Let me take care of you

Moving on?

"No matter what I will always be there, watching you, and just when you have your life figured out, I'll come for you. These bars won't stop me, I'll finish what I started." Ben grinned, his eyes a deep black nothingness that burned through Charlie's skull. He shook his head,
"You won't get me, I have people who'll protect me." Charlie said, stepping away from Ben.
"And how many people do you have to sacrifice before realising that there's nothing you can do to save yourself?"

Charlie woke up, his body lurching forwards, sweat dripping off of his forehead.

He said there in the same spot for a moment, frozen, his eyes wide and his breathing unsteady. And then tears slowly started falling down from his cheeks, and he buried his head into his legs, wrapping his arms around himself. He quietly cried, trying to even out his breath.

Tori's room is right next to Charlie's, she decided sleep was not an option anymore and spent her final hours of the night reading, her ears aware of all of the little noises around her. She instantly heard the quick movements and soft crying of her brother in the room next to her. He had another nightmare. She had to tell someone, she tried comforting him but felt like there wasn't anything she could do to help. She sighed and looked back down at her book. There was nothing she could do right now. But in the morning she would tell someone, she wanted to tell Nick, but felt that someone could help him better. She covered her ears, trying not to hear the sound. In the morning. In the morning she could help.

The morning came and went and Charlie quietly say and ate his breakfast, smiling and nodding when his family members spoke to him. Ever since everything that has gone on, Charlie's spoken less and less with his family, excluding Tori, of course.

Tori looked at him before standing up and grabbing her phone, going upstairs and making a call. She kept her voice down making sure no one downstairs would hear her,
"Hello, Ms Hadley? Yes, it's Tori, I'd like to book an earlier appointment than usual for my younger brother."

-

Next thing Charlie new Tori came downstairs and told him that Ms Hadley had just called and book him for an early appointment for tomorrow. Charlie was confused and Tori just said that she didn't get any context as to why. Before going in the living room with her bowl of cereal and turning on the TV.

Charlie sighed, great, extra therapy.

It wasn't that he didn't like Ms Hadley, well, not really. He thought she was nice and kind to him but other than that the only thing she would try to do was get him to relive his worst day, and he hated that. Fortunately, because of all of the court things that has been going on, most of his therapy sessions had been postponed because of the trials. Maybe now that things are moving on again they can talk about something else, or he can just stop seeing her now. She had been a great help, he has to admit, but he didn't want a therapist, no matter how nice.

But, the choice wasn't his, his parents wanted him to have therapy, and he couldn't get Nick to back him up on the fact that he didn't need it. So he just had to keep doing it until they decided he was 'better', whatever that means.

Charlie finished his cereal and joined Tori in the living room, a comfortable silence floating around them, Tori keeping her eyes fixed on the TV, hair falling Infront of her so that Charlie couldn't see her expression.

-

And just like that, he was being driven to the therapist again, and then he would go home, and then he would hang out with his friends, or Nick, usually at his house, or theirs. And then he'd way with his family, and chill, and the cycle repeats. He was feeling the endless loop stressing him out and he just wanted a change of pace, but no, once again, back to the large mental health building, with its large dark windows and plain white painted walls. The place sort of looked like an asylum, Charlie never liked the design.

They parked and went into the building, his mother giving him a quick kiss on the check before she quickly walked off, looking like she didn't want to be in there anymore than he did.

He sighed and walked through the door Infront of him, Ms Hadley was already sitting in her seat, her clipboard resting on her lap, posture straight and a soft smile on her lips.
"Hello Charlie! Always a pleasure to see you." Ms Hadley said, as if he had a choice to be here,
"Afternoon Ms Hadley..." Charlie said quietly, sitting down and placing his crutches to the side, soon, he thought, he wouldn't need them anymore.

Ms Hadley stared at him for a moment before Charlie spoke,
"Why did you call an emergency session, can I ask?" Charlie said politely. Ms Hadley stared at him in confusing for a moment before responding,
"Oh! I didn't ask for the session, your family member did, Victoria I think her name is. Lovely girl, said she was worried about you. Didn't mention much though, she wasn't very chatty, she just said I should have a talk with you about something." Ms Hadley explained. Of course it was Tori, he hadn't even thought about the fact that it could be her. She has probably heard him in the night, she was the lightest sleeper he knew, he should've thought about that.

"Er, okay, what's that?" Charlie asked, almost worried,
"Moving on." Ms Hadley replied, her eyes focused on Charlie, ready to note any changes in expression or hesitancy in his sentences.

Charlie's eyebrows shot up,
"Moving on? Moving on from what? I have moved on, I'm getting off the crutches soon, I'll be a normal teenager again, I can focus on my studies. There is no moving on left for me to do." Charlie said, adamant. Ms Hadley shook her head,
"Moving on isn't just forgetting about the event, that's bad for you. You need to healthily express what your feeling and come to terms with the fact that it happened and there is nothing you can do about it. You need to confront your conflicting emotions."

Charlie wanted to roll his eyes at her, conflicting emotions, he had gotten over it, what could they all not understand about that?

Suddenly, Ms Hadley stood up,
"To deal with this, you need to fully confront your feelings, your anger, your sadness, your fear. And only then can you move on, now come on, we are going to do that." She said, standing him up.

Charlie gave her a confused look, what are they going to do? Still, he had no choice but to follow her down the hall, down the elevator and out the door, to her car, which he was hesitant about getting into,
"Charlie, I'm your therapist, I'm not going to kidnap you." She said, chuckling softly, whole getting into her car and turning the engine on.

Charlie just silently nodded and got in, still confused.

She drove away from the mental health building, turning the radio on to fill in the awkward silence that no one was planning on filling themselves. Charlie didn't know where they were going or why, and how it was going to help. But he just had to 'trust' her.

His eyes widened when he saw the prison, the same prison they locked Ben in, a large brown building made out of bricks, high walls incasing it and not a single dot of colour in the place. She wasn't, no, she wouldn't, she couldn't. But she drove into the prison and Charlie heart dropped. His breathing became faster and he looked at Ms Hadley desperately. She gave him a sympathetic look,
"I promise, he's not going to do anything, all I want you to do is speak to him through the phone, tell him how you feel." She said calmly, trying to add a comforting tone to her voice.

No, Charlie didn't want to do this, he didn't want to see Ben ever again, let alone speak to him, the only thing separating them was a pane of glass. Why would he ever do that?

Still, Ms Hadley was determined. She parked the car and took Charlie out, walking into the prison. Charlie squirmed, no, he couldn't, he couldn't do this.

Charlie pleaded for them to go back, talk about this, Ms Hadley just shook her head,
"I believe in you Charlie, please." Charlie gave her one more desperate look before sighing, and ever so slightly nodding. Ms Hadley smiled at him,
"See, you're already taking the first few steps to moving on, I'm proud of you." Charlie smiled back, a small quick smile, because he wasn't proud of him self, he hadn't even done anything yet, and he was not ready to speak to Ben, not even be near his vicinity. Okay, just a quick five minutes, then he could leave. It'll be fine. Hopefully

(Sorry, gonna have to cliff hanger this, it's really late and this chapter is longer than usual so yeah. Hope you're still enjoying this. Because it is 11:03 and I am one with my phone rn. Love you guys! Have a good day/night because we all now you wattpad readers hate your sleep! I hate it to! Love you! Byee💖💖)