Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-30955220-20170107012231/@comment-5101683-20170107040821

I AM NOT DONE.

Cheshire-Charlotte

It was a cold and cloudy day.

The clouds seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.

To most this day was just a dreary and depressing day usually good to go to movies or stay indoors, but there was one girl who insisted on standing outside under the threatening clouds.

It was sure to rain soon, anyone could taste it in the air, but nevertheless, she refused to come back inside.

Time seemed painfully slow to her, like someone was pushing against the hands of the clock to stop it but instead just slowed it down.

This day was just like all the rest, empty and numb, or maybe she was just exaggerating.

Now this girl does have a name, it is quite a pretty name.

Her name was Charlotte.

Charlotte could smell the rain in the sky and see the clouds just like everyone else. She could hear the thunder in the distance and taste the moisture in the air. She could feel the dew and condensation sticking to her skin and making her palms clammy. Just like any normal person.

But Charlotte was different.

Her mind was set somewhere else despite the rumbling thunder and the moist air. She was thinking of her past.

Somewhere along the line she had lost something, just like a little piece had cracked off her and made her feel incomplete, no longer whole and it did.

Charlotte's mother stormed out of the house, quite upset as she had been calling the girl for the last ten minutes with no response. She harshly grabbed Charlotte's arm and dragged her to her feet. "Come on Char, you can't keep moping around forever! What about me? What am I supposed to do with you?" she scolded. Charlotte blinked a few times, realizing her mother was in front of her again, and sighed. Her mother grabbed her arm and yanked her inside. "At least fix up your room! It's messy as hell! Looks like a bomb hit it!" her mother called after her.

Charlotte hung her head and moped her way up the stairs and down the hall until she reached her room at the end. She pushed the freshly painted white door open and peered into her room. It was actually pretty tidy to an average person. Just an unmade bed and a couple of clothes and other things on the floor. Charlotte sighed and started picking things up.

It wasn't the same anymore.

Life just wasn't good anymore.

She pulled a box out from under her bed and dumped every thing she picked up inside it. She wasn't in the mood for cleaning up.

She sat on the inside of her windowsill and stared out as rain started to fall from the clouds, cascading down to the foreign world below. It was to be a dreary autumn in her new home.

Everything felt different, now she lived in America.

She didn't exactly miss Australia but it still felt weird and sad.

Leaving behind the home she grew up in. (Can these sentences be structured another way? It makes me flinch like this, but I don't know why.)

Once upon a time she would have felt excited to move here and visit the city, to see Lady Liberty and explore New York, but now she didn't even want to leave her room.

It had been a while since Charlotte had smiled a genuine smile. On those better days, when she was feeling just a little healthier, she had been able to fake a smile and force a laugh, but now she just felt empty.

Her mother thumped up the stairs and pounded on her door, no doubt loosening the hinges. She sighed and looked up at the door, "Come in." Her voice sounded empty and hoarse. She clearly didn't speak very often.

Her mother opened the door. "Char your father and brother have arrived and I would like you to come down stairs and make a good impression." Her mother tried to ease her into coming down to see her distant family that she hadn't made contact with for several years. "I don't understand why you did this, we both know how this is gonna end. I put the restraint order on him for a reason Mum," Charlotte answered quietly. "Come on Charlotte, he is your brother, your twin! And what about your father? He never did anything wrong!" Charlotte looked at her mother and scoffed, "Stop feeding yourself lies," She mumbled under her breath. "Charlotte just come down already!" Her mother yelled, snatching the girl up and digging her claw-like nails into her arm as she dragged her downstairs.

Charlotte's eyes grew dull as her mother dragged her along. Her depressing aura seemed to fill the air and even her mother noticed. She turned around and looked at Charlotte. "Look, if you can put up with them for just one hour, one hour! You can grab your raincoat or umbrella and go outside, perhaps for a walk, until they leave. I will text you when they are gone." The aura almost immediately lifted and her mother watched as Charlotte threw on a very convincing fake smile. Even her mother couldn't see through it. "Okay, come on," her mother called as she trailed after her towards the living room.

As she entered the room, time seemed to slow down again. Inside was a boy, around 17 and an older man in his 50's or 60's. The man was a hearty looking fellow with peachy skin and graying chocolate hair. He smiled warmly as Charlotte entered the room. Then the boy, he inherited his chocolate hair from his father, just like Charlotte. But he had completely different intentions. He was like a snake with a sly aura, slightly narrowed eyes, small pupils and a wide smirk that formed on his face as soon as Charlotte entered the room. She caught sight of it straight away and eyed him coldly as her fake smile turned into a scornful look that he was in her house. She quickly wiped the look off her face and replaced it with an even more innocent smile.

Her brother petted the open spot beside him, beckoning her to sit with him, but she just closed her eyes for a second and walked straight past him, sitting next to her father. Her brother's' eyes flashed with malice for a split second before he skillfully hid it with a fake cheeriness. Charlotte noticed the look though.

After a while Charlotte's mother stood up. "Well, I'm going to make us lunch before Char has to head off," she said cheerfully. She clearly missed Charlotte's father. Charlotte didn't know why. Her father stood up, "I'll help," he smiled. She instantly shot up and stood in front of him. "No, you're our guest, allow me, please," She smiled innocently. "Let your father help sweetie, I would like to talk to him about some stuff privately," her mother said. She spun around with a look of hurt and betrayal in her eyes. Her mother ignored it and smiled at Her father. She could feel the sly smirk her brother was giving her.

She sat back down, allowing her fake smile to drip off her face. She watched as her brother slipped into the seat beside her. "So, how are you Sis?" he asked. She watched as a stray hand of his edged its way up her leg. "Good thank you, Luke," she spat his name out like venom and slapped his hand off her thigh. "Feisty, I like it," he flirted. She shot him a dirty look. "Anyways," he continued, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "We are going to the same school, isn't that cool?" She felt her heart sink. "Y-yeah," she said sadly. "What, aren't you excited?" He asked. Her head snapped back at him, "No," she hissed. A fake look of hurt crossed her brothers face. "Char, look, I know what I did was wrong and it hurt you badly but I've changed, I'm not the same person I used to be," He said in a soothing way. Charlotte glared at him. "Bullshit."

Just then her mother and father walked back into the room, her brother slipped back into his seat and they started eating lunch. Halfway through Charlotte stood up abruptly. "I'm sorry but I'm going to be late, goodbye." Then she walked out of the room. Her fake attitude dropped immediately and she grabbed her phone and rain coat.

She walked out onto the streets under the pour of rain. She let out a sigh of relief as she started wondering down the street, exploring the neighborhood. The feeling of incompletion and emptiness once again set in. She dragged her feet as she wandered around the area. She stopped at an empty playground. The rain made soft pattering noises as it hit the metal and plastic. A stray swing was still rocking as if someone had just ran off. The playground was surrounded by forestland and had an abandoned feeling.

Charlotte sat on the swing that was still rocking. She rocked back and forth in a soothing way, temporarily making her forget her issues for a second. She remembered when she was little and her brother and her would play together on the local playground together. But even then the happiness was an illusion. Her father was abusive to her mother and her older brother would stop him from hurting her and Luke but she never knew. Luke watched it all happen until one day it went to far. Her mother was unconscious, and her older brother Cody was being beaten. Luke was just standing there watching with his arms crossed. At the time Luke and Charlotte were 10. Charlotte had woken up from her sleep and wandered down stairs to see what the commotion was. She saw Luke there and peered past him. She gasped at the sight of her father beating Cody. Then once again time seemed to slow down as her father grabbed a knife and stabbed it into Cody's neck. Charlotte let out a strangled choking noise, partly a gasp and partly a scream. Cody's body hit the cold kitchen tiles. Luke turned around with a cold look in his eyes and panicked when he saw her. "shut up!" he yelled and towered over Charlotte. She looked at him shaking and he grew angry. He started to kick her and hit her, from then on it only grew worse.

Charlotte's mother was in a coma and her father was sent to jail. Charlotte and Luke stayed with an Aunt and he started to hurt her like her father would to her mother.

Charlotte shook her head, breaking from her thoughts and standing up from the swing. She hung her head and turned towards the trees. Oh how much she wished she could just run off and disappear into that forest forever. Just then her phone beeped. She sighed in relief and looked at her message. It was from her mother, maybe they were gone and she can go home. But as she read the message her heart sank deeper into the void of her chest. They were staying the night.