Carl Liene Ch. 04

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS HEREIN ARE OVER THE AGE OF 18. I do not condone any abuse of any kind IRL, and everything herein is just fantasy. Do not attempt to re-enact anything you read here.

The next morning, the rain had finally died down. Carl got up and reached for his bedsheets -- which he had kicked to the floor in a slimy heap the night before -- intending to clean them. They were gone, though. For a few seconds he looked around before his body began to boil with embarrassment. His mum had come in and taken them away, no doubt finding him lying naked, and undoubtedly aware of why the sheets were on the floor.

He tried his best not to meet his mother's eye as he went down for breakfast. Instead he kept his eye on the floor. On top of his embarrassment, the audio he'd been listening to was ringing in his ears still. He couldn't believe how turned on he'd gotten by his m- well, not HIS mother. A mother. A mommy. His... mommy.

His mum didn't seem to care, though. Not that she'd have known. Well, she knew about the sheets. Normally she couldn't resist any chance to infantilize any sexuality her son had ever expressed -- which had no doubt played a role in his early sexual development he had no doubt -- but for once she didn't seem interested. No sly comments, no "your sheets will be clean soon".

He went back to his room after finishing and found, to his surprise, the room was clean. His sheets weren't just clean but had been changed and fitted. When had she had the time for that? He didn't even remember her leaving the kitchen. They smelled different, too. Was Mum trying new washing up stuff? It smelled... familiar. Sweet. Like perfume.

"Oh Carl!" came a cry from his mother downstairs, "There's a girl here to see you!"

Flushing with embarrassment again, he raced down the stairs quicker than he should have, forgetting he was still half-dressed. Meeting Charlotte in shorts and a shirt, she was standing in the doorway as his mother walked past with a wry grin. Shooting her a glare, Carl stood with his legs nearly crossed as he realized how little he was wearing far too late.

"Hi, Charlotte," he said, chewing on the words, "uh... come in, if you want."

Charlotte glared over his shoulder, as if at something he couldn't see. He turned to see what she was staring at and saw an old mirror, with Charlotte reflected in it.

"No. I... I don't want to come in. Here." She added the last part stiffly, as if saying to herself. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to go for a walk. Outside. Away from here."

Hormones decidedly depleted from the night before, Carl felt far more relaxed this time.

"Sure, uh yeah. Okay. Just let me get dressed and-"

"Meet you at the top of the hill," she said quickly and sped off without another word.

Dumbfounded, he shook his head. The girl had something of a fey personality. He wondered how much of this weird behaviour was a product of her wanting to appear that way, and how much was genuine.

As he got to his room he could have sworn he saw the door, the one with the key, swing shut. Looking down, he noticed the key wasn't there. Maybe Mum had picked it up when she collected his... sheets. Another pang of embarrassment dripped down his spine and somehow wound up in his stomach.

A few minutes later he was climbing the hill, following the path, and wondering why Charlotte had wanted to meet so far away from the house. Maybe she'd wanted to get away from prying ears. A slight smile on his face, he wondered if maybe she had something to say she wouldn't want a boy's mother to hear.

He kicked himself, as they'd only known each other a few days, and spent less than ten minutes in each other's company. He had to get over the idea he had in his head of how girls fell in love within minutes, just because that's what happened in smut that didn't have time to properly develop a relationship. After all, there was something not right about her.

This time, Carl decided to take the high road above the path, and see if he could spot Charlotte the way she'd spied on him. It was much rougher going without a mountain bike, though. The treeline was much more foreboding up close, and the verdant grass gave way to shadow and gnarled trunks and roots much quicker than the mind thought it should as the copses grew thicker.

Those stories his Auntie Elle told, of creatures that lured kids off the path, had always somehow had a ring of truth to them. Even if it was just the way parents a thousand years ago had explained to kids "if you go walking in the forest alone you'll get lost and die and something will probably eat you", there was something that belied all logic or reason locked away in there. Some nugget of ancient wisdom, passed down like a warning.

Coming up on a large rock, he peered around the side and saw Charlotte sitting with her back to him on the edge of the hillside. The afternoon sun was breaking through the clouds in parts, highlighting her against its setting and radiating golden light around her. Once again he was struck by just how effortlessly pretty she was, even at this distance.

She suddenly swung around as if she had heard his thoughts, and he ducked behind the stone. He panicked. He didn't want her to think he was spying on her... wait, he thought, she had spied on him. It was only fair if he did it back.

"I see you up there!" came Charlotte's cry, and he cursed himself.

Carl waited for a few seconds to see if she was just trying to flush him out. He'd have to double back down the trail and pretend it wasn't him. Maybe she'd attribute it to those otherworldly things she'd been talking about last time...

"Come on out!" she cried again, and he kicked himself.

"Alright..." he shouted, and came awkwardly bumbling down.

As he came out from behind the stone, she was He made sure to sidestep the ring of mushrooms which outlined the well, and stood behind her just as awkwardly, not sure what to say. Luckily she did the talking for him.

"Let's walk," she said, and took off down the next part of the trail he hadn't seen yet.

Carl hesitated before jogging to catch up with her. She was pushing her bike along, not looking directly at him as she began to speak.

"That house is... We used to live there. My family and me. We moved out when some other properties went on the market and my Grandmother decided to buy them all up."

"Oh," Carl said, not sure what else to say.

"It's a very, very old place. Very old. So are the things inside it."

"Yeah, I saw some of the furniture, it must be from the 1800's..." Carl mused.

She stopped and shot her eyes back at him, looking down slightly.

"There's things in there that are a lot older than that. Much... much older." The last part she said as if trying to speak while swallowing, and again Carl wondered just what might be going on behind those pretty eyes of hers.

They walked a bit in silence after that, and their walk and talk turned out to be a lot more walk than talk. Eventually, she held her hand out in front of him, and he got halfway through the mental process of forming the words "Hey what" in response to her treating him like a child when he saw why they had stopped.

Ancient rusted gates, wrought iron and black in patches, stood just off the path. Despite their size and intimidating look, Carl was sure he would never have noticed them had he not been stopped. How he hadn't already seen them was already bubbling questions in his head.

"There's a lot more to the world than people know," she intoned, before adding, "these gates have been here a long time, but nobody knows where they go, where they lead to. Nobody even sees them unless you point them out. Their minds tell them they just didn't see them, but deep down you feel it too, don't you."

"Feel...? Uh..."

"Like if you went through those gates you wouldn't come back," she said darkly, staring through them.

For a while, the two just stood there, looking through the gates.

"You should be wary of anything strange around here," she said, and turned to look at him properly, "especially inside the estate".

"Do you... uh, did you see a lot of... um, strange things?" Carl asked, before quickly adding "When living there?"

For once she didn't turn away and wistfully look into the distance when she replied to a question, instead her gaze sank to the ground and slightly to the side.

"Yeah... you could say that," she said barely louder than a whisper.

For a moment, Carl wasn't really sure what to think. Suddenly he began to worry that maybe something had happened to her in that house that had made her this way. Maybe someone had hurt her, and this was her trying to voice that. He was surely no psychologist but there were some pretty clear signs that she knew more than she was letting on.

"Nobody believes you when you say you saw a ghost, or an alien," she said rather matter-of-factly.

"Did... you see aliens?" Carl asked, trying his best but failing to keep some incredulity out of his tone.

"No!" she spat back, her dark eyes ringing their glowing green, "Look, just... forget it."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Charlotte's lips were on his before he saw her move, and he at first thought she had tripped. Then he remembered they hadn't been walking anymore, and felt her breath sinking down his throat as she exhaled deeply, arms circling his shoulders as her hands gripped the back of his head. The scent of her was all over him, her hair and her neck became all he could see.

Carl's entire body went rigid, especially in one place, and he would have fallen flat on his back if the taller, older, huge breasted girl he'd met a few days ago wasn't holding him upright and tightly against her.

With a slightly wet pop she unclasped her lips from his and then hurriedly held on to him for a bit as she realized if she let him go he wouldn't be able to stand.

"Sorry..." she said, holding him still as the wind blew.

"Whfamfh" Carl semi-stuttered, still processing the series of events that had taken place.

The ancient iron gates creaked, the first noise he'd heard in a while. Charlotte stared at them ruefully.

"Just... remember that there are things worth staying in this world for. Things aren't always what they seem."

The clanking of the gates roused Carl from his stupor, and he detached himself from Charlotte's body as she reluctantly let go of him.

"I didn't mean to... I hope I didn't upset you."

Suddenly she seemed far more standoffish, taking a few steps back.

"You didn't," Carl said smiling, hoping his smile looked more innocent than it was.

She blushed, and so did he.

"It's getting late, I need to get home. Want to walk back together?"

His hand found its way into the sleeve of her jacket and, hands together, they walked back down the trail, as the old iron gate creaked back closed, ever so slowly.

That night, Carl was browsing his phone when he saw a notification. Amidst the Charlotte had added him.