The Queen's Dilemma

Ch. 25: Your Love

Several weeks into April, Rani finally got back into the rhythm of having a volunteer that actually wanted to work, not silly kids who needed honorary volunteer hours to check-mark off for school. Charlie lit up the office, answering the phone when Rani couldn't play secretary, and cracked jokes when patients when they walked in to see either Dr. Crowley or Kenton.

She was a far cry from when Rani first met her; confidence exuded from Charlie from how she held conversations or didn't hesitate to ask for help when she needed it. The dark clouds she used to have had disappeared.

One brutal Friday, where it seemed the entirety of the high school teens had appointments, Rani dragged herself out to her car to call Matt.

She hadn't seen Holly around town and didn't notice her around Charlie.

"Hey, babe." Matt's smile practically shoved itself through the phone.

Rani held the phone away to let out a long sigh and suppress the huge grin on her face. She was never going to get used to that amused voice of his.

She asked, "Did Charlie get home yet? She told me that she was going to walk back because she needed to get in shape for some dance?"

A long pause creeped through the call.

"No, she's not home yet. When'd she leave?" Panic seemed to incinerate his voice, while in the deep pits of her stomach, butterflies sloshed around painfully.

"About forty, forty-five minutes back."

His breathing became erratic. "It usually doesn't take that long to walk home."

"I'm going to look for her. Meet me here in the town square."

She'd long forgotten the nasty feeling in the stomach, one that warned her something bad was about to happen. The back of her neck tingled maliciously.

Where would she go? Maybe Charlie had met up with her boyfriend, what did Rani know?

They might've been overthinking this.

That's when Rani saw a flash of black race away, in the corner of her eye.

The uniform at the clinic was jet black. Several men raced after the flash Rani had seen. They seemed to follow into an alleyway behind one of the spas. As night fell, everything seemed to blend together, and Rani had to clean her glasses just to be able to make out the figures.

A mind-numbingly squeaky voice croaked from one of the shadows. "Took you long enough."

"She's a sneaky one."

"There aren't cameras here, right?" one of the guys asked.

"No, made sure Mom would prevent them from being put up. Why would these stupid shops need them anyway? Remember how we used to spray paint them?" The squeaky voice returned, with even more whining slipping through.

Rani turned on her video and kept her phone in her front pocket, while trying to sneak up behind them. It was hard, since the only thing she had to hide herself was a large dumpster and several discarded cardboard boxes.

Charlie whispered, with fear in every inch of her voice, "What do you want, Patrick?"

"Oh nothing, my little brother said you'd suddenly bailed on him and his buddies and now you're acting like you don't want to be friends with them. Guess you're too good for them now. I'm just helping him get back at you. Since daddy's not here to save you."

"You do remember my dad's the police chief, right?"

"Yeah well, I don't seem him around, do I?"

A chill almost silenced Rani's heart and she had to stifle a gasp. Squeaker took a few slow steps towards Charlie while continuing to speak. "Besides, it's not like anyone's going to come here, you know? They're all at the SpringFest on the other side of town."