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 52
Chris crashed to the floor, his face stinging from the contact with Wyatt's fist. Everything became a blur as the emotions in the room rose to dangerous levels. Wyatt, on the other hand, was blind with rage. He was hurting so bad inside after seeing his girl kissing his brother. He wanted to transfer all of his pain and hurt to his brother, who he saw as the source of the fiasco.
"Stop it!" Melanie yelled as Wyatt continued to pummel Chris. Melanie ran forward and tried to pull Wyatt off of Chris but to no avail.
Wyatt just swung his fist blindly, although most of the blows managed to find their way to Chris. The younger Halliwell, however, did little to defend himself. Bloodied and battered, he meekly took his brother's assault, not even trying to escape.
Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs and Ryan soon rushed into the room. His eyes widened in disbelief as he witnessed the brawl between his two brothers. "What the hell?!" he yelled as he grabbed Wyatt and tried to separate his siblings. Instead of putting a stop to the fight, Ryan found himself being slammed into the wall by a seemingly crazed Wyatt.
"Stay out of this!" Wyatt growled as he continued his attacks.
More footsteps could now be heard as Paige and Phoebe entered the room, followed by Piper and Leo. The adults gasped in horror at the sight before Piper finally took control. "STOP IT, NOW!!!" she yelled. Wyatt stopped his fists at his mother's orders before deciding to ignore her.
"You ignore me and you'll be sorry, Wyatt!" Piper threatened. "Now get over to the couch and calm yourself down."
Wyatt glared at Chris once again before grudgingly obeying Piper's command, keeping his stare of death on Chris.
Melanie immediately rushed over to Chris, who had cuts, bruises and blood all over him. He struggled to get into a sitting position, his eyes on the floor, not making eye contact with anyone else in the room.
"Alright, you two, what is going on here?" Piper demanded, her arms folded across her chest. "Well? Wyatt?" Wyatt remained silent and continued to shoot daggers at Chris with his eyes. Piper sighed with frustration and turned to her second son. "Chris?" she asked in a softer tone, sympathizing with him as she looked at his wounds.
No one answered Piper's questions, but the tension in the room was thick. It was as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Well, it seemed my little brother here is nothing more than a lying, backstabbing bastard," Wyatt spat vehemently.
"Hey, watch your language, young man," Paige chastised while Piper just looked on in shock, not comprehending Wyatt's words.
"Why don't you ask your precious son about his good deeds?" Wyatt sneered, ignoring the look that Phoebe and Paige were sending her way.
"Chris?" Piper asked gently when he did not defend himself against his brother's allegations. He sat on the floor, shoulders slumped, head hanging – a look of total defeat.
"Mom, Chris couldn't keep his hands off of my fiancée. They were shamelessly making out right in this very room!!!"
"You liar!!!" Ryan shouted, rushing to Chris' defence. "Chris would never do that. What's wrong with you?!"
Melanie just shook her head and cried. "Wyatt, it wasn't like that...it wasn't..."
Wyatt snickered and continued his tirade. "Then tell us all, Melanie. Were you two kissing when I came into the room?"
All eyes turned to Melanie who looked absolutely petrified. "Wyatt..."
"Tell us! Were you two kissing??"
"Yes, but..." Melanie protested but was cut off by Wyatt.
"Hear that, Mom? Chris and my fiancée were cheating behind my back right in this very house! I can't believe I was about to take this slut as my wife!! And I can't believe that my brother is a lying, good-for-nothing, shameless piece of sht!!"
Melanie's hand sailed through the air and slapped Wyatt hard in his face, causing his head to jerk to the side from the force of the impact. Her eyes bore into Wyatt and she shook with anger. "You can insult me and mock me," she hissed, "but you have NO right to insult Chris. He did nothing wrong...nothing, you hear me?!"
Wyatt was taken aback by Melanie's outburst, but his look of shock was quickly replaced by the previous look of anger. "I can't believe you're choosing to defend him over me," he said, shaking his head. With that, he turned and ran out of the room towards the front door, slamming it shut behind him.
The slamming of the door seemed to jolt Chris awake from his dazed state. He struggled to his feet and attempted to chase after Wyatt. However, he was quickly restrained by Ryan and Piper. "Where do you think you're going, young man?" she asked.
"I have to find Wyatt..." Chris whispered. "I have to explain..."
"Are you crazy?" Ryan yelled louder than he had intended. "Do you want him to really beat you to a pulp?" The youngest Halliwell softened his tone after seeing Chris flinch from the harshness of his voice. "And why didn't you defend yourself? Why would you let him beat you like this?"
"I have to explain this..." Chris said again as he began to go into hysterics. "Wyatt...Wyatt!!!"
"Chris, honey, you can explain this when Wyatt gets back," Paige said, trying to calm her stricken nephew. "Right now, you need to get cleaned up and then rest up. You're in no condition to be moving around."
Chris wanted to object, but he was in too much pain and much too tired to put up much of a fight. He slowly made his way to his room and fell asleep on the bed.
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Chris awoke to the sound of murmuring in the kitchen. He knew what his family was talking about. He knew that he was the topic of discussion but he didn't really care to know about the content of the conversation. Chris felt that he had let everyone down. Not only did he betray Wyatt, but he had let his parents and Ryan down as well. He could see the look of shock and disappointment in Piper's eyes when Melanie admitted to kissing Chris. He saw the look of disbelief crossing Ryan's face too.
Chris couldn't work up the courage to face his family. He knew that they wouldn't say anything bad in front of him. Ever since his near-death experience from his fight to save Wyatt, everyone had been treating him like he was a saint. Even if they thought that he was in the wrong, they would probably keep it to themselves or just discuss them behind his back. He felt like an outsider. He felt that he didn't belong anymore.
Suddenly, the room in the manor felt so small, so constricting. He needed to get out of here, get away from his family. He wanted to explain everything to Wyatt, but now that he thought about it, what was there to explain? At the end of it, Chris did succumb to his desires and kissed Melanie. There was no debate that he was in the wrong and no amount of explaining would change that fact.
Sighing in frustration, Chris orbed away, hoping to find some peace and solitude away from the manor.
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The front door opened early next morning and everyone in the kitchen stopped talking at once. "Wyatt, is that you?" Piper called out.
Before an answer could be heard, Wyatt walked into the room, looking considerably calmer than before. However, the tension in the room increased again as Melanie and Wyatt stared at each other, almost challenging each other to make the first move.
"Well, I'm going to get going now," Melanie said to the sisters as she grabbed her purse, ignoring Wyatt completely.
As she walked towards the door, Wyatt caught up with her. "Melanie, we need to talk," he said seriously.
"Do we?" Melanie asked. "I didn't know you knew how to talk, considering that you're so good with using your fists."
"Look, I was angry and confused, okay? But that's Chris' fault. We can still work things out. I know that he seduced you..."
"Listen to you, Wyatt! You didn't hear a single word that I said earlier, did you? I'm not even going to try explaining this to you because you won't listen anyways. I'm really tired, Wyatt. I just need to rest."
"What are you saying?" Wyatt said, suddenly alarmed.
Melanie opened the door and looked back at Wyatt. "We're through, Wyatt."
Wyatt chased Melanie down the stairs, catching up to her and grabbing her arms as they reached the sidewalk. "Don't joke with me, Melanie. That's not funny."
"I wasn't joking, Wyatt. It's over for us."
Wyatt shook his head furiously, tears streaming down his face. "No, you're lying. We can still work this out. I'll forget last night ever happened. We'll start over, Melanie."
"I don't want to start over, Wyatt. Just let me go."
Wyatt's sadness was suddenly overtaken by anger once again. "You're going to be with him, aren't you? What does Chris have that I don't? Why did you choose him over me?!" he yelled as he tightened his grip on her arm.
"Let. Me. Go!!!" Melanie yelled as she yanked her arm away from Wyatt. "You're losing it, Wyatt. Look at yourself in the mirror. I don't want to be with someone who is so intensely jealous and insecure about himself." With that, Melanie turned and ran, tears blurring her vision.
"Melanie, WATCH OUT!!!" Wyatt yelled frantically.
Melanie turned to see what Wyatt was yelling about and saw too late a car speeding in her direction. The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air and then she hit something hard. After that, her world went pitch black.
- to be continued -