Charlie Ch. 33-37

"Hey mom."

"Have you left yet?"

"I'm just heading next door to get the nerd, and then we will be getting on the road. Did you need me to pick up anything along the way?"

"No, I've got everything here. Well, everything but the stuffed mushrooms." Nathan let out a chuckled as he locked and pulled the kitchen door closed behind him. Crossing the courtyard to Charlie's door, he continued to listen to his mom talk about the cooking times for all of the dishes she had already started prepping. If Nathan and Charlie got on the road in the next 15 minutes, then they would be just in time to help pull everything out of the oven and refrigerator.

Dropping his bag on Charlie's porch, he pushed his way into her kitchen. She was just finishing up by her sliding the mushrooms into a plastic container. She already had the newspaper-lined bag ready in order to keep them warm for the ride to his parents.

Charlie looked up and noticed Nathan was on the phone. He made a hand gesture to denote his mom was talking and talking. Charlie smiled, knowing his mom had a penchant for gabbing. The woman could carry a full conversation with the other person only saying two words. It wasn't like his mom took over conversations; she just liked to talk. The first time Charlie met the woman, it was a bit disturbing. Nathan could tell that too much chatter was overloading the poor girl as she scrunched up her face. However, as Charlie got more and more used to the ways of his family, it ended up being a comforting sort of "mom" thing.

"Mom, I've got to get Charlie out of here. I will give you a call when we pass St. Matthew's Parish."

"Hold on a sec! Put Charlie on the phone."

Nathan held out the phone to Charlie. A panic-stricken look passed over the poor girl's face. Obviously, flashbacks to her SwingBlade, lack of brain-function moment the night before were passing through her mind. She took a step back. Nathan shook the phone at her. Reluctantly, she snatched it from his hand.

"Good morning, Amanda."

"Happy Thanksgiving, sugar!"

"Same to you. Did you need Nathan and me to pick up anything on the way?"

"I already told Nathan that I've got everything. Are you excited about this weekend? We've got lots of other cooking and crafts to work on for Christmas."

Charlie nodded and responded as she continued to pack up the mushrooms. Nathan noticed her bag was sitting in the hallway next to the writing room. He grabbed it and brought it into the kitchen. Charlie was rolling her eyes as she continually tried to end the conversation with Nathan's mom, but the stubborn woman wasn't having it.

"Oh, I wanted to let you know that you might need to bring an extra blanket. Sheila's new beau is coming to stay for the weekend. He is going to actually take the guest bedroom, so I am putting you in with Nathan."

Nathan noticed a blush run over Charlie's face. His mom had said something that caught her off guard.

"Um, I'll grab an extra one."

"I actually decided to put you and Nathan in the room downstairs, so the two of you could have some privacy."

Charlie coughed for a few more moments. Nathan thought Charlie was going to pass out as he watched the color leave her face. He quickly grabbed the phone and finished the call with his mom. When he snapped the phone shut, Charlie was leaning against the counter with her eyes closed. It looked like she was doing some breathing exercises to help herself calm down.

"What did she say?"

"We need to bring an extra blanket."

"Okay, that's no big deal. Why do you look like you are going to pass out?"

"She is giving you and me the room downstairs, so we can be private."

Nathan let out a laugh. While talking to his mom last night on the phone, his sister Sheila had jumped on the phone. Of course, his younger sibling was curious about how things had worked out with Charlie. Nathan couldn't out right tell her that things were on the road to wonderful, but Sheila had pretty much guessed about their relationship moving into a sexual arena. Once Nathan wouldn't answer Sheila's questions, she gave a loud squeal and handed the phone back to their mother. She must have either said something or at least hinted about their sexual intimacies after Nathan hung up last night. Hence, there was the decision to change the rooms while they were staying for the weekend.

Nathan pulled Charlie into a hug. He could feel how tense she was. It was like every muscle in the girl's body was rigid with fear. He kissed her forehead. Like a stroke of magic, she eased out of her tension a little bit. Nathan hugged her a bit harder, and she stood there with her arms dangling at their sides. After a couple moments, she pulled away and gave him a weak smile. Nathan made a mental note to text his sister at St. Matthew's Parish. He needed to warn her against making any unnecessary comments. Fate knows Charlie was not in the mood to handle any real razzing this weekend. If he knew his sister, she had a whole tirade set up for the moment they walked into the door, and if she launched into it, Nathan would be chasing Charlie on foot down the interstate.

Releasing Charlie from the hug, they gathered their supplies including an extra blanket and, just in case, a set of pillows. With the jeep packed, they set out for his parents' house. The ride was pretty uneventful. Nathan has already programmed his Ipod with a song list, and Charlie had retrieved her computer from the seat behind her. She plugged the power converter into the jeep's lighter and began working. Occasionally, she would hum or quietly sing along with a song. Nathan focused on the road ahead. He was actually thankful there was wasn't too much conversation. The last thing he wanted was any kind of deep conversation before showing up at his parents' house. Don't spook the girl. No sudden movements either!

There were times he caught himself peering out of the corner of his eye. The girl was so incredibly attractive. The computer was propped up on her lap, and her reading glasses were perched on the edge of her nose. He could tell when she was stuck or did not have the right word; she would rest her hands on the keyboard and stare out the window for a couple moments. Then, whatever that was stuck in her mind would suddenly uncurl, and she would begin typing again. He smiled inwardly about how her habits were charming. Again, this girl doesn't even know she is beautiful. It was hard to believe she lived through such horrors.

Chapter 37

Nathan's mind drifted back to the night at the student clinic. Charlie's voice sounded constricted, thick, and slurred. He thought she had a cold and went to the clinic for something to make her feel better. He threw on some clothes and caught the campus bus because she said she needed him to walk her home.

When he got there, the nurse explained that Charlie has locked herself in the bathroom and wouldn't come out until he arrived. After knocking on the door and letting her know it was him, she opened it. When she stepped into the harsh light of the corridor, he stepped back in horror. The left side of her face was mangled and extremely swollen. There were bruises on her neck and wrists. She was walking with a limp and one arm was in a sling. She asked if she could stay in his room for a couple days. Nathan was more than happy to oblige. It was on their way out of the hospital that a nurse mentioned a rape victim support group to Charlie. That was how Nathan found out what happened, at least the big picture. The gory details came later.

They walked very slowly back to his door room in the cold evening. What should have been a 20-minute walk took them almost a hour and a half. He tried to offer his jacket since it was so cold, but she cringed away. She said she felt warm already. Forward, Charlie kept walking, almost marching; occasionally, she would push chucks of her hair out of the way. Nathan became truly concerned when the girl developed a slight blue tinge. Finally they got to his building; her limp was more pronounced, and she was wincing with each step up the stairs. Nathan had enough of her self-inflicted torture and picked her up. At first Charlie tried to object, hissing and pushing at him. It was everything he could do not drop her. Her words were too garbled to register as exact complaints. Instead, she simply whimpered and held onto Nathan as he carried her up the two remaining flights of stairs. Once in his room, he deposited her on his futon. Doing everything to make her as comfortable as possible, Charlie fell asleep in a tight ball. A bruised, blood-clotted, broken ball.

Actually, she slept on his futon for a month. He slept in a computer chair for a month. Charlie had horrible dreams every night, often waking screaming in her sleep. She didn't speak more than three words at a time and lost an incredible amount of weight. The outline of her ribs and hips were disturbing to see under her clothes. Nathan encouraged her to eat and took her to every class. The interesting times happened with bathroom. He always waited outside bathroom. Yes, he got strange looks from the other people on floor, but they just thought he was the pervert with the bathroom door propped open while he hummed in the hallway.

In the meantime, Nathan got word that the rapist was caught, and that the evidence in Charlie's room had been documented. He went back to her door room to grab a few of her personal effects. The poor girl had been living in his clothes a couple days. Upon stepping into the room, he was absolutely shocked at the horror of the scene. Dried blood covered the bed, door, and wall near the closet. It distinctly reminded him of a murder scene from CSI. The bloody hand smear on the closet door was the most unsettling. He did everything he could not to break down and break everything in sight when he realized how she dressed herself and dragged her body out of the room in order to get to the clinic. He wondered how many people walked past her bruised, beaten, and bloody body that night, but turned the other way. Exactly how many people ignored her on the half-mile walk from her dorm to the student clinic?

It was the end of that month that they decided to move off campus. He originally wanted to be her roommate as a way to keep her safe, but Charlie wouldn't hear of it. When they came across the two condo-style apartments next to one another, it was a close second. At least he would be close enough to keep an eye on her. Charlie never actually went back to the dorm room for her stuff. He was the one who packed and moved all of her belongings. That first week in the new condos was interesting. Charlie was still having a hard time coping by herself, but she was intent on gaining her independence. Nathan suggested they keep the windows open, so he was just a small shout away. Every night that first month, they sat on the bedroom window sills and talked across the small alley. Hours and hours on end. Progressively, Charlie came back to being herself. The windows always stayed open.

At the trial, everything was pretty cut and dry. The only problem was the prick who raped her claimed innocence. They needed Charlie to testify. Nathan sat with her in the back of the court room every day. She held his hand. She had every right to cry, but he never saw her break down. When the day came for her to actually go up on the stand, Nathan made sure he was in the front row, exactly where she could see him. Listening to her recount the rape was terrifying and horrifying. She had the courage to stare the bastard in the face the whole time she testified about the gory details. She recounted the feeling of her shoulder dislocating. She explained how his belt buckle dug into and ripped the flesh of her thigh with every thrust. Charlie explained that she couldn't scream because he was choking her. Nathan learned so many details that he did not know before. He thought back to the night that it happened, how she got herself to the clinic and her resolve to make it back to his dorm room. He was completely amazed by her strength and fortitude.

The defense attorney accused her of being a cold woman who showed no real emotion about what had supposedly happened. Maybe it didn't happen at all or she was making up the story. Charlie reminded the defense attorney about her injuries. Charlie even had the courage to lift the skirt up and show the jury her still aggravated, nasty scar on her inner thigh. Charlie made it point to stand in front of the defense table and show the defense attorney and her attacker. Her head was held up high the entire time. She told the judge and jury that the only time she felt cold was when she walked out of the clinic into 45 degree weather with no jacket, but it was the best feeling of her life. She was still alive. Nathan wanted to stand up and do the Rocky cheer for the girl.

On the other hand, his blood boiled, and it was sheer luck that the prick who raped her was under police custody or else there would have been a murder trial instead. The trial ended, and a sentence of 15 years was handed down. Charlie walked out of the courthouse with her shoulders back. A year after the man was put into prison, Charlie got a phone call from a victims' advocacy group. They wanted to let her know that her attacker had been killed in prison during a knife fight. Nathan was sitting in Charlie's kitchen when the phone call came through. Charlie thanked the woman and hung up. That night, she got drunker than a skunk on vodka. Of course, he held her hair. Yes, he held her as she shook and cried. Cried for the first time since the whole incident had started and finished. The last thing she said before she passed out was that it was over, and she made him promise that they would never talk about it again. Yes, it was over, and it was a quiet promise I will continue to keep.

Nathan stole a glance at Charlie from the corner of his eye. She was typing like a whirling dervish. Even with her tongue hanging between her teeth, she was ravishing. And to this day, she still amazed him.