In Charlie's Arms

43 • Doorbell

Seraphina's heart beat fast in her chest, her anxiety spiking as she grasped onto the doorknob of her room. Before twisting it, she quickly pressed her ear to the door like she had done twice before, listening for any movement in the hallway.

"Just open it, Sera," she murmured to herself. "It'll be fine. If they catch you, you can just say you were trying to find a bathroom."

She started to turn the knob, her knuckles white from her fierce grip. She pulled the door slowly open to prevent any noises, but froze when a voice cut through the quiet.

"All done," Dr. Zavala said, his voice distant and muffled, but still loud enough to hear. It sounded like he was in the next room. There was a whirring noise that accompanied his voice. It sounded like machinery. "Should I go get him now?"

Sera began to shut the door, but didn't close it all the way. She wanted to be able to hear what the men said as clearly as possible, wanted to know their plans.

"No," she heard her Uncle Arthur reply. "Wait until she's unconscious. He'll put up a fight, and I don't want her hearing anything."

"I don't want to wait that long," Zavala complained. "And I doubt she'll remember anything when she wakes up. But even if she does, it's still an easy cover up. It's really not a big deal," Zavala assured her uncle.

There was a small stretch of silence before her uncle replied.

"Fine," he said. "Go ahead and get him—and make sure to wear the silencing headphones to—"

"Arthur," Zavala interrupted, "you don't have to remind me. I'm not stupid," he said as if the man had insulted his intelligence.

"I never said you were—"

The sound of a doorbell chiming in the distance cut through his words, silencing the man.

"Are you expecting someone?" Zavala questioned.

"No. No one ever comes over," Arthur said with a hint of trepidation. "I'll go check the cameras and see. Hold off on getting Charlie until I return."

Charlie. Sera's heart constricted. Why would they be getting Charlie?

As soon as Sera heard a door open down the hall, she quickly closed her door as quietly as possible and threw herself onto her bed, trying to look sedated just in case anyone decided to check on her.

She listened as Arthur's crutches struck the ground as he passed by her room. After another minute and the sound of a door opening, his alarmed yell echoed down the hall.

Sera couldn't hear exactly what he said, but knew it must've been important because soon after, she heard Zavala burst out of the room he had been in, his footsteps hurried as he ran to the other room.

Sera got up again, opening the door enough to hear them once the man had passed.

"What are we going to do?" Zavala asked, clearly panicked. "We can't sell the 'car accident' story now!"

"This is not good," Arthur stated. "This is really not good!"

The doorbell rang again.

There was a pregnant pause before Zavala came up with an idea.

"Let's switch the story," the man proposed. "We can say she and Charlie got into a fight—maybe Charlie ended up shoving her down the stairs and she hit her head? Would that work?"

Ding dong.

"Yeah, then we could say Charlie ran off to escape the police," Arthur added on, seeming to lean towards the idea. "And if she starts talking about the 'car accident' story we fed her, we can say that she had dreamt it all up . . . Yeah, this could work."