Heartstopper

9: Help

"...and then he just ran away." Nick said, looking at his mom. Sarah smiled. "Nick, it's clear Charlie has some unresolved trauma from when he was younger. Some private things he wasn't ready to share with anyone."

Nick looked at the ground. He felt like punching a wall. "Then why didn't he tell me? I told him he could trust me with everything. I even called Geoff to tell me what Charlie said to him because he doesn't tell me and-"

"Hold it right there." Sarah stopped Nick and looked at him in confusion. "You asked Charlie's therapist to tell you what Charlie told him? Nick, that's supposed to be his safe space. A place he can confide in. I know you care for him, but that's over it."

"I'm just worried for him."

Sarah sighed. "You might care for him, but that's like invading his privacy." Sarah took her sons hands in hers. "Please, respect Charlie's privacy."

Nick nodded. He hugged Sarah then his phone rang. He looked at the screen. "Tao? He never calls me. He answered the call and put it on speaker. "Tao? What's wrong?"

"Is Charlie with you?" he sounded panicked.

"Err, no, i'm with my mom. Why? Did something happen?"

There was silence at the other side and he heard Tao and Elle talk to each other in the back. "Can you drive here in two minutes? We're telling you here."

Nick looked at his mom who nodded and hugged him. "Drive safely though."

________

Nick parked his car in front of Tao's house and ran inside. "What's up?"

Tao handed him a letter. The handwriting looked awfully the same as Charlie's. "What is this?'

"Just- just read it." Nick opened the letter and started reading. After a minute he started tearing up and looked at the both of them. "Where is he?" both Elle and Tao didn't answer.

"WHERE IS HE?" Nick was walking towards Tao. "WHEN DID HE LEAVE THIS, WHERE DID HE GO, WHAT DID HE DO?" 

"Tao sighed. "Not to put the blame on anyone, but he came by, said he got in an argument with you, went upstairs, didn't come back for ten minutes and when we went to check on him, the letter was on the bed and he was gone."

Nick was crying as he was trying to comprehend what was happening. "So you're saying he committed because of me?"

"I'm not saying that-"

"Well it looks like what you're saying!"

"Boys stop fighting!"

"Shut up Elle."

"You're not talking to Elle like that!"

"You're his friend! Tell me where he might've done it!"

"You can't save hi-"

"TELL ME WHERE TAO!"

"The place where you asked him. He talked about that place everyday since."

Nick stormed off and banged the door shut. He stepped in his car and raced to the park where he asked Charlie. He could barely see anything cuz of his tears that were streaming down his face, but it was okay. It was 2 am so he didn't expect a car at that time. He got to the park. He put the flashlight on his phone on and searched for Charlie, but he didn't see anything. He looked up and saw a person, the exact height on the roof.

"Charlie?"

The person on the roof looked down and saw Nick with his flashlight. Nick waved at him, screaming to get off the roof. He didn't move.

"I'm sorry for being a disappointment!" he suddenly said. Nick looked up, tears streaming down his face. "No! You were never a disappointment!"

"Yes I were. I'm Sorry. Sorry for everything!"

He jumped.

Nick's heart raced as he was running to catch Charlie. He couldn't let him die. He just couldn't. He only loved one person and one person only and that was Charlie.

He somewhat managed to catch Charlie. When he shined his flashlight on Charlie, it wasn't Charlie. It was some random man. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Charlie asked me to pretend to be him because he knew you'd try to save him. Charlie actually committed 20 minutes ago."

"WHERE? TELL ME THE FUCKING ADRESS!"

"Your house."

Nick dropped the random man that acted like Charlie and drove as fast as he could to his house. He barged through the front door and searched through the whole house. He got to their bedroom and saw Charlie hanging from the ceiling. "CHARLIE!" He stood on the bed and took the knot from Charlie's neck. He checked the pulse and there was none.

"No, you're not dying!" he called the paramedics and few minutes later he heard them from afar. They came in the house and saw Nick in tears holding a lifeless Charlie. "Please help."

The paramedics sighed and took Charlie careful and put him in the ambulance. One of the paramedics turned around. "Do you want a ride to the hospital?"

"Yes! Please!"

The paramedics nodded and took Nick in the ambulance with them."

One of the paramedics that was nice smiled and tried to comfort him. "What's you relation with him?"

"His name is Charles Francis Nelson and he's my husband."

"My name is Eleonor Hughes and we're gonna do everything to save him. You really love him, don't you."

Nick nodded. "I can't imagine my life without him."