A thousand bad times - Post Malone

Seventeen

Holi rolls her eyes then folds her arms and huffs, "just get on with it!" She says. Chuck puts the paper down on the counter and Holi can see now that it's a photograph, a photograph of a football player. Chuck takes his long spider-like fingers and slides the picture across revealing another photo of a kid Holi remembers was killed a few years back she thinks he had only been 13 when he died.

"I don't have time for your pathetic games, Chuck," Holi says and turns to leave but Chuck shoots his hand out and curves his fingers around her nape a little too tightly, and pulls her back, making her look at the pictures, "now, Holi...don't be rude. I brought you something. I will be quick and then you can be on your way," he says and points to the football player, "do you know who that is?" he asks, Holi shakes her head. She has no idea who he is.

"No...no you wouldn't would you? It's a real shame, such a sad story. He was up and coming on the football scene...so much potential. I think I read once that he was thought to go down in history as one of the best kickers of all time. Nice kid too, so polite and kind...he did lots of charity work. Some may even call him a Saint," Chuck hisses the 's' in saint. Only he could make the word sound bad, "but he had a sister...she was on meth...nasty stuff that. You see Holi her addiction became so bad that she used more meth than she could afford. So I visited her brother and he kindly settled her bill. But she kept on using and then one day he just stopped paying her bill," he turns Holi to face him then pulls back his hand and punches her hard in her stomach. He knocks all the wind out of her and she slumps to the ground on her hands and knees gasping in pain. Chuck goes on his haunches next to her and pats her back.

"Now, that's exactly what I felt. Here I was offering a service to his sister and him refusing to pay me was like a punch to the fucking gut. But I am an optimist so I visited him again...had a little chat, gave him a warning. But do you think he listened to me? No. So I paid one of his teammates to fix my little problem...smashed his knee up pretty badly," he says shaking his head. He grabs Holi's arm and yanks her up. She is still in pain and leans over the counter. Her eyes dart to the picture of the footballer, her blood running cold when she realizes what Chuck is doing.

"Last I heard his sister died and he could never play again, his injury was too bad. His football career was over in a blink of an eye...it's a real shame. Never had to be that way."

Chuck then points at the photograph of the kid, "remember him?" he asks. Holi nods, she does remember him. He had been a sweet kid with a bright smile and a love for skateboarding. Holi remembers him once sharing a bag of candy with Mac. Chuck leans in close and whispers so quietly in her ear she almost did not catch it, "I killed him."

Holi reals back at Chuck's words. The boy's mother and been devastated at his death...it had ruined her. Chuck is a monster, the world would be a better place if he were not in it. But here he stands before Holi with a smirk on his face, enjoying the fear that he is instilling in her, "his mother was pissing me off...much like you have been doing. She needed to learn a lesson," he says picking up the photograph and stroking it like he cared about the boy, "I think she learned her lesson... the question now though is - do you need such a lesson?" Chuck asks.

Holi feels sick, she breaks away and throws up in the toilet. Chuck may not be able to hurt her directly anymore but he has made it clear...Austin and Mac will be his targets if she does not give in to him. She wants to run off and find Austin, he will protect her. He has been amazing and she keeps saying that she owes him so much...protected her so much. But now he is the one who needs protection. She has to protect him. Protect Mac.

She knows that Austin will take Mac and Bell even if she is not around. The three of them will be happy together. He will give them everything their little hearts desire and maybe once in a while she could sneak around and check in on them from a distance. She could never live with herself if she ruined Austin's football career and she can't even think about what life would be like if Chuck so much as touched Mac.