☁️Little Charlie☁️

CH 45 // Camping

TW

"Come on boys!" Mia shouted from the front yard. "Let's get this show on the road!"
Charlie poked his head out the window. "I can't find my sandles!" He shouted.
"Did you look under your bed?" She shouted back.
Charlie stepped away from the window and took a look. Sure enough, there they were. How did she do that?
"Got them!" He said slipping them on.

It was the begining of June, and the air was already hot and sticky. Despite the uncomfortable conditions, Alex refused to remove his hoodie.
Charlie had noticed when he showed up at their place this morning. Maybe it was just him, but he couldn't stand wearing anything more than a T-shirt and shorts these days.
He had tried to convince himself that it was just because of how skinny Alex was. But deep down he had a dreadfull feeling that something was up.

"Aren't you hot?" Charlie asked while struggling to put his bag on.

Alex was standing by the door, hands in his pockets and eyes glued to the floor. Though his mind was obviously elsewhere.
He hadn't been himself ever since the day he came out to his Family and they practically disowned him.
These past couple of months had just dragged on with little to no life coming from the boy. All he wanted to do was sleep and sometimes cry. He still laughed at jokes and smiled when Charlie gave him loveings. But as soon as he was alone with his thoughts or there was nothing to keep him distracted, he was back to feeling little to nothing at all.

That's why Mia thought it would be a great idea to get away for a while and take a camping trip. Just her, Charlie and Alex. Heather would have come along too but she had work that weekend. She knew it woud be theraputic for Alex to get out of his normal routine and get out for a bit.

"Hm?" Alex said looking up. "Oh, um not-not really no" He shrugged. "Come on, Mia's waiting on us" He took Charlie's hand and dragged him out to the car to begin their long weekend ahead.

******

The spot they picked out was beutiful. It sat right next to a lake and the perfect trees for climbing.
Charlie had never gone camping before but he was so excited when they pulled up that he could hardly sit still.

There were two small cabins, one for Alex and Charlie and one for Mia. Nothing fancy, each was a one room with enough space for two full sized beds with space in bewtween (Pic up above). After settling in, Alex made a fire and they roasted some hot dogs.

"We should go swimming after this" Charlie suggested. He took the last bite of his hotdog and took a sip out of his juice-box. He looked over to Alex, expecting him to agree.

"I think I'm ganna sit that one out" He replied with a shrug.

"Are you feeling alright darling?" Mia asked. She put a hand up to his face. He was warm, but not from a fever. "Alex you're pretty warm you should take your hoodie off".

Alex stood abruptly, as if someone had just asked him to chop his foot off. He looked like he wanted to explode. But before he could, he grabbed his book off the picnic table and stomped off into the cabin. Charlie wanted to go after him, but he had a feeling Alex needed to be alone right now.

Alex stayed inside the whole rest of the afternoon. When nightfall came, Charlie was ready for bed. He hugged Mia by the campfire and headed inside. Alex was already asleep in his own bed. Charlie sighed and crawled into the empty one. He wanted to cuddle with Alex, but he wasn't sure if Alex was still mad or not. It took about an hour or two, but eventually Charlie had fallen asleep.

Later that night, Charlie heard something while half asleep. He stirred not thinking anything of it. But then it got closer.
His hand hung over the side. Big mistake. Charlie was awoken to a cold and slimy sensation hitting his hand. His eyes shot open and he sat straight up. What...the heck...was that?! He turned the lamp on and looked down.