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 62
Piper glanced over at Wyatt and Ryan worriedly as Chris played with the food on his plate. Things had been so positive for Chris lately that the sight of him not eating his dinner and being so quiet at the dinner table had not been seen in quite a while.
After dinner, Chris quietly retreated to his room, not saying a word to anyone. As he once again began his research at the computer, Ryan knocked on the door gently before coming into the room. He sat on Chris' bed and just watched his older brother for a moment. Things had changed so much during the past year. In a way, he felt like he had grown so much older in the process.
For probably the first time in his life, Ryan understood what it felt like to have responsibilities. He knew how difficult it was to worry about your family's well-being. He understood how Chris must have felt during those years when he tried so hard to raise him.
"Hey," Ryan called out softly. Chris stopped his typing and turned around to face Ryan. A smile was on Chris' face but it failed to mask his pain and sadness. "We haven't had a brother-to-brother chat in a while."
"You're right," Chris conceded. "Things have been kinda crazy, I guess. I'm so sorry…"
"No worries," Ryan quickly answered. The last thing he wanted was for Chris to feel guilty about this as well.
"So things going well at school?"
"Pretty much. I think I have a good handle on things," Ryan replied.
"That's great to hear. I always knew you'd do well," Chris said as his smile broadened.
"How about you?" Ryan asked. "You doing okay at the part-time job?"
"Yeah, I guess," Chris sighed, not wanting to get into the details.
Ryan knew that Chris was avoiding the subject, but he didn't want to let it go so easily. "If you aren't happy there, just quit and look for something else, Chris."
Chris chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah, there are just so many job opportunities out there for cripples, aren't there?"
Ryan flinched slightly at the way Chris called himself a cripple. He didn't know much about psychology, but he knew that the way Chris was describing himself was certainly unhealthy. "Why don't you just go help Mom at P3?"
"Hey, let's not talk about this, okay?" Chris asked, again refusing to get into the subject. "So tell me more about school…" he asked, genuinely interested in hearing Ryan's stories.
Ryan decided to pursue Chris' issues another day. For now, he'd take the opportunity to just enjoy chatting with Chris. So for the next few hours, the two brothers just enjoyed each other's company as Ryan recounted his adventures and experiences at college.
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Chris sighed as he set aside his bags and wheeled himself to the rehabilitation apparatuses. He wasn't looking forward to today's session. Not only was he still physically hurting from Brad's assault yesterday, but he wasn't keen on the idea of being pummeled senseless in front of Jamie by her abusive boyfriend. Most importantly, however, he was still worried for Jamie's safety. In his brief encounter with Brad, it was clear that he didn't have any hesitations about hurting someone in order to experience the rush of power.
Chris was jolted from his thoughts by an unfamiliar voice. "Hi Chris, how are you doing today?"
"I'm doing okay, thanks," he answered politely. "I'm sorry, but have we met before?"
"Oh, silly me," the young woman answered. "I'm Valerie. I'll be working with you on your rehabilitation program."
"I see," Chris answered slowly. "I don't mean to be rude, but where is Jamie?"
"Oh, Jamie has transferred your file over to me," Valerie answered with a smile.
"Oh…"
The rest of the session went by in a blur simply because Chris' heart wasn't in it at all. He went through the motions and was relieved when it was over. Once Valerie had left, Chris wheeled himself towards another rehabilitation room. Just as he expected, Jamie was in the room, just packing her things in.
"So…you ditched me," Chris stated simply as he watched for Jamie's reaction.
"Chris…I…"
"Do you always do this with your patients? Leaving them dangling half way through their program?"
"Chris, listen to me."
"My Mom told me that you were one of the best in the rehabilitation centre. It was probably the only reason why I even bothered sticking things out here. But I guess she misjudged you…"
"You think I wanted to transfer the file?" Jamie finally argued back. "You think I had a choice in the matter?"
"You always have a choice, Jamie."
"It was either transfer your file or seeing you getting beat up to a pulp again," Jamie said, semi-angrily.
Chris rolled his eyes at the comment. "Don't try to pin this on me, Jamie. We're talking about you here. I can take care of myself."
"Do you have a death wish or something?" Jamie asked incredulously. She couldn't believe that he would be so defiant even after the beating that he took yesterday.
"I've been through much worse," he muttered, not realizing that it was loud enough for Jamie to hear everything.
"What did you just say?"
"Never mind," Chris answered quickly. "I just want you to take over my file again. I want you to help me with my rehabilitation."
"I can't!!"
"Screw Brad, Jamie. You can't let him control you like this!"
"Let me worry about this, okay?" Jamie pleaded.
Chris banged his hand against his wheelchair in frustration. "Why do you insist on staying with someone who obviously doesn't give a damn about you when there are other people who care so deeply for you?"
Jamie stared at Chris with wide eyes as she realized the implications of his words. She shook her head in disbelief. "No…it'll never work, Chris."
"Why not?" he challenged.
"It just won't, okay?"
Chris shook his head angrily, not able to understand why Jamie was being so difficult. "So you would rather be with an abusive bastard then? Why?" Jamie just stared at Chris without answering. "Oh, I get it…stupid me…why would someone like you want to be with a cripple like me?!" he yelled angrily before wheeling himself out of the room.
"No, Chris…" Jamie called after him but it was too late. "It's not like that…" she whispered to herself after Chris had gone. "I do like you…"
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"Here you go, Ben." Chris handed over the document to his supervisor, who just took it from his hands without smiling or a word of thanks.
Ben continued working at the terminal but was soon interrupted by loud yelling. Looking up, he could see a swarm of people at the back of the store. He quickly ran over to see what was going on.
"Put them back," Chris said in a steely voice as he stared down a teenager who obviously tried to shoplift.
"I don't know what you're talking about, loser."
"I said put the CD back," Chris repeated.
"Are you accusing him of stealing?" another of the youth shouted, shoving Chris' wheelchair in the process.
The teen's actions stirred out the rest of the mob and they pushed and shoved Chris around in his wheelchair while the others just smirked and laughed.
"Hey, what the hell is going on here?" Ben shouted angrily as he descended on the mob.
Seeing the angry manager, the teens put on their innocent faces and scattered, but not before shoving Chris' wheelchair once more, as if to make a point.
"Care to explain yourself, Halliwell?" Ben demanded after everyone had left.
"They were trying to shoplift."
"Oh really. Or maybe they're some of your druggie friends or something."
Chris eyes widened at the accusation. "Excuse me?!"
"Oh come on, don't play innocent with me. All you people are like that. You probably got confined to a wheelchair after getting beat up for owing money for your drugs and stuff."
"That's ridiculous!" Chris half-yelled.
"Yeah, I've seen enough of people like you to know," Ben continued. "You are all a drain on society, good-for-nothing druggies."
"Shut the hell up, Ben," Chris yelled, causing some of the customers in the store to look towards them."
"Or what, crippled boy?" Ben taunted. "I don't even know why the boss hired you, it's such an embarrassment to the company. And you better watch your attitude with your superiors if you want to keep this job." Chris was so angry that his knuckles became white as he gripped his wheelchair. "Now, you better clean this mess up and get back to stocking the shelves! Remember, you should feel lucky that you even have a job!" Ben ordered as he returned to his desk. "Damn cripple," he hissed on his way back, just loud enough for Chris to hear.
"Hey, why don't you clean it up yourself, loser?" someone else called out.
"Who the hell are you? This is none of your business!" he yelled at the bystander.
"And while you clean the mess up, you better apologize for your pathetic behaviour," the bystander continued
"If you don't get out this minute, I'm calling security!" Ben threatened.
"Call security! See if I care! And by the way, Chris here is quitting, so you can find someone else to do your stupid job!"
"You quit and you won't get another job anywhere. No one else would be stupid enough to hire a cripple like you!" Ben spat angrily.
"Listen, bastard. You talk about my brother like that again, and you'll wish you had kept your big mouth shut!" With that, he grabbed Chris' wheelchair and pushed him out the door.
"What the hell?" Chris yelled once they were in the parking lot.
"How can you put up with that crap?" Wyatt shouted back.
"Now what am I going to do?" Chris continued shouting. "How am I supposed to get back to work tomorrow?"
"Screw work! Why would you want to go back after the way he treated you?"
Chris glared at Wyatt angrily. "Because I need that job, dammit!" he hollered before wheeling away, leaving Wyatt standing in the parking lot completely dumbfounded.
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"Chris?" Piper called out after going into the parlour to find it empty. There was no answer, and Piper figured that her son must have been taking a nap.
"Hey Mom," Wyatt walked in and gave Piper a quick kiss on her cheeks. "Where's Chris?"
"Don't know. He's probably napping."
"Well, napping sure beats that stupid job that he was doing," Wyatt muttered.
"Hey, don't let Chris hear that so you'll set him off again," Piper warned, remembering Chris' tirade from a week ago.
Wyatt nodded. "I still don't understand why he was so angry. The guy was treating him like trash! And it's not like we need the money."
Piper shook her head. "You know Chris. He wants to make himself productive. He can't stand to sit around doing nothing. He'll just think that he's useless if he did that."
"Maybe you're right," Wyatt finally conceded before sitting down at the table, playing around with the newspaper.
Piper sat down across from her eldest son and took his hand in hers. "You need to give Chris time and space. I don't think any one of us can really understand how he is feeling right now."
Wyatt was about to agree with his mother until his eyes fell on the contents of the newspaper. It was opened to the apartment rental page and it was clear that someone was looking for a place to rent because there were several properties circled. Wyatt felt his anger rising up in him again as he realized that it was probably another one of Chris' ideas.
"Christopher Perry Halliwell!!!" Wyatt yelled angrily, wanting to grab his brother and finally shake some sense into him.
- to be continued -