Chapter 1:
1969
New Jersey
The glistening sun sat shining in the cloudless crystal blue sky, as flocks of birds carelessly flew over East Jersey State Prison, a maximum-security institution operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Charles Lee Ray, also known as Chucky, sat in a prison cell which was cold and unfeeling. Each wall had been carefully designed to keep him from the freedom he longed for. A small cell with barred doors and no window confined him, his sleeping area was a small metallic frame with a worn out matress and thin blanket. In the corner of his small inhumane cell was a filthy toilet bowl, unclean and overused, with no walls around since privacy was unheard of in prison, but a huge grin stretched across Chucky's face, as his sentence was over and he'd finally be free in a matter of minutes.
He changed from the bright orange prison suit he had wore for the past five years, and into the clothes his mother had handed in for him. He threw on the plain white v-neck, ripped up blue jeans and slipped on the black boots, before sitting back down on the edge of the matress. Chewing on his finger nails, he breathed uneasily as he thought about the outside world. It seemed unreal, he was going to released, the thought of it made his body tremble with anxiousness. He wondered if everything had changed, how his friends were and if his parents where okay. For everyday of the fours years of his sentence, he had wished he could be outside of prison, surrounded by his friends and family. Now he knew he was going to see them again, his palms sweated and his legs shook. Gazing down at the floor, he wiped the perspiration from his forehead, before his eyes darted up at the cell doors when they swung open. "Charles Lee Ray...you're free to go" a prison guard announced, before handing Chucky a bag of meager belongings he'd entered prison with.
He was then led out of prison, saying goodbye to the hungry prisoners who sat in their cells, clutching there roaring stomachs as they gasped for food, and the prison guards who roamed the hallways, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting inmate. Once he stepped out of the prison, Charles let out a sigh of relief, before a delightful smile wiped across his face when he heard his mother Rita, happily shrieking "Charles, Charlie". Rita was beautiful, she was tall and slim, with pale ivory white skin. Her eyes were a soulful, serene crystal blue and she had long, golden blonde hair. She was pretty with elegant features, high-cheek bones and small pink lips. She was wearing a long black maxi coat, which was belted and lined with sheepskin, tight drain-pipe jeans and a simple black blouse. Gold necklaces adorned with sovereigns were also wrapped around her neck, chuncky gold bracelets hung from her wrist and several gold rings were squeezed onto her finger.
She stood beside her car smoking a cigarette, while gleefully smiling and calling out Chucky's full name, "Charles...Charles Lee Ray" she yelled, throwing her cigarette onto the floor and crushing it beneath the heel of her shoe, before waving at him. Tears rolled down Chucky's face, as he murmered "mom" and began racing towards her. She swung open her arms and threw them around his neck, pecked him on his cheek and gasped "Charles, I've missed you" before pulling him back, scanning him up and down, then sighing "you've grew so much".
"I've missed you too, mom. You don't realise, how much I have" Chucky tearfully replied
"I know you've missed me, me and your father, we've been waiting for this day for what feels like forever" Rita smiled as she gazed into her sons jade-green eyes, before adding "now, get in the car, and lets get home". Chucky opened the door and got into the front passenger seat, Rita climbed into the drivers seat, before looking at Chucky and giggling "dry those eyes, your father will think you went in a boy and came out a woman".
Chucky chuckled at Rita's joke, before he questioned nervously "how is dad"
"Well, he's much better...your father, he's mellowed with age I think" she answered, switching on the ignition and wrapping her hands around the steering wheel. "After his stroke though, he's not the same man I married. I get upset sometimes, seeing him, the man I love confined to one room as he's to weak to walk about. He can't use the left side of his body, you know that, I have to leave the room sometimes, just to cry" Rita said, sniffling and trying her best to hold back the tears as she gripped the steering wheel tighter
"Is that why...why you never came to visit me, while I was inside" questioned Chucky
"Of course, me and your father wanted to see you, that's why we wrote to you every single day to make sure you were okay. Your father couldn't come, and I couldn't leave him, who else would there to be to care for him, if I wasn't there" Rita snapped back
"Okay, mom...I understand" Chucky insisted, before adding "but, it was just lonely in there, sometimes"
"Oh, stop moaning" demanded Rita, before laughing "your father, he's been in and out of prison like a blue arsed fly, he never moans about it. Your father, he just gets on with it. That man has basically lived in prison, for most of his life. You only done four years"
"I know, fucking hell, can't believe I wasted four years of my life in a jail cell" complained Chucky, "all for a stupid crime, but I was only fifteen years old, I didn't know any better"
"I know, four years is a long time for an attempted rape" thought Rita, rolling down the window and lighting a cigarette
"I probably would of got that if I raped the cunt...at least then I would of had something out of it, but I didn't even get a grope of the girls fanny" chuckled Chucky
"Don't talk so vulgar" yelled Rita angrily, before quietly laughing and giggling "you're just like your father"
"I just sat there sometimes, thinking of how I could of done it differently" Chucky said
"You could of, not done it at all" replied Rita, tossing her cigarette out the window
"Yeah I know, but at least next time, I know not to let the bitch get away"
"So, there's going to be a next time" Rita asked
"Well, never say never" grinned Chucky, before glancing at his mothers cigarettes, then asking politely "could I please have one"
"Oh, you're smoking now" Rita acknowledged, before nodding and laughing "go on, smoke till your lungs are black"
"How've you been, mom" Chucky questioned, noticing Rita who had once been tall and curvacious, had lost a lot of weight, and had become quite slim.
"I've been okay, just exhausted, I've had no rest in years. I love your father, but you know how demanding he can be" Rita replied, biting the sides of her cheeks so she did't cry, "It's been a crazy few years, hasn't it...first of all your father gets stuck in jail when you're ten years old, picks up that nasty habit he got while he was in there, suffers a stroke, then is freed. We were only together for a year, before you were then arrested"
"I know, mom. It must've been hard on you" Chucky assumed, reached over and holding his mothers hand gently, before smiling "but I'm out now, dads not going anywhere either, so we're all back together"
"I know, that's a good reason to be happy" Rita admitted with a glistening smile. They drove for a few hours, chatting about different things, how life was in prison for Chucky, the different medicines his father was on and the cost of healthcare, till they drove into Hackensack and headed towards the home Chucky grew up in. The home, he shared with Rita and his dad Gerald, was perched on a hilltop, its front deck overlooked a beautiful pond and a weathered split-rail fence bordered the property. Rita stopped the car abruptly, then glanced at Chucky in shock, "what's wrong, mom" he asked, before looking at the house and noticing a man standing in front of the house, glaring at it. "Who's that" he questioned, the man was tall and muscular, with tanned skin and frightening scars covering his face, he was wearing a dirty ripped vest, baggy jeans and filthy black boots.
"Wait here, stay quiet, we'll go in when he leaves" Rita ordered, her eyes darting around as if searching for a place to hide
"Who is he" Chucky angrily repeated, "who the fuck is he"
"Oh, god...your father will be asking questions now, he'll want to know who's been knocking" Rita nervously stammered
"I want to fucking now" Chucky said furiously, before watching the man stroll past the house, dive into a car and then speed off. Rita grabbed her bag, swung open the door and then shouted as she rushed towards the house, "come on, lets get inside". It was a spacious home, which was occupied by only the two of them. On the first floor there was a large living room with a fireplace, its sliding doors opening to a fenced area shaded by nine tall pines. A family room, kitchen, dinette, formal dining and master bedroom with full bath were also on the first floor. Three more bedrooms, a full bath and ample closet space were located upstairs
Rita hurried into the kitchen, before reaching into her bag and searching frantically for a cigarette, "where's my fags" she muttered
"Mom, tell me who he was" Chucky said, ordering not asking
"It's hard to explain" Rita moaned, clutching her blonde hair with frustration, before finding her cigarettes
"Tell me" Chucky yelled, slamming his hands on the kitchen counter
"Stop that, acting like a big child, your fathers upstairs" ordered Rita, before admitting tearfully "that man, Tommy, I owe him some money...but I can't pay him back"
"Why've you been lending money. You've got money haven't you, what happened to dads stash"
"With the cost of his medical bills, general day to day living and everything, we've got nothing. After a while, it was gone, I had to get money from somewhere. You know, there were bills to pay, I couldn't let your father worry"
"Why don't you sell some jewellery" suggested Chucky
"No way" she shot back, clutching the chains that hung around her neck, before arguing "these hold a lot of memories for me, and your father bought me them"
"What does my dad think we should do" asked Chucky
"I don't know" shouted Rita, smoking her cigarette before sitting herself at the kitchen table, and sobbing "he doesn't know, I can bring myself to tell him. How'd I tell a man, who worked so hard trying to give his family a good life, that we're broke"
"I know, mom...don't worry about it, I'll do my best to sort it out"
"It's a couple of thousand, I owe him" Rita assumed, before asking "what are you going to do"
"I'm going to have to get some money, at least enough to get him off your back" Chucky responded calmly, thinking about easy ways to get cash quick, but he only knew one way to get money fast, that was robbing. Before his mother could reply, the sound of his fathers loud voice bellowed through the house, "Rita, are you home".
Rita leaped to her feet, looked at Chucky, wiped away her tears and begged "don't go telling your father, just sort it out". Chucky nodded agreeingly, before following his mother up the stairs onto the second floor and towards the main bedroom. His mother entered the bedroom, where his father laid motionless in bed. The bedroom was massive, a huge king-size bed sat in the center, with a bedside cabinet on each side and an expensive antique lamp. On Rita's bedside cabinet sat an ashtray, with a bible next to it which was surrounded by pictures of the family. On Gerald's bedside cabinet there was also an ashtray, surrounded by awards and medals he had won during his boxing career when he was was also a large antique desk, where Gerald would read the newspaper when he found the strength to get out of bed, a house phone also sat on the desk alongside a pen and paper, for when they had to note something down. Facing the bed was a huge television stand, on top stood an expensive television, they had been the first in there street to buy a television.
Rita crept into the bedroom towards her husband, then sat on the edge of the bed, he had fell back asleep after calling her. Gently shaking him, she announced in a whisper, "Gerald, Charles is home". Gerald yawned, struggling to turn back onto his back, before Rita helped him, then gently placed his half-moon shaped glasses on him. "Get me fag" he slurred, a long term effect from his stroke was that he could no longer speak properly, he now slurred his speech and struggled to speak. "Okay, Gerald" Rita replied pleasently, before asking "did you hear what I said, Charles is home".
"He is, wh-wh-where is me. I mean, where is he" Gerald stuttered, while using his one good hand to point at his pouche of rolling tobacco.
"Charles, come on in" she called out. Charles took in a deep breath, before opening the door and strolling into the bedroom. Rita was still sitting on the edge of the bed, with a small bag of Cutters Choice tobacco on her lap, as she rolled her husband a cigarette. Gerald was lying in bed, he looked weak and old, Chucky thought. Gerald was 13 years older than Rita, but he looked much older than 52 years old. Chucky had remembered him as a good-looking, massive man who was muscular and tough, but his father now looked sickly and weak. He had a gaunt and skull-like face that dropped on one side because of the stroke, he had one glistening jade-green eye and the other was a pale blue, blinded by the stroke. He was extremely skinny and his pajama's hung of him, he held the one arm he could not use closely to his body.
"Hello, dad" Chucky smiled, "it's nice to see you"
"My boy, come over here, sit on the bed" Gerald insisted, before pointing his bony finger at Rita and demanding "get off the bed, le-le-let my boy sit down"
"There's your cigarette" Rita said, rolling her eyes with annoyance as she placed the cigarette in Gerald's mouth then lit it, before wandering out the room.
"How are you" Gerald asked, the good half of his mouth smiling, while the other stayed drooping down
"I'm good, just glad to be out" Chucky smiled, "you look well, are you feeling better"
"Yeah, a bit fucking better...it's been fucking something after another. I know, why i'm like this, I can only blame my fucking self" moaned Gerald, puffing away on his cigarette
"I know, dad. I know it's been hard"
"I've been in and out of prison my whole life, but the last time it was different. I used to just sit in cell, worried sick about you, my boy, and Rita, my wife. I only got using that shit, cause it took my mind of things happening outside of jail" explained Gerald, before he continued, stutterin and stammering his words "that heroin, it's a hard drug, it's probably the worst. Just look at me, I used to be somebody, that heroin brought on this stroke, now I'm nobody"
"You are somebody, dad...your my dad" Chucky responded, grabbing his dads hand reassuringly, before insisting "I really did miss you and mom"
"Trust me, we missed you. Your mom, she was distraught with you away. You're our baby boy, our only child. I was worried sick too, I just hoped you could handle it in there" Gerald said, before snapping "I hope you didn't touch no drugs, last thing I want is a drug-addicted son"
"No, dad, I never" swore Chucky, "I could never do something like that, not after how you suffered". Rita returned to the room, this time carrying a small seat which she placed beside the bed and sat on, leaving Chucky on the edge of the bed. She placed a More cigarette in her mouth, it was longer than a normal cigarette and a superking, the paper was brown and Rita claimed they looked more feminine and elegant. "Charles, what've you got planned now your out" she asked lighting her cigarette
"Well, first thing I need to do desperately, is find myself a girl" Chucky answered with a sly smirk, causing his father to start laughing hysterically
"One for the night, or one for life" Gerald replied, still laughing and now coughing terribly
"Lets see what happens, ay" Chucky smiled, before assuming "I need to get some money too, nobody's gonna' hire an ex-con so I'm only gonna' do what I know"
"And...you learned it from the best" Gerald proudly bragged, pointing at himself, before closing his eyes as if to remember the days he used to burst into banks, wielding a gun and roaring his demands, before rushing of with bags of money.
Chapter 1 finished
Authors note: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my new story, this was really to introduce you to the character of Chucky and his parents. The next few chapters will you introduce you to Eddie Caputo and later Tiffany Valentine. Please leave a review, I'd really appreciate it.
