Chapter 9: Saving Prue from Herself
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed. You made my day! Carmen! There, i mentioned you again, just for the sake of it. This chapter has some slightly maturer content...so I warned you. This would be rated T to M if it was rated individually. I own nothing, especially charmed. Enjoy! I used the song Don't Tell Me by Avril Lavigne.
We arrived back at the manor with no real problems. Nothing especially spectacular happened. We shimmered back to the manor, and Grams was there to meet us. She fused over the both of us. She pulled us both into rib cracking hugs. Her eyes filled with tears as she checked Aidan and I over for injuries. When she was satisfied that we were fine, she didn't even bother us about the work we were supposed to be doing.
Don't get me wrong, Grams wasn't slacking off or anything. She got back to work, and to my surprise, so did Aidan. He hadn't spoken to me since our second kiss, nor had he even looked at me. I thought we had made a breakthrough! But no…Aidan was being his same old immature self. I tried to catch his eye, but he was determined to avoid my gaze. Fine. If he was going to be that way, so would I.
Aidan was staying in the attic, so the only way to go to avoid him was down. I didn't want to go to the main level. That was where the younger version of my mother was, and I didn't really feel like having a run-in with her. So I stayed on the level directly bellow the attic, in the hallway. I wasn't sure exactly where to go, for I didn't really have a room of my own. I vaguely considered going to Grams' sowing room, when someone rushed up the stairs, nearly knocking me over.
I was expecting to see either Piper or Phoebe. I was surprised that it was Prue. She was running, her raven hair floating behind her. She ran into the nearest room, slamming the door. I was shocked to see tears flowing freely down her pale cheeks. She was away at college, and she rarely visited. What could be so wrong, that she had visited the home she so desperately tried to avoid?
I didn't know whether I should knock. That seemed a bit rude to me. Prue did seem really sad, but she barely knew me. Before I decided what to do, I heard loud music from the room. I heard loud music and crying. The music couldn't drown out the crying. I wondered for the umpteenth time, what could have happened?
Did you think that I was gonna give it up to you, this time?
Did you think that it was somethin I was gonna do and cry?
Don't try to tell me what to do,
Dont try to tell me what to say,
You're better off that way
Don't think that your charm and the fact that your arm is now around my neck
Will get you in my pants I'll have to kick your ass and make you never forget
I'm gonna ask you to stop, thought I liked you a lot, but I'm really upset
Get out of my head get off of my bed yeah thats what I said
Did I not tell you that I'm not like that girl, the one who, throws it all away.
Hmmm…interesting choice of song. I decided to go for it. I knocked on the door three times in rapid succession. There was no answer. I wasn't even sure she knew I exsisted. I found that I didn't care. Prue was family, and she needed help. I opened the door without an invitation.
She was lying on her back on the bed in the center of the room. The room was in darkness, and she was staring at the phosphorescent stars glued to the ceiling. "Prue?" I asked softly. I received no answer. She was so lost in thought. "When in Rome", I thought. I lay down next to my future aunt. She still made no acknowledgement of my presence. I said nothing, knowing that she wouldn't respond to me. She was a lot like me in that way.
"I loved him", Prue said suddenly. She chocked out a few more strangled sobs. Where had that come from? But at the same time, I understood. There were some things that you just couldn't share with those closest to you. It was much easier to share it with a stranger. A stranger couldn't through anything back at you later on. I let Prue continue her story. As she told me what had happened, it was like I was seeing it before my eyes.
"I've been with him for a year", Prue said.
I saw Prue holding hands with a handsome young man. They were at a school dance. They were talking in a restaurant. They were dancing. They were laughing. They were kissing. I realized I was seeing scenes from their relationship. He was her first love. She believed they would be together forever.
"He wanted to go all the way, but I wasn't ready for that", said Prue sadly.
Prue and the young man were in an unknown room. The room was obviously a boy's room. At first Prue looked happy. She was holding the boy's hand and they were talking quietly. They began to kiss passionately. Still, Prue looked in control. His hand moves from her neck, to Prue's inner thigh. Prue pulled away so quickly that the boy started.
"He tried touching me, but I said I didn't want that. He said he didn't care what I wanted", Prue said sobbing.
I saw Prue push the boy away and get off the bed. The boy got up too. He tried to kiss her again. He looked a little drunk. Prue backed away so far that she hit the wall. The boy couldn't take no for an answer. He tugged at Prue's skirt, obviously trying to pull it off. My future aunt looked paralyzed, tears streaming down her face. He was pinning her to the wall.
After a few moments' silence she said through sobs , "He went too far, so I hit him. Than I tried to run."
The boy was pressing himself against Prue. She looked at him furiously. She punched him in the face. It was hard enough to cause a large purple bruise on his nose. His nose began to bleed. Prue was slowly inching towards the door. She appeared terrified. The boy grabbed her around the throat. She pawed at his large hands. She was gasping for breath. She still had the presence of mind to bite down hard on his hand.
"He tried to choke me, so I bit him", Prue said, "I made it out of the door, and I came here."
The boy gasped and released her in shock. Taking advantage of the boy's distraction, Prue ran. She bolted for the door, not once looking back. She made it out of the room, and out the front door. The boy didn't follow her.
I looked over at the present Prue. She was curled up on the bed sobbing. I didn't know what to do or what to say. I knew that I needed to say something. Prue needed my help. What that boy has done to her was unthinkable. She didn't know much about boys, but she knew that what that boy had done was unforgivable.
Prue got up, and pulled me into a warm embrace. She held me so tightly, as if she was afraid to let me go. When she finally let go, she got up from the bed, and walked over to a dresser. She pulled out a large photo of a bridge. I was beautifully shot, the sun light pouring through the beams.
"I took this a few months ago, when Grams wouldn't let me go away to college. I had just had a car accident, and Phoebe was badly hurt. Everything was going wrong, and I thought it was my fault. I was going to jump off this bridge. I just couldn't do that to myself. That's why I took this picture. I wanted to remind myself of the dark place I was, and hope that I would never be there again", said Prue softly, wiping tears from her eyes.
How hard it must have been for her. I had never known that this had happened. Mom and Aunt Piper never told me what a difficult time aunt Prue had. I guess it's possible that they didn't know. How could they not know that there own sister was hurting this much? They loved her, I know they did. If something like this happened to my sister Prue, I knew I would be the first to know.
Aunt Prue looked so sad…so alone. She needed someone to talk to, and I would be that person. "None of this was your fault A…Prue", I said emphatically. Thankfully I caught my little slip-up. Through thick tears, Prue shook her head.
"It is all my fault", she said firmly, "everything." I shook my head emphatically. The Prue I learned by heart from stories would never say that.
"Listen to me carefully", I said. I looked deep into her ice blue eyes, filled with tears. "There is no way that any of this is your fault. That boy is the bad guy. He took advantage of you. You did exactly what you were supposed to do. And that car accident, it was exactly what it sounds like; an accident. I promise you that no one will blame you; only help you."
She was silent. Her light eyes were wide. Her pale skin was paler than usual. It was almost translucent. She looked very doubtful. I really was very sincere. I meant what I said, and I really wanted to help her. Since I had gotten to the past, it had been nothing but one ordeal after another. This was my chance to help people. The whole magical destiny thing had never been a burden to me like it had to my aunt Piper. I really loved to help people.
Slowly, very uncertainly, she nodded. I had gotten through to her. I looked at her thin scared face, reflected in my dark brown eyes. It seemed hard to believe this fragile, frightened girl would become the super witch from my mother's stories.
"Thank you", Prue whispered, "I don't even know your name, but you've helped me more than you know."
"It's Patience", I said smiling. She moved to hug me, but then thought better of it. She held out her slender arm, and I took her hand. When we shook hands, my gaze flickered to her wrists. In the pale light of the room, I could see thin scars their, white and translucent. There were three, the length of her wrists. In a flash of insight, I understood exactly how I had helped her.
I realized what she would have done if I hadn't burst into this room uninvited. The thought sent shivers down my spine. Somehow, I knew that I was meant to help her. If I hadn't been stuck in the past, the future would change, and the Charmed Ones would have never existed. Destiny was strange that way. I also somehow knew that there was one more thing I needed to do.
"I know I helped you, so you need to do one more thing for me", I said sincerely. She looked at me, listening intently.
"What is it?" Prue said softly. I only detected a small hint of fear in her voice.
"I need you to tell your grandmother everything you've told me", I said earnestly. She looked a little doubtful. Since I wasn't quite sure why, I did the thing I didn't do very often. I read her mind.
What will telling Grams help? She's going to freak. She's going to be mad at me. If I tell Grams, all hell will break lose, she thought. Her thoughts were all I needed to hear to understand.
"Your Grams loves you", I said firmly. It was important that she understood. She was more loved then she ever knew. "She would never be angry with you for something like this. She will do everything in her power to help you", I said. I knew that these words were true. She didn't look fully convinced, but she took a deep breath, and got up from the bed.
We heard heavy footsteps in the hallway. We both recognized them as Grams' footsteps. Prue gulped, and pushed open the door. I stayed on the bed and I watched her. She walked slowly up to the elderly woman and tapped her on the shoulder. Grams turned around to look at her eldest granddaughter. The formidable woman's face registered slight surprise. I knew she hadn't seen that granddaughter in months.
"Grams, I need to talk to you", she said softly. I watched with a smile as Prue led her grandmother down the hall, talking quietly with her. I felt the satisfaction one could feel after they had truly helped somebody. I sat down on the feathery bed, feeling at peace and truly content.
I had no way of knowing what was happening in my time. I could never have guessed that new memories were forming in my mother's mind. Right now, I had been thinking and worrying about my aunt Prue. I didn't know that it was my sister Prue that I should have been worrying about…
TBC…