22: So Cold

3.7K 152 22
                                    

Charlie gasped, suddenly lurching forward. He was stopped as his body met a soft cushion. He panicked, pushing his shaking hand against the material surrounding him. Charlie couldn't withhold a cry as he felt the space around him. He took in a breath, and coughed.

There was no oxygen.

Charlie began gasping in a dazed panic. He screamed violently, throwing his body against the box he was in..

Wait.

If he was in a cushioned box, with no air-what's that smell? Charlie took in another breath, still choking as he tried to focus where he was.

Charlie was underground.

"Oh, God!" Charlie screamed, "Get me out of here! Please, get me-let me out!" The walls of the coffin he was trapped in began closing around him, squishing his body as he flailed.

"I can't-I can't breathe! Please, help-help me!" Charlie sobbed.

With one last scream, Charlie burst into flames. He screamed as he felt the box begin to melt. He shook inn his spot, shoving his arms above him, pushing against the box until it finally broke, dirt rushing into his coffin.

He hadn't even been buried. Just covered.

He gasped, strangled groans passing his severely chapped lips as he gasped in oxygen. He surveyed his surroundings.. He wasn't in a graveyard. In fact, Charlie wasn't even in the coffin anymore. He was at his house.

"Aunt Sophie?" Charlie called. "M-Malia?"

"I can't do this anymore, I wont," Charlie heard a familiar man yell.

"So what? You're just gonna leave? You have a son, Jason, a little boy, and you're just going to leave him?" Charlie had never heard his Aunt Sophie sound as mad as she did in this moment.

"I shouldn't have stayed," Charlie's dad said. "Every time I see that kid's face-"

"That kid is your son!" Sophie screamed. "He is your own flesh and blood and you are abandoning him! After just three years?"

"I cannot look at him without seeing her, Soph," Jason whispered, "and I don't want to."

"You are a coward, Jason, and you disgust me," Sophie said. "Mary would have hated you-"

"Shut up!" Jason snapped, his hand suddenly lashing forward to slap the shorter woman across the face.

Charlie gasped, stumbling back as he watched his Aunt hit the floor painfully. He felt tears drip down his face as he watched his father treat Sophie with so much violence and anger.

 He felt tears drip down his face as he watched his father treat Sophie with so much violence and anger

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

"No!" Charlie heard a meek voice cry.

He sniffled as he saw a younger boy trip over his feet to throw himself onto his Aunt Sophie.

Recondite {Malia Tate}Where stories live. Discover now