rich man's world; charlie dalton

[fourteen] water for dead flowers

The transition to winter was less than subtle and it made Sigrid regret not changing into a pair of pants, or at least a flow skirt that would cover her legs. Richard had taken his own sweater off a couple seconds ago and offered it to her, which she didn't hesitate to accept. He smelled of fresh grass and spearmint, two things Sigrid didn't think would fit too kindly together but strangely did as she hid her hands in the sleeves and got swallowed by the cashmere. Her usual smell of mixed berries was wondrous with the spearmint.

He looked over at her, he wasn't much taller but he always bought his sweaters a size larger to grow into them. They continued to walk, the girl at a slightly faster pace as if she knew where she was going. He was shivering as his teeth clenched, hugging himself. "We've got to find somewhere comfortable to sit, I'm sure the grass is wet."

"I think we should continue walking, I'll give you your sweater back if you'd like. I'm not much cold anymore," she mumbled, lying through her teeth because the goosebumps on her legs were getting harsher.

"There's a cave nearby, it's much warmer inside, we could share the sweater maybe?"

Sigrid protested in her head, "It's yours Richard."

"I don't want you to freeze to death before I get to tell you anything that been going on."

He stopped walking suddenly, noticing the outcast of someone walking around in the cave and then laughed nervously. Sigrid turned to him in curiosity, her hair swishing as the wind overcame the trees. The leaves raddled as she looked down at her feet and decided to walk to his side, "Thinking about it, there was a bench pretty close to campus we could've gone to, but Anderson also has a bench out here somewhere. Want to find it with me? You looked at the cave like it was trying to recruit you into the army."

Richard laughed, "Sure."

Sigrid grabbed his hand and led him deeper into the woods, walking passed the cave Charlie was in. It was now cold for him, his cloak covered him completely as he looked at the wall with a blank expression. He heard the shifting outside, but he knew no one was going to show up to the meeting. He laughed through his nose and his tears continued to fall down his cheeks. He swore he could hear her talking in the distance, he swore he could feel the heat of her body next to him. Comforting.

Instead he wiped his nose and took in how lonely he was, he sighed and decided to exit the cave. There was no one around by the time he surfaced except a bunny eating a leaf. He looked at it with furrowed eyebrows, its nose bounced up and down in a sniffle.

"When we were younger, Charlie and I used to play in the park and feed the ducks. He's always been kind of mean, he'd steal my bread so the ducks could like him more, I always cried and complained to my mom. It was a little cycle you see, I tattled, he pinched me. He's one of those people with strong attitudes," he looked around for the bench but was unsuccessful. "His mom is like that too, Mr. Dalton for the most part gets stomped over because he can't really handle her. Theresa got married into the family, did you know that? She was dirt poor before meeting Colson and now she wants to be some hero and get girls out of 'poor situations'."

Sigrid shook her head, turning both of them to the left because she found the bench hidden behind a bedsheet. She walked faster as the bench came into perfect view for both of them, "Yeah, she lived in Lexington and her father and Mr. Dalton's father knew each other through friends. He married her off when she turned fourteen to afford electricity, and Theresa immediately got pregnant. Charlie has an older brother he hasn't told you about, he hasn't told anyone really. And Theresa trusted me enough not to tell anyone. She couldn't have any more kids after Charlie, she always wanted a girl. In fact Charlie's original name was Charlotte."