When it Rains Chapter 8
Charlie sat in the chair, staring at the floor. He kept listening intently, hoping to hear the words 'FBI' echoing throughout the room any minute. However, every second that went by caused his hopes to dwindle.
He believed that Don would come, but would Don get there in time? Kareem's words to Charlie certainly implied that he had no wish to hurt the young math professor, but Charlie also knew that Kareem was 'three fries short of a happy meal' in the brains department.
Sighing inwardly, Charlie thought back to the baseball incident 21 years ago. At least it was 21 years for him, but only 17 years for Don.
Charlie knew that he and Don had never really connected when they were kids, but Charlie really never understood why.
He was always more comfortable working math than playing sports, of course with Don it was the other way around.
Charlie really had no problem being around his older brother, despite the constant name calling and verbal and physical shoving by Don.
Charlie loved it. Being around Don was something that he enjoyed. He only wished that Don enjoyed hanging around his little brother, but that never happened. As long as Charlie was the big math genius, Don couldn't accept hanging in Charlie's shadow, so he kept pushing his little brother away.
After several years Charlie began to accept what Don was trying to tell him.
And that incident with the baseball hitting Charlie's head and knocking him unconscious only seemed to enforce what Don had told him when he had woken up from the five day coma.
Flashback
Beep…Beep…Beep.
"Well, I'm gonna go get some coffee. You two want anything?"
"No honey, I don't want anything, but, I think I will go for a walk. I can't stand watching our son so still like this any longer."
Charlie kept his eyes closed and his breathing even as he listened to his father leave the room for the coffee and his mother leave the room to go for a walk.
Thinking he was alone, Charlie thought about opening his eyes, but he stopped and somehow kept from jumping when he heard his big brother sigh and get up.
Hoping that Don was leaving, Charlie listened intently, but inwardly cringed when he 'felt' Don's shadow fall over him, and when he heard the whoosh of the seat as Don sat in the chair that his mother had vacated.
"God Charlie. You always have to make a show out of everything don't you? I mean, that doctor guy said that the knock from the baseball only left you with a slight concussion, but here you are…five days later…still sacked out! Of course, bet you're enjoying having mom and dad fawn over you like you were the dang Prince of England!
"You know what I wish Charlie? I wish that you had drowned in that swimming pool! I would have been so happy if that had happened! But, I guess I have myself to blame for that. I had to be a hero and pull you out. Man, I'm really regretting that now." Don said vehemently.
Charlie forced himself to keep his breathing and emotions under control. It wouldn't do to break down in front of his brother and let Don know that he had heard every hateful word that he had said.
"Can't wait till I'm old enough to move out..so I can be free of you! When I move, you can be sure that I'm never comin' back. You want to know why? It's cuz I hate you. I resent the fact that you're my brother..in fact I think we'd all be so much happier if you had never been born!" Don said with an angry sneer to his voice before he got up from the chair and left the room.
Once Charlie heard the door close, he allowed himself to open his eyes and focus on the closed hospital door as a lone tear streaked down his face.
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'Don hates me. That was the case back then..but what about now? Surely he doesn't think that way now.' Charlie thought as he raised his head towards the darkened stairs of the basement.
'But what if he does? What if he intends to leave you here at the mercy of this maniac?' A voice in his head asked him.
Charlie's jaw quivered with fear and sadness at this prospect. Could his brother still hate and resent him, and could the last 2 years of their repaired friendship be just a ploy to make their father happy?
'Then I am truly alone. Don's not going to come, and even if he does he's going to blame me for what happened.' Charlie thought as the emotions of that night when his brother Don had really crushed his soul, came roaring back with a vengeance.
Tear after salty tear poured forth from Charlie's eyes, running down the duct tape to land and absorb in to Charlie's short sleeved, white and blue striped shirt.
"Awww..what's the tears for Charlie?" Kareem asked as he came down the stairs and flicked on the lights.
Raising his tear stained eyes to look at Kareem, Charlie finally looked like the scared human being he was.
"Thinkin' your brother's not going to come for you?" Kareem asked as he leaned against a support beam in the basement.
Charlie didn't shake his head or nod it for that matter, but Kareem saw the answer in his eyes.
Slowly the American terrorist nodded his head and reached into a back pocket. Carefully he removed the small black case and laid it on a small school desk that stood a little ways away.
"I know how it feels to be unwanted. Believe me, I was unwanted all of my youth. That is until I found a way to channel my anger. I found a way to make people listen. I know what happened between you and your brother when you were in the hospital. I know how much Don's words affected you." Kareem said.
Charlie's eyes widened at this revelation. How could Kareem know what Don had said to him? Was it a lie? A ploy to get Charlie to confide in or, God forbid, start to like and help Kareem?
Straightening up, Kareem took a small pocket knife out of his pocket, opened up the blade and cut away the duct tape that was around Charlie's mouth, leaving only the small piece on Charlie's lips.
Turning, Kareem went up the stairs, only to return moments later with a cloth and a bowl full of boiling hot water. Dipping the cloth in the boiling hot water, Kareem waited several minutes before taking the cloth out and dipping it in some ice cubes, before applying the now warm/hot cloth to the duct tape.
After several applications of the water, Kareem gripped the edges of the tape and slowly peeled it off of Charlie's lips.
Licking his dry lips, Charlie then ventured to ask, "Why?"
"Why what?" Kareem asked in return as he put the cloth down and looked at his captive.
"Why did you remove the duct tape? Why are you suddenly being nice to me?" Charlie asked.
"Because I know how much you're suffering."
Charlie was not prepared for this reply, and could only open and shut his mouth as an answer.
"I want to help you Charlie. At first, when I first found out about you I didn't see how poorly your brother had treated you. All I saw was a way to get revenge against your brother, but now after I have found out the truth about you, I see that we are very much alike." Kareem said.
"We are nothing alike. You are a terrorist who sold out his country and helped plan out the 9/11 bombings on the World Trade Center." Charlie said.
"Yes, I did that. But I only did it to get peoples attention…to make them listen! To make them see that I wasn't the stupid jerk whom you can just forget about!" Kareem replied compassionately as he focused a cool, calm gaze on his captive.
"And, I want to offer you that same chance." Kareem said kindly.
"No. I will not sell out my country!" Charlie replied defiantly as he raised his head slightly.
"I wasn't asking you too Charlie. I just thought that you'd like a chance to get back at your brother for the hurt he put you through 21 years ago." Kareem said.
Charlie shook his head, not believing that Kareem was suggesting.
"Don and I are friends, Kareem!" Charlie said.
"Are you sure? How do you know that he won't just betray you? Wad you up and throw you away like the evening trash? How can you promise that he won't do that after he has already done it once?" Kareem asked.
Charlie didn't say anything, already knowing that what Kareem said was probably true.
"I know that you're still in pain Charlie. I can help take that pain away. I can help to make your brother pay for it." Kareem said.
"How?" Charlie asked suspiciously. Never taking his eyes off of Kareem, Charlie watched as Kareem walked over to the black case, grabbed it and brought it over to Charlie before he opened it.
Inside the case was one lone syringe completely filled with a greenish looking liquid.
"I don't do drugs." Charlie said.
"This isn't that type of drug Charlie. It doesn't do stuff to your mind or get you high." Kareem said.
"Then what does it do? How can it possibly make Don pay?" Charlie asked, truly curious about the stuff that was in the syringe.
"It'll make him pay with guilt. Guilt that it was he that got his little brother in this predicament. And that he wasn't able to save his little brother…not that he was even going too." Kareem said.
Looking at Charlie's face, Kareem could see that Charlie wasn't really convinced, so he wheeled in a tv set and turned it on.
"You still not convinced that your brother doesn't really care for you? Watch this." Kareem said before he hit the Play button.
Charlie was then shown video clips of Don at the office, and then at home and then at a bar hanging out with friends. However, the clips were from months of surveillance and the dates shown on the tape were fabricated.
"You see now Charlie? At this very minute Don isn't out there searching for you. He's at home enjoying a nice pot roast with your father and his friends from the office." Kareem said, trying to drive a wedge between Don and Charlie.
"You're lying..!" Charlie said as his breathing started to quicken as he began to fear that what Kareem was telling him was the truth.
"There's only one way to make Don see his mistake Charlie." Kareem said, holding up the case with the syringe.
Finally, Charlie really looked at the syringe as the tears of his hurt began to flow again.
Hurt that had been building up in him ever since that night in the hospital.
Slowly, with a trembling jaw, Charlie said, "Ok…d..do it."
Nodding his head, Kareem took the needle, and squeezed it a little to get all of the air out. Carefully he watched as a little came out of the tip.
Glancing over at Charlie, Kareem came and stood right beside Charlie.
Bending over, Kareem put one arm on Charlie's head and tilted it to the side so he could see Charlie's neck.
Reaching in, Kareem stuck the syringe in to Charlie's neck and depressed the plunger, sending the greenish looking liquid in to Charlie's bloodstream.
Once he was done, Kareem withdrew the needle, stuck it back in the case and put the case back in his pocket.
Glancing back at Charlie, he saw that the tears were still flowing down his young face.
"In a few minutes you're going to feel sleepy. Don't fight the drug Charlie…it's only going to make things worse for you." Kareem said.
"O..k." Charlie replied through the tears he was trying to keep at bay.
Nodding his head, Kareem turned and went back up the stairs, this time leaving the lights in the basement on.
Glancing at the wall upstairs, he estimated that Don Eppes and his little crew of 'commandoes' would arrive in five minutes, but to Kareem's watch, that was going to be five minutes to late, because the poison he had given Charlie was very quick and more than likely by the time Don got to his little brother, he would just be in time to witness Charlie's final moments.
