.

  “I don’t care if you’re those things. To me, you’re perfect.”

  She pulled back from me, wiping her face and then looked down at her feet. “I have to go.”

  “Go? Go where?”

  She didn’t say a word. Susan said the words her daughter couldn’t.

  “She’s going away, Nathan.”

  “Away? Away, where?”

  “Thank you for you help, Nathan. I truly appreciate everything you’ve done for our family.” She placed a hand on her daughter’s back and led her towards the car.

  “Wait, Susan. Charli? Tell me where you’re going! Tell me what’s going on!”

  “Charlotte needs help, Nathan. It’s time to let her go. You’ve done enough.” Charli got in the car without a last glance and Susan shut the door behind her. When the car began to pull away, I began running after it.

  “Charli! Charli, I’ll never let you go! I’ll never give up on you!”

  My words were in vain though. I stopped runn
ing at the gate to the cemetery, and I watched the town car disappear into traffic.

  I knew from that moment I wouldn’t let that be the last time I ever saw her. It was my solemn vow.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Charli

  The Nut House, as it was known, was just as I remembered. The kids in school used to say it was haunted. It was not untrue.

  The wardens, four in total, took me from my mother and friend, leaving them behind a locked fire door. I knew my mother had only committed me here because she couldn’t stand to look at the reminder of what her husband had done.

  The four wardens led me to my room and one of the female ones changed me in into a backless hospital gown like the one I had worn the first time I was here. I let her. I was numb anyway. I couldn’t move. I let the pain overwhelm me until I was an empty shell.

  That night after lights out, I ran into the bathroom and wasn’t surprised there was no mirror there. They knew what I was like. They knew what I had done, my habits. What they didn’t understand was my need, my craving to take the pain away.

  You see, this is the real reason I was deemed ‘un-datable’. It’s not because I am the daughter of two of the most significant lawyers in the state, but because I was born tortured. I was born cursed.

  Disappointed and depressed, I climbed back into bed and closed my eyes. That was the night my nightmares returned.

  It was dark when I opened my eyes, completely dark. The only glimmer of light was the moon, and that was partially concealed behind a cloud. I glanced over at the clock on my bedside table. It was 2:45am.

  I sat up in bed, wiping my sweaty forehead. I usually overheated at night lying under the covers. So I preferred to sleep in summer pyjamas all year round. But that was not the reason I had woken up sweating. I felt a presence, as if someone were watching me. I shuddered and laid back down quickly, pulling the covers over my head. Geez, this place freaked me out. I listened, lying there still and stiff as a corpse. When I was satisfied no one was around, I closed my eyes and lowered the blankets.

  That was when the hand covered my mouth.

  Nathan

  It was a hunch. I didn’t get them often, but tonight my hunch was particularly demanding. I threw the covers off and glanced at my clock. It was almost three in the morning. I groaned. I don’t even get up this early for training. Even though I was now on leave from the federal police, I still liked to train and keep fit. My hunch was pretty persistent this morning, making me think of Charli. My stomach flipped at the mere thought of her. I wasn’t supposed to be thinking of her. I had been told to forget, but I would never forget. I threw on my running shoes, grabbed a jacket and my car keys, and headed out, hoping my hunch was right.

  I arrived at the rehab clinic around twenty minutes later. Turning off my engine, I quietly made my way to the front gate. But my hunch made me turn left and head around to the side of the building for some reason.

  “You’d better be right,” I said to it. Oh God! Maybe I should be in the nut house with Charli.

  It had been a week since Charli had been admitted to the clinic, and I had already made it my job to know exactly which room was Charli’s. As I crept up alongside her window, I heard screaming. Oh, God. Charli was screaming! I looked around quickly for a brick and found one near the chain link fence surrounding the complex. Screw security. I took off my hoodie, wrapped the brick inside, and threw it against the window. The glass broke, but it was reinforced with a wire cage on the other side. I ran back to my car, grabbed the wire cutters I knew I had in the boot, and ran back. Charli was still screaming, and calling out to me.

  “Charli! Charli, I’m coming.” I cut the wire cage, leaving a hole large enough for me to fit through and dropped the cutters to the ground. Climbing up onto the windowsill, I made my way through the gap and landed hands-first on the other side. I jumped to my feet, hands at the ready and glanced around for the danger. I no longer possessed a gun, but I was pretty well trained in Jujitsu.

  “Charli?”

  “Nathan?” She asked, sobbing. “Is that you, Nathan?”

  “Yeah. It’s me.”

  “He’s here, Nathan! He’s back!”

  “Ssh, it’s okay. Who’s back? Who did you see?” I ran over to her and wrapped her in my arms, stroking her hair.

  “Fr… Frankie,” she managed in between sobs.

  “Hey, listen. Frankie… Levi, is dead. He can’t hurt you anymore. Okay?”

  “But I saw him. He had me… he was holding me…” sobs wracked her body until they took over her words. I held her close, rocking her back and forth, whispering soothing words to her.

  “No one will ever be able to hurt you again. Okay? I swear it.”

  Epilogue

  Six months later

  Charli

  “Charli, would you like to share with the class how you’re feeling?”

  I looked up from my journal, smiled, and shut the cover. “Sure.” I glanced over at Nathan, who sat beside me, and he gave me a reassuring nod and squeezed my hand. That simple gesture gave me all the confidence I needed in the world.

  “It has been six months since I was discharged from the rehab clinic and almost seven since Frankie… I mean, Levi, stole my life. I still have nightmares about him holding me down and…” I swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears and memories at bay. “But coming to these classes, and keeping my journal, has really helped me.” I looked around at the eight other souls in the room and found them all watching me eagerly. I continued. “But that hasn’t been my only saviour. If it weren’t for my parents hiring Nathan,” I looked to Nathan now, and he smiled back at me, “I don’t know where I would be. He saved me. He changed my life from the moment he bumped into me outside my dorm. I’ll be forever indebted to him.”

  My class applauded me, but I was still focused on Nathan. I almost laughed when I saw tears forming in his eyes. I leaned forward and kissed him.

  “Very good, Charli. Well done. Is there any other news you’d like to share?” My doctor asked.

  Nathan glanced from my doctor to me. “Do you want to tell them or shall I?”

  “I will.” Still holding onto Nathan’s hand, I turned and faced my class again. “Well, the good news is… Nathan and I are engaged. We’re getting married next month.” I heard a few gasps and aww’s. I let the news sink in, then I added, “And we’re also expecting our first baby.”

  In that moment, I knew my life had changed for the better this time. I was no longer damaged. I was no longer tortured, and my heart knew exactly where it wanted to be.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  L.L. Hunter is an Australian author who began writing when she was fifteen or sixteen, originally song lyrics, but then moved onto fanfiction when she was nineteen, having published over 20 stories online- One of which was nominated for an award. She has also written, directed and starred in two original plays entitled, “No Frills Airlines: Flight 123,” and the sequel, “No frills Airlines: Come Fly with Us.” The latter of which was a musical.

  She has studied everything from veterinary nursing, forensic science and dramatic arts but has always known her true calling to be writing.

  Her hobbies include writing her books, reading, singing, acting, directing, watching movies, 50’s fashion and playing with her animals. When she is not writing she can be found reading somewhere comfortable with one or both of her ‘furbabies’.

  You can connect with L.L. Hunter on Twitter, (@llhunterbooks) Facebook, Goodreads or her blog llhunter.blogspot.com.au.

 

 

 
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