Chapter 2. So what do you wanna do?
Charlie couldn't believe what she was hearing and unable to hold herself up she slumps to the floor, tears roll down her face but she suppresses her cries, not wanting to attract the attentions of the others, not wanting Angelo to try and comfort her, not wanting him anywhere near her. Leah's voice echo's in her ears, stating over and over again,
"Joey is missing. Joey is missing."
She tries to catch her breath as she realises she needs to move, she needs to find out everything she can about Joey and the boat. She slowly gets to her feet as the voices of Leah and Angelo continue to bounce around the house. Moving quietly she makes her way to the car and breaths deep before turning the ignition. The car splutters before growling as she revved the engine, she didn't notice Angelo and Leah exit the house having heard her car. Angelo turns to Leah and says accusingly,
"Great. I bet she overheard you. No guesses where she's heading." Leah sighs heavily and runs back into the house grabbing her phone and scrolling down to find Ruby.
Charlie pulls up to the station only to be greeted by Georgina Watson who pulls her aside and says with concern in her voice,
"Angelo called and said you might be on the way, you shouldn't be here Charlie." Charlie push's Watson away before saying angry and confused,
"This has nothing to do with Angelo, a major incident has taken place and I am the senior officer here." She tries not to show how scared and hurt she is and turning to Watson she asks the question that could break her heart, fear in her voice she says,
"Are there any survivors?"
Watson looks away and says quietly, knowing what Charlie is really asking,
"There is no sign of Joey." She touches Charlie's arm lightly and says,
"I'm so sorry Charlie. Maybe you should just go home for now. I will call you the moment I know anything, I promise."
Charlie once again moves away from Watson and says, "I have a job to do." She swallows hard before Watson once again grabs her arm and says,
"No Charlie, you don't. Because of the conflict of interest Angelo is on this case. The boss thought it would be best." Watson bit her lip awaiting Charlie's response, but before anything else could be said a voice interrupted as Ruby ran towards Charlie, frantic but trying her best to hide it she says,
"Charlie! What's going on? Leah rang me but she made no sense over the phone. She said that something has happened to Joey." She sees Charlie's reaction to hearing her words and walks over, placing her arms gently around her before whispering tenderly,
"Charlie? Speak to me."
Charlie looked up at the younger girl, floods of tears make there way down her face as she opens her mouth, no words escaping, having been swallowed up by her pain. Watson touch's Ruby's arm gently and says,
"The boat Joey was on has sunk, we are unsure how it happened exactly but we are looking into it. We won't know much until we get out there. I'm sorry." She apologized before turning to Charlie and saying,
"I have to get back in. Go home Charlie and I will call you the second I have any information." Charlie opened her mouth to once again protest, but Ruby intervened,
"Georgina's right Charlie, come on." As Ruby pulls Charlie away she suddenly turns to look at Watson, who stands firm saying,
"Listen to your daughter Charlie, I promise you are first on my calling list if I hear anything. Please." She pleads once again before Ruby gently but decisively removes Charlie from outside the police station, suggesting that they walk for a while so Charlie can clear her mind a little.
Once down the beach Charlie plonked herself on the sand, head in hands and sobbing quietly. Ruby's heart broke at the sight of her mother. Oh God, what am I supposed to say? It's going to kill her if she thinks she has lost Joey for good. Breathing in deeply to steady herself she joins Charlie on the sand and places her arm around her shoulders saying gently,
"Charlie please. You have to talk to me." Charlie looks up into Ruby's expectant eyes and through her tears she says,
"I killed her Ruby. It's my fault she was out on that boat. If I hadn't of hurt her so badly she would be here, safe." Charlie brushes some tears from her eyes as she grabs at the sand and looks out to the sea. Ruby jumps up and blocks her view, grabbing her full attention before saying as gently but assertively as she can,
"This is not your fault Charlie. So you hurt her but you could never have known that this would happen. Charlie, what do you wanna do?" Charlie was surprised by her daughter's coolness and by the question. She answers with a question of her own,
"What do you mean, what do I want to do? I want to find Joey, I want to tell her how sorry I am and how much I…" She trailed off leaving Ruby to finish her sentence,
"You want to tell her how much you still love her?" Charlie hated that Ruby knew everything she was feeling, sometimes even before she was feeling it. Charlie knows Ruby is right but still tries her best to convince her, as clearly as she can but without even trying to look the younger girl in the eye she says,
"That's not what I was going to say Ruby. I was going to say how much I want her to be happy and how I want us to be friends." Charlie brushes more tears from her eyes before releasing her breath and saying,
"Your right Ruby, I can't just sit here." Ruby looks confused as she says, "Ok, so what are we going to do?" Charlie gets to her feet and simply says,
"I'm going into work and I'm going to get every piece of information I can, then I'm going to find Joey." Determined Charlie walks away, leaving Ruby confused but glad that finally she is ready to do something. But she can't help but think.
What if Joey is um…..dead. She corrects herself, not letting herself believe the worse. I can't think like that right now. I have to be here for Charlie. Oh God please let everything be ok. Please let Joey be safe. Looking out to the sea she closes her eyes and whispers a short prayer.