The Third Soldier 〰 Bucky Barnes ON HOLD

Chapter 5

*flashback*

The light in the bathroom was dim. The dripping of the tap could be heard throughout the silent house. John Age lied in the bath, blood slowly falling from his wrists, thighs and stomach. A knife at his side. An opaque curtain hid the body from the rest of the world as John Age's arm was leaning against it. Some blood had been left on the curtain from when John's bloody hand swiped across it. His dead and lifeless body was started to slowly rot. Suicide was a rare and strange thing in the 40's, but John was a rare and strange man. With the brains bigger then any other humans, and the knowledge to destroy a city with a tiny piece of equipment, people were scared of him, apart from Elisa Age and his family.

Four-year-old Charlotte Age was asleep in her bed. Her plain sheets were scattered across her body and her teddy was wrapped tightly under her arm. Her body was small in comparison to the bed, but it meant that she could be a lot more comfortable at night. She jolted awake with tears slowly falling from her wet eyes and sweat covered parts of her body. Her teddy hung by its ear as she got out of bed and held it by her side.

"Daddy?" She called into the darkness of the house. "Daddy, where are you?" Her voice was quiet as she called for her father, but received no reply after both. Charlotte walked into her fathers bedroom to find the bed empty and the sheets scattered across the floor. After having no luck of finding him in his bed, she moved onto the kitchen where, again, she had no luck finding him. She continued through the house before settling on searching in the bathroom.

"Daddy?" She pushed the door open. "Are you in...here?" Her speak slowed down when she saw her father in the bathtub. She walked towards the bath and pulled back the curtain.

"Daddy?" She looked at the lifeless body in front of her and tilted her head. Realisation kicked in when she noticed it was her fathers dead body.

"Daddy?! Daddy, wake up!" She shook his bloody arm, trying her hardest to wake
her dead father. When he didn't wake up or reply, Charlotte ran to her front door, opened it and knocked on her neighbour, Mrs Hallet's, door.

Bang, bang, bang!

"Mrs Hallet, Mrs Hallet!" She screamed, her fist almost going through the door.

"Charlotte, what's the matter?" Mrs Hallet knew something was the matter. The only time Charlotte came to her for help was whenever her father wasn't there, or he was drunk off his face. But this time Charlotte seemed more worried then ever.

"My daddy, he's in the bath and he's not waking up" she exclaimed.

"Let's go see" Mrs Hallet pushed Charlotte back into her house and walked hand in hand with her to the bathroom. When the two entered, Charlotte pointed at her fathers dead body and Mrs Hallet gasped in surprise. She immediately lead Charlotte back into her room and closed the door, not wanting her to see what was about to happen.

Minutes after being shut in her room, Charlotte heard Mrs Hallet on the phone to someone. There was a lot of speaking and footsteps a few minutes after the call and Charlotte could hear some coming to her door.

"Hello Charlotte," the man walked into her room, "how are you doing?" Charlotte coward backwards in her bed from the policeman. He stayed still and asked again. Charlotte stayed quiet, afraid he would hurt her.

"How did you find your daddy?" He asked after she didn't reply.

"He-he was as-asleep in the...in the bath" she finally replied.

"Okay, thank you Charlotte" he left Charlotte alone once again and closed the door. She settled back into her bed after the policeman had gone, then realised that something was happening in her house, and with her dad, and she didn't know. She hopped out of bed, ran to her door, swung it open just to see a group of men carrying her father from the bathroom. Everything seemed to go in slow motion for Charlotte after she saw that. She was walking slowly, the other people in her house were walking slowly, everything was inaudible to her and people were ignoring her. She slipped through the mass of people and towards the door where they were taking her father.

She saw him in a black body bag being carried out the door by two policemen. She screamed at them to put him down, to stop taking him away, to leave him alone. Mrs Hallet picked her up and took Charlotte into her house. Mrs Hallet stayed with Charlotte and explained what had happened, even though she wouldn't understand it. But she did, she understood all of it. A tear slid down her dry cheek as Mrs Hallet continued to tell her what happened. She'd lost her mother and father in the space of four years. And they were never coming back, ever.

*flashback end*

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What happened to Charlotte after her father died? And why did he actually kill himself?

-MrsEvanStan 💕