Thoughts For The Day:
Never hold your farts in. They travel up your spine, into your brain and that's where shitty ideas come from.

Song For The Chapter: Running (lose it all) - Beyonce ft Arrow Benjamin.

Thanks so much to @xoxoheroes for the amazing and beautiful cover above. I seriously want to kiss you right now.

Chapter Forty-One: Destroy Charlotte's Life Saga

Abby's back.

The words were still ringing in Char's ears the next day. She wasn't even sure she'd had a wink of sleep, and that was confirmed the minute she looked at her mirror as she stood in her bathroom. Char was feeling particularly irritated today and she'd say she woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but then again, she hadn't slept at all.

Abby's back.

She dreaded the questions, answers, and problems that came with that sentence. Why did it always seem like you're suddenly losing everything the second you get what you've always wanted? It was like life decided the new game to play was Destroy Charlotte’s Life Saga. At that moment, she felt like ripping all her hair out.

Abby's back.

She always seemed to be on the receiving end of life's torture, and every single time, she felt helpless as she couldn't do a thing to change things. Nothing made sense anymore, and Char wanted nothing more than to sleep for an entire week, wake up and find out that all this was just a dream. A nightmare that she could escape from.

Abby's back.

But that was the thing. All of it was real. She couldn't escape, neither could she stop anything from happening. She couldn't run either, that was exactly what she'd been doing for years now and truthfully, she was tired of it. And no matter how hard it was this time, she was going to face all her problems head on.

Daniel left sometime in the early morning and she had been still too dazed to stop him. She thought of how much he must be hurting and her heart ached for him. Daniel was a good person, he didn't deserve to suffer, especially by the hands of a woman. Much less, one who did not deserve him in the very least.

Which brought her back to square one.

Abby's back.

What did she want? Wasn't she supposed to be with that Mark- Or Larry guy she left Daniel for? Did she come back to worsen the blow? Most of all, was she here to thwart everything Char had worked so hard for in just few seconds?

As she stood in front of her mirror, she ripped her clothes off her body slowly, one by one, her mind ever so far away from her. Char had mange to build a wall of cards around her life, and she felt like someone had just pulled out one card carelessly from the bottom, making everything crumble to the ground, without a care in the world of how she was going to start pulling everything back together again.

She decided that she wasn't going to cry, no, she wasn't. She was stronger than that. If there was anything she wouldn't give up on easily, it was her love for Daniel. Not this time. She was prepared to fight for it. It was her right. Not even Abby had the right to take it away from her.

She didn't care what was going to happen, she just didn't want to lose Daniel. She wasn't going to sit back and watch another bimbo steal him away from right under her nose, yet again. That was just pathetic.

Heaving out a heavy sigh, she stepped into the shower, letting the warm water cool her, in and out. Closing her eyes, she basked in the coolness of the water against her skin, and for a tiny fraction of a moment, all her worries dissipated. She allowed her self to get lost in the feel, the thoughts of Abby and Daniel pushed far, far away, deep into her subconscious, where she would deal with them when the time came.

Few minutes later, Char stepped out of the shower when she felt clean. She groaned internally as she looked around for her clothes only to find that she hadn't brought any in. Bad habit. Quickly, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it round her body, as she made her way to her room.

The funny thing was that she didn't actually have anything to do. And it had been like that for years now. Every morning, she'd wake, freshen up, then go back to bed. The only times she'd gone out was when she had to meet with Cat or Zach, or when her parents dragged her out with them. And this days, to see Daniel.

Her closet was still a mess from when Cat literally dived into it and she hadn't found the time to put things in order. She grabbed the nearest jeans she could find and matched it with a woolen sweater.

She was just finishing getting dressed when her phone rang. She gaze travelled to the small clock on her bedside to see it was 12 noon. She marched across the room to pick her phone IP and frowned when she saw it was an unknown number. Reluctantly she swiped at the screen, and held the phone to her ear.

“Hello?” she said into the speaker.

“Hi. Is this Charlotte Winston?” the woman on the other line piped up and for a minute, Char thought it was the call she'd been waiting relentlessly for.

“Speaking,” she replied, her heart pumping hard.

“Good. It's Abby speaking.” Char's heart pumped even faster, and it wasn't the way a heart pumped when a person was nervous. No. It was of fear, dread.

“Oh?” she let out in a tiny voice.

Why was she calling?

“Yeah. Um..listen, can we meet up?” Abby's voice was soft, kind and it confused the hell out of Char.

Two questions; One, why didn't she sound like the hard-heartened Abby she knew and two, how in the world did she get her number?

“M-me?” Char stuttered and almost slapped herself when she realised it.

Abby let out a melodic laugh. “Yes, you Char. Rico's at three, yeah?”

Char was so lost it wasn't funny. Who was this? “Okay.” she said before the call disconnected.

The first thing that ran threw her head as she stared at her phone was; Oh My God. The second thing was; Oh Lordy, then came the third; I'm in trouble.

Abby had showed herself to Daniel and now, she was making her appearance known to Char. This was it. The moment she'd been waiting for ever since she'd heard that Abby was back; when she'd finally show herself.

Her phone in hand, she thought about calling Cat for some advice buh she knew that Cat wouldn't only talk, but she'd also find a way to talk herself into going with Char to meet Abby because we all know Cat's been dying to give her a piece of her mind.

Maybe one or two blows too.

Daniel? No. Char shook her head. He already had enough on his palte, she wasn't about to dump her problems on him. She had to do this herself, no matter how much she dreaded it.

Her gaze flickered to the clock again. 1:12 pm. She had less than two hours to get ready, and try not to look like a fool in front of her childhood enemy.

****

She was late.

Char sighed. Just like Einstein once said; insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. How dis she really think Abby was changed? She was thirty minutes late already, was she planning on making Char wait the entire day?

On another note, she was thankful for the wait. At least it gave her enough time to compose herself and rehearse her snarky comebacks a bit.

Three cups of coffee later, Char was ready to go. She'd just stood from her chair when she caught sight of someone walking towards her.

Abby.

She placed her ass back on her chair, giving Abby the fiercest glare she could muster as she came closer.

“Must you glare at me like that?” Abby asked with a slightly quizzical smile as she sat across from Char. “I've had warmer welcomes from a stone.”

Char hesitated. What was with the sudden change? She shook her head internally. Abby couldn't have undergone a nice change overnight.

“Drop the act, Solace.” she said, and gave herself a small pat on the back when she saw the cringe in Abby's face at the name. Char was hoping for a comeback from her, anything to know this was a facade.

“How's Daniel?” Abby asked, the smile still on her face.

What sort of a question was that? She saw him last night, right?

Still, she answered, “He's fine.” Keeping the answers at a minimal, anything to end this conversation.

Abby's eyes were glued to the table between them. “He must be missing me.”

Char's senses sparked as her rebellious side kicked in. “Actually, if you ask me, I'd say he's doing just great without you.”

This time, Abby's eyes snapped to Char's and she held her gaze. “We both know you're only saying that because you two are somewhat together.” her lips twitched up in a small smirk. “I wouldn't worry about it. It just shows that his dick is working harder than his conscience. He doesn't want to hurt your pathetic feelings. It won't last.”

This was it. She'd finally dropped the façade. Char's spine straightened and she leaned closer, the fear in her body increasing with every passing second. “What do you want?”

Abby mirrored her action and soon their faces was just inches away from meeting. “Daniel.” she simply said, and she leaned even closer. “You and I know he loves me. Only me. You're just another notch in his bedpost. Something temporal. In just five days, he's leaving, and I'm going with him. We're gonna start all over again, together. I'm back darling, and I want my husband back. And whatever Abby Solace wants, Abby solace gets. Back off.” she finished with a snarl.

She did it again. She'd let Abby walk all over her and she hadn't said one word. She couldn't. All she'd done was sit there and sulked.

At that moment, Char realised something; Even the sun sets in paradise. Whatever time she had with Daniel was slowly coming to an end because Abby just made it clear that she was back for Daniel and she would stop at nothing to get him.

Abby stood and walked away with a satisfied smirk on her face, leaving Char to wallow in defeat. This was even worse than when Daniel left with her; at least then, they hadn't been together.

“Oh and Char?” She looked up to see Abby standing directly in front of her. “You couldn't get a fan if it was hanging from the ceiling.”

*******

Abby, bad bad girl. And what was with that last statement? BTW, if you didn't get it, then I don't knowing what you're doing here.

Late update... I know... Sorry.