Thin Line- Charlie Dalton Love Story

Chapter 17: Lies and Fireworks

{Valerie's POV}

"Can I stay with you tonight?"

Charlie looked perplexed. He looked as though he was searching for just the right thing to say at the moment but he couldn't find it. All he could manage was a "What?"

"Can I stay with you tonight?" I repeated.

Again, "What?"

I was still holding on to his coat with the tip of my fingers and said, "It's just that the thunder, it scares me."

Charlie looked mazed still so I continued, hoping for more of a reaction, "When I was younger, my father used to lock me in the basement and turn out the lights for hours. One rainy day, thunder and lightning just like today, he locked me in the basement with the lights off, but this time it lasted longer. He forgot to let me out and I screamed and cried for hours but nobody came, until the next morning. It was my first time ever experiencing a storm like that, and it's left me scared of it for years."

Silence took over for a good few seconds when suddenly, Charlie left towards the boy's dorm hallway. I took that as a sign to follow him. I walked into his room and found that he had pushed his roommate's bed to his bed to make it seem like a Queen sized bed.

"I can change it back if you want." He said, scratching the back of his head as he looked at his creation.

"No it's fine." I said. This is better actually.

Dalton gave me a pair of his sweats and I gladly accepted them, because I didn't want to have to go all the way back to my room. After we both finished washing up, we lay there on the bed's pushed together. I was on the right while he was on the left. I felt weird, being sober and doing this.

Charlie rolled out of bed to fetch something from his drawers. He got back in bed and handed me something, "You should put some ointment on it."

I sat up and took the Neosporin from his hand and rolled up my sleeve. I winced at the thought of touching my injury. It didn't hurt the whole way home but now that I'm putting thought to it, it's started to get painful.

Charlie took the tube from my hand, after he watched me struggle with it for minutes. I closed my eyes in pain, as his hands gently applied the ointment.

"Don't you find it funny that this is the second time I've done this after a visit to your fathers?" I heard Charlie say.

I opened my eyes and looked at him as he treated my burn. This man is good, and yet here I am lying about being scared of thunder just so I can win a lousy bet. This was the moment that made me want out of the bet, I didn't want to hurt him. He's good. He's so good.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"No need. It's your father that should apologize." He said, looking into my eyes.

That's not what I meant, I thought. I felt sorry for lying. I felt sorry that I wasn't afraid of the thunder. I felt sorry for playing with him all this time. I don't know if I was starting to like him or just feel sorry for him but I didn't want to be the cause for his pain. He put away the Neosporin and turned off the lamp light.

"You'll be alright." Charlie said, "You'll be okay."

I let my eyes close, as I thought about all the reasons why I'm a bad person. This was good because it took my mind off the pain on my forearm. It was still raining heavily outside but the warmth of Charlie next to me made me feel good. After a couple minutes, I was fast asleep, with my face turned towards the man that I grew to regret playing with.

I'm walking down a narrow hallway, with walls built high on my left and right. The ground was wet. I was walking on some type of thick liquid. It wasn't water. It was red. Dark red. I checked my body for any cuts or scrapes but I found none so it couldn't have been my blood. I heard someone shouting in the distance. It was me. I mean I wasn't the one shouting, but the voice had been mine. I ran through the hallway, my feet stained in the red liquid substance, I ran to the sound. It seemed that the farther I was running the farther the sound would travel. I dropped my body to the ground, giving up. I picked up a broken clock that was ticking under the wet of the red water. I held the clock in my hand when it suddenly burst and the glass had left several cuts in my hands and arms. I fell on my back and as I looked up at the pitch black darkness over head, I had expected a raven to fly by as it always does. But it didn't. The walls were moving towards each other, narrowing in on me. I tried to push it back, I tried to scream for her, I tried to run, but nothing did any good. Just as I had closed my eyes, the raven flew over my dying body.