August 25, 1991

"Wow so this took place a while ago then." John said. "Curious" Sherlock remarked in agreement.

"1991, Jesus we would have been about 12 and 8. Feels like forever ago." Dean chuckled sadly.

Dear Friend,

I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. Please don't try to figure out who she is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don't want you to do that. I will call people by different names or generic names because I don't want you to find me. I didn't include a return address for the same reason. I mean nothing bad by this. Honest.

I just need to know that someone out there listens and understands and doesn't try to sleep with people even if they could have. I need to know these people exist.

"Okay"Tony nodded along humoredly and looked at the confused faces around the room.

I think you of all people would understand that because I think you of all people are alive and appreciate what that means. At least I hope you do because other people look to you for strength and friendship and it's that simple. At least that's what I heard.

"Okay is this for us? I mean like directly. He said dear friend but is he writing to us?" Natasha wondered. Sherlock answered,

"Of course not. Judging by the aged papers and the director's own testimony these letters were written in 1991 when most of us were still kids"

"So who's he writing to? Should we be finding out? Is that the point?" Clint said leaning forward, eager to actually do something productive.

"I think the point is to finish the story, if you would all stop interrupting" Fury said harshly, staring them down.

So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I am still trying to figure out how that could be.

Steve, Dean and The Doctor all nodded along to this, understanding perfectly what Charlie means.

I try to think of my family as a reason for me being this way, especially after my friend Michael stopped going to school one day last spring and we heard 's voice on the loudspeaker.

"Boys and girls, I regret to inform you that one of our students has passed on. We will hold a memorial service for Michael Dobson during assembly this friday."

"Whoa" Tony said as the mood in the room changed almost instantly. Whereas before there was some confused amusement now everyone became serious at this sudden piece of information.

I don't know how news travels around school and why it is very often right. Maybe it was in the lunchroom. It's hard to remember. But Dave with the awkward glasses told us that Michael killed himself. His mom played bridge with one of Michael's neighbors and they heard the gunshot.

I don't really remember much of what happened after that except that my older brother came to Mr. Vaughn's office in my middle school and told me to stop crying. Then, he put his arm on my shoulder and told me to get it out of my system before Dad came home. We went to eat french fries at McDonald's and he taught me how to play pinball. He even made a joke that because of me he got to skip an afternoon of school and asked me if I wanted to help him work on his Camaro. I guess I was pretty messy because he never let me work on his Camaro before.

Sam snorted, "Sounds like you Dean." Dean just smiled softly thinking of past times spent working on his baby with Sam. Teaching him how to drive it and take care of it.

At the guidance counselor sessions, they asked the few of us who actually like Michael to say a few words. I think they were afraid that some of us would try to kill ourselves or something because they looked very tense and one of them kept touching his beard.

"Observant. Touching an object or part of one's person is a common sign of anxiousness." Sherlock commented.

Bridget who is crazy said that sometimes she thought about suicide when commercials come on during TV. She was sincere and this puzzled the guidance counselors. Carl who is very nice to everyone said that he felt very sad, but could never kill himself because it is a sin. This one guidance counselor went through the whole group and finally came to me.

"What do you think, Charlie?"

What was so strange about this was the fact that I had never met this man because he was a "specialist" and he knew my name even though I wasn't wearing a name tag like they do in open house.

"Well, I think that Michael was a nice guy and I don't understand why he did it. As much as I feel sad, I think that not knowing is what really bothers me."

I just reread that and it doesn't sound like how I talk. Especially in that office because I was crying still. I never did stop crying. The counselor said that he suspected that Michael had "problems at home" and didn't feel like he had anyone to talk to. That's maybe why he felt all alone and killed himself.

Then, I started screaming at the guidance counselor that Michael could have talked to me. And I started crying even harder. He tried to calm me down by saying that he meant an adult like a teacher or a guidance counselor. But it didn't work and eventually my brother came by the middle school in his Camaro to pick me up. For the rest of the school year, the teachers treated me different and gave me better grades even though I didn't get any smarter. To tell you the truth, I think I made them all nervous.

"Gee I wonder why?" Dean said sarcastically. "I mean who just bursts into tears at the drop off a hat and screams at people?"

"His best friend just killed himself Dean. He's grieving, cut him a little slack." Sam said tiredly. Dean replied,

"So? If he wants to be a man he needs to bury that shit and keep on keeping on. He needs to grow up." Tony rolled his eyes at the man saying,

"Yeah, that's healthy. He's thirteen for pete's sake he shouldn't be anywhere near a man at his age." The Captain nodded and said,

"For once I agree with Tony. What happened was horrible, kids killing themselves…" He shakes his head in disgust. "A child dying in any circumstance is horrible but… well a child dying ages you no matter who you. So if the kid is behaving immaturely, in your opinion, then fine. Let him be a kid while he still can." Everyone was silent at this sudden proclamation and Dean looked angry. The Doctor was staring at the table pensively.

Michael's funeral was strange because his father didn't cry. And three months later he left Michael's mom. At least according to Dave at lunchtime. I think about it sometimes. I wonder what went on in Michael's house around dinner and TV shows. Michael never left a note or at least his parents didn't let anyone see it. Maybe it was "problems at home". I wish I knew. It might make me miss him more clearly. It might have made sad sense.

One thing I do know is that it makes me wonder if I have "problems at home" but it seems to me that a lot of other people have it a lot worse. Like when my sister's first boyfriend started going around with another girl and my sister cried for the whole weekend. My dad said, "There are other people who have it a lot worse."

"That's a bit harsh." John said look around for some support in his statement but found none. Everyone was silently agreeing that some people did have it worse, like them for instance.

And my mum was quiet. And that was that. A month later, my sister met another boy and started playing happy records again. And my dad kept working. And my mom kept sweeping. And my brother kept fixing his Camaro. That is, until he left for college at the beginning of the summer. He's playing football for Penn State but he needed the summer to get his grades right to play football.

I don't think that there is a favorite kid in our family. There are three of us and I am the youngest. My brother is the oldest. He is a very good football player and likes his car. My sister is very pretty and mean to boys and she is in the middle. I get straight A's now like my sister and that is why they leave me alone.

My mom cries a lot during TV programs. My dad works a lot and is an honest man. My Aunt Helen used to say that my dad was going to be too proud to have a midlife crisis. It took me until around now to know understand what she meant by that because he just turned forty and nothing has changed.

Everyone laughed at that, most for the first time in ages. Dean in particular seemed surprised by his own amusement. The Doctor said,

"I second what the good Mr. Holmes said earlier, he is very observant. And so matter-of-fact about these things. He says these things with no judgement, he must be very kind." The Doctor nodded sagely at his own words.

"You don't know that. We're halfway through the first letter. For all we know about the kid he could be a complete dick to other people." Barton said. The Doctor just smiled at the challenge and said,

"Well, we're just gonna have to read to prove my obvious rightness then aren't we!" Most of the room rolled their eyes and turned back to Fury.

My Aunt Helen was my favorite person in the whole world. She was my mom's sister. She got straight A's when she was a teenager and she used to give me books to read. My father said that the books were a little too old for me, but I liked them so he just shrugged and let me read.

My Aunt Helen lived with the family for that last few years of her life because something very bad happened to her. Nobody would tell me what happened then even though I always wanted to know. When I was around seven, I stopped asking about it because I kept asking like kids always do and my Aunt Helen started crying very hard.

That's when my dad slapped me saying, "You're hurting your aunt Helen's feelings!"

"Hey!" Sam called out at the packet as if Charlie's father could hear him. Everyone tensed up at this line. Even Tony looked grim stating,

"That's not right. The kid's seven he didn't mean to make her cry." Dean nodded. He hated anyone hurting kids, it just wasn't right no matter the circumstances.

I didn't want to do that, so I stopped. Aunt Helen told my father to hit me in front of her ever again and my father said this was his house and he would do what he wanted and my mom was quiet and so were my brother and sister.

"Fucking asshole! Who does he think he is!" Dean said furiously. The Doctor looked just as upset but didn't say anything and he didn't need to because Dr. Banner voiced his thoughts,

"Maybe he does have "problems at home" like his friend" Everyone looked at him confused, and then they got it.

"Your saying is friend might have killed himself because of abuse and Charlie took it so hard because he was abused too." John said hesitantly. Bruce shrugged,

"Maybe. Or maybe he was grieving his friend and he heard that his friend had trouble at home and he started projecting his own abuse. Because it definitely sounds from this like he was abused." Everyone else nodded at this.

I don't remember much more than that because I started crying really hard and after a while my dad had my mom take me to my room. It wasn't much later that my mom had a few glasses of white wine and told me what happened to her sister. Some people really do have it a lot worse than I do. They really do.

"Dude what happened?! You can't just leave it at that." Dean sighed, running his hand through his hair. "This is so frustrating" he said to Sam. Sam smiled and agreed. Partly because he was frustrated and curious as well and partly because it was nice to see his brother worked up about something beside killing monsters.

I should probably go to sleep now. It's very late. I don't know why I wrote a lot of this down for you to read. The reason I wrote this letter is because I start High school tomorrow and I am really afraid of going.

Love Always,

Charlie

"Huh" Bruce said looking around at everyone. "Well, that was interesting."

"I can't believe he told us all of that about his family and stuff and that wasn't even why he started the letter in the first place." Dean said shaking his head. Barton followed up on that,

"That's not to mention the fact that he's afraid of going to high school so he feels like he needs to talk to someone about it, why?" Sherlock shook his head with obvious disdain at the gathered people's poor attention to detail so he said,

"Well, his best friend just died what, five or six months ago. His family doesn't seem too approachable so he's reaching out to this random person he's heard of. My question is who is he? And why does it matter whether or not the slept with someone this one time or not?" The all looked thoughtful at that except the Doctor. The doctor excitedly said,

"Well, we will only find out by reading! Go, little horsie, go, go, go!" He pointed at Fury and started jumping up and down. Fury just shook his head and picked the packet back up, he turned the page and started to read the next letter.