It was that same night...
That very same night when I had been forced to clean out that unbelievably filthy shed.
That very same night when I had finally snapped on Charlotte for reasons I could not fully comprehend at the time.
That very same chilly night, with a breeze so cold that it could freeze a waterfall in its place.
That very same night...
After all my work was said and done, I just went home...
I did not go inside their house to say goodbye to Charlotte.
I didn't apologize for the unwarranted angry outburst that I had.
No...
I didn't do anything other than just... leave.
The moon had made its place high in the sky. The little hairs all along my arm were standing straight up as the cool breeze blew through my open window.
"Stupid thing..."
I sat in my room all alone, the tips of my fingers beginning to calice from the pressure being put on them.
"Why they gotta make these things so dang annoyin?" I mumbled as the string line began to push an indention into my fingertips.
Restringing a fishing pole always was such an annoying task to take on. Honestly, I just wanted something to occupy my mind, considering sleep was impossible to get at that point.
I couldn't stop my idiotic head from thinking about the last words I had said to her.
My tongue was poking out of my mouth as the little bits of plastic creaked and moaned in protest.
I held the poles handle steady with my feet, wrapping them around the handle like a monkey.
"Almost..."
The little plastic bit meant to hold the string in place began to shake and strain as I forced it open.
"Come on..."
I tried to ignore the growing pain building up in my finger as I quickly attempted to slide the string into place under the plastic bit.
Suddenly... her downcast face flashed behind my eyes.
Yet again...
Snap!
Smack!
"Ouch! You hunk of junk!"
In the flash of a second, my finger slipped out of place, sending the plastic bit back down where it was. Due to the immense force I was pulling with, the moment my hand was released, it was sent back towards my face. The back of my hand smacked hard against the sensitive spot right between my eyes, blurring my vision for a brief second.
I quickly dropped the pole onto the hardwood floor.
"Ugh! Stupid stupid thing!" I shouted, rubbing the sore spot between my eyes.
"Stupid stupid stupid! Why am I so stupid?! Why I gotta open my big dumb mouth like that! Stupid Tucker Greenwood!"
Just as I was about to stand up and kick the pole across my room, something outside of my open window caught my eye.
Or I should say, someone caught my eye.
Walking down the lonely road, her long sleeve dress blowing in the freezing cold breeze...
"Charlotte?" I whispered.
A shadow seemed to be cast over her as she practically glided down the dirt road. The cold blue moonlight painted her in a foreboding curtain of black.
Charlotte looked like a moonlit phantom...
Something was wrong.
So very wrong.
Whatever soreness remained on my forehead was completly absent from my mind at the sight before me. My lips parted slightly as instinct told me to rush to her side.
To care for her.
To tell her everything was okay.
To tell her I was sorry.
However, nerves seemed to nail the soles of my feet to the floorboards.
I was frozen in place. Completely petrified.
It felt like I was baring witness to something forbidden. I imagined Charlotte in that exact same manner of distress wandering the dirt roads every night to my room.
Is this how she looks every night she sneaks into my room?
I...
I hated seeing that...
Seeing her like that was a break in the ritual, made even worse by the moon highlighting her form in a dense shadow.
"What is she doing..." I mumbled, the words feeling acidic in my throat.
Just as I began to straighten my back, readying myself to confront her...
She slowly began to turn towards the treeline
No...
She took a step off of the road...
Don't...
Her dress flowed behind her blackened silhouette, dancing in the breeze with her unkempt hair.
Stay...
Time seemed to slow down as Charlotte bolted as fast as she possibly could into the treeline, disappearing like a cloud of hollow smoke.
"No!" I screamed, my eyes never leaving where she was standing mere seconds before.
Instinct kicked in...
I didnt even have time to think before the nails pinning my feet to the floor loosened, sending me out in a flash. I was like an angry bull being freed from its pin.
Scrambling out of my window, I was gone like smokey lightning.
I crossed our yard in an instant, my eyes focused solely on the spot she disappeared into. My mind finally began to catch up with my quickly moving legs as an immense fear set in.
"No no no no no no no no no no no..." I repeated those words in a nonstop loop, whispered between my gasps for the freezing air.
I twisted into the treeline, following the faint hope that I was right on her heel somehow.
Tree limbs smacked against my arms and shoulders as I rushed through the forest, scanning every last inch for any sign of her.
The icey wind was already numbing my bare cheeks, a static tingle running along my skin. Evrey breath felt like pins and needles being shoved down my throat.
I didn't even have time to put shoes on, a fact that became quickly apparent as sharp twigs, rocks, and pebbles jabbed their way into my feet with every step I took.
I didn't care...
Ignore it, Tucker... Ignore it!
That protective instinct she seemed to have latched onto was in full effect. All I could imagine was her tear soaked face, and anything I could do to help it go away... for good this time.
"Dang it, Charlotte! You can't go do this kind of thing!" I mumbled between my harsh gasps for the sharp air.
My feet continued to pound against the loose dirt, my unbearable panic increasing with every hopeless step.
"Makin me go and care bout ya, just to run off like that! Selfish selfish girl!"
Just as I was passing by a particularly shadowy part of the woods, a faint whimper could barely be heard over the sound of the nightly insects chior.
There!
I twisted on my foot towards the sound, my rapid heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Relief...
There she was... tucked beneath a trees curtain, her head rested uneven behind drawn up knees. With every breath she took, her shoulders rapidly raised and fell like a sleeping giant.
A breakdown unlike anything I had ever seen before...
I swallowed hard, licking my lips to finally break that dreadful silence in the air.
"C-Charlotte..."
My words acted as a jolt to her system, her head shooting up towards me in a flash.
"W-What?!" She mumbled, her teary eyes as wide as silver dollars.
She clearly wasn't expecting to see anyone, especially me...
I took a cautious step closer, no words at all forming on my lips. All I had to offer was a desperate plea behind my twitching eyes. A silent prayer for her to see me...
For her to rely on me...
For her to forgive me...
Seeing my approach, she leaned closer to the tree.
"T-Tucker... w-what are you-"
"You moron!" I yelled, waving my arm across my whole body.
She flinched, clearly not expecting another outburst from me...
"What you doin?! You crazy or somethin, runnin off like that! Do you have any idea how scared I was! I had no idea if you were okay?! Hurt?! Scared?! Stupid girl!"
My breath finally calmed down the slightest bit.
The moon's blue rays made her shine like a broken candle light in a pitch black room.
"I-I'm..." She mumbled.
I grit my teeth, slamming my foot into the mud in a sure motion.
"Listen to me, girl!"
Her eyes fixated on me, a few tears pulling their way forward.
"Charlotte! I have to make somethin known right here, right now!"
Her face drained of all color, that same fog I had saw in her brother's eyes overtaking hers. The wind itself seemed to cower at my words, ceasing it's neverending breeze.
"T-Tucker-"
"Quiet!" I shouted, averting my gaze from her. I knew full well that I could not look at her while I aired out everything that had needed to be said for a long time at that point.
Long overdo...
"Charlotte, you's annoyin! Beyond measure! You's follow me around, break into my life, disrupt my plans, push me round, mess with me. I can't stand it!"
I still couldn't look up... but the soft sound of her tears met my ears like a kittens cry.
"No matter what I do, where I go, what I'm thinkin, there you's are!"
I tightened my fists, my fingernails digging into my palms like nails driven into soft mud. The numbness from the cold made it hurt less than it should have.
"I-" She mumbled.
"I'm not done!" I barked.
"That's the thing... Even when I do escape you's torment, you's still there! In my stupid head! All day every day! Charlotte this! Charlotte that! Is she okay?! Where is she?! Did she get lost?!"
Why am I bout to cry...
"I just wanna fish, hunt, make my boat, live a simple life. But, I can't do that, can I? Not with you round! Instead every last thought I have is just this stupid blonde girl! She makes me do stuff I don't understand. Makes me act without thought. Makes my heart skip a beat like the dang ole thing is busted or somethin!"
My toes began to curl into the mud, the tension managing to pull more of my words out.
"That's what I's don't understand... I shouldn't like you's. I shouldn't bother with ya. I shouldn't care. But... I-I... I just... Charlotte, I-"
Just say it, ya coward!
"Charlotte! As annoyin as you are, I don't wanna see you's cry! I hate it! I don't know why I care so much, but I do! So, cling to me! Push on me! Drag me around! I ain't care, just stop cryin! I can't live with it! I can't! I just-"
Warmth...
In one solid motion, she rushed forward, her arms wrapping around my waist with the might of a jungle python. The force from her sudden embrace sent me stumbling backwards, my back colliding against the hard bark of a tree behind me.
"C-Charlotte..." I mumbled, looking down at her blonde hairs pushed against my chest.
I could feel her body shiver against me, her face hidden from my view. That anger I had built up had been transformed into a solemn sadness.
She ain't but a little thing. She seems so... small like this.
After a moment of silence, her voice finally broke through her vail of tears.
"L-Listen, Tucker... After tonight, please just pretend none of this happened. I promise, I can be strong... I promise I won't bother you with my stupid weakness ever again..."
Those words angered me for some reason.
Her grip tightened around me, the peaking moon cascading through the leaves and across her shaking body strewn over mine.
"I'm just so weak! I can't even go a single night without crying myself to sleep! Worst of all, I throw my worries onto you, then I'm to ashamed to even talk about it!"
It seemed like the words escaping her lips began to drain her of whatever strength she had left as her body began to lower onto the dirty grass.
I held onto her, lowering down beside her as she continued to hide her face from the world.
"She would read to me, you know? Every night before bed, she would tell me some ridiculous story about knights and princesses. She would let me come up with the ending." She chuckled a little. Nothing joyous or happy... it was a broken chuckle at the memories of a time long gone. The idea of not knowing what you truly had when you actually had it.
"I would always give them a happy ending... The knight would kill the dragon, save the day, and marry the princess... Every time... That's the ending I chose."
Her voice began to crack and shatter, like a teacup thrown from a rooftop. There was nothing for me to do... I simply sat there, the damp soil molding around my jeans as she broke down in my arms.
"But, that's not realistic. I know that now. There are no happy endings. There are no dragons that can be slain so easy..."
Her tears coated the front of my shirt in a waterfall of ever fading memories.
"I-Im so sorry, Tucker! You're just so strong, and I'm just a little weak coward! Everytime I start to miss her. Everytime I start to think about everything we used to do together. Every single time..."
Her words haulted all at once as my grip tightened onto her shoulder.
I pulled her closer to me, as I could feel her eyes finally opening against my chest.
I was fed up with it.
I was done seeing her cry.
I was annoyed with her misconceptions.
Most of all, I was angry.
"Who done said you had to be strong?" I whispered softly.
Those words seemed to throw her off as she finally loosened her grip on me.
"Tickin me off, Charlotte... Sayin ya have to be strong. Sayin you're weak." I began to grit my teeth, my toes curling against the mud.
"No one ever said no kid had to be strong after they's momma died. Don't be ridiculous. Who told ya that?!"
She didn't deserve that kind of self hatred over something she had no fault in. Charlotte was by far the kindest, most soft hearted person I had ever met.
"You's know I lost my mama... I miss her everyday. I'm so desperate to see her again, I work on a dumb boat in hopes to remember the words in the songs she'd sing me. I ain't strong, Charlotte. But, I can be for now on..."
For the first time in my life, I leaned in to something more than just myself and my childish ambitions.
When my arms began to tighten around her, I could feel the tremble in my own breathing. It felt like if I loosened my grip even in the slightest amount, she would blow away like dust in the wind.
"You got me here for your short comins. I can be strong enough for the both of us, alright? I ain't ever fight no dragons... But, I sure as heck can handle whatever you's throw at me."
At that moment, I remembered back to the first time I saw her. How I had to look up to even see her face. But, under the crying stars that night, with her wailing in my arms, she seemed smaller than a mouse.
So fragile...
"Charlotte, you can crawl through my window as many times as you need. Floors more comfy for me anyways..."
Her whimpers slowly began to die down, her body calming against the backdrop of the nights veil.
"I promise... I got you... I suppose I can be a knight sometimes. Don't cry now. I ain't like when girls cry..."