This is a new story, giving Charlie's final storyline a different ending. What might have happened if she had survived the shooting? How might it have changed her life? I really hope you enjoy it and look forward to reviews if people have the time and inclination. Love, IJKS xxx
Epiphany
Chapter One
It's funny, what you think about when you're about to die. I've had a few near misses over the years but nothing like what I experienced recently.
I remember in 2008, when I was heartbroken over the end of my ill-advised relationship with Roman Harris, there was a storm and my little housemate, VJ Patterson and my daughter, Ruby's friend, Annie Campbell were trapped in a storm drain.
It was a race against time and I didn't have all that much care for my own welfare so I climbed right on in and tried to save them. VJ was free before I even got there but Annie was seriously trapped. I managed to get her to safety and then the pipe was overwhelmed and I was shot out to sea, unconscious.
Ironically, it was Roman that saved me. When I came round on the beach, my first thought was sheer mortification that my ex-boyfriend had saved my life. It really pissed me off, actually. And I was in a bad way about the whole thing for a long time. I even slept with Angelo Rosetta that night for the first time. He was my friend from work and had had a thing for me from the first moment we met. I guess that night was the start of the most on-again-off-again relationship that's ever existed!
I didn't have time to assess my life then. One minute, I was trying to climb to safety and the next, I was unconscious. There was no significant moment of clarity. If I'm being really honest, I was disappointed when I came round and learned that I was going to be okay.
Another near miss was at the end of that year. There had been a big fire at the school formal, thanks to a very mentally unstable student called Melody. I forget her surname but it started when she became a rape victim. Her life spiralled out of control after that. I know that one too well.
Anyway, I risked life and limb to rescue badly injured people from the fire and I came pretty close to losing my life for the sake of saving others. And while we were all tending to that particular crisis, what nobody but Angelo knew was that a fellow colleague, Jack Holden was lying dead on a local development site. Angelo had shot him by mistake but he didn't own up to it until he had no choice. Thinking back now, I wonder if Jack knew what had happened. I wonder if he died instantly or if there was time between the shooting and his last breath. Even if it was only a couple of seconds, I wonder what he thought and felt.
I was in a car accident in 2010. I'd started dating Angelo after he'd been redeemed and released from prison. It was the day of my friend, Aden Jeffries' wedding to Angelo's ex-girlfriend, Belle Taylor. After the wedding, Angelo tried to take me out on a boat trip but I completely freaked out, stepped back into the road and got knocked down by a car.
The reason I freaked was because the last time I'd been on a boat, had been the moment that I'd fallen in love for the very first time. And it wasn't with Angelo. It wasn't even with Roman. No, the person I fell in love with was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her name was Joey Collins and I looked after her when she was raped by a viscous colleague. I took her under my wing and we became the best of friends. She moved into the house with me, Leah, Ruby and VJ and we fell in love.
To say it scared me would be the understatement of the Century! I messed her around so much, kissing her and then running away. Then we decided to make a go of things but when everyone found out and her brother, Brett, tried to humiliate me by trashing my car and making a complaint of abuse, I lost the plot. I slept with the first available guy that I saw, cheating on my darling Joey and breaking her heart.
She left town the moment she found out. She was meant to return after three months to see if we could give it a shot. But she never came home and I was lonely so I ended up with Angelo. Even though I never fell out of love with Joey, I don't think I worked hard enough to prove myself to her. I gave up too easily and it's cost me so much.
Joey was obsessed with boats, so when Angelo wanted to take me sailing as a romantic gesture, I had to refuse. That's how the accident happened. I was unnerved anyway because he'd parked the car almost directly outside Joey's house and it turned out that Brett was the person who ran me over.
That was how Angelo discovered that I'd previously been in a relationship with a woman and he dumped me (temporarily) for not being honest with him. It was also eventually the way Ruby discovered that I was her mother and not the sister I had always claimed to be. She was borne of my most traumatic experience in life. I was raped. And after that, everything changed.
But before I passed out on the road, after Brett ran me over, I had those few moments of clarity, wondering if I was going to die. My hip was knocked out of place and my head hurt like a bitch. I was vaguely aware of Angelo desperately calling my name. But all I could think about was Joey. At the time, I wondered if it was because she'd been my subject of thought when I was hit but now I know differently. But I still have a couple more incidents to go before I get to my latest one, the one of crystal clear clarity.
At the end of last year, I was abducted by a criminal named Hugo Austen. He was the same man that I made my terrible mistake with, behind Joey's back. I caught him out in his human trafficking operation and he responded by taking me out to sea and trying to throw me overboard. Then he left me at the mercy of his evil associate, Suzy Sudiro.
I was abducted again this year. This time is was due to my involvement with a man named Daryl Braxton (Brax, for short). He was the leader of a notorious, criminal, surfing gang called the River Boys. He's been involved in petty and not so petty crimes all his life but somewhere along the way, we fell in love with each other.
If there were ever two people who shouldn't be together, it was Brax and I. The love was real but we were from such different sides of the track. I was a cop and he was a criminal. And yet somehow, it worked enough that for a while there, I was genuinely planning on spending the rest of my life with him.
The plan was that Brax and I, along with Ruby and her boyfriend, Brax's brother, Casey, would all move to the city together and start again as one, big, happy family. But it wasn't to be. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that.
But anyway, earlier in the year, I was abducted by a member of a rival gang. They'd figured out that Brax and I were dating in secret and they wanted to lure him out for helping to put their leader in jail. The guy who abducted me was called Hammer and he planned on killing us both. Between us, Brax and I overpowered him and I ended up shooting him dead. Like Jack, I wonder if he had any last thoughts and what they were. Did he come face to face with his conscience before he died?
Another member of that gang shot me recently. I was out running, trying to clear my head after one of the worst storms Summer Bay has ever seen – and we've had a fair few of them! With my music on, I was oblivious to the world around me until I felt a sharp pain in my arm and Brax had tackled me to the ground. I narrowly escaped and I didn't give myself that much time to recover from the shock.
I then got into a car accident. I tried to escape my life for a little while with my best friend, Bianca Scott. Well, she was my best friend. I don't think I can claim that now, not after what happened that day. I was trying not to be with Brax and she was trying not to be with his brother, Heath.
I'd compromised myself terribly by giving Brax the chance to steal some evidence from my patrol car. He was being set up for a crime he didn't commit – one of the only ones he didn't – and I believed so much in him that I was willing to break the law and go against my ethics for him.
But I felt so sick about it afterwards that I couldn't even look at him. That's why Bianca and I headed out of the Bay to try and escape it all. But the boys followed us and Brax and I ended up reuniting.
On the way home, we got into an accident and I got pretty hurt. But not as bad as the person we hit. Liam Murphy is a former rock star who settled in Summer Bay a while ago. Until recently, he had been in a long term relationship with Bianca.
I think that's when things became irreversible really. Liam had driven his motorbike into us and he was unconscious for days. Every time I've seen him since, he's looked so battered and bruised. But the thing was that Brax and I weren't supposed to be seen together. Heath and Bianca lied and told the police that they were the ones in the car. Liam knows the truth now but the cops still don't. It was one of the worst lies I've ever told and I've said a fair few of them.
Bianca was so messed up about everything that she stopped talking to me. I don't think we're friends anymore. I was so caught up in my own guilt that I resigned from the police and it took Brax officially walking out on the River Boys for me to be with him properly.
And that took us to a few days ago. I was all packed up and ready to move to the city with Brax, Ruby and Casey. It was my final day on shift as Sergeant of Yabbie Creek Police Station and I was really quite emotional about it. I was keen for this new start but I was scared as well. I was giving up so much for love. I was so misguided.
I'd just put my badge on and was ready to set off when I heard a noise in the main living area. I stepped into the lounge and came face to face with Jake, Hammer's brother, who had apparently been released from jail. He shot me twice and I collapsed onto the floor, bleeding… dying.
I was only conscious for a few moments before my injuries overwhelmed me and I started to bleed out. I knew I was dying. And I knew it was worse than any other occasion that I'd got myself into trouble.
I thought about Ruby and I was overwhelmed with the pain of never seeing her again. Since she found out I was her biological mother, things have never been quite the same between us. I felt like we'd finally got to a really good place and I was so sad that it could be over.
And my last thought, before I couldn't think anymore? It wasn't Brax. It should have been him. He was the one I was committed to and was starting a new life with. But I all but forgot he existed. The only thing I could think about was Joey and how deeply I regretted betraying her the way I did. How I deeply regretted not fighting for her the way I should have. How I deeply regretted not being able to hold onto her. How I let her down and lost her love.
My final thought was a prayer. I silently said, God, if You would just spare me, then I will stop living in regret. I'll make things right. And even if she hates me and I don't get anywhere, I will find Joey and I will tell her exactly how I feel. I'll stop compromising my own integrity, my values and my beliefs. I'll be the good person I was meant to be. And I'll spend the rest of my days, trying to right my wrongs.
And now, here I am, ready to change my life.
Next time… Charlie tells Ruby of her change of heart…