What you don't know

07 Trust

What you don't know (by oxala): Chapter 07 - Trust

-------------------

What did I tell him?

Charles awakened before Eric on Sunday morning and quietly made his way up the stairs and onto the upper deck. The memory of the night's conversations with Eric haunted him, stealing whatever joy he felt from the successful party.

He's going to tell his fucking dad ... that fucking asshole ... how did I let him do that to me ...

Looking north toward the lake, he wanted to cry, but he would not. He desperately attempted to repress his seething emotions, but he could not. He wanted to think, but all coherent thought eluded him. Instead, he simply stared over the lake, issuing a silent prayer to whatever might listen, to whatever god might reverse the reality of his confession.

After half an hour or so, Charles felt no surprise to see Eric speaking on the phone through the large glass doors.

Fucker!

"Good morning", Eric tenuously greeted Charles as he stepped through the doorway and onto to the deck to join his friend in the morning warmth. He had ended his conversation with his father shortly after catching Charles glaring at him from the short distance that had separated them. He took a seat to Charles' left, such that he was facing the kitchen and could clearly see the phone he had just placed back on its wall mount. He tried again.

"Good morning Charles"

"Fuck you"

"Charles ..."

"I said fuck you, now fuck off!"

Eric sat motionless in stunned silence. His father had warned him yesterday that Charles might resent the intrusion into such deeply personal matters, but Eric had felt more confident after his final conversation with Charles as they went to sleep. His father's parting words of a minute prior rang hollowly in his head, "go take care of your friend." "I'm not his friend anymore", Eric sadly replied to the father in his mind. He studied his friend carefully as Charles stared across the lake. Although Charles' words and tone had been unequivocally angry, he did not really appear angry; he looked sad, frightened and distant. Before he could formulate anything more, Charles spoke again.

"What did you tell your father?"

"Charles, I'm not trying to ..."

"What did you tell him?" Charles demanded.

"I told him that you said your father has beaten you before and that you promised to come over with Zach if you feel unsafe."

"Fuck!" Charles shouted in frustration.

"Charles, I just ..."

"Eric, nothing like that has happened in a long time, fuck, why do you need to make a big deal out of nothing?"

"It is a big deal Charles."

"Is that what your dad thinks?"

"It's what I think, Charles. It's what I think, and I'm worried dude."

"You don't need to worry about me."

Eric did not respond to the assertion. He had spent enough time around Charles' family to believe there was no imminent threat of danger. But all the little clues in the family dynamics had convinced both him, and to a lesser extent his father, that something was amiss. "Am I over reacting to everything I know?" Eric asked himself. "We don't know ..." were his father's words on the phone.