Sucker Love

Chapter Two: Charmed

It was an expected happening during an exotic vacation, of course.

Rain.

No matter where the trip or how long the stay, at least one of our days had to be taken up by a storm of some sort. Either that or someone would be struck sick as a dog and unable to venture out, leaving the rest of the family to fend at their bedside out of loyal concern and prevent the enjoyment they could have found in the outside world. Despite any efforts to pray and hope for the best, it was an inexorable fate the followed us all the way around the world.

Even more ironic was that we had been presented with both occurrences.

"Are you sure you feel fine, Charlie? You were nearly green last night!"

"Yeah, I thought you were gunna puke all over the floor and pass out!"

"Saerik, don't talk like that! Humph, Charlie, we'll all stuck inside for the day anyway, so why don't you just stay in bed? Just to make sure? Maybe we can all go out and do something tomorrow if the weather clears up."

I sighed, my only consolation the fact that my parents had forbidden me from leaving the couch while they got breakfast and set up a small buffet on the bedside table for me. At least we were discussing things privately this time; I couldn't imagine having to show my face in front of the same eating crowd after last night. Now that I was in my right mind, I had thought over my reaction and mentally kicked myself. Why had I freaked out so much just because of a boy? I had seen them before -looked for and watched them avidly- and would most certainly see many more in my lifetime. Not at all a means for spazzing. I don't think I could stand the shame of letting myself be seen hanging around the hotel again after something like that. I vowed to never loiter around the building again. Disregarding the fact that that this was only the first official day of our stay and I would need to eat again sometime, it was a limited sliver of hopeful light I chose to cling onto.

"Yes, dad, I feel completely normal," I spoke through gritted teeth. Really, they were never so concerned about my health when we were home. The flu last year didn't even cause such a backlash.

My father raised a brow skeptically, heaving in defeat and rubbing his hand through his hair - or what was left of it. I was sure his forehead had nearly doubled in size if I cared to think back to his face in my farthest memories, the once thick onyx tresses now nothing more thinned salt-and-pepper peach fuzz. He adjusted the fashionable, rectangular black rims covering his eyes out of habit. My mother had decided (upon stealing a great health care family plan, apparently) that he needed to upgrade from the thin oval glasses he had previously worn. After hours of flipping through eye wear magazines (who would have thought such a thing actually existed?) and trying on pair after pair of lenses in the optometrist's office, the entire family were each owners of their very own glasses.

He was just the only one of us that actually wore them regularly.

Even behind the transparent planks, my father's darker-than-black brown orbs pierced my own, the only thing separating our gazes his visual aid. I tried my best to get the confirmation of a clean bill of health across the two steely gray eyes in my face. It must have worked as he sighed, facing his wife.

"Carrah," he ventured. "If she says she's alright, we shouldn't make her stay cooped up during the vacation. It couldn't hurt."

My mother, Carrah, tweaked a brow, first towards her husband before switching her reprimanding eyes to my bedridden lump.

"What exactly do you have in mind to do today? Anywhere special you're so eager to explore?"

I faltered, nibbling my bottom lip and fabricating a hasty answer to the unexpected question. I had no idea of the attractions in the area, besides what we had passed driving in from the airport.

"I dunno...there's a beach down the road, isn't there?"

My mother looked appalled at the suggestion and I realized my blunder instantly.

"The beach? It's raining, Charlie! You shouldn't be playing around when you're sick."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "I told you, Ma - I'm not sick! I am perfectly capable of walking down the street and sticking my feet in the sand without keeling over, dead."

She scowled at my caustic wording, arguing in the tone of a toddler, "Well, I don't want you to go. We should do something together inside."

"You don't have to come with me. I'm sixteen," I groaned, throwing my head back into the pillows and locking eyes stubbornly with the television screen. "I'm a babysitter, not babysat."

"I don't want you going out alone, anyway," she continued wryly. "Do you realize that we're not even in the United States anymore? You can't just go out skipping through the streets!"

I blinked. Damn, I had forgotten that.

"Mommy! Mommy, I want to go to the beach! Hailey told me that she saw dolphins when her parents took her to Mexico! Will there be dolphins here? I love dolphins!"

Wincing, I shot Saerik an irate glare.

"You won't see dolphin from the shore. You'd have to go out on a boat or something to see them, if there even are any."

She pouted. "How would you know? Have you ever seen one in real life before?"

"Yeah, of course I have. You have all those stupid posters plastered on your wall."

"I said in real life!"

"Your wall's not real?"

"No! Well, yeah! But they're pictures! I meant in the water!"

"The pictures are of them in the water."

"NO!! I mean with your own eyes! Not in a picture!"

"Exactly - I haven't," I sneered in grim accomplishment. "You can't see them from the shore."

"Okay, okay! Girls, calm down!" our mother broke in, halting Saerik's counter attack with a hand to her shoulder. "Charlie, if you want to go to the beach in this overcast, then fine."

I mentally cheered.

"But you're taking your sister with you."

I mentally shot myself in the head.

"What?!" my voice cracked with rankling. "Mom, c'mon! How is that any better than going by myself? She's supposed to keep me safe?!"

"It has nothing to do with keeping you safe," she said haughtily. "Maybe this way you'll act more responsibly with your younger sister around to look after and she can make sure you don't run off or do anything stupid."

My jaw dropped. What kind of justification was that!? Did she honestly expect me to slip off the first chance I got - in a foreign country? I wasn't some expeditionist! I hated even going to the bathroom alone at school. Typical teenage girl: I needed a buddy for everything. No way would I even consider running off by myself.

I pulled lips together, pressing down to diflect the protests I knew would only make things worse if I were to make audible. Bitterly, I counted the tally in my head.

Mom: 2

Charlie: 0

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? You want me to hang myself. Is this because you want that stereo Gran sent me for Christmas? Jeez, you can have it if you promise to never make any sort of contact with me again..."

I shook my head, fully aware that I might have well been speaking to thin air. Even with my gaze ignorantly kept skyward (it wasn't much of a sight - even if the rain had stopped, heavy clouds weren't exactly entertaining), fists stuffed nonchalantly into the pockets of my cargos, I could still hear Saerik humming to herself, entirely oblivious to my ramble as she sauntered along the road. I scowled, ripping a hand from my shorts and rubbing it vigorously to my forehead. Heat, I could handle. Humidity was something entirely different. It was one of the reasons I had wanted to go to the beach in the first place: for the cooling breeze. I highly doubt I would be able to sink down into the sand with Saerik as a tag-along. She couldn't be trusted to settle quietly in one spot for more than seventy-five seconds.

The shore was just a bit farther off than I expected, taking us about twenty minutes worth of walking time before the dunes came into sight. Saerik awed, gasping excitedly and hurrying forward. I grit my teeth, wondering whether or not I should bother playing the 'responsible adult'.

"Saerik!" I called, pitch haggard. This was only half-hearted, after all; it wouldn't be any personal trauma if she got indefinitely lost. "Don't go too far unless you want to get eaten by giant sand spiders!"

She froze, spinning around with a frowning mouth but doubtful eyes. "Giant sand spiders? You're such a liar! There's no such thing!"

I grinned wickedly. "You know I'm not lying. We watched the Discovery Channel on the plane when they had that South American special, remember? Those wicked huge Trapdoor Spiders?"

Her brows furrowed in horrible recognition. "Y-yeah, but they lived in the desert!"

I fought to tone down the crazed smile taking over my face at her bravado. "True, they live in sand. But there are plenty of massive bugs around here because of the climate. Watch out - I heard they even have flying snakes, too."

I could have laughed at the sudden dread that shot across her face as she fidgeted, casting a glance overhead. I brushed past her, clenching my teeth as I climbed up one of the sand mounds. The off-shore winds were licking at my face within a moment, whipping salted air up from the distant ocean. The scent was somewhere between wonderful and nauseating - seaweed, salts, and the indescribable stench of the beach mixing together in the oddest of combinations. Scanning the water, I was pleased to see that my assumption about the land being empty was correct. Only one lone figure stood in the distance, waist high in water before diving down. I questioned the person's sanity for a moment until Saerik came bounding after me, gripping my elbow like her life line once she had caught up. I raised a brow, staring down at her in unpleasant wonder.

"What are you doing?"

She sniffed, looking up at me and fighting for control of a glare. "You were lying about the snakes and spiders, weren't you?" she demanded, covering up the fearful quiver with a rigged backbone. I smirked, ruffling her strawberry-blonde locks before shoving her away.

"Nope," I sang easily, pretending not to watch her squirm. "They're real and probably live somewhere around here in the jungles. As for a populated beach-side resort, I don't think you have to worry much."

She growled, running up to jostle me in the side before speeding past. "I hate you!"

And I smiled.

We traveled over the hill to the sand, pausing only to take off our shoes (Saerik had refused, saying she didn't want to get her feet dirty) before dragging ourselves down to the water's edge. There, our course changed perpendicularly to the side, walking along the mud.

All was silent, and I was astounded. Happy and relieved beyond belief, but flabberghasted. I hadn't know my little sister to ever be so quiet for such an extended period. I spied on her from the corner of my eye, finding her strangely pensive. Had I really scared her so much as to cause brooding?

"You shouldn't think so much," I sighed heavily, regretting breaking into the silence as soon as the slow, lazy words had left. "You're going to hurt yourself."

She barely reacted at all, biting her lower lip lightly. Despite our difference, a tinge of worry erupted in my gut. I sucked in a deep breath, knowing this was going to be a major blow to my pride in the future. "Look, I'm sorry for scaring you about the animals and stuff. Seriously, you have nothing to be afraid of. I was just kidding..."

I had expected her to gloat, throwing my apology back into my face like the immature brat that she was. But she didn't. I waited on baited breath, readying myself as she, finally, parted her lips.

"I saw that boy. The one last night that you were drooling over at dinner? He was standing outside the window, all alone."

It felt as if my blood had frozen it's flow, halting in my veins. Where had that come from? And more importantly, she had seen him, too? I wasn't imagining things?

She seemed to take my silence as a chance to go on. "He was glowing. His skin sparkled whenever the sun hit him."

I swear, I felt the blood pounding in my ears with every choking breath. What the hell was this? Why was I losing all of my sense? It was a hallucination from extreme fatigue - I had figured that out last night. Saerik was obviously suffering from the same disorder. Why did the subject bring such a pang to my stomach?

She turned her face to me, a small smirk making its way stiffly onto her lips. "I think you have a crush on him, and that's why you freaked out so much."

My eyes snapped open, wide and disbelieving. I was barely aware of the sudden dryness of my tongue. Did I hear that right?

"Wh...what? Erik, what are you talking about?"

I couldn't lie for beans, I knew. I don't think my fib could have been any more obvious unless I had just said 'I'm lying' aloud. Saerik picked up on that fact almost as soon as she could articulate herself and remembered it well.

"You know who I'm talking about," she said, nonchalance overexagerated. I pressed my lips together firmly, the tight, thin line forcing a heavy exhale to divert through my nose.

"You're crazy, Erik. The food just went down the wrong windpipe last night. There's nothing supernatural about choking."

"Liars go to hell," she stated easily, so much so I was caught between wondering if she knew the full meaning of her words. Instinctively, I swatted her shoulder.

"Don't say things like that, dork!"

Our family wasn't what most would call 'religious'. Sure, we went to church - every Christmas Eve with our grandparents. Other than that, life existed without Jesus by our side every moment. I had no real overbearing beliefs, personally. I wasn't exactly an atheist, but nor was I convinced and ready to profess my faith to the Lord. I saw nothing wrong with being a content medium as long as I respected both sides. I usually tried not to think about what exactly happens to your 'self' after death. The pondering usually scared the shit out of me.

I was terrified at the thought of dying - and knowing that, whether ready or not, I would face it.

Saerik pouted, rubbing her arm irritably. "But, it's true! Everyone says it."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Yeah, and people also say that Miley Cyrus is a good singer."

"Miley is a great singer! I love Hannah Montana!"

"She sounds like a strangled cat that just went through a sex change. Please, there are so much better things to watch on T.V. than that show. I admit it's not horrible, but I just can't stand looking at that wanna-be Britney Spears. Selena Gomez and Wizards of Waverly Place totally own that garbage."

She bit her scowling lip, clearly torn. "Both of them are really good..."

"Can't you listen to Demi Lovato? At least she can actually sing! Damn good, too. Not to mention she uses her real name and not some stupid fake one. I hope she gets her own show and knocks Hannah off the air."

It only then struck me that I was debating civilly about Disney Channel tweens with my younger, dweeb of a sister. Was this what my life had resorted too?

The unhappy huff from my side was enough of a response from Saerik. I continued our banter. "Anyway, back to the point - don't say 'hell'."

She startled, blindsided by the backtracking conversation. Eventually she blinked, smirk slithering into place. "Well then, don't avoid the subject yourself. What about that boy outside of the dining room window last night that made you look like a homo?"

I pulled my brows together, picking up on her final word as a distraction. Homo? I had been talking around her too much. Throwing the insult aside, I focused in on the purpose as a whole. I wasn't sure why, but there wasn't a single fiber in my being that was willing to openly discuss the occurrences of last night. I refused to admit that the apparition could have been real - it was only a mind game. I would forget of the happening as soon as humanly possible. The boy outside the window didn't exist and shouldn't be able to haunt me. I wouldn't let him, no matter how determined his spirit seemed to be. I still couldn't get him off my mind completely, and this talk wasn't helping in the least.

"See, that's the great thing about being oldest - I don't have to listen to you. Drop it, squirt. Just sit back enjoy this ever-so-lovely day."

We halted, letting the waves skim across our toes as we basked in the peaceful, though dark, ambiance. Saerik instantly flinched back, new sandals getting soaked through.

"Yuck!" she shrieked, sliding them off. "Why would anyone want to go in that water anyway? It's so cold and gross!"

I looked on, bemused. "Actually, not everyone is a scaredy-cat. A lot of people like swimming in real, open water, even when it's raining. There was a guy out here just as we got here, in fact."

Our eyes shifted in unison, scanning the calm waves of the bay. A full minute of silence must have passed between us, the water undisturbed all along.

"...I don't see anything," Saerik voiced, mint green orbs flickering across the surface. "Do you think he's alright?"

I sighed, stomach twisting into knots. Don't tell me I was seeing things again...

"Yeah, sure," I assured dimly, trying to convince the both of us. "He probably got out already and left without us noticing."

Saerik wasn't reassured. "Nu-uh! I would have seen someone else. He must have drowned!"

I blinked away the surprising bluntness of her declaration. "I don't think so, Erik. I'm sure they would have called for help or something if that happened. I doubt anyone's still out there anyway. Forget about it."

She growled in a chiding child-like way, stomping her foot to the shallow water. "No! I know someone's out there in trouble! Go find him, right now!"

My jaw dropped. What the hell was she thinking with that crazy demand? "You're completely insane! Not a chance. I'm not going diving in to look for someone I don't even know is there in the first place!"

My younger sister sniffled, horrified tears filling her eyes. "They could be dying!"

'Probably already dead by now,' I thought, unwilling to speak it aloud. I was baffled - why would she be worked up over someone she didn't even know? There was no proved reason to panic in the first place! Damned over-dramatic kids.

"You can't just leave them out there, Charlie!"

I stiffened, now genuinely terrified and melting at the sight of the trail of water dripping down her cheek. I felt the prideful walls braking down inside me, feet shifting uncomfortably. What would mom say if we came home and she was throwing this type of fit?

"...I don't even have a swimsuit on," I attempted feebly, quickly running out of options early in the game. Saerik brushed the defend aside easily, the desperate plea in her expression poking at my conscience like a pin to a balloon. Finally I groaned, turning to waddle deeper into the salted sea. I heard the child squeal behind me, calling out a finalizing, "Be careful!"

I rolled my eyes, squatting down to allow the icey waves to crash into my chest. The cold was the worst of this, dread taking the position of runner-up. Say I did, by chance, find a body floating around the bay floor - what then? What was I supposed to do? I didn't want to find a corpse!

The thought made my spine bristle, joints freezing in fear. A real life dead guy? No way. I didn't want to see one of those. There was no doubt that I couldn't come out of something like that the same. Saerik would be reassured with three minutes of search, tops. No more than that.

I shuffled nimbly through the water, hopping up as each wave came rolling in and hustling along between each peak. Water lapped up against my buffering frame, spraying mild splashes into my face and coaxing the clothing ruffling uncomfortably under the surface's depths. My mind wouldn't drift from the thought of feeling frigid skin on the bottoms of my feet each time I landed a step; every smooth, slimey rock sending a jolt through my limbs. I didn't remember ever being more terriied in my life; even Halloween Haunted Houses couldn't begin to compare. Breaths came out tremulous (a combination of nerves and body temperature), movements stiff and forced. I couldn't figure out why I was still going at this when ever ounce of me wanted to rush back to shore.

"Did you find anything?" Saerik's scream journeyed. I shuddered, shaking my head with a strangled sense of relief. Drenched tips of auburn hair whipped my face like bee stings, weighed down with liquid.

"Nope! There's nothing here, Erik. Trust me," I called back. The next words babbled out anxiously, eager for them to come true. "I'm coming back in now! No one's out here! See how stupid you were be- AAHH!!"

It happened just then, exactly as I had imagined it to play out. I stepped on something; something not a rock, sand or seaweed. It was a leg, if I wasn't mistaken, chilled and waterlogged. I gasped, horrified. The next wave crashed overhead without warning, forcing me down and under the surface depths. The instant rush of water in my ears was deafening. Like diving into a pool in premature spring, the crushing pressure of arctic-like waters engulfed and consumed, my body electrocuted with cold. I choked, the liquid substance filling my mouth and throat rapidly as my eyes snapped open. It was just like all those horror movies described - a sight so suffocatingly scary that you just couldn't look a away.

There he was, the eerily greened cadaver. The man's skin was pale as the dead, fittingly, but tinged grotesquely with the surrounding algae. A water colored smudge of copper tresses danced around his head like a halo, his very skin seeming to shimmer in the ocean's darkness. The boy was young, probably in his late teens, and frighteningly familiar. The pain of asphyxiation was fuzzy in the back of my mind, but I managed to place him instantly. The realization of his identity pushed the last of the oxygen from my lungs.

Just like our last encounter, his eyes suddenly pried open, gaze flashing to meet mine just as all sense was lost.

(A/N) Okay, just in case anyone cares, I've been brainstorming a few idead I have for another Twilight story. This time, I'm giving the werewolves some love! Any preference as to which one?

And on another note, just in case anyone is wondering about Saerik's name (which I totally just pulled out of my ass when I was trying to figure out what to name the little sister) it's pronounces like 'S-air-ik.' You know - basically, take the name 'Eric' and add an 'S' infront of it. I probably should have put that in the first chapter, but...

By the way, with each review I get, one dollar is donated to the 'Save Forks High School' fund. The building that Steph Meyer had dearest Edward and Bella meet and fall in love is about to be knocked down, if you haven't heard. How it's not a landmark with all these crazed girls worshiping Twilight is beyond me.

...Okay, maybe I lied about the donation thing. I don't care THAT much. But that doesn't mean you still shouldn't review! Or donate to saving the real-life condemned Forks High. Or both :D Multi-tasking is fun!