It was time to get things back on track again. Things in my house had been so fucked up lately that if it wasn't because I knew I was on the shot, I would've blamed my period for being the dominant component in my recent behavior and choice-making. Sadly, though, I couldn't blame it on hormones. Only myself.

And that's why I'd given my brain a mental ice bath and slapped it back into what it should be doing; focusing on educating and teaching Charlie the way he was supposed to be.

After our mall incident, we hadn't really been outside that much, except for my yard. I had deliberately kept him inside because I didn't want him getting that kind of downer again from society that he was supposed to join one day (what kind of example had that set for him?), so I had kept our 'outings' to my backyard.

But in light of recent events, I decided that now was as good a time as any to get Charlie out and about to catch some fresh air, maybe even to help him clear his head like I had. If anything, also to distract him. He didn't say the words, but I could tell he was still hung up on my rejection of him yesterday. He was a bit quieter, but not by much. Still, my intuition told me I had left a bad imprint on his memory.

And I was going to rectify that.

Walking with Charlie to the local park was surprisingly easy and uncomplicated. Especially when the weather was nice. He hadn't objected when I had suggested another outing, only nodded and then put on his dark sunglasses to shield his eyes – but today it didn't look that odd when the sun was shining on full blast.

He looked like a tower walking next to me, but at least nobody was paying attention to him as we entered the park. Everyone was enjoying the warm weather and laid on their towels and blankets in the grass, sunning. The park was full of people for that same reason and I could tell it brought Charlie a little more on edge, but on the other hand it distracted him from all the other stuff I wanted him to forget. Which was the point exactly.

"So what do you think?" I asked and gestured into the park, to the people cozying up on the grass or walking their dogs or playing with their children on the playground. "Do you have any questions so far you'd like to ask?"

Charlie adjusted his shades a little, but shook his head. It seemed he was too focused on just blending in to take it all in – unlike the first time we had been out when he had been too overwhelmed to focus on anything. It was completely the opposite now, and that alone showed how far he had come in his development.

"Well, if you think of something, just speak up," I told him, smiling a little as we walked along the graveled path. "I figured we'd walk to the end of the park and then walk back. Are you comfortable with that? It's not too far."

He nodded this time. "Okay."

He was much quieter today than the other days, more so than before, and I had a feeling it wasn't because of our incident this time. I frowned a little at that. It was like he was happy to be out, yet at the same time oddly silent and concentrated. There was a small crease between his brows and his lips were pressed together, but he didn't say anything. He was focusing, but on what exactly?

I was just about to ask him when he abruptly stopped up. I looked up at him in confusion and automatically stopped as well. "What is it, Charlie?" I asked when I saw him clench his jaw.

The next second I discovered the reason why. A loud voice speaking through a megaphone caught my ear and I quickly turned my attention to what was right in front of us; A giant mob.

Charlie was looking at it and now so was I, staring at the huge crowd I had somehow missed in my concern for Charlie. They were standing in front of a guy who stood on a wooden crate and who was the one holding the megaphone I heard. A few people behind him – his followers most likely – were holding up homemade and might I say creative signs, and it was those that Charlie's eyes were pinned directly on.

KILL THE CREATURES

HUMANS NOT MUTANTS

E.T GO HOME

FUCK C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S

"Oh, God," I heard myself whisper as the crowd around the protesters chanted their mottos. The lead speaker then silenced them all and raised his megaphone to speak.

"You all know they let them out of that crazy lab!" He told them, staring down at them with serious eyes. "You know they experimented on them, but you don't know what they've done to them! The government is allowing possibly dangerous monsters to walk around amongst our children and loved ones, and they have the audacity to call it progress? But how is that fair to us, the people who might be in danger? They gave us no choice in the matter, and now these dangerous things could be walking amongst us!"

"Charlie," I quickly said and grabbed his arm to try and yank him around to make him follow me, but he didn't budge. We couldn't be here, but he didn't move. "Come on, we shouldn't listen to this. Let's walk home. Charlie?"

He pulled his arm out of my grasp without saying anything and took a step towards the crowd. I felt my heartbeat speed up as he walker closer and closer. I followed him, tried to break through to him, but my words fell on deaf ears. He wasn't paying attention to me anymore. Instead he focused on the key speaker and listened to every word he said.

"These monster are dangerous!" He continued, that megaphone spreading the message loudly. "We dont know anything about them, but they could be stronger than us! They could be more animal than human! Who knows what they did to them in that lab? Do we want them walking around us?"

"NO!" The crowd shouted back at him.

"Do we want them close to our children?"

"NO!"

"Do we want them living in our neighborhood, out and about at night?"

"NO!"

"And do we want them potentially killing us?" He shouted at the mob who aggressively shouted back 'no!' again. "Exactly! We already have terrorists to deal with, serial killers and rapists – do we really need another threat on the street? Another monster that can kill us?"

"NO!"

"No..." Charlie also whispered, the expression on his face like he had been beaten. He looked like when that team from C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S showed up to run his health exam; crestfallen. "But I don't want to kill anyone... why would they think that?"

"Charlie, please," I pleaded him and squeezed his arm again. "Please walk back with me. They don't know what they're talking about. They don't know you."

"But shouldn't I make them understand then?" He said, still staring up at the speaker who begun getting the crowd to chant 'ban all the Creatures'. "I'll talk to them, tell them I don't want to hurt them?"

"No, Charlie, you can't!" I firmly said and looked up at him seriously when the angry group around us begun getting louder and more aggressive. They were quickly turning into an angry mob, and it was only a matter of time before the police showed up and split them up. They looked like they were about to march to city hall. "You can't tell them what you are. I know you just want to tell them you're good, but they wont listen. That's why we need to go home and just forget about this. I'm sorry you had to hear it, but—"

"KILL THE FUCKING CREATURES BEFORE THEY KILL US!" Someone behind us suddenly shouted while jumping up with his fist in the air. He bumped into Charlie who got startled and jerked forward, accidentally knocking into the person in front of us. In the ruckus, his sunglasses got knocked off his face and fell to the ground where someone managed to stomp on them.

"Charlie!" I almost screamed. The woman in front of him who he bumped into turned around and begun cursing at him for being clumsy, but shut up the instant she laid eyes on Charlie's glowing purple eyes.

"Watch where you're—oh, my God!" She screamed off the top of her lungs and stepped away from him, pointing at him in horror. "OH MY GOD, YOUR EYES!"

"Charlie!" I called and tried to reach out to him when people begun crowding around him, pushing me away to see what the woman was on about. Charlie got caught in the middle, looking scared, and soon someone else started screaming, catching glimpse of his eyes as well.

"OH MY GOD, THEY ARE HERE!" They screamed, the entire crowd now going crazy and backing away from him until they'd created a circle around Charlie who spun around himself in panic as everyone glared at him. "THE CREATURES ARE HERE! HE'S ONE! LOOK AT HIS EYES! HE'S DANGEROUS!"

"No!" I screamed, but my voice got lost amongst all the other screams of fear and horror. I tried pushing through the crowd, but it was impenetrable. I could barely even see Charlie, even though he was taller than everyone else by at least a head and a half, I could only catch glimpses of him through the thick mob. "Get away from him, he's not dangerous!"

"LOOK AT HIM!" They screamed as Charlie begun shaking, holding up his hands protectively when he was scared. "WATCH OUT! HE MIGHT SHOOT LASER BEAMS OUT OF HIS EYES!"

Fear and confusion was spreading the stupidity, and of course since it was a crazy mob already filled with conspiracy nuts, now came all the crazy theories. Charlie shook his head wildly at their accusations and tried to speak, but his words got drowned like my own over all their screams.

And then suddenly the man who had spoken through the megaphone raised his mic again and shouted above it all; "Take care of him now before its too late!"

It was as if the mob had waited for it – the permission to do something about the dangerous Creature in their midst; They launched at him before I could even voice a protest to try and stop them. Instead my protests turned into a scream as I saw them jump him, his person getting swallowed by the mob. This wasn't happening––

A powerful blast suddenly made every person within a ten foot range throttle back and fall to their asses. The ground broke and the air vibrated, and in the centre of it all stood Charlie. He was hunched over forward and had his hands and arms wrapped around his head, like he had the most intense headache know to man – well, to Creature.

Even I who had been within his range was lying on my ass on the grass, disoriented and confused, but the second I sat up, I connected eyes with Charlie. I saw his irises glow and his expression twist in hurt. "Ch-Charlie..."

He ripped his gaze away from me and then suddenly ran – bolted from the crowd before anyone could get to their feet and jump him again. Someone started shouting that he was on the run, but even if they planned on following him, Charlie was too fast; by the time I had climbed to my feet myself, he was gone, out of sight.

"Charlie..." I whispered again and cupped my mouth, tried not to cry. The pure look on his face as he had seen how they all reacted to his kind... the humans wanting to kill him before even getting a chance to know him...

He had spent a month and a half trying to accustom to the world, but before he even had a chance to fully step into it, the world had rejected him.

– His second rejection within two days.

My heart broke from him. Tears fell from my eyes with no restraint. The crowd around me was determined to find him, but so far nobody seemed to have realized I came with him. I therefore slipped away from them easily and begun running back home to my house. I hoped with all my life that Charlie would've run back home as well, but then I realized, did he even consider my house as his home?

The second I stepped inside my entrée, I called his name, but there came no reply. I ran upstairs and looked inside his room, went and checked his bathroom, but he wasn't there. I went through my entire house, even looked in the attic as well, but I finally had to come to terms with that he hadn't run back to my house.

That meant he could still be wandering the streets all alone, in a place surrounded by humans that wanted to kill him.

I tried to control my breathing. I was panicking, because I didn't know what to do. I knew what my duty was, according to the contract I had signed, if this case ever occurred.

*Paragraph 180: In case of Creature's disappearance, the legal guardian MUST contact CENTURIES and alert them. In case Creature leaves guardian's surveillance, guardian MUST contact CENTURIES. Should guardian NOT contact CENTURIES, guardian in question will be prosecuted by aforementioned lawsuit.

Honestly, the last thing I cared about right now was a freaking lawsuit. I cared about Charlie's safety and wellbeing – he was hurt and sad, and out all on his own. There was no saying what he would do, what he could do, unintentionally. Something told me Charlie didn't know about tantrums yet, nor the conflicts of emotions. They hadn't taught him how to feel in there, I had taught him.

But he had never handled his emotions without me. That scared me, knowing he could be tearing himself apart right now.

My hand hovered above my phone. I was shaking, but I couldn't get myself to pick it up, to dial the number and wait for them to pick up.

If I told them he was missing, they could track him down with that chip, but they could potentially also end my contract with him. Charlie was my responsibility, and if he ran away from me, that was my fault. Charlie would most likely not get blamed, but if he proved uncooperative in his return back home, all they had to do was press a button.

And then Charlie would never get to see another moment of the world.

I stared at the phone for one last moment, but then drew my hand back and dropped into my couch, buried my head into my hands and muffled my sobs.

Charlie... oh Charlie, what have I done to you?

He was mine to care for, but lately I had just been screwing up. Maybe he was too much for me to handle. Maybe I couldn't do this. Charlie wasn't a human, but he was the nicest creature I had ever met on this earth. Not Creature as in his specie, but creature as in living thing on this planet, with emotions and a heart that just wanted to be accepted.

I had taken that heart and exposed it to heartache, hurt and pain. And something told me even though he had experienced that inside the lab, he had never known it like this before. Didn't know how much someone could truly feel before I taught him.

– And now I had to feel the hurt and pain myself of knowing what I had done to him. Karma.

Curling up on my couch like an infant, I decided to give him a couple of hours to hopefully come back. I prayed and hoped I wouldn't have to call C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S , but if he hadn't come back by sunset, I knew I'd have no other choice. No other way to go.

"Please, Charlie," I whispered and closed my eyes, hoping somehow with all his crazy senses and intuition that he could hear me. "Come back home to me... I'm so sorry."

~~~

I woke up with a jolt when I heard the front door go. I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until I awoke with a start and sat up, heard footsteps in my hallway.

"Charlie!" I jumped up and nearly screamed in joy when I saw his large frame standing there, his head turning to me. He looked unharmed and safe. I ran to him and without thinking sprung up and wrapped my arms around his neck. He stiffened beneath me, but didn't say a word. "Oh God, Charlie! I-I've been so worried," I tried not to cry against him, but my voice gave me away. I strengthened it and clutched him harder, his brick body not giving way to my soft one. "Where were you? Why didn't you wait for me? Charlie I'm so sorry about what happened. I should never have taken you to the park, I should never—"

"I should never have left the facility," He cut through silently. My words got caught in my throat as I pulled back and looked up shocked at him, my mouth hanging agape. He looked sullenly down at me, eyes hurting and dead. "They don't want me here. The humans. And they shouldn't. They're right, I'm dangerous. I'm a monster."

"What? No, Charlie!" I protested and blinked up at him in mortification. "That's not true, why would you think that? I told you not to listen to what they were saying, they don't know you, you'd never hurt anyone—"

"But look what I did!" He suddenly snapped, raising his voice for the first time ever in the time I had known him. It startled me so much I stumbled a step back and glared up at him. He glared right back down. "You saw what I did! I... I... I pushed them all back," He said and gritted his teeth, a nerve of something twitching on his face. "I repelled them, and that was nothing – nothing compared to what I can really do."

I stared at him in shock. I then closed my mouth and tried to find my words. "You were just protecting yourself... Those people were going to kill you, they jumped you—"

"Because they know what I am!" He shouted, throwing his hands out and gesturing at himself. "I'm a monster, Carly! I don't belong amongst humans, I'm a Creature. I'm an abomination."

I had no idea where he had heard that last word from, but most likely he had picked it up somewhere on his small escapade. He looked at me in rage and hurt, but then snapped away from me and begun pacing the hall. He clenched and unclenched his fists, shaking his head.

"I don't fool anyone. I'll never get accepted here. I belong in a lab. I want to go back," He said, closing his eyes and screwing his lips tightly together. "I belong at C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S."

"No, you don't," I said, looking up at him with tears in my eyes. "How can you even say that? Please, Charlie. We knew it was going to be hard for the world to accept you, but we'll just have to work harder! Adjustment doesn't happen over night, it takes time—"

"It doesn't matter if the humans don't like me!" He rehashed, his voice breaking. "And you're just getting paid to like and teach me, but even you don't want me coming too close."

"What?! No, Charlie, that's not true either!" I exclaimed, mortified. From where was he getting this? "I do like you, and those people were just crazy! Remember when we talked about how people don't like what they don't understand? They're just scared, just like you when you first came here, you didn't know anything, didn't know me, but now you do. You were scared of me, but now you're not anymore, am I right?"

"But you're still scared of me," He said and looked at me, making me drop my jaw. "You won't let me come near you, don't want me touching you anymore after I touched you. You don't like me, you're afraid of me."

"No!" I exclaimed again, quickly stepping up to him. "Charlie, no. You got it all wrong, you don't understand. It's complicated—"

"I do understand!" He suddenly yelled, and then grabbed me before I could blink, and pushed me up against the wall to the staircase. I gasped as he cased me in with his body and then stared down at me with his glowing eyes. "I am not stupid, Carly. I'm a Creature. I see things, I learn, and I understand more than you think. You were the one who taught me about right and wrong and good and bad. That when things are right, they feel good. In here," He said and tapped his chest. "And when I'm with you, it feels so good, Carly. I like the feeling you give me, I like you."

My heart stopped and my throat closed up. "Ch-Charlie..."

"When I touch you," He whispered and softly cupped my face, brushing his thumb over my cheek. I couldn't breathe. "You make my body ache and my stomach twist like the first time you spoke to me, but it feels good. I like feeling your warmth, I like listening to your voice, and you like it when I touch you," He said, moving closer. "I can hear and see the things your body does when I'm close to you. You like it, but you stay away from me, and that's the only thing I don't get. If this is good, then aren't we supposed to be doing it? You taught me that. How can I possibly stand by it when you won't yourself?"

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. Our argument had somehow turned and now it was no longer about the rest of the world, but just us. Me and him, what we ourselves felt. My heart clenched as I looked up into his deep eyes, the same eyes that were staring so mesmerizingly down at me, too. He was watching me. Waiting for me to speak. Counting the freckles on my nose and looking at how my lips parted to try and speak.

But not a word came out.

And maybe that's why he leaned down and sealed his lips over mine.

The second he kissed me, I fell apart. My eyes shut and my tears fell down my face and I kissed him back. I couldn't help it. He curled his hands around my waist and held me against him while he moved his lips gently over mine, skating his tongue against my own. I savored every flavor and every sweet peck from his lips, let his taste consume and complete me. We stood like that for what seemed like ages until we finally pulled apart, short of breath. And funnily enough, I had found my words.

"I'm not scared of you, Charlie," I whispered and softly caressed his face with my hand, seeing his eyes beam down at me. "I'm scared of what everyone else will do to you."

"Nobody can do anything to me as long as I have you," He murmured down at me, pressing his forehead against mine. "You're my guardian. My caretaker. The only one who's ever..."

I closed my eyes. That sentence could end in so many ways, and I think that's why he left it incomplete. I had been the only one to ever do so many things to him. Say so many things to him. Teach so many things to him. But most of all, I was the only one who had probably ever felt anything for him; Seen him as something more than just an experiment, but as a being with feelings, flesh and blood, and most importantly, a heart.

– He was the smartest Creature on this planet, but I knew firsthand that he had more heart than brain.

And that was why I in that moment left my common sense in my hallway and stepped onto my toes to place my lips against his; I kissed him for the first time and I put every throb of my heart into it. I wrapped my hands around his head and tangled my fingers in his hair, drew him down and slid my tongue across the seams of his lips. And pressed my heart against his.

Charlie shuddered and then instantly kissed me back with fervor, pushed me up against the staircase and lifted me into his arms. I curled my legs around him and combed my hands through his hair again which had grown long now, almost down to his ears. It was thick and yet so soft, felt like silk against my fingers as I tangled my hands in it and pulled him closer. He groaned and kissed me harder, our kiss deepening as both our breaths grew more labored.

My legs clenched around him and I felt a bulge in his pants, rubbing against my inner thigh. An involuntary tremor went through me at the feel of all of him, and I clawed my nails down his neck to his shoulders to find some kind of leverage.

But then suddenly, my back didn't feel the wall of the staircase against it anymore. Air caressed it and the ground was shifting beneath me, rising, yet lowering underneath me.

Charlie was carrying me up the stairs, and in that moment, I realized I didn't care. I wanted this, and so did he, be damned anything else. I let him take us to what I quickly found out was his bedroom, and cursed every other thought that dared to talk me out of what was about to happen.

Because as much as I had hated those protesters, one of them had made a sign that wasn't all wrong. My mind flashed to it as Charlie put me down on the floor before his bed, his hungry lips still sealed over mine and both our bodies aching to feel one another.

- FUCK C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S.

• • •

– And now fuck Charlie.
Lol, just kidding.
... or am I?