Counterfeit

-fortysix--

--fortysix-

CHARLESTON BREATHED TIREDLY. "The first fight is figuring out where to start."

"Start from us."

He seemed caught off guard, perhaps having not expected my knowledge of him to amount to the importance of why I was here. But I desired to know with certainty who he was before this tired and beaten Charleston found me. Like Patrick had mentioned, I hoped my memories of him were true: he was the most compassionate boy I had ever encountered.

Still, although I didn't understand it then, it barely even recognisable to me, Charleston almost seemed hurt by my request, as if there were parts to us that he didn't want to remember, and parts he hoped I hadn't forgotten.

"You tell me. Who are we?"

It was easy. "You're my best friend, Charles."

A moment.
Something...

"I'm your best friend." He whispered back under his breath. It felt as though he was figuring out if it was enough.

"What's the last thing you remember? The last time we were together?"

I didn't see his point. Further, I didn't want to repeat what he had told me. "You said not all of my friends are real. Charleston, I don't have amnesia."

"No, no." He cracked a smile, it disappearing quickly. "Before."

Ah, Before. So much of it didn't exist to me anymore. I thought back to what I could, trying to piece everything together in my head, unsure how everything seemed to fit.

Then, something came to mind. Almost instantly, I dismissed it. It couldn't be real.

Another memory. This one I knew was real. I could still feel it.

"It was my mother's funeral. You came to pick me up. You helped me survive that day."

He shook his head sadly, informing me that I was incorrect. I knew it as soon as I said it. I wondered how long it had been now since that memory - since I buried my mother. It felt like... Like days in my mind, but I feared it had been years.

The first thought came back to me - the one I had previously dismissed. I wouldn't say it.

"Was it the day we found out you were recruited? For the Army?"

Still a no. Why wouldn't he just tell me? It was obvious nothing made much sense...

But it came back again. This time, stronger, more determined. I could see it more clearly, as well. The words, his words, echoed like beats of a drum against my ear, leaving a lingering sensation on my skin. It couldn't be real. It was too unforgettable, wasn't it?

There was a letter: I think I wrote it. But what did it say? I didn't remember the words, but I remembered the feeling of them coming out of me; the trembling lips, the delayed breaths, the uncontrollable shake. Something very terrible was written in that letter. My letter.

Then there was a voice attached; they seemed to be two different events which somehow connected. The voice... I recognised it. I knew it. It was Charleston.

"You... You said..."

Charleston looked closely. Anticipating.

No, I told myself, no, it's not real. But I hoped with everything that it was.

"You told me you loved me."

After. After I had tasted the words - the sweet, glorious words, I knew they were true.

Do you know how it feels to be so sure over something like that?

It feels like magic; like you can feel the stars being painted upon your skin, and the entire universe sways inside your stomach as the sun burns in your chest and the moon in your ribs rises and falls to your breaths.

Everything, always, led back to him.

Charleston spoke. Metres felt like miles between us. I wanted to feel his warm breath as he talked, see the way his brown eyes danced around the details of my face. I moved closer.

"You remember me." He breathed out.

The relief on his face was overwhelming; peace looked so beautiful on him.

"I do. I promised. I remember." His arms were around me next.

Home.

It seemed I drowned in visions and echoes every time we touched. Fingertips as soft as sand, murmurs meeting my ears like tidal waves. Walls collapsed inside of me, light broke through, feelings returned.

I was lost and found in him all at once.

-fortysix--
04/12/2017

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Are you liking everything with Pip and Charleston?

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God bless.