Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the television show Charmed. All characters belong to Spelling Television, and The WB.

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The Pain of Future Wrongs – Chapter 41

"Go away," Chris mumbled as he heard another gentle knock on the door.

"Come on, Chris, let me in," Ryan called out.

"Leave. Me. Alone," Chris said again with a hint of annoyance as he stared at the ceiling.

Ryan gave up trying to knock and orbed into the room.

Chris just glared at his brother as the two stared each other down. "What didn't you understand about leave me alone?"

"Stop putting up the wall, Chris. It's not going to help and you know it."

Chris just snickered and turned away.

"We'll find the answer and we'll fix the problem."

"What if I don't want to fix the problem?"

Ryan stared at Chris like he was an alien from another planet. "Tell me I didn't hear what I thought I heard."

"You know what? I'm sick and tired of this. Every turn is just crisis after crisis. I'm twenty-two, for god sakes, not forty-two. He stared at the heavens angrily. I'm not going to deal with this crap anymore. If they want to play this stupid game, they can just go right ahead."

"Chris, calm down. You're not making any sense."

"I'm making perfect sense, Ryan." He stared at the ceiling again. "I QUIT!!!" he hollered.

The commotion brought Wyatt into the room. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked. Seeing Chris' angry look, he hesitated before approaching his brother. "Hey, we'll figure out this power thing in no time, okay?"

Chris laughed bitterly. "Don't bother. They can keep their stupid powers if they want. I'm sick of them."

"Chris, going on a ranting rampage won't help the situation much," Wyatt reasoned, knowing that Chris' temper was something that needed to be dealt with very delicately and carefully.

"Yeah, whatever," Chris replied as he headed for the door. All his life, he had tried to do the right thing, to be the good one. Where has all this gotten him? For once, he wanted to act his age. He had already lost his childhood and his teenage years. There was no way he was going to spend the prime of his youth playing a stupid game with the powers that be, consequences or not.

"Wait up, Chris!" Wyatt called out. "Where are you going?"

"OUT!" Chris hollered as he brushed past his brother and out the door.

Wyatt and Ryan stood in the room giving each other worried glances. "Uh, that was...unexpected," Wyatt finally commented.

Piper was pacing the room non-stop while Wyatt and Ryan sat on the couch staring at her. Phoebe and Paige were trying hard not to fall asleep while Leo was making sure that baby Wyatt would stay asleep.

"Mom, can you stop pacing?" Ryan asked wearily.

"It's three o'clock in the morning. What could he possibly be doing at three in the morning?"

"Quit worrying, Mom. Chris can take care of himself. It's not like he's ten years old," Wyatt added but quickly shutting up after getting the glare of death from Piper.

Finally, the front door could be heard opening, and everyone waited in anticipation. Chris emerged into view and Piper marched right up to her son. "Where have you been? It's three in the morning!!"

"Relax Mom, I was just out having some fun," Chris answered.

"You had us worried to death!"

"Hey, like I said, relax!"

"OH MY GOD!!" Piper shrieked. "How much have you been drinking?? I can smell the alcohol from a mile away!"

"Quit freaking out over nothing, Mom!" Chris shot back. "I'm tired...I'll see you tomorrow," he added before disappearing to his room.

Piper sat down on the couch, shaking from anger. Tears fell and she felt like screaming. Wyatt did his best to calm his Mom down and eventually convinced her to go to bed. After everyone finally retired for the night, Wyatt went to the kitchen to confer with Ryan.

"So?" he asked his younger brother.

Ryan simply shrugged at the question. "No idea. Maybe just a one-time thing to release the pent up anger and tension?"

"Well, I guess it doesn't look like anything demonic or magical."

"I guess. Or..."

"Or what?" Wyatt asked quickly, not really sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"Maybe Chris is going through the rebellious teen stage."

"At twenty-two??" Wyatt exclaimed before covering his mouth so that he won't wake the whole house up.

"Hey, I don't know. It was just a thought," Ryan defended himself.

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By morning, Chris was nowhere to be found again, causing Piper to go into another fit. Wyatt and Ryan eventually managed to convince Piper that he was out demon hunting, although both of them knew that this wasn't the case. The young Halliwell didn't come home for lunch and was absent during dinner time. No matter how many times he was called by various members of his family, he did not respond.

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Meanwhile, in a club in downtown San Francisco...

The music was playing loud and the lights was flashing non-stop. The entire club was filled with young men and women, eager to dance the night away. In the middle of all the action was Chris Halliwell. He was on the dance floor and was capturing the attention of a good number of young women in the club. Of course, this meant that a lot of jealous eyes were also cast his way by the men in the room.

After dancing for hours, Chris made his way to the bar and rewarded himself with some strong drinks. He hadn't felt this good in who knows how long. The sense of freedom was addictive and he wondered why he didn't realize this sooner. Yes, this was the life that he had always wanted – this is the normal life that he had craved for so long.

to be continued