L'amour (e.c)

twenty five; carrie white

Or maybe it was because somewhere deep down, she still loved him.

Of course she still loved him. They used to be so close, she couldn't forget the nights he had spent reading her fairytales while her mum worked a shift, or when he taught her how to dive at the local swimming pool. It was the simple things, the things everyone else takes for granted because it's just normal. The things she took for granted before.

He'd caused so much heartbreak. But did that really mean she could stand by and let a father die?

It was an easy answer for Charlotte.

A quick google search showed the way to St Josephs, a Catholic school. It didn't seem like it would be hard to find, once out of the hotel it was just down the road. The hard part would be sneaking past Alice and Jasper.

Or so she thought.

It turned out to be a lot less challenging than she thought it would be. The couple weren't even in the lobby when she had walked through, maybe they'd just popped out to do some shopping, but if that was the case Charlotte hoped they would have at least invited her. She had a passion for fashion and wouldn't mind being a third wheel.

The walk gave Charlotte a lot to think about, she kind of felt bad for leaving and not telling anyone where she was going. After all they were all trying to protect her. However, something didn't sit right in Charlotte's stomach, why had Edward picked Sacramento of all places? It wasn't exactly warm, but it was still sunny, which was an obvious problem. Surely there was a better place to pick, somewhere cloudy, and without her father. It all just seemed too much of a coincidence that Edward would randomly pick Sacramento, and then her father just happens to be living here. So maybe Charlotte hadn't told anyone where she was going because she didn't quite trust them right now.

On an another note, Charlotte also wondered if this was her karma for how she'd treated others, for how she'd just been so cruel to her mother. A few tears slipped from her eyes at the recognition that the last conversation she had with her mother was a horrible one.

It was best the tears fell now than in front of James. She wanted to look death in the face and smile, show him that he couldn't break her. She wanted to die with the same attitude she'd always had.

Charlotte stared at the school for a few minutes once she arrived. She wished James had chosen a more aesthetically pleasing location, sure it was cute with the sandstone walls, but she would never choose to die here. Unfortunately the place was big too, and Charlotte hadn't always been the best detective so she just hoped her dad was shouting loud enough to find him.

Charlotte pushed open the front doors, feeling the cold air hit her exposed arms causing bumps to rise on her skin. She walked through the halls, looking in each of the classrooms, glancing at all of the drawings decorating the wall.

She didn't pay much attention to the artwork, until she came across one with a picture of two boys, the names 'Oliver and Noah Smith' printed underneath them. She knew Smith was a popular second name, but she could tell these two were her brothers. They looked exactly like her dad used to. The spitting image of him, apart from one had blonde hair while the other had the same brown her dad did- he must of gotten that from their mother. Charlotte however shared no physical features with either of them, except from the dark brown eyes.

While Charlotte didn't want to die, she knew she was doing the right thing. The boys needed a dad, even if it did fill her completely with envy. She would never take that away from them, she couldn't force them to live the life she did.