Don't Fall in Love in Witness Protection

Chapter 24: Hidden

C H A P T E R  ( 2 4 )

'We reported him that evening to the school principal, Mum actually called her at home she was so angry with him.' Charlotte explained as they sped toward her house in Eli's car. 'He was suspended that night pending official investigation but it was an unusual situation because he didn't technically do anything to us. The school board demanded he have a psych evaluation after I told them in detail some of the things he said to me. I thought it was a good idea, because he wasn't the teacher I knew at all. It was like a switch flicked on while he was speaking to me, and his deluded vision of us kind of took over his whole mind.'

Eli let out a low growl, 'Delusional or not, what he did to you girls was ridiculous.' He paused and glanced at her from the corner of his eye, 'Was that all? You mentioned it got worse...'

Charlotte sighed, the next part of the story was what nightmares were made of. Well her nightmares at least. She had this one regularly.

'He was suspended from school and Stace and I tried to get on with our normal lives. He approached us once in a shopping mall but thankfully Stacy's Mum was there and we didn't have to talk to him. But that pissed him off even more.' She fiddled with the glove compartment for something to do with her hands, 'then one afternoon he showed up at school. I was with Stacy, I'll never forget the day because the weather was so dark, and he stood there in a huge dark coat and black beanie, which just wasn't like him. He normally wore bright colours, smiled and laughed through the day. When he started walking towards me I just took off in the other direction. I didn't say anything to Stacy because I didn't want her being dragged into it again. Stupidly I took the short cut home through the woods...'

She trailed off when Eli gave her a huge eye roll.

'You're kidding me right?' He groaned. 'A man you're terrified of shows up at your school and instead of heading back inside to the teachers you take off through the woods?'

Charlotte glared at him, 'I wasn't thinking straight. I wanted to get home the fastest way possible.'

'You're right, I'm sorry,' he reached out and squeezed her hand reassuringly. He didn't let go for the rest of the drive.

'To cut a long story short, he caught up with me in the woods. He professed his love for me, I realized then in his head he had built up our entire relationship into something amazing and...' She searched for the right word, 'He genuinely thought I felt the same way as him Eli, and he was so confused about why I wasn't happy to see him. His confusion probably scared me the most...'

'Well shit,' Eli briefly let go of her hand to change gear as he pulled up into her driveway.  

Chuck met them at the car, his back was rigid, his eyes darting side to side as he shielded Charlotte from the street. His hand was on the small of her back pushing her toward the front door. Once they were all inside he locked the door behind them.

'I'm assuming he knows everything?' Chuck jerked his head toward Eli who looked a little uncomfortable now Charlotte was back with her family and in the arms of her mother.

'Yes he does, it was too hard to keep the secret when Gold showed up in town,' Charlotte was almost daring Chuck to say anything about it. He seriously did not want to mess with her after today.

Chuck nodded his head already speaking into his phone, 'It's code black.' He paused, 'Her boyfriend knows as well, I know that's not ideal!' Another pause while Charlotte awkwardly avoided Eli's gaze. 'Gold's seen him with her, he could be having a manic episode.'

When Chuck hung up the phone he looked out the window again waiting for the police to arrive.

'So we are assuming he has seen you with Eli and is probably livid,' Chuck explained to the group sitting before him. 'You know he suffers from psychotic episodes,' Chuck turned to Eli to explain. 'Basically Gold believes in his mind his feelings are reciprocated. In his mind Charlotte is playing a game with him, and that she loves him back and wants to be with him. The reason we haven't caught him yet is he's a smart man and knows exactly how to disappear. So our next move is to wait for back up and search this town. Road blocks have been established so no one is getting in or out of Winchester without being searched.'