Charlie

by Eden Elsworth

  She thought about all the times he had tried to stop her getting into trouble with her mum, all the sewing he had asked Kelly to do, all the times he had sat and helped her do her homework so Lisa wouldn’t find out she couldn’t do something. From the day they had become friends, Paul had been at her side, like he was the other half of herself.

  Charlie might not even say the words to herself, but she loved Paul more than anyone in the whole world, more even than her dad. Without Paul in her life, Charlie didn’t know what she would do. She simply couldn’t imagine her world without him.

  FOUR

  Kelly frowned as she went back to eating her dinner, watching Paul as he did to. “She’ll be okay,” she assured him, though she wasn’t sure it was true. It was Charlie’s strength of character that had kept her going this long, but one day, she might reach breaking point.

  “Why does Lisa do it?” Paul asked quietly.

  “I don’t know,” his mum sighed. How could she explain to him someone could be so close-minded they would rather make someone they were meant to love change, instead of accepting them for who they really were?

  Mother and son ate in silence until they heard familiar footsteps on the concrete path around the side of the house. Paul’s father appeared a couple of seconds later.

  “I just thought I’d call in,” Mark said as he put a four pack of beers on the table.

  “Just call in?” Kelly asked, raising an eyebrow as she eyed the cans of drink.

  “Yep,” her ex-husband replied, feigning innocence. Although the first few years after their divorce had been fraught and tense at times, now they had settled into an easy friendship that meant Mark could call around to see his son whenever he wanted. The cans of beer probably meant he would be sleeping on the sofa for the night.

  Mark knew Kelly wouldn’t get many chances to go out with her friends without him helping out, so he made the effort to stop over often and take a turn looking after their son, and then she could go out or stay in as she wanted. More often than not these days, she seemed content to stay home with Mark for company.

  Opening one of the cans to take a long draw from it, Mark cheekily pinched a bit of food from Paul’s plate. Kelly had always been a good cook. If he had rung ahead and let her know he was coming, he could have eaten with them. It had been a spur of the moment thing though.

  Going to get a chair for himself, Mark ruffled his son’s hair proudly. He was turning into a strapping lad.

  “Dad!” Paul complained, but he grinned all the same.

  “What’s been going on then?” Mark asked as he lowered himself onto the seat.

  Paul blushed.

  “He’s got a girlfriend,” Kelly told her ex with a wink.

  “That’s why you’re looking so shifty, is it? What’s her name? No, don’t tell me. It wouldn’t happen to be Charlie, would it?”

  Nodding, Paul studied the remains of his dinner intently.

  “Might have known,” Mark chuckled. He knew Paul hardly spent any time with anyone else.

  “She’s coming round later. Don’t tease her about it. Lisa’s been on at her again.” Kelly frowned.

  “Bloody stupid bitch,” Mark muttered. He had never liked the woman. Although he had ever met Charlie’s dad, he assumed Charlie took after him. She had nothing at all in common with her mother. He wasn’t at all surprised when Kelly had told him Lisa had only been married a few months before separating.

  Reaching over to grab one of the cans of beer for herself, Kelly sat drinking it quietly, watching Paul and Mark chatting quietly together. She liked the evenings they could spend together as a family. She had no interest in Mark as a lover anymore. She hadn’t for years. There had been a time when she could barely keep her hands off him. Their relationship had been passionate, but also stormy. They had married much too quickly and regretted it almost as soon. Divorce had given the distance they had needed to learn how to be friends.

  As she mulled over how much better off she was as Mark’s ex-wife, she started to hear shouting from next door again. Paul heard it too, and immediately tensed.

  Charlie burst out of the back door of her home, and yelled at her mother, “No! I’m going to Paul’s! I don’t care what you do!”

  “Get back in here right now!” Lisa shouted shrilly. “You’re never going round there again!”

  The Smollet family shifted in their seats uncomfortably, hating that they were given no choice about witnessing the fight.

  “I hate you!” Charlie screamed at her mother.

  “You ungrateful little bitch!” Lisa advanced on her daughter furiously. “After all I’ve done for you!”

  “What?! What have you done for me exactly?! You drove dad away so I was stuck here with just you. All you ever do is moan about us both. You don’t want me here, so why complain when I go out?!”

  Charlie’s head suddenly snapped to the side. The sound of Lisa slapping her seemed to echo around the gardens.

  Mark rose angrily, unable to stay out of it any longer. He’d always suspected Lisa was violent, but now he had seen it, he had to act. “That’s it! Come here, Charlie.” He bounded to the fence, reached over as she ran to him and plucked her to safety. “What sort of mother are you?” he demanded loudly of Lisa.

  She looked at him in shock, as if she simply couldn’t believe he had the nerve to interfere. The sight of Charlotte hiding behind this man who had nothing to do with them was more than she could take.

  “It’s all your fault!” she shouted at the Smollet family as a whole. “You’re always sticking your noses in my business! Now you’ve turned her against me!”

  Going over to hold Charlie as she looked around in shock, Kelly finally gave vent to all the things she had wanted to say for years.

  “You’ve done that yourself! Why the hell couldn’t you just let her be? Charlie is a lovely girl. She’s kind and generous, though God knows how when you treat her like dirt! All you’ve ever done is make her life a misery!” Kelly’s mothering instinct had gone into overdrive as she cradled Charlie’s head to her breast. “Either you leave her with us or I’ll be reporting you to social services!”

  “Fine!” Lisa glared at the other woman. She turned to storm back inside her house and slammed the door.

  Paul watched it all in stunned silence as his mother quickly guided Charlie into their home. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Blankly, he went to the table to start clearing away the plates, carrying them to the kitchen. He found his parents in the sitting room. His mum was sat on the sofa holding Charlie as she sobbed wretchedly.

  “How could she do that?” Mark asked in utter disbelief.

  Kelly shook her head. “I’ve always been worried her temper would get the better of her one day.” She stroked Charlie’s hair back gently, murmuring, “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re staying here for now.”

  Standing in the doorway uncertainly, Paul didn’t know what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, but didn’t have the courage to go and sit beside Charlie, draw her into his arms and never let go of her. He wanted to do whatever it took to make her feel happy. In the end, all he did was perch on the end of the sofa, not daring to get too close.

  “You better come back with me tonight, son,” Mark said quietly. “Charlie will have to use your room.”

  Paul looked up in shock. He couldn’t leave when Charlie was so upset! “Why can’t I stay here?”

  “I’ve just told you,” Mark said a little more firmly, laying a hand on his shoulder.

  “I don’t want to leave.” Paul had never really contradicted his parents before, not over something important. There had never been any need to.

  Mark blinked a couple of times in surprise.

  “It’s alright,” Kelly told them both. “Charlie can sleep on the camp bed. I’ll put it in my room.” She knew Paul needed to stay close to Charlie after what he had seen. If he went to Mark’s he would spend the whole night fretting and wouldn’t get any sleep. And Kelly was conc
erned about how Paul would cope after seeing Lisa losing control like that. He had always had such a gentle life, the only fear in it had been for Charlie.

  Watching the traumatized girl and how worried his son was for her, Mark nodded his agreement. Maybe he should also stay and make sure Lisa didn’t cause any more problems.

  “Okay,” he agreed, then smiled at his son so he knew he wasn’t in trouble.

  Going back outside for a few minutes, Mark picked up his can of beer and took a deep swig from it. He grabbed the other beers and headed back inside to put them in the kitchen. When he returned to the sitting room, he silently joined the vigil around Charlie as she slowly began to calm down.

  Once she had finally stopped crying, Kelly eased the girl away so she could go and organize the night’s sleeping arrangements. Mark followed her up the stairs, wanting to do something to help, even if it wasn’t any more than holding things.

  Hearing the murmur of his parents talking upstairs, Paul looked nervously at Charlie. She sat picking at the hole in the thigh of her jeans. When he could no longer bear seeing her so devastated, he shifted closer and put his arm around her shoulders. With a wrenching sob shaking her whole body, Charlie turned into him and buried her face in his chest.

  By the time his parents came down a little later, Paul was holding Charlie tightly, whispering anything he could think of to comfort her. Kelly and Mark watched their son with his best friend and quietly agreed they would go to the kitchen.

  “How long will you keep her here?” Mark asked quietly so he wasn’t overheard.

  Kelly shrugged uncertainly. “Until things calm down, I guess. I’m going to have to go round tomorrow and talk to her, though I’d rather not.”

  “I don’t envy you that job,” he responded, going to answer the back door warily. Someone had knocked on it.

  It was Jake. He stood straight and glared at them angrily. “What the hell are you playing at?!” he demanded. “Lisa told me you took Charlie away!”

  “Too bloody right we did!” Mark growled back at him. “You think we’re going to sit and do nothing when we see that bitch hitting Charlie?”

  Jake sagged. “She did what?”

  “You heard!” Mark snapped.

  “She never told me that. She’s going to call the police if I don’t take Charlie back with me.”

  “Absolutely not.” Kelly said sternly. “She can’t be trusted around Charlie. I don’t know for sure if Lisa has hit her before, but now I’ve seen her doing it, there’s no way I’m going to sit back and do nothing. She can call the police if she likes, but if she does, we’ll all be making statements about her violent behavior.

  “For years I’ve had to watch her verbally abusing Charlie for no reason at all, and I’m not going to do it anymore. You can tell Lisa I’ll come and talk to her tomorrow, but only if she behaves rationally.”

  Jake leaned against the doorframe, looking defeated. “Is Charlie okay?”

  “No, not really. She’s in a mess right now, and I’m not letting her out of my sight tonight.” Kelly crossed her arms, waiting to be told she was out of order.

  Jake just nodded. “Sounds like that’s the best thing.”

  Kelly relented a bit. “If you can, get Lisa to send round some clothes for Charlie. Hopefully this will blow over in a few days.” Kelly didn’t think for an instant it would. She wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie never wanted to see her mother again.

  “Should I call Charlie’s dad?” Jake asked uncertainly. He’d never seen the man, or spoken to him, but if Charlie was Jake’s daughter, he would want to know what had happened.

  “Just bring me his number,” Kelly replied. “I think he should be told what’s going on. For now, Charlie just needs some breathing space.”

  Nodding, Jake told her, “I won’t be coming again. I’ve been getting sick of Lisa. This is the last straw. I don’t want to be with someone like that. I’ll bring some of Charlie’s clothes around in a bit. Tell her I said goodbye.”

  Paul listened to the conversation in the kitchen in silence. Charlie could hear it just as well as he could, but she didn’t say a word. She was still crying, but more quietly now.

  After Jake had gone, Paul had expected his parents to come through, but they stayed in the kitchen.

  Charlie eventually cried herself to sleep in Paul’s arms. He didn’t let go of her for an instant though. At some point, he dozed off to sleep too, and still kept a tight hold of Charlie.

  In one day, he had grown up more than he had in all the years before.

  FIVE

  Paul sighed sadly as he thought back to that terrible evening that had shattered Charlie’s life. Nothing had been the same after. He had never been the same.

  Picking up the pint glass from the bar, he drained it of beer and turned to leave the pub.

  “You off?” Tom called over, frowning.

  “Yep.” Paul looked at him for a moment, thinking of the day the younger man had first been allowed out with the rest of the kids. Paul and Charlie had held the others back so Tom could win the race to the tree. Nearly every bloke in the pub that was of Paul’s age or a few years younger had been allowed to win that race at least once. After Charlie had left, it had never happened again. It was like the life had been sucked from the group. They drifted apart. Charlie’s absence had left a void no one else could come close to filling.

  Stepping out onto the pavement, Paul looked up at the dark sky and wondered where underneath it Charlie was now. Even after fifteen years, Paul still missed her every single day, like she had pulled a huge piece of him out and taken it with her.

  Charlie had stayed for nearly a week after that awful night, a week during which Paul’s mother and Charlie’s father had hurriedly made arrangements to keep Lisa away. Steve Teasley had managed to get a temporary custody order sorted out, and set the ball rolling to make it permanent. Once Charlie had admitted there had been repeated violence, it had been easy for Steve to secure custody of her.

  Neither Paul nor Charlie had gone to school in that week. They had spent every day in Paul’s bedroom; Kelly had told them they had to keep the door open all the time. She needn’t have worried. Paul hadn’t even kissed Charlie again. All they had done was lie quietly on his bed, talking about all sorts, but not Lisa. Quite often, Charlie had started to cry for no apparent reason. Not knowing what else to do when she did, Paul had just held her until she stopped.

  When Steve had come to collect Charlie, they had parted with promises of meeting up very soon. Paul had never seen her again.

  Lisa had thankfully moved away not long after. The time before she went had been filled with loud arguments over the garden fence. Lisa refused to see it was her own actions that had taken Charlie away. As far as Lisa was concerned, Kelly and Mark had conspired with Steve to steal the daughter she didn’t even want. Lisa also blamed Paul’s parents for the fact Jake had left her. The woman was completely deluded.

  Then silence had fallen.

  Paul’s life had seemed so dull after Charlie left. The sun never shone as brightly, and everything seemed pointless. With Charlie, even doing homework had been fun. After she left, he rarely laughed about anything. It had taken him years to find ways to fill the void she left behind. Not that he ever really had. It was still there inside him.