Garage

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Lightning never strikes twice in one place.

"Anna, dinner's ready." My mother practically whispered to me. I sighed. Things weren't getting better with her. I nodded and followed her into the kitchen. Joel was sitting down in his regular spot and Mum sat beside him. I sat at the end of the table and slowly ate the pizza. I left two slices for Charlie. I ate extra slowly so my mother and Joel would leave the table and I would have a chance to take the slices to the garage. 

As my brother and Mum entered the living room, I told my mother I was just going for a jog. I opened up the garage, trying to make as little noise as possible. I was about to pass the food through until I realised he wasn't there. For a moment I thought he had left, but his rucksack was still laying on the floor half open. I sighed. The first potential friend and the police have probably took him. 

As I was about to place the food in the garbage and go off on my jog, I heard rustling coming from behind the garage. I furrowed my eyebrows and tried to listen in. The rustling had stopped but I could hear quiet curses coming from out back. I quietly tip-toed to where the sound was coming from and saw Charlie going through my trash. 

"Erm, why are you looting through the garbage?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He turned around, startled by the sudden sound.

"I'm starving. It's 9 o'clock, I thought you had forgotten about me, so I decided to try and help myself." He replied, looking down.

"Sorry, my family tends to eat dinner quite late. I brought you a few slices of pizza." I said, gesturing to the plate.

"Thank you so much! You have no idea how hungry I am." He said, grabbing the plate out of my hand and stuffing the pizza into his mouth. 

I chuckled. "I have a pretty good idea." I replied, watching as the tomato puree smeared all over his lips.

After he finished eating, he wiped his mouth and handed me back the plate. Lots of questions were roaming around in my head. Who was he? Why did he want to get out of jail so badly? How did he get out of jail? Who did he murder? Why did he murder them?

"Can I ask you something?" 

"No." He replied bluntly.

"Well, I'm going to anyway. Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" He asked, looking annoyed.

"You know... Murder someone."

"How about you keep your nose out of my business. Like you said, I'm going to be here one week and then I'm leaving. Trust me, you don't want to be friends with me. And I don't want to be friends with you. I'm in your garage, not your life." 

I didn't press on further. I just sighed and left, closing the garage on my way out. As I closed it, a thought came to my mind. How did Charlie open the garage from the inside? I was about to bang on the door when my mum came out from the house.

"Oh, hi, Honey. I thought you went jogging?" She said quietly, looking confused.

"I did, but it got a bit cold so I came back." I said, making up a lie quickly.

"Oh. Okay, well-" She didn't finish her sentence. She just looked around, lost in her own thoughts. Before I could ask her if she was okay, she went inside and left me in the cold, with lots of questions in my head. Questions about Charlie, questions about mum, everything. 

I shook all the thoughts off and made my way into the house. Joel was sitting on the sofa, playing XBOX and I presume my mum was upstairs sleeping. 

"Is Mum okay?" I asked Joel.

"She's just tired. Anna, you need to stop worrying." He replied, looking at me with compassion in his eyes.

"You know I can't do that. Ever since... You know... She's not been herself. It's like we have to look after her."

"Look, you're still her daughter, and she's still our mum. Nothing's going to happen to her. I think you just need to go to sleep, try not to worry about anything tonight, okay?" By this point, Joel had turned off his XBOX and all his attention was directed towards me.

I nodded slowly. He was right. I went upstairs and tried my hardest to go to sleep.

As much as I tried, my thoughts were not letting me get any rest. I was so wrapped up in my own world that I hadn't realised it had gone 3 A.M. I sighed, turning onto my back and wiping my forehead of the sweat that had dripped down. Why am I so worried? What am I even worried about? Jesus christ, I need to get some sleep. Future me can deal with all this bull crap. 

-x-X-x-

I don't feel the need to tell you about the next day, it was a bore, just like any other day. It started with me handing Charlie his food, bearing through school, handind Charlie lunch and dinner, and then off to bed. Charlie and I were officially on speaking terms. I'd tell him how my day was, and he'd tell me how his was. We weren't friends, but I guess we were acquaintances at least. 

"So, what's it like living in a garage?" I asked.

"Pretty fun, I get a girl to bring me food every day. What's not to like?" He replied, grinning.

"Oh ha-ha." I replied, sarcastically but trying to stifle a giggle.

"Anna?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you letting me stay here?" 

I shrugged, I didn't really know either. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Although, I don't see how living in a cell is much different to this, you can't go out here, and you can't go out whilst you're in jail. Unless you're on parol which isn't exactly fun." 

"The beds are horrible, plus I shared a cell with this guy who I don't think has ever had a shower in his life." 

I laughed at his remark. "So, Charlie... What are your family like?"

He looked lost for words. He kept opening his mouth but nothing came out. 

"Well, my mum died when I was 5, I don't remember her too much. My dad couldn't deal with looking after a kid all on his own so he shipped me off to my Grandmothers. She was lovely and kind but she had dementia. She didn't understand what I was saying half the time. I had to do quite a lot for her. She always forgot things, she was quiet and didn't speak much, well, she barely spoke at all."

That sounded much too familiar. In fact, it sounded exactly like my mum. "I'm sorry for bringing it up." 

"It's fine." 

"What about your friends?"

"I didn't have many. There was this one guy, Alex, but he died last year." Sorrow filled his eyes as he said that sentence.

"I'm-"

"Don't worry. Look, I've already told you way too much. I'm tired, can you give me some peace?" 

I was taken aback by his sudden outburst, but soon realised I had pushed too much and should probably take his advice and leave him alone. I stood up and left, without saying a word. I closed the garage and went back up to my room. I wish there was someone I could text or call. But there wasn't. Charlie seemed to deal with his loneliness quite well. But I just couldn't.