Criticism spot! :)
Crutchie's POV
"What?" Jack asked in disbelief, seeming just as shocked as I was.
"It's from my Mom," I repeated, looking back down at the letter and starting to read it.
Dear Charlie,
I'm sure this letter is quite a shock to you. I hope that you don't resent me, your Mother, for anything that has happened. I found out how to reach you from the Young Boys Refuge, as they had contacted me about taking you in. I'm upset that you got yourself into trouble and ended up there, but I suppose I shouldn't be too mad, as I should've been there to stop you. Anyways, I've wanted to reach out to you for quite some time. I will be in New York this Thursday, which should be the day you receive this. I'm here for business, so I will be busy during the day, but I plan to stop by the "lodging house" at around 10 o'clock at night to see you. I hope that you'll meet me there so we can reconnect. I've missed you.
Love,
Mom.
I stared at the letter for a moment, in total shock about what I had just read. I had allowed Jack to read the letter along with me, and he stayed quiet for a moment once he finished reading, seeming to be at a loss for words.
"Is she fucking serious?" He suddenly spat, causing me to look at him. "I'm going to send everyone out and then we'll talk about this, hold on."
Jack stood on the wagon and did as he said, and I took the time to read the letter a second time. Once he had finished he came back over to me, and we left the square to the nearest alley, wanting privacy.
"Are you gonna see her?" He asked, and I sat for a moment, thinking.
"I... I think so..?" I got out, looking at him.
"You don't owe her anything, Crutch. If you don't want to see her then I will do absolutely everything in my power to keep her away from here." He said firmly, but I shook my head.
"I think I should see her," I said, clearly surprising him a bit. "I want to tell her how... Pissed off I am," I began, gripping my crutch tightly. "I don't know what I'll do if I panic, though."
"How about if you panic, you just look to me and I'll step in?" Jack offered, and I smiled a little.
"That'd be great." I said, sighing. "It's real nice of her to let me know she's visiting the day of," I joked, relieving a bit of tension.
"I was thinking the same thing," Jack said, and we took off for him to sell.
Jack had brought my journal for me again, which really helped since I got to write all about my frustrations and fears about seeing her. Jack kept checking on me now and then, likely not being able to tell quite how I was feeling, and to be fair, I wasn't even sure how I felt. Once he had finished he helped me up from the ground, not pushing me to talk in case I wasn't ready to. I could tell he was nervous about it as well, but I knew he wouldn't admit it, as he didn't want to stress me out.
"Race said we could play cards tonight, would that help you get your mind off things?" He offered, and I nodded, trying to smile. "Alright, we'll head right there." He ruffled my hair and we kept walking, not saying anything further.
We sat down at the table and still didn't talk, as I was getting more and more nervous with every single second that went by. I was picking at my nails, something I always did when nervous about confrontation, completely ignoring my surroundings. It was only when Race walked in that I was brought back, realizing Jack had been looking at me.
"Romeo won't be here tonight, so it's just us three," he said with a smile, sitting down at the table.
"That's alright," Jack said, smiling back at Race. He looked to me and saw how badly I was picking at my nails, making him take my right hand in his.
"Sorry," I mumbled, looking down.
"It's okay, I just don't want you hurtin' yourself." He said, and Race remained quiet, not wanting to intrude.
We played for a while and I was able to relax just a little, until I looked to the clock and saw it was fifteen to ten. I began picking at my nails again, starting to lose interest in everything that was going on around me.
"You okay, Crutchie?" Race asked, making Jack look at me.
"Uh," was all I got out, staring at my hands.
"What's wrong?" He pushed, setting his cards down. I stayed quiet, hoping that Jack would understand that I wanted him to answer for me.
"His Mom his coming to see him," he read my mind as usual, and I dug into my pocket to take out the letter. I handed it across the table to Race, picking at my nails harder. "Hey," Jack said, taking my hand in his again.
"Is she serious?" Race said as he finished the letter, setting it down. "Are you going to see her?" I nodded slowly, looking up at Race. "Is that... Is that a good idea?" Jack let go of my hand, taking the letter and reading it over again. "I don't know if you should."
"I want to," I got out, glancing at the clock.
"This could... really mess with your head, though," Race warned, and Jack nodded, not having thought of it before. "Tell us how you're feeling so we can understand," he asked, and I sighed.
"I'm really nervous," I began, looking down again. "I don't know what I'll say." I took a shaky breath, drawing blood around one of my nails, as I had started picking at them a third time at some point.
"What if we were there to back you up?" He suggested, making me look at him.
"You'd want to do that?" I asked, seeing that we were growing close to ten o'clock.
"Of course," he smiled, looking at Jack. Jack then looked to me, noticing I had once again been picking, seeing the tiny bit of blood I had drawn. He quickly took my hand and locked our fingers together, not saying anything.
"Sorry," I said quietly, embarrassed.
"There's nothin' to say sorry for. You're nervous, and that's okay." He began to rub his thumb on the back of my hand, helping me to calm down.
"We should..." I trailed off, needing to take one more deep breath. "We should go out there."
"If you need us to step in, just look at me and I'll know, okay?" I nodded, and Jack let go of my hand. We all stood up and went for the door, my heart pounding.
Rather than picking at my nails, I picked at the handle of my crutch, needing to do something to mildly occupy my mind. I was terrified about what could happen, not knowing how I'd react to seeing her. Jack rested his hand on mine so I'd stop clawing at my crutch, not wanting me to accidentally hurt myself. Finally, we heard footsteps getting near, only making me more nervous.
"We're right here," Jack reassured me, smiling. I nodded and faced back to where the footsteps were coming from, my Mom turning the corner moments later. She looked just as I remembered her, except I was now taller than her and her hair was greying. She smiled at me, but I didn't do the same back.
"Oh, Charlie," she said, pulling me in to a tight hug. Part of me wanted to hug her back, but the other, more louder part of me insisted I stay put. She let go of me, looking me up and down. "My poor baby," she added, and I felt sick as she said what Jack always called me when he knew I really, really needed him. "How are you?"
"I'm-"
"My goodness, your voice!" She cut me off, smiling.
"Yeah, that happens when you grow up," I said, surprising Jack and Race with how cold I sounded.
"I know, I'm sorry I interrupted. How are you?" She repeated, still smiling at me.
"I'm fine," was all I said back, my heart pounding.
"What happened to your leg?" She asked, motioning to my right foot.
"Uh, I can't use it," I answered bluntly, gripping the handle of my crutch tight with anger.
"Your father did that, didn't he?" I nodded, wanting to scream at her. "My poor baby..." She repeated, only making me angrier.
"Don't call me that," I suddenly said, catching her off guard.
"Why?"
"There is only one person that can call me that, and it sure as hell isn't you." I glanced at Jack for a moment, getting some more confidence as he smiled at me with support.
"Who..?" She asked, confused.
"My boyfriend." I gestured to Jack, causing her to look at him.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, I haven't even said anything to your friends," she began, pissing me off further.
"My friend and my boyfriend." I corrected, embarrassing her.
"Yes, sorry," she looked between the two, smiling. "I'm Mary."
"This is Race and Jack. Two people that actually give a damn." I spat back, catching her off guard a second time.
"Charlie, I want to fix things," she tried, no longer paying attention to the other two.
"You can't ever fix what happened." I said, wanting to run far away from what was happening.
"I care about you so much-"
"No you fucking don't," I rose my voice a bit, surprising Jack and Race as I cussed.
"I really do, Charlie-"
"Then why did you leave me behind?" I finally asked, making her go quiet.
"I... I wasn't thinking," she began, her voice shaking.
"You didn't think that maybe you leaving might make things so much worse for me?" She tensed up, staring back at me. "I don't think you get how bad it was."
"I do get it, I was there." She said coldly, pissing me off more than I had ever been in my life.
"No, you weren't. You left." She stayed still, seeming to be angry rather than hurt.
"If you really think you had it so bad, Charlie, why don't you tell me what happened?" She asked, and I couldn't help but chuckle in disbelief.
"You want to know what happened? Alright, I'll tell you the story of my life once you left." I knew that some of what I was about to say would be new information to Jack and Race, however I didn't care, as I knew I couldn't hold back. "When you got home that night, he broke my leg because of how pissed he was, and since he never let it heal I can't use it for the rest of my life. He got rid of everything I owned, and gave me a flat piece of cardboard to lay on. That's when he started to tell me that he didn't even want kids, and only had me so you'd be happy." I said, feeling Jack and Race exchange looks since they hadn't heard that before. "He told me about how when I as a baby, he'd stand over my crib and think about suffocating me. He said the only reason he didn't kill me when I was a toddler was because you were there. He'd have fucking fantasies about snapping my neck, slitting my throat, drowning me, suffocating me," Jack covered his mouth, trying his best to hold back tears. "He told me that when I was seven. I was fucking seven, Mom! He'd beat me every single fucking day and scream at me, saying I'm a waste of life and should kill myself. I ran away when I was twelve, trying desperately to survive on the streets with a fucked up leg-"
"You had a crutch." She suddenly said, crossing her arms.
"No, I didn't. I had to force myself to limp for years, which only made my foot worse. A group of boys would track me down nearly every day and take any money I had. I was nearly fucking dead when Jack found me," I had started crying at some point, my breathing heavy. "He helped me heal, and I eventually got taken in by the refuge- which, by the way, I didn't do anything. They took me in because I was an easy fucking target." Jack moved closer to me, waiting for me to signal him to jump in at any second. I knew I'd need to soon, but I wanted to keep telling her what happened myself. "That's when they contacted you, and you denied taking me in, even though you knew damn well that they'd send me to his house."
"Charlie, how could I possibly know that," she said, her voice breaking.
"Who the fuck else would they send me to?!" I yelled, crying even harder. "I would still be there right now if it wasn't for these two. You didn't do anything to help me, ever. You fucking left me. You left me to fight for myself when I was seven." I finally finished, my face hot with anger.
"Charlie..." She began, when I suddenly remembered something that my Dad had said to me, and I had wanted to ask her for years.
"I've got a question for you," I quickly jumped in before she could continue, getting even louder. "Is it true you said I was a disappointment?" I asked, and all she could do was stare at me. "Is it?" I pushed, almost unable to see through my tears.
"Y-yes," she admitted, glancing at Race and Jack for a moment.
"I knew it," I sobbed, taking a deep breath.
"Charlie, I didn't mean it. I was scared your Father would hurt me if I didn't agree." She started, looking down briefly. "I think it's time for you to put all that stuff behind you and move on with your life. I have, and it's done me wonders." I remained quiet for a moment, in shock.
"Are you serious?" Was all I could say back, and I at last looked to Jack, knowing I looked absolutely destroyed. He understood, nodding a little before looking back to my Mom.
"You should feel like shit." He said bluntly, surprising my Mom.
"That's how you talk to your boyfriend's Mother?"
"No, but that's how I speak to disgusting, disgraceful people. You're a horrible person, and you'll have to go the rest of your life living with what you caused." He looked at me again, able to tell that all I wanted was for him to hold me. "Get the fuck out of here," he said to her, and she left without further hesitation. Jack pulled me in against his chest, and I watched as she walked away. She turned to look at me one more time, seeming as though she might say something. She didn't, leaving for good.
We stayed there for a while as I sobbed, and I wasn't improving. Race had left at some point, giving the two of us some space. Jack let go and backed up so he could see my face, brushing my hair aside.
"You're alright," he said, smiling sympathetically.
"I remember her being so much different," my voice was still shaking, and I wiped my face dry.
"I know, but at least you got to tell her how you felt, right?" I nodded, finally beginning to calm down. "Let's go home and you can lay down," I nodded a second time, following Jack back to the penthouse.
I kept quiet as we laid there, my eyes feeling heavy and my chest tight. Jack pushed my hair back once again, kissing me on the forehead.
"Do you want to talk?"
"No," I answered quickly, looking down. "I just... I want to sleep. We can talk tomorrow." Jack nodded, pulling me in against him.
"Okay, we'll talk in the morning. Get some sleep." I closed my eyes, feeling a little bit relaxed. "I love you," Jack whispered, helping me to calm down nearly all the way.
"I love you too."
(word count - 2660)