Bondi Blues | Bondi Rescue

Part 15

[A/N: This is kind of a heavy chapter, so just have caution reading.]

I saw Troy and Deano outside, minding their distance from me but still letting me know that they were there. I was still in shock as I crossed the road and went back toward the beach. I couldn't see a thing, but I didn't care. I needed answers, and I needed them now.

"Liam?!" I asked into the phone, my voice shaking with rage. "Leigh, I've never been so happy to hear you-" I cut him off and growled, "Why didn't you call?! It's been almost a month, Liam! You could have called! I needed you and you weren't there!"

I glanced behind me and saw Deano and Troy had followed me across Campbell Parade and on to the beach. Liam's voice replied, "I know, I should have called earlier, Charlie... I'm sorry. I really am. I got whisked away with everything in Perth and a lot has happened since then... That's why I called."

I was fuming as I replied, "A lot has happened?! Have you been living under a rock?! I got attacked by a shark during a rescue! I was chosen as the ambassador for Australia for the FINA World Championships! I was put on full time as a fully-fledged lifeguard at Bondi!"

The next two words that he said made my breath hitch in my throat.

"It's mum."

I flushed and panicked as I frantically asked, "What happened?" Liam took a deep breath and explained, "Remember how mum told us when we were younger that she was sick?" My heart was beating a mile a minute as I replied, "Yeah... What's going on, Li?" His voice faltered as he replied, "It was brain cancer, Leigh... It's back."

Everything stopped as I tried to process this. Did she think that she was protecting us by not telling us what it really was? We knew that she needed annual checks with a neurologist, but we had no clue that it was for brain cancer. I must have looked absolutely devastated, because Deano had to hold Troy back from coming to comfort me.

"I'm not in Perth anymore, I flew back home about a week ago. I'll be staying in Byron with dad until everything is sorted, which the doctors are saying will be in about two weeks' time," Liam said solemnly. The tears pricked at my eyes as the sadness turned to frustration.

"How could you not tell me? Why did you wait this long?!" Liam had said that he saw that I was in the media because of the rescue and the shark attack, and he didn't want to stress me out more. I was done fighting with him and listening to his excuses. To say I was pissed was an understatement.

"I'll leave in a few days' time, Li. I'm coming home for mum, not to see you." Before I hung up, he added, "I know you're pissed at me, and I'll explain everything with time... Just don't let mum see you angry and mad. She doesn't want that."

With that final parting word, I hung the phone up. I placed it back in my pocket and sat in the sand, staring out into the waves. I felt the tears slip down my cheeks, and I screamed in frustration as I buried my head between my knees and began to cry.

Not even a minute later, I felt myself being embraced by a set of arms. I peeked up to see Troy hugging me tightly, and Deano was standing beside me supportively. I crumbled into Troy's arms and hugged him back, hanging on for dear life. I turned to Deano and wrapped my arms around him, and his embrace was familiar and warm. Once I calmed down a bit, both Troy and Deano asked me if I was okay.

"It's my mum... She had brain cancer when she was a kid, and it came back... The doctors are saying she has two more weeks..." Troy immediately embraced me, and I let myself be comforted by him as Deano's eyes widened and he said, "Oh my god... Charlie... I'm so sorry..." Troy was speechless, but his embrace spoke volumes. I wouldn't have been able to take that news without these two here with me.

*

Deano's POV

I knew that this was what Liam meant when he told Chappo and me to look out for Charlie. This was going to be a really tough time for her, and I realized that Liam had probably known that things were going south before he left and that he and his parents opted to keep Charlie in the dark. Her mum had looked so well when she was here to watch her compete... It's crazy how fast things can change.

I looked back at Troy and Charlie and gently asked, "Charlie, do you want us to take you home or do you want to hang with us back at Bucket List so that you aren't alone?" I saw her ponder the pros and cons of each choice, and she sighed, almost defeated, before she decided that she would come back with us to Bucket List with the rest of the guys.

I had no idea what had happened to Charlie and what she'd been through before we met her, but at that moment, I vowed that I would be there for her. In her time at Bondi, we'd become really close, and I could tell that she looked up to me. I could also tell that she was struggling.

*

Charlie's POV

A few days after I found out the news, I told Jaime, my coach, as well as the other boys at Bondi that I'd be heading back to Byron Bay to be with my family through this. I knew that seeing Liam would put me off, but like he said, we had to save it for later or get it taken care of, for mum's sake.

The hour-long flight and the hour long drive to Byron was probably the most emotionally stressful two hours or so of my life. When I finally arrived at the town that I had called home for so long, I saw that not a lot had changed. I made my way toward my childhood house and saw Liam and my dad standing outside, their eyes red and puffy. I immediately pulled in the driveway and got out of my car, and they stood in front of me speechlessly.

"I'm so sorry, Char..." My dad began, and my eyes widened as I realized what was happening. "Where..." I whispered as I fought from screaming and crying. My dad's eyes flashed inside toward his bedroom, and I braced myself as I entered the house and headed for the room, both boys knowing full well what would happen if they followed me.

As I entered the room, I saw the lifeless figure of my mum laying peacefully in her bed. The tears began to fall down my face as I held her hand in mine and wept. I hadn't gotten to say one last goodbye. I hadn't gotten to see her. I hadn't gotten to thank her for everything she'd done for me and for supporting my dreams of becoming an Olympic diver.

And now she wouldn't be here with me to see it.

After I became numb to the tears and to the emotions I was feeling, I saw a letter with my name on it with my mother's handwriting. I realized that this letter contained some of her last words to me, and as I put the pieces together, I asked myself if my family really cared about me.

They knew all of this was happening, and they didn't tell me until it was too late.

I had learned from a medical note that she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, or a brain tumor with a very small survival rate. With her age and her history of having had a brain tumor before, it was only a matter of time. She had undergone surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, but none of it worked the second time around. 

I walked out of the room with my letter in hand, and I glared at my brother and my dad as I asked, "What's this?" My dad, still teary-eyed, replied, "It's your mother's last words to you... She wrote them a few days ago before everything went south for good... I'm so sorry. Char-" I snapped back and replied, "Save it. I'm done here. I came home for her, and only her. I can't be around a family that chooses to ignore me and keep me in the dark about something as serious as this. Because of you and your ignorance, I couldn't even say goodbye to her."

I walked back to my car silently, and neither my father nor Liam tried to stop me. They knew that the damage they had just caused me would take years to even come close to repairing. As I made my way out of the small town that I had grown up to love and thought I would always call home, I realized that my true home where I was meant to be was Bondi.