Hey! For those of you who are wondering what happened to Charlotte in the last chapter, if you're smart, you've probably already figured it out, and for those who haven't, keep reading. So, I wrote this chapter to show you what happened after the voice leads her away, and for those who don't want to know, well I'll let you guys use your imaginations.
.
2 days later...
Beep...Beep...Beep...
''She should be waking up anytime soon,'' a male, gruff voice said, ''Miss, I understand you're worried, but she's in the best care possible.''
''I don't care!'' a strained, panicked voice exclaimed. ''That's my daughter that was found on some woman's doorstep! My daughter, who hasn't woken up in 2 days! My daughter that could be brain dead for all I know!"
WOOF!
''Get that dog out of here! He's been here long enough. My nurses can't go near her because the dog won't let them and his barks are scaring the patients!" the male voice said.
''I brought him here because he's been with her and could wake her up!" the female voice said.
WOOF!
''I said get him OUT!"
Grrrrrr...
Thomas lifted his upper body onto the bed and gave a loud bark.
Grrrrrr...WOOF!
Charlotte's eyes popped wide open as she jerked her body up and looked around for her dog.
''Thomas, THOMAS! Where are you?!'' she screamed as she tried to get out of her bed. She turned to see Thomas on her bed and squealed ''Thomas!'' as she hugged him.
''See, I told you he would help,'' the female, yet familiar voice said.
Charlotte looked up to see her mother, her face tear-stained and smiling at her. Annette rushed up and hugged her, squeezing the life out of her.
''Oh honey, you have no idea how much you scared me to death!"
Charlotte was confused. Why was her mom scared? She looked at her and said ''Mom, I'm fine. I was lying on the grass with Thomas while the bus was broke down.''
Annette gave her daughter a complex look. ''Oh that bus driver drugged you,'' she said,'' I swear that when I get my hands on that fat weasel...''
Her mom was about to go on a stream of curses until the same gruff, male voice said ''Excuse me, but perhaps I can be some assistance.''
Charlotte looked up to see a light-skinned man with glasses and a white coat was looking at them. He came up and sat in front of her, pulled out a small flashlight, and examined her eyes.
"I think she's suffering from TGA, Transient Global Amnesia. At some point, she must have blacked out and the memories from whatever happened to her being locked up. Don't worry, it's temporary and will come back to her. I bet the man who came in here earlier was telling the truth. So tell me, what's the last thing you remember?" Charlotte started to answer when the voice came back into her head.
Tell him you and the dog went to get help.
''Thomas and I went to go find help for the bus,'' she said.
The man stopped examining her eyes and looked at her. ''Well, I heard that from the bus driver, but what happened before that, like how you started your day."
''Well, I took a shower, did my morning ritual-''
''Which consists of?" he asked.
"Well, I take a morning shower, and afterward, I wash my face, brush my teeth, put on deodorant, blow dry my hair, and...'' she trailed off. The last thing she always did was something that she was not proud of and didn't like to tell people, especially strangers.
''Miss, please tell me the last thing you do?" he asked again.
Charlotte sighed and took a breath.
"And I take 2 pills of antidepressants.''
She did it. She told a stranger that she took 'happy pills'' to get through the day. After she'd been let out of the hospital in Georgia, the doctors had prescribed meds for her to take. They said it would help her feel better.
She expected him to react, but instead, he wrote something down on a clipboard he had and said, ''Alright, what else?"
Charlotte was taken back. She had not expected him to do that. ''I pick out my clothes and do my hair. That day, I was about to go outside when my dog, Thomas, stopped me. He wanted to come and I said he couldn't. Then, I heard the bus and left the house. I told Phil, the bus driver, that I wanted to go to a new beach and maybe try surfing.''
"So,'' the man said, ''since you two are on a first-name basis, can you care to tell me how you both know each other?"
Charlotte slightly blushed in embarrassment. Her mom still didn't know what she did that Sunday. And having a stranger ask her in front of Annette was not the best way to tell.
''The day I moved here, my mom had to go to work, long story, and I spent the day unpacking everything, on my own free will,'' she added for extra measure and to not get her mom in trouble, ''when I was done, I got dressed in some nicer clothes and got on a public bus, which is how I met Phil. He was the driver. He went out of his way and took me to Malibu.''
Annette was furious. Well, her skin was red in anger, but it lessened as she continued.
''He left me there, but he came back for me at 9 pm and I went on with my night. The next day, I found out that he was my school bus driver.''
''Wait a minute, you told me you were only stuck at home all day! You lied to me?" her mom asked, truly hurt.
Charlotte turned to her mom. ''No, it was just that you were busy and I got everything done. So, I decided to take an adventure.''
Her mom gave her a look that said that they would be talking about this later.
''So let me get this straight. You know the bus driver because he takes you places out of his jurisdiction?" he asked sternly. She couldn't blame him. Anyone who would have heard this would scream ''pedophile'' in their eyes.
But Charlotte could tell when she couldn't trust someone and when she could, and she felt that Phil was someone she could trust. Her senses were better than that now.
''He was only being nice to me and taking me to places outside Valencia was his way of showing generosity.''
The man got up and went to the door saying ''Well, I tell the nurses to keep your daughter stay overnight for observation and make sure the police didn't arrest Phil,'' he put the emphases around his name, ''for something he didn't do. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning.''
He looked at his clipboard and walked out of the room as Annette yelled ''Thank you, Dr. Harris!''
Wait a minute, Charlotte thought, doctor? nurses? observation? This can't be...
But it was too late to confirm.
''I'm in a hospital, aren't I?'' she asked.
She already knew the answer.
Everything was white. The walls were white. The lights were white. The machines next to her were white. The beds were white. Heck, the gown she was wearing was white! Charlotte quickly noticed the IVs in her right arm and resisting the urge to pull them off. It's not that she hated hospitals. After all, that were people who were really sick or severely injured went, and most likely came out a great shape. In one way or another.
It's just that she hated being a patient in one.
''Well, what did you expect?'' her mother asked as she looked at her daughter sternly. ''I was about to end my shift at work when I received a phone call from the hospital, the hospital of all places, saying that a woman found you on her doorstep, soaking wet and unconscious... oh, its Georgia all over again!''
Suddenly, Charlotte felt something stir inside of her, it was familiar, almost like a... like a flame. A fiery burst of sudden energy raging inside of her like a wildfire. Suddenly, she heard a voice pop into her head.
Let it go...
SLAP!
She almost didn't realize that she slapped her mom until she saw Annette step back, hold her right cheek that was beginning to form a red handprint.
But, at the moment, she could care less. Annette looked at her daughter shockingly. She had never known that Charlotte would react so violently.
She pointed her finger at her mother accusingly. ''Don't you EVER bring that up! This is NOTHING like what happened in Georgia! I didn't try to kill myself then and I certainly wasn't trying to kill myself now! I might remember something from, what? 2 or 3 days ago? But if you even THINK that I'm some innocent depressed little girl, oh so help me I will-''
WOOF!
Thomas's POV (written in 3rd person)
Even if humans couldn't understand him, he could understand them quite well.
He understood the difference between a pet and a stray, love and abuse, neglect and abandonment. He understood it all, for as a neglected dog that was used to protect an abandoned junkyard, he hated to understand humans. While as a pet, you could be cuddled and spoiled while others could be beaten or somewhere between.
The day he ran away from that junkyard was the best day of his life, for not only was he free from the abuse, but he was also taken in by the nicest person he ever met.
Charlotte.
Flashback:
It was a hot day in Sammy's ''Forbidden'' Palace, or as others would call it, a junkyard. Beyond the locked metal gates were piles of broken cars, glasses, trash, and much more garbage that would have had much potential to fill the ozone land. Sammy himself, an oversized guy that reeked of bad whopper burgers and gas, was watching his small TV in a small shack by the yard.
Tied up by a post, was a big, brown pit bull terrier who was ripping a badly wrapped bandage off his paw. It healed on its own, but it was somewhat hard to lick on. The dog was tied up in front of the gate, watching for 'intruders' who wanted to steal from the yard, but those 'intruders' were middle school kids looking for a spot to hang out. The dog didn't want to cause any trouble himself he was hoping to see if the small little girl that would come by to bring him food. Sammy fed him mostly bones and a few meat scraps, but he knew how to make them last.
Suddenly, a few guys and girls, probably college students, walked past the gates. The guys walked past him but the girls stopped and looked at him.
''Aw, look at the cute doggy,'' a blonde girl kneeled over and cooed. She reached into her bag, pulled out a treat, and threw it to the dog through the holes of the metal gate. The dog happily caught it in his mouth and ate it. Then, he walked to the girl as far as he could, since he was tied up, and licked her fingers that were on his side of the gate.
''Aw, that's so cute,'' another girl said as she started to rub him around the ear, much to the dog's enjoyment.
One of the guys saw this and said ''You do know whose dog that is, right?"
The girls looked at him. ''Who?"
''That's Sammy Biggens's dog, Mutt.''
Yep, that was the dog's name. Since his owner didn't bother to name him, he called him Mutt, when he just happens to be a purebred.
''He's supposed to be a big bad dog that keeps people from entering the junkyard. But he must've died because this dog is WAY too soft to be Mutt,'' the guy said.
But the girls rolled their eyes and continued to pet Mutt.
''No way, Hatchet. Dogs can be nice when they want to, like this little guy. It's the owners that give their dogs a bad name. Isn't that right?" she asked the dog.
WOOF!
''See?" the blonde said as she started to rub Mutt again.'' He's not bad. He's just a softie, aren't ya?"
WOOF!
SLAM!
They all turned to see the door to the small shack open. A pale guy who looked like a heavy-weight sumo-wrestler came from the shock.
He had a 5 o'clock shadow and messy hair. His eyes were pure black and his teeth were yellow. He wore a WAY-too-small white tank top and over-sized baggy shorts. His red stomach was sticking out and his white feet were swollen. Sammy Biggens.
When he saw the students touching the dog, and Mutt not doing a thing about it...he lost it.
''WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MUTT?!" he yelled as he wobbled towards them. The guys were quick to defend the girls.
''Listen, sir, we were just walking by and the girls saw the dog and-''
''I DON'T CARE IF YOU SAW AN ELEPHANT! LEAVE MY PROPERTY AT ONCE OR I'LL...I'LL...'' Sammy trailed off.
Then, he grabbed an empty beer bottle and swung it at the gate, the glass breaking and hitting the girls.
The blonde fell and received a nasty cut on her leg. But to Mutt, he saw red.
WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!
He struggled to get out of his leash, but the metal-wired collar on his neck wasn't helping either. Sammy turned to him and started to kick him.
''STUPID DOG! CAN'T EVEN PROTECT MY PROPERTY, YOU LITTLE MUTT!''
The others tried to stop him, but he wasn't going to give the dog any mercy.
Then, the blond grabbed a big shard and, what was probably a one-in-a-million hit, managed to throw the shard through the rope, the shard cutting through it successfully.
The dog didn't hesitate to escape through a hole in the gate and run.
But before he ran for freedom, he licked the blonde girl on the face and barked twice.
Thank You.
The girl smiled in understanding and watched as the dog escaped with his life...
Flashback Ends...
That day, he found himself at a mall and was digging through the trash until he saw her.
The girl was running for a few minutes until she saw him. She wasn't skinny, but she wasn't big either. She had an average person's shape, red hair, and brown eyes. When he saw those guys after her, she dashed towards him and he, well... he bit the leader in a place that should be untouched to humans.
After the guys ran away, he greeted the girl and the rest was history for him. Though she wanted him to protect her, their bond had grown a lot since that fateful day. But something was wrong.
He kept hearing a voice when he was with her and, to his surprise, she heard it too. But to his other surprise, no one else did. He could feel its presence and he never likes it.
The night that snake-tentacle came, he was on his guard. It never came back, but he still remembered it, like what happened a few days ago.
He remembered the look in her eyes when they were walking from the bus...
He remembered how they walked for so long that he knew that her feet had to be hurting...
He remembered her walking to a cliff point and walking down the stairs built along the cliffside that leads to the beach...
He remembered being lead to an isolated part of the beach...
He remembered how she asked him to sniff along the boulders and cliff sides until a hidden opening appeared...
He remembered how the two walked in and entered a hidden cave with a pool in it...
He remembered how she jumped in it as the pool started to glow and bubble...
He remembered how she just walked out of the pool and they ended up back on the beach and left...
He remembered they ended up in some neighborhood and she rung the doorbell outside someone's house until she passed out...
He remembered sneaking into the ambulance that took his owner away...
But most of all, he remembered the voice that gave her every single command and he couldn't snap her out of it.
As he saw the violent exchange that appeared between his owner and her mother, he felt its presence inside of her.
He barked as loud and hard as he could, hoping to bring the true presence of his loving owner back.
WOOF!
3rd POV (Back at the hospital with Charlotte and her mom)
WOOF!
Charlotte's head jerked up and Annette saw this.
Her daughter looked like she had just come out of a trance...like she had no idea that she just hit her mother. She was angry at one moment, and then she was calm.
''Mom, why are you holding your cheek?" she asked her mother curiously. Annette saw this and decided to lie.
''Oh, I was leaving the bathroom and I accidentally hit the door. I'll have a nurse look at me later. You know, why don't you go to sleep and I'll go get something to eat and come back, o.k.?"
Charlotte looked at her mother suspiciously but nodded as she laid back down on her bed.
Annette left the room and headed to the clinic. I'm gonna have to keep an eye on her, she thought.
Charlotte didn't realize that she fell asleep until her mom closed the door. She knew her mom was lying, but she didn't want to push it. She didn't want to know.
To be honest, she doesn't remember what happened in the last couple of days, except lying in the sun by Thomas. She could feel that Thomas was fully on the bed, probably curled up in a ball and lying on her feet, asleep. Then, all of a sudden, she started to sing a familiar melody as she was sleeping.
The moon was starting to rise over Paradise Cove.
Would you come with me?
But it wasn't just any moon. It was a full moon, glowing white in the sky, giving off an unknown blue aura.
We'll swim the deep blue sea...
Suddenly, the pure white moon started to turn red, giving off a menacing blood aura.
Oooooohhhhhh...
Laguna watched this from the outside patio of the café and turned to her family. Karen, Brendan, and her son-in-law, Jonathan, were huddled up together, their faces stunned in fear. Karen stepped up and was the first to speak.
''So, it's happened, isn't it? She's rising again, and right when we were so sure we found the right moon pool?"
Laguna shook her head.
''No, it just hurt our situation drastically. Not only have we found the wrong pool, but... she's found her. And to make it worst, she's used the Enchantment Song on her and has had her transitioned with success. Who knows what powers she has given her,'' Laguna said as she looked at the red moon.
''But, for hundreds of years, you, and most of your offsprings, including me, have searched for potential people who could be the reincarnations of Ane'lie for years, even when she was reborn as a man, but a teenager who could... I just don't want to even imagine the amount of control and power she has over her,'' Karen said as she hugged herself like she was out in the cold.
Laguna nodded. ''Yes, it's hard to think about, but we need to find her and at least give her some protection before she gets her next chance to control her. And if she does and Ane's new body doesn't know her powers… I swear to whoever or whatever made that comet hit earth... there will be consequences.''
Suddenly, Karen came up with an idea. ''Why don't you train her. After all, you're the true bearer of the Original 3, and who knows how many more abilities you gained over the years. And that way, if she is the true reincarnation, she's not only powerful, but she can defend herself against her,'' Karen suggested.
And Laguna couldn't agree more.
Just a simple charm or spell couldn't save her reborn friend from the dangers that were lurking below. So, training her friend's reincarnation was the best way/option of protecting her and giving her a way of self-defense.
She made her final decision.
"Alright, we'll find her, bring her here, and train her. I will NOT lose her again!"
Karen nodded. She knew her mother's long past and would do anything to help her, even in the impossible, along with her current family.
Then, her husband stepped in.
''Alright, I get it. Find your mother's reincarnated mermaid or human or whatever, bring her around here, and save the girl doomed in a cycle that's destined to repeat itself. And what? Become legacies or something? We don't even know where she is. All we know is that she's back in what? Her 500th body is walking around somewhere, unknown about the damage it's about to do. Your mother's arch-nemesis is rising from the ocean after a very, very long nap, and what else?''
He turned to his pregnant wife, ''Karen, what in the world makes you think that her reincarnation is a teenager that we're talking about? For all we know, the real person that she could be controlling is Brendan and we're on a wild goose chase!"
Brendan looked at his stepfather accusingly. "Hey! I resent that!"
But Karen looked at her husband in amusement and there was a glint of mischief in her eyes. Oh no.
''Easy,'' she said as she was walking towards him, ''a teenager was the last one to look into Mother's eyes and receive a vision from her.''
Then Brendan joined in on the pursuit.
''And, the first one to put one back into gram's head."
It was starting to dawn on Jonathan on who they were talking about and began to back away as he shook his head and muttered ''No, no...''
By the time he backed into a wall, they all cornered him.
''And,'' Laguna said as she finally joined in, ''she still has that lovely shade of red hair as I remember her having.''
Jonathan was shaking his head furiously, yelling ''No!''
Karen looked towards her son and mother, then looked towards her husband, with the smile of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, much to his horror.
''Mom? What was the name of that girl who came to the café last week?'' she asked Laguna, with a hint of amusement.
Her mother answered in the same tone. She pretended to rub her chin, as if she was thinking, and then said ''Ah, yes. Charlotte Watsford.''
They all looked at Jonathan like madmen and he was thinking one thing: We're doomed.
MUAHAHAHAHA! I'm EVIL! I bet you did NOT see that coming! And I think I can ask the BIG question that all of you are asking: WHAT THE FREAKIN HELL IS GOING ON?!
Well, keep reading! Cause we are going deeper into, not only the mystery of the voice and Laguna's family but what was truly going on after Charlotte left Australia!
READ AND REVIEW!