Disclaimer – not mine
Characters: Raymond, Claire, Charlie
I'm back :)
Raymond sat in his quarters examining his wounds. He winced while I finished cleaning it off and put a bandage on it to stop the bleeding. He looked at himself in the mirror; sadness filled his eyes. What the hell am I doing? He thought. He rubbed his eyes. Raymond went over to his bed and lay down on top of the sheets. He put his hands over his face, sighing deeply. He thought back to what he had said when he was with Claire; God was he an idiot. He remembered his words exactly: "You don't know what I've done…" Raymond balled his hands into fists in frustration. Memories from his past crept into his mind, slowly killing him. He would never forget it…
Raymond lied there for twenty minutes before he fell into a deep sleep and all too soon it was 6 am and time to get up. Raymond slowly got up and scratched his neck before looking in the mirror. It wasn't as bad as he had expected. His face was swollen from the gash on his face and he noticed a couple bruises here and there. He was sure that some of the men would give him a hard time about it but he honestly didn't care. All he cared about was the sad woman down in the basement. He shook his head. He shouldn't care this much for her – it's not right! She was supposed to hate him, despise him. Why didn't she? Raymond pictured her in his mind and sighed. He loved her. God he hated that he did, but he couldn't help himself. She was so beautiful, so kind and loving. She made him feel like how he used to be before he was on this damned island. She didn't judge him like the others did and most of all she forgave him even though she didn't understand why she was there. A smile crept onto Raymond's face as he thought of all these things.
"Why are you torturing yourself?" he asked himself. He paused for a moment. "Why are you torturing her?"
Claire sat in the basement thinking about earlier. She tried to think of something that Raymond could have done that would break him so badly inside. It hurt her to even think about what he could have done. She wished that he trusted her enough to talk to him but she respected that it was not an easy thing to talk about. She pondered on this for a while then she felt a presence in the room. It was all too familiar. Charlie. He was sitting in the plastic chair in the room staring at her, smiling. Claire's heart warmed automatically and all her pain, worries, and frustrations melted away when she saw him smile. She smiled back as her eyes began to tear up but she held them back.
"Charlie." She said. "Hello, love." He replied with a wink. She got up from where she was and walked over to him. She reluctantly reached out her hand to his. He smiled at her and gently took her hand in his. She gasped when they touched. This was the first time they had touched and God, he felt as real as he had been when he was alive. His hand was so warm, so rough from hard work but gentle as if he was afraid to crush her delicate hand. Claire released her tears with a smile on her face. Charlie stood from the chair and enveloped her in a hug. Claire wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly, afraid that if she didn't then he would disappear. Charlie hugged her back and rested his chin on the top of her head.
"I love you, Claire." Claire started to sob but managed to reply. "I love you too, Charlie." She said in a whisper. They held each other as close as they could for a long time before Charlie spoke again.
"It's going to be getting dangerous soon, Claire." Claire looked up at him.
"What do you mean?" Charlie let go of her and stepped back a bit. "It's not going to be safe here. You are going to have to leave if you want to survive. You need to get the baby and leave."
"Why?" Claire asked, her voice rising with fear. "What's going to happen?" Charlie walked over and held her hand. "Don't worry I'll protect you, I'll keep you safe."
And just like that, Charlie was gone.
~break~
Raymond done his morning jobs for the day, and had to make his way back to the basement to give Claire her lunch. He was hesitant to go done there but he knew he had to either way. He walked down the stairs, unlocked the door and stepped inside. Claire was sitting in the corner crying softly to herself. Raymond walked over and knelt down in front of her.
"Claire," he whispered, "what's the matter?" She looked up him and tried to smile but failed. "I'm fine, really." He doubted that highly but decided not to press on it. He sat down beside her and looked over at her.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you last night."
Claire looked at him and shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I don't know you and I shouldn't have acted like I knew everything about you."
Raymond smiled at her but it faded quickly. "You deserve to know what I did." Claire looked at him in surprise but kept silent so he could talk. Sadness and despair covered Raymond's face at the mere thought of it. His throat started to run dry as he choked back some tears as they formed in his eyes.
"I…" he started. He buried his face in his hand. "I killed my brother."
I was just suddenly inspired to write today and it took me seriously only 20 min to write this. I'm so glad now because I know exactly what I want to do with this. Thanks everyone for sticking with me this long and for Debbie lostgirl for encouraging me to write again :) Please review ;)