Shifting the two bags of take away into one hand whilst using the other to open the apartment door, I make my way inside the hallways. I slide my shoes off and settle the food onto the side table as I take my coat off and hang it. "Charles, I got us Indian instead-Turkish were closed."
I yelled out as I pick the plastic bags again, my foot presses into glass. I gasp and glance down to see shattered pieces of my blue vase all over the ground. My eyes widen, I drop the food instantly and rush into the living room.
The entire thing was trashed, everything from the plates, bowls and glasses to the wine bottles and vodka. "Charlie!" I shout her name as I rush into the bedroom, which, was also torn apart. My iPad was on the floor, the screen smashed.
And I did not even need to think twice.
She knows.
Fuck.
My fingers rush through my hair as I circle around the room, I immediately slide my phone out and phone Jake. He does not answer the first time, so i call him again.
"What do you want?"
"She knows. Charlie knows." I hear Jake shuffling through the phone.
"How!"
"She went through our messages." Jake whispers swear words, I rush to the front to grab my keys from the counter-only to notice it is missing. "She's drunk." The open bottles of whiskey. "She took my car too!"
She's drunk driving.
This could ruin her.
Ruin her career and life.
I end the phone on his face and grab my second pair of keys before dashing out of the apartment. My legs just took over and I ran, knowing that Charlie is not in the right mind to be driving right now. And anything could happen.
I decide on not taking the elevators and instead, ran down the stairs of the block.
I reach the garage, pushing my pin in before the doors open.
I open the door and slide inside my car as I exit the garage.
I drive in the direction of her father's grave, thankfully the roads were empty because of the late time. I reach the bridge, only a couple of minutes away from the grave until i see my car parked in the middle of the lane. The door open, the lights on. I push my foot on the brake and see Charlie sitting on the edge with her feet hanging above the sea.
I exit my car without even thinking and rush to her.
"Charlie!"
I yell her name.
A bottle of vodka sat beside her as she stares out into the open.
Bright lights come into view, and I knew that it was Jake.
He also stops the car and exits like a mad man, but I raise my hand for him to stop.
"Four years of my life, you both lied to my face."
She speaks.
My hearing aids begin to damage because of the rain, and every sound became fuzzy or somewhat glitchy. "I blamed myself-day-not-fault." I glance at Jake and point to my hearing aid-he understands that I am not able to hear a thing she says.
But she turns around for some reason and looks me right in the eyes.
Not Jake.
She barely even acknowledged him.
She looks at me.
Mascara drips down her cheeks, her eyes were red-and she looked so emotionless. Her hair was soaked into her skin, her lashes were crumpled, and her lipstick is smudged. I wanted to reach out and push her into a hug, knowing that she has not gotten into an accident or hurt herself in any way.
But she doesn't want that.
'I'm sorry' I sign to her.
She looks so defeated.
All she did was nod.
She did not say a thing.
She did not even shout, slap or beat us.
She just walked away.
So why did it hurt? Why did her just walking hurt?
Her hair was drenched-my shirt clung to her body and I watch as she just walks past us both. Jakes mouth was moving but I could not catch onto a single thing, my heart just cracked with every step she took because I knew-I knew that her nod meant everything we had was over.
Every moment we shared, every interaction we had- gone.
And all with one nod.
She brushes past me; I grab onto her arm gently.
"Please don't." I whisper.
She closes her eyes and yanks her arm out of my grip.
Jake pleads for her to wait and listen, but she just walks away, gets into the car and drives. Jake rushes to his-my legs got the best of me and I just ran after her.
With everything in me, I chased a car.
I never saw this day.
I never thought I would love Jakes little sister.
And here I am-running after a car-begging her to just stop.
I rip my hearing aids and throw them to the ground, but eventually I got tired and sunk to my knees. With my fingers buried deep into my hair, Jake comes behind me and touches my shoulder, but I push him away roughly.
And it took over me, I punched him right in the face-over and over again.
'What the fuck!' I read his lips.
"I told you to tell her, I told you over and over again! You said you would!" I knew for a fact I was yelling by the beating of my heart.
'I was going to until i found out you were fucking my sister!'
"Get over it! Stop acting like some fucking kid whose toy got taken,"
'She is my fucking sister; she is ten years younger than you!'
"She is twenty-one years old; she has a mind of her own. But you know what Jake, I had enough of you. You are nothing but a fucking manipulator and gaslighted who thinks the world revolves around them, wake up, it doesn't!"
'Let's not act like heroes, if you loved her-you would have told her and stopped her from traumatising herself.'
My eyes widen at the words coming out of his mouth, "and you let her-you let her take the blame for everything, you let her own mother hate her because of your mistake. I should have told her, but it was not my secret to tell, it was yours."
ᾭᾭᾭ
TWO WEEKS LATER
Nothing.
Not a single word.
The football team were training for the World Cup that was in three days, and I still have not appointed a new captain. Charlie was gone and it almost felt as though it was for good. I could not keep focus on anything, I leave the group and make my way to the office.
My door opens, and I see Mary walking inside with a letter in her hand.
"Something came for you." She slides it onto my desk and walks out, I lift it from the table and read the words.
To Aidan De'Luca.
I recognised the handwriting and ripped the letter instantly open. I slide out the folded sheet and began skimming through the writing.
We need to talk, meet me at Hyde park- 6pm.
I glance down at the time and notice it was half past, I jump out of my seat-yanking my keys from the table before making my way.
This is it. This is the make or break.
Two weeks I have been waiting for her to answer my messages, to call me back.
And she sends me a letter.
Upon arriving at the park, I start looking around but cannot find her anywhere. She is sitting by the lake feeding the swans when I turn around. She seemed to have dark red hair and was dressed in layers of clothing to stay warm. She notices a change in her movement when I approach and sit down next to her on the bench.
"Aidan." We face each other.
Her eyebags were evident, indicating that she was exhausted, and she spoke in a similarly lifeless manner. She was dressed in a long White coat, black jeans, and a black turtleneck.
"Charlie-how are you-" I was stuttering out of complete shock, she's back.
"I'm pregnant." She speaks.
She never came to talk to me about the situation—we both face the lake—she came to tell me she is pregnant. She does not dare to look directly at me again after I cast a quick glance her way. My heart suddenly jumped, almost as if it were joyful that Charlie was expecting.
She shuffles into her bag and hands me the stick, a positive sign is shown.
"Charlie-"
"I am not going to bombard you with child support, and you do not need to get involved with the child's life at all-"
"Charlie-"
"You can live your life and be something." I shake my head, "my life is already ruined."
"Charles..."
"Don't. Don't call me that Aidan." Her eyes close and she stands up, her hands brushing across her face before rushing through her deep red hair. "I thought I would let you know and not keep it a secret from you."
"If you think I won't be there financially for them- I will. I will be by your side. I will love him or her-" Her head turns, only slightly enough for me to see her side profile.
"I don't want you there Aidan, I need to stay away from you- not have a baby with you. You broke me Aidan. You took a knife and just stabbed it into my back. It wasn't your 'secret' to tell but it was a secret that needed to be told. I suffered for three almost four years thinking that everything was my fault, thinking I killed my own father. I told you that I thought the brakes were faulty. And you kept silent. When you could have helped."
Tears were scrolling down her eyes; she tries her hardest to hide the fact that she was crying.
I felt more guilty than ever, "but I don't hate you, I don't despise you and I could never stop loving you Aidan."
Her doe eyes were enough for me to want to get on my knees and beg her to just stay with me.
"I know that this was jakes fault, I know he is the main part of it. I don't blame you Aidan."
I try to step forward, but she takes out her hand and stops me from coming any closer
"But-I don't want to be with you because I don't trust you. I think it is best for us to go our separate ways," I slide a hand against her cheek. I have always loved her eyes; I have loved every feature on her face. I love her perfections and imperfections.
But this was on me.
"I'm getting an abortion, so you have nothing to worry about-nothing to lose."
"I have you to lose..."
Her tears are running down her cheeks as I rest my forehead against hers. My chest was touched by her gentle hands, and it almost felt as though she was holding onto the moment because she knew exactly what was going to happen.
And that is something I cannot stop or beg her to nod do.
"You know I love you, Charlie."
"I know Aidan." I watch her lips move, she gulps down and her eyes then sync with mine. "Sometimes love isn't enough."
"I'm sorry for letting you down Charlie,"
"Aidan, you never let me down. You just hurt me, and I can't take being hurt any longer."
I lost three things that day...
Charlie, my child, and love.
"Goodbye Aidan."
She pulls herself away from me and walks, I watch her disappear down the park.
Sometimes cupid runs out of arrows, ends up shooting one person instead of two. And here ends a story that never began, a story that really never had any sort of beginning at all.
Even though she did not make it to the end of my story, I'll always keep our page folded because it really was one of my favourites. We were a match made in heaven but sadly we are on earth.
Charlie fixed something in me, and I broke it myself.
This story was my favourite, and then I read the whole book and realised it did not end with me and her...
Me and Charlie.
Goodbye Charlie.
THE END