by Michelle Lee
“I don’t understand what you mean by trouble follows me, you have never had a problem with me. And I didn’t do anything wrong someone broke into my apartment.”
“So you say. We can’t have people thinking it is not safe here. Soon as the word gets out that you had trouble, no one will want to rent from us and we’ll have to let druggies in.”
Charlie realizes she is getting nowhere with this conversation so she says, “Ok, fine. But I get my deposit back. There is nothing wrong with that apartment.”
“Yes dear, we planned on giving it back. We still love ya to pieces kid; we just can’t have people thinking certain things. You understand, don’t you?”
Getting choked up; Charlie knows it’s time to go. “When can I come over and pack up my stuff?”
“Whenever you want to. The police took down the crime scene tape this morning.”
“I will be over after work.” Taking a deep breath she says, “Give my love to Betty. Goodbye.” She hangs up the phone and goes to the bathroom.
In the bathroom she lets the tears come. She is homeless. Her little one bedroom apartment that she loves is no longer hers. The fire place that holds her TV will never be used for a fire. The claw foot tub she loves to take baths in will be someone else’s. She takes a few moments to grieve for her loss. Now, it’s time to do what needs to be done. When one chapter is over a new one is waiting to be written. This time she will rewrite her life with more positives and less unknowns.
CHAPTER 31
Charlie arrived at her apartment around 6:30. She has been standing in the hall for 15 minutes. She is listening to the sounds that she has come to know as normal, homey. The old lady next door is listening to wheel of fortune at top volume. There is a couple down the hall listening to Bach’s Moonlight Sonata, subdued talking, and laughing; probably over a nice dinner. She remembers seeing them and thinking how sweet and happy they always are. Young love.
She steeled her heart, reaches for the door knob, and starts opening the door. She hears footsteps behind her and pauses. Turning around she comes face to face with a very annoyed Officer O’Connor. He looks different out of his uniform. “Hey, Officer O’Connor, what are you doing here?”
“I’m watching your back while Brody is gone. Please, call me Patrick, or Pat, I’m off duty. You were supposed to leave work and go to Brody’s house. What are you doing here?”
“I have been asked to leave. My landlord doesn’t want any bad news around his property.” Turning back to the door she puts her hand on the knob, one more time, and turns it.
“You want me to come in with you?”
“Yes. Just give me a second alone.” She pushes the door open, and goes inside. Closing the door behind her she looks around. She looks at the fire place, the chocolate colored couch, the rugs and curtains, and the magazines on the coffee table. Everything.
It feels different than she thought it would. She looks at all her things and that is what they are, just things. There is no feeling here; it’s cold. There are no good memories. Every memory she has made is outside these four walls. The dread she is feeling is getting easier to let go of.
She walks into the bedroom, looks at her bed and feels nauseous. Michael is going to try to take everything from her again. That will be his motivation. First my possessions, then friends, and he will finish with my sanity. I will not let him take anything else. He was in my room while I slept, he touched himself, and he touched my things. He did it to scare me, it didn’t work.
There is a knock on the door before I see Officer, um Patrick enter the apartment. He looks around, his face an unreadable mask. It’s his cop face. I have no idea what he is thinking. When he enters the bedroom his mask slips, just the tiniest bit but if you were looking you’d notice, showing the anger in his eyes. He looks at me and smiles. “You need some help packing up some stuff?”
“I’m sure packing boxes isn’t part of the babysitting gig you and Brody cooked up.” I quark an eyebrow at him; letting him know I’m not thrilled with the arrangement.
He has the decency to look a little ashamed. “I know you aren’t happy about having me here, but I’m not leaving, and it was as much my idea as Brody’s. If you want to be pissy, fine, I’m here now so take the help I’m offering you. Don’t be stubborn.”
I laugh, “Fine, thank you for helping me.” Looking around I don’t even know where to start. “You want some coffee, or something?”
“You got a beer? It’s f’ing hot today. A beer would be heaven.”
I notice a little more Boston coming out in him as he relaxes. “Yeah, I have beer.” I walk to the kitchen and grab two beers. Then I had to the closet and get out two boxes, and head back to the bedroom. When I enter, Patrick has my bed stripped and the sheets in a big garbage bag.
“Sorry, I took the liberty of stripping the sheets; I didn’t think you would want them anymore.”
I hand him his beer, “No, I defiantly don’t want them anymore. Thank you.” Looking at the bag I start to shake a little. “Where did you get the bag?”
“I brought it. I was going to do this for you earlier, just never made over here. The crime lab still has the pillow case.” He walks toward me and takes my hand. He looks very serious. He hands me a little white business card. “My mother was walking home from work one night. It was only about 4 blocks, a man grabbed her, drug her down the alley behind a popular coffee shop. He raped her and cut her throat. He left her there with her uniform around her waist and blood running down her throat. Someone from the coffee shop found her while taking out the garbage. She lived, but had a really hard time afterward. The man was never found. She lived in fear for a long time. Now she is a rape counselor. She is the reason I became a cop.”
I take the card with shaking hands. “She sounds like such a brave strong woman, you must be so proud.”
“I am. I am very proud of you, too.”
The tears start to fill my eyes, I blink trying to make them go away. “You don’t know me well enough to be proud.”
“Look at you. You have a new life, without counseling, and refuse to give in to this man who is terrorizing you.”
“I may seem like I have it all together, but I am a mess on the inside. I haven’t been on a date in two years. I have three friends. I don’t even have a place to live anymore.”
“Charlie, you need to talk to someone. You need to move on with the rest of your life. You’ve come far on your own, now let someone else make sense of the feelings you have.” He looks in my eyes and smiles “The reason you haven’t been on a date has nothing to do with what has been done to you.”
“What? What is that supposed to mean?”
“You have to find that out for yourself, but I think Brody could help you with the answer.”
Of course I am blushing. I wonder if I could have Botox injected into my cheeks to stop that. It really is an inconvenience when trying to hide your feelings.
“Alright, I will call her.” I take the card from his hand and look it over. Elizabeth O’Connor. “She has a lovely name.”
“She has a lovely personality. I know you’ll like her.”
I clear my throat, “Alright let’s get on with this. I want to get out of here.”
“You got it.”
They pack up the two boxes and talk. Charlie has one more person to add to her friend list by the time they’re done. They ask each other about their childhood, old boy/girl friends, high school, and college. Pat was surprised to find out she has an advertising degree. He has a friend who is looking for someone to head his company’s advertising department. She gave him a business card to give to his friend.
They really only got around to packing up her clothes, shoes and purses, whatever she had in the bathroom, and some cleaning products. Then Patrick loaded up the car, while Charlie cleaned all the food out of the refrigerator. She met him outside with the garbage bag in hand. She walked around the building to the dumpster with Pat on her heels and stops turning to
face him she says, “I am just going to throw this away.”
“Ok, I will be right behind you.”
“Agh, it’s getting old Pat, really, you can see me from the street.”
“Yeah, I can. Now walk. I have to go get my car before you go.”
I turn on my heel and stomp down the alley. Yes, I did a great impression of a three year old. I throw the bag in the dumpster, and notice something on the ground. Bending down to get a closer look I see that it is a picture. It is a picture of Sarah and me from work this morning; when we were talking about the masquerade ball. I have a faraway look on my face and Sara is smiling. The bottom has writing on it that says; I see you Charlie. I can always see you. I can always get to you.
I stand and yell, “Pat!!”
He comes running to me in the matter of seconds. “What, what’s wrong?”
I can’t speak I just point. He bends and sees the picture. He picks it up by the edge. Grabs my arm and pulls me out of the alley. He deposits me in my car and tells me to go directly to Brody’s. He will meet me there.
CHAPTER 32
I hate flying. It takes two hours to get out of the damn airport. The security guards are on a power trip, we had to sit for an hour in the plane on the runway; while they checked the landing gear, and I had a five year old kicking my seat the whole time. Oh, and let’s not forget, I had to sit with Kevin. Oh, my god he is still talking.
“…so anyway, I finally told her I wasn’t interested and she slapped me across the face.”
“Wow, that’s harsh.” I put my head back and close my eyes. “I’m going to try to sleep for the rest of the ride.”
“Oh, ok.” I hear him finger through a magazine; turning the pages with all the subtlety of a grenade.
I can’t wait to land. I lie still with my eyes closed and wonder what Charlie is doing right now. It is a little after lunch so she is probably just getting back to her little cubicle. I hope her day is going well. I hope she can’t stop thinking about me.
The airline attendant comes over the speaker system and announces that they will be landing shortly. Please return to your seats and buckle your seat belts. Brody sits up and prepares to land. He hates this part too. No matter how big the airport is the plane always feels like it is falling out of the sky as it lands.
He takes a couple deep breaths and grips the arm rest a little harder. The landing is relatively smooth and everyone is standing gathering bags from overhead compartments. It all happened rather quickly. Thank God.
Once off the plane, Kevin starts his non-stop chatter up again, talking about the sights. O’Hare, airport in Chicago, is huge. It is like being in a small town. There are restaurants, clothing shops, waiting areas. If you don’t know where you’re going you could get lost.
“Want to get something to eat before we go to the hotel?” Kevin asks.
“If you don’t mind I would just like to go to the hotel and get settled. Then grab something there.”
“That sounds good, besides, it’s already almost three, and our first session is at 5 o’clock.”
They take a taxi to the Hilton. It’s a short ride to the hotel. The get their room keys and head to the elevators, riding up to the 10th floor. Once there they go to separate rooms.
Brody walks into his room and hangs his bag in the closet. Takes his suit coat off and hangs that also. He takes his shoes off and heads to the bathroom. He washes his hands and splashes water on his face. It isn’t a shower, but it will have to do for now.
Walking over to the bed, he pulls out his cell phone and calls Charlie. She doesn’t answer so he leaves a message, “Hey, it’s me, just letting you know I made it. The plane didn’t crash. Just kidding. I have training this evening from 5-10, so I won’t be able to call until late. I hope you’re ok. Please call me; just leave me a message, so I can hear your voice. I miss you. See you tomorrow, good night, I love you.” He hangs up and orders room service.
CHAPTER 33
Charlie drives like a maniac back to Brody’s house. She is blowing through yellow lights and going over the speed limit. If she gets pulled over now, she isn’t stopping. She pulls up in front of the house, throws the car into park, and jumps free of the seat. Running over the lawn she stops dead in her tracks. There is a moving truck in the driveway.
Just as soon as she notices the truck, two men carry out the kitchen table. They carefully place the table inside the truck. The bed from Brody’s room is already loaded up, and the dresser that matches. She walks over to the truck and sees it’s full of various pieces of furniture, “Excuse me, what are you doing with all of this furniture?”
“Charlie? Oh, god I should’ve known you’d be here the second I left.”
Charlie turns, and Steph is coming across the yard with a big box in her arms. She is dressed in a spaghetti strap pink tank with matching shorts that say pink across her ass. “Yay, its Steph everybody!” Charlie says overly sweet throwing in hand clapping for extra flare.
“You’re an ass. Did Brody invite you over as soon as I left? Are you still playing mind games with him? It’s sick, you know, the way you treat him. You lead him on and then play the best friend card. Aren’t you tired of ruining things for Brody? He has waited around for you to make up your mind whether you want him or you don’t. Everytime it starts to get anywhere serious with him and another woman, you reel him back in, pretending to need something from him.”
“I do not.” Charlie can’t believe she is saying these things to her. “I left him alone when you moved in here. He is my best friend, my family, what do you want me to do?”
“You don’t want me to answer that truthfully. I can’t even stand to look at you. If you died tomorrow, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings, and I would be there to pick up the pieces for poor Brody.” She smiles like the Devil himself while enjoying the possibility.
“Wow, Steph, I always knew you were a bitch, but I never saw the crazy before.” Charlie turns and walks toward the house.
“Where do you think you’re going, Brody’s not home to run and tattle to.”
“I know I’m going to my room.”
“What?! You’re staying here?”
“Yep, since Sunday; he waited until the day after you left to invite me over.” She turns and walks into the house and trots up the stairs. She opens her door walks into her room and plops on the bed. “God, I hate her.” Charlie says to herself. “I never liked her. She’s spoiled, and whiney, and mean.” Charlie remembers the first time she met her.
**********
“Hey, I’m Charlie, and this is Mike.
“Hey Mike, Charlie, nice to meet you.”
It’s November 2008, five years earlier, and almost the end of Charlie and Michael. It’s Saturday night and everyone wants to see a movie. So far, no one can decide on which one. Steph wants to see Twilight at 10:15, Mike wants to see Transporter 3 at 10:20, and Brody and I want to see the new James Bond movie; Quantum of Solace, at 10 or 10:30. It doesn’t matter what time, as long as we see it.
It’s kind of our thing. When he first moved here I made a really lame joke about the way he introduced himself and it took on a life if it’s own. When one of us is extremely depressed, we turn it into a Bond marathon. When we have nothing to do, we turn to a Bond marathon. I like the newer ones with Daniel Craig; He likes the Sean Connery, Bond.
While everyone goes over times, Charlie turns to Brody and sticks out her hand. She smiles and says, “Harrison, Brody Harrison.”
Brody barks a laugh and takes her hand, spinning her in a circle, like they’re dancing. “Very funny. Do you know how intimidated I was when you started laughing? I thought I was going to die.” He is still holding her hand.
