CHARLIE SAT at her desk as she typed out another message to her father, it was her third message within a month and he had yet to respond to her, but she hoped that he at least read them. She just wanted him to know how she was doing and what was going on in her life even if he didn't respond to her. She tried to reach out to him. She really did.

She knew little of her father but she wanted to know more and that would be her downfall.

She grabbed her pen and began to click it on her lap as she read her message over and over again. Charlie began to run the pen back and forth on her leg as she began to bite her fingernail. She felt anxious for some reason. She felt like this message was life or death for her and yet, all she had to do was press the blue send button and it would all be over.

She held knit brows as she read the message over and over again. It wasn't even a message that she put much thought into. It was just like her messages from before and yet, she sat there and pondered if she would press send or not.

Charlie heavily sighed and quipped her lips to the side as she began to delete the message and try again another day, but as she began to throw her pen back on her desk, she felt something dripping down the side of her leg.

She held her furrowed brows as she looked down and gasped aloud when she saw black bleeding with red. She muttered profanities under her breath as she stood up, pushed her chair back, and looked down at her leg.

She hadn't realized that she'd even broken skin when she was running the pen back and forth on her leg. She was panicking. She didn't know what to do as she felt hot tears running down her face. She felt her hands shaking and turned towards her bedroom door.

"Mom!" She cried, her voice shaking as she hiked her shorts up even higher. "Mom!"

Lori marched her way upstairs, not thinking much of her daughter's calls as she knocked on Charlie's door.

She didn't hear Charlie telling her to come in, rather her cries. Lori quickly opened the door and gasped at the sight of her daughter's bleeding leg and rushed into the upstairs bathroom and rifled through the cabinets to try and find bandaids or something to help Charlie.

Lori quickly returned to Charlie's room where the girl had just been standing in the same spot and had been guided to the floor by her mother.

Lori grabbed Charlie's leg, quickly, but gently placing it over her own leg as her daughter's cries rang throughout the room as she wrapped a bandage wrap around Charlie's leg.

Lori was a wreck within a matter of minutes but she wouldn't let that show in front of Charlie, not when she was in more distress than she had ever seen. Never in her life could she imagine trying to help Charlie in this way. She didn't know if this was an active thing that Charlie had been doing or if this was an accident. She tried to scan Charlie's arms and legs but saw no other visible scars on her body.

Lori finished wrapping up Charlie's leg and quickly pulled her daughter into her, wrapping her arms around Charlie as she rocked her and herself to try and comfort her. Lori shut her eyes as she ran her hand up and down Charlie's arm as she cried into her.

Lori soon opened her eyes, looking over at Charlie's desk. The pen she had used had been red at the point and her white chair had small red splats on it. Then, she looked over at her laptop, the screen glowing as she saw the drafted email that Charlie was going to send to her father.

She heavily sighed and rested her cheek against Charlie's head, staying with her for as long as Charlie would let her.

CHARLIE FINALLY stopped crying at some point and let her mother go with constant reassurance that she was going to be okay.

Charlie laid in her bed with the only light being from the shitty star glow-in-the-dark ceiling stickers that her mom had put up when she was younger.

There was no sound in the room other than the wind hitting her window and her breathing. She just laid there and hoped that she would fall asleep, hoping that the next day would be better.

Then, her phone lit up, the screen lighting up her room. She was hesitant to grab it but did and saw that it was a text from Marcus asking if he could come over.

Charlie licked her lips and sat her phone down beside her, shutting her eyes for a moment as she began to think. She soon sighed and picked up her phone once more and told him that it would be okay for him to come.

She began to move off the bed, opened her dresser drawer, and grabbed a longer pair of night pants to cover the bandage that her mother had wrapped around her leg. She slowly took her shorts off and carefully put on her longer, plaid night pants.

She closed her eyes for a moment before she heard knocking at her window. She turned around with a small smile on her face as she opened the window and allowed Marcus inside. She made her way to her bed, turned on her desk lamp, and sat on the edge of her bed as she fumbled with the rings on her fingers, listening to Marcus speak.

"Wanna watch a movie?" He asked. brushing his hair out of his face. "I'm down for anything as long as it's not-"

Marcus cut himself off, looking over at Charlie who turned, flicking her head out of her face as he looked up at him.

"As long as it's not what?" She asked.

Marcus furrowed his brows, it was clear to him that something had been off with the girl, but it had also been clear that she didn't want to talk about it. If she had, he would hope that she would've told him by now, but she didn't and he wasn't going to press her on the matter that she didn't want to talk about.

He ran his fingers through his hair once more and gave Charlie a soft smile. "I, uh, couldn't sleep. I wanted to know if it was okay if stayed before the sleepover tomorrow."

Charlie licked her lips and nodded. She would rather have him here. To be with her. Marcus brought Charlie comfort and she could really use that comfort.

She leaned over and shut off the light and it, once again, became pitch black in the room with feckled patches of green.

Marcus opened Charlie's closet and drew his hand towards the corner of it and grabbed a pair of pants he could sleep in. Once he put those pants on, he slipped off his shirt and joined Charlie in the bed.

Charlie rolled over, resting her head against Marcus's bare chest as she shut her eyes.

Marcus wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close, providing a sense of security and protection.

Whatever happened, he wished he could've been there to help her.

He wanted her to be okay.

— lucy has something to say !!

this chapter isn't long but it feels awkward to write about the sophomore sleepover here when all of that has happened.

no meme for this chapter either though i do wish you all well and hope you all have a wonderful day :)

bye :))))