Mable: Sorry this took so long, but better late than never I suppose. ^-^ Enjoy!
The Buried Voice
Chapter 12: Decisions
Charlie was well aware that Sammy had been watching them the entire time they were there. Once or twice she caught glimpses of him, especially when they left the workshop to plan in the front room. It wasn't hard to notice a dark shape just edging out from behind the wall. The others didn't give any indication that they noticed so Charlie hadn't brought it up. She just let Sammy watch them, hoping that through it he would become more comfortable with them.
The plan was basic enough. John knew someone he could borrow a truck from, someone who worked in construction, and would bring it by around eleven. Before then, Charlie would see if she could dismantle Lefty and make it easier for them to move. They would then find a spot, dump the bear, and Charlie would quickly put it back together while the others staged the scene.
Charlie wasn't entirely confident in her abilities to take animatronics apart and put back together, but she was hopeful that as long as she did a visually good job, the unsuspecting eye might not notice. And if she couldn't, they could always try to stage it to look like it got hit by a car or something. Anything to get Lefty out of the house.
Unlike the times before, the others were a little less reluctant to leave the house. There was a plan set and they knew Charlie was confident- enough- in what she was doing. The only one who paused was John.
"It shouldn't take me too long to get the truck. I could swing back by when I'm done or we could meet somewhere," he offered. Charlie smiled a little at the offer.
"We'll see how long it takes me to take the bear apart then I'll call you," she agreed. He nodded and made his way down the steps. She didn't plan to call him right away, but didn't feel like letting him down after how much support he had given her. Even if this whole romantic affair still felt very weird to her. She knew that soon enough she would have to decide on what to do.
"Be careful!" Jessica called with a wave.
"I will," Charlie returned with a wave as she watched them load into their cars. She headed back inside as they began pulling out of the driveway and closed the door behind her. "They're gone, Sammy. It's safe to come out now."
The Puppet edged out of the living room cautiously and still seemed wary around the door. Once he was certain nobody was coming back in, Sammy hurried in and took her by the wrist before leading her further into the house. She went along with it and was led into their father's office where she realized he had been at work.
There were drawings sketched in pen ink on printer paper scattered and stacked on the desk. As Charlie got closer she could see them better and could make out some of the images, including Baby's own on one.
"Did you draw all of these last night?" Charlie asked. Sammy nodded almost eagerly and brushed his hand over a small stack and splayed them out before her. Each one showing a different image, some human and some animatronics. Though it was the picture of Baby in her hands that caught her interest as it showed a slightly less damaged version of her from before the fire. This gave Charlie an idea. "Did you draw pictures of the other animatronics who were at the pizzeria?"
Another nod and Sammy began shuffled through the papers. Soon he drew out a few in particular and laid them before her. The first one presented looked like a mess at first glance, but closer inspection seemed to reveal some sort of disfigured bear head surrounded by a matted mess of wires. She wondered how it could even move on its own.
The next picture was just a sketch of Freddy and his band on their stage. This drawing had a little less detail than the one before it, perhaps because he knew that she had already seen them.
"Were these ones alive too? Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy?" Charlie asked as she showed him the drawing. He moved his head slightly like he was glancing, shook his head, and returned to the drawing clutched in his hand. He seemed to be looking at it more intensely. "What's that?" she asked. He handed it over a lot slower than he had the others and she soon realized why.
It was the rabbit. It was uncolored so she couldn't see that tell-tale golden hue, but she could still it was the Bonnie suit that haunted her nightmares, and most likely the old diner.
"I knew it. This was William, right? He was there too…" Charlie said to Sammy's agreement. She hadn't seen the costume too well in her shared dreams, but had imagined it as being a revolting, rotten thing, and the drawing seemed to confirm that, with large tears in the suit and even half of its arm missing. Between that and the gaunt shape that it had been drawn in, Charlie made a startling realization. "He wasn't just wearing his suit, he was the suit. That… Makes too much sense, actually."
Sammy gave a chiming that rung like laughter and turned his attention quickly to the other pictures. He seemed determined to not look at the rabbit. The next picture that he handed her was of the businessman wearing the Freddy head. By now, Charlie already knew who this was.
"Michael…" Sammy looked just as disappointed as she was. If what Michael had said was true, they were raised as brothers for at least a little while, so she supposed they would've become close. Michael had sounded sorrowful about the loss of his brother, maybe he didn't ever find out the truth about who he was. She looked up to see that Sammy's face had fallen to a small, closed smile. She wanted to comfort him.
"…Maybe he got out in time. Clay said that they only found one body, so… It's possible…" Charlie tried. In that vein of thought, her father might've survived too. Though after hearing that recording she highly doubted that he willingly walked out. Her eyes fell to the desk again and, thankfully, landed almost immediately on a distraction. Among the animatronic sketches there was one of a human profile.
"Hey, what's this?" Charlie uncovered the paper and lifted it to look closer. It didn't take her long to recognize the disinterested looking man drawn on it. "Is this Schmidt?" Sammy regained his smile and nodded eagerly. She got a small one of her own. "So, you were watching him. He said that he thought "Lefty" was eyeing him from across the room," she added.
His eyes widened for a moment and his smile got a little lopsided; maybe he was embarrassed. The way he quickly, but gently, retook the sketch and turned away towards the desk seemed to back that up. He tried to subtly slip it back into the stack a few moments later, which she noticed but didn't comment on.
"In case you're worried about him, he's doing fine. I talked with him yesterday and he sounded alright. Maybe a little less than thrilled about looking for a new job… I have his number if you want to call him yourself," Charlie lightly teased. Sammy made a disapproving whirring noise in his chest. For some reason, this was what finally made her take note of his lack of speech. "Don't take this the wrong way, because I'm just curious, but why can't you speak like Baby could? Is it something in how you're made?"
She fully anticipated an explanation involving how Sammy's body was different from Baby's. It was apparent just from looks alone, but the differences between the crackling speaker and the chiming noises was enough to pique her interest further. The technician inside her wanted to find out everything about how the Puppet 'ticked'. How he could levitate, why his mask would change, and what it was trilling in his chest.
…Except Sammy didn't make any effort to answer her. She should've known he would've had trouble answering a question like that when he had been responding through nods and shakes of his head, but it was quickly apparent that wasn't the problem. That smile began to slowly close once again, the porcelain moving as smoothly as skin, and an almost somber look replacing it. Or maybe it was guilt, or maybe shame.
"Not that we're not communicating fine without talking. It's okay if you can't talk, Sammy," Charlie tried to assure him. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before shaking his head. She wasn't sure what that meant, so she had to guess. "It's not okay, or... Or you can talk?" He swayed uneasily and dragged his dark fingers over the many sketches. She started catching on. "Can you talk?"
Finally, Sammy nodded again, but he made no attempt to speak following it. He almost seemed reluctant to do so and somehow it came to Charlie that he wasn't speaking because he didn't want to. Something about that made her feel a strange amount of protectiveness, wondering what it was that made him want to stay silent. Then deciding that maybe it was best if she didn't know.
"It's alright, Sammy. You don't have to. Like I said, we're doing fine like this," Charlie reassured as she reached for his shoulder, similar to how her friends had reinforced her earlier. He tilted his head a little, not in confusion but more in unsureness. She smiled and tried to lighten the mood. "You could… Always send Schmidt a letter. I'm at least ninety-nine percent sure that he knows how to read."
That worked like a charm. The ringing returned, the puppet perked up, and he even managed a smile again. He must've been relieved that she wasn't pushing for him to explain. So much so, that he got a new idea and turned back to the desk, getting the pen he used to draw and a clean piece of paper.
Assuming that he was going to draw something new, Charlie turned away to let him work and looked back over his previous pieces. She noticed some of the sketches that he hadn't shown her and moved them closer to see better. They ranged from simple doodles to detailed sketches like the ones she had seen already. Some of them were of Freddy and the gang, both cartoon versions and some drawn like animatronics, but many were characters she didn't recognize. Like a boy holding a balloon, a beaver with a buck-toothed smile, and even a crocodile with a crooked jaw.
"Look at all of these. Just on the different Freddy's alone, there must've been dozens of animatronics. They couldn't have all been haunted, right?" Charlie wondered. She really hoped they weren't. "He must've been in a few different pizzeria. Or saw them in a factory like Afton's." So, maybe he had moved around. That made her feel better than going from bed to box to bear.
It did open her eyes to their current situation though. There weren't any other Freddy's left. No working animatronic factories that she knew of, no diners still functioning, and very few former employees that would even admit to having worked at Freddy's. He had nowhere to go. Not that she intended to let him go to another Freddy's, but now she realized the option was entirely off the table.
Now Charlie was going to have to think some things through. So far she had just been going along with it and waiting to plan things later. She would worry about school later, worry about Aunt Jen later, worry about the risks later, and now it was later and she still wasn't sure how they were going to go about this. She was totally out of her element.
As if Sammy had read her mind, he nudged the paper over to her and set the pen aside. Then watched her expectantly as she looked at it and found only a short message, the first words he returned to her.
"I'm glad to be home."
Charlie breath caught as the heaviness of the comment sunk in. It reminded her that it wasn't just her anymore. Whatever decisions made would effect both of them and, realistically, were going to have to be made with both of them in mind. But to her surprise, she wasn't bothered by it. If anything it made her more determined to work this out.
Charlie smiled to him and replied, "Yeah, me too."
Clay had believed his son and his friends' story even when it sounded ridiculous. Though he might've had trouble doing so if he hadn't witnessed the bear breaking out from the basement. He was used to Carlton trying to smooth talk his way out of something or making a joke, but he knew when he was being honest. That stone-cold seriousness on his face had showed his honesty.
Yet he still felt his stomach twist when he had found the first concrete evidence that the story had been true, the sprawled remains of legs and wires that had been the doll amalgam. Chase was the first to see it and swore so loudly that if there was anything else down here it surely knew about them. For that alone, he was left to guard the thing with Dunn while Clay led the rest of the officers to the Circus Gallery.
The further he got into the basement, the more he saw to prove that what they said was true. He found the stacked objects that had been used to block the door, the empty Baby shell, and even the hatch that fit the description of the fake pizzeria. Clay steadied his flashlight and- against the wishes of some of the other officers- went in first. What he found was nothing short of horrifying.
"I don't understand. I was sure this property was checked, did everyone really walk past the these hatches without checking what was inside?" It was a disturbing thought. Of course, at the time he wouldn't have had the authority to launch an investigation of his own, but if he would've known this was here he would've risked his badge to come down himself.
It was once he stepped out of the dining room that he heard the voices. They were hushed and hard to make out, but clearly not from his own men. Not with the strange mechanical noise accompanying them. He signaled for the other officers to quiet down and draw their weapons, which they did eagerly. He made sure that they were all carrying stun guns, but he wasn't confident that they could take down something like this. Not if what Carlton and the others said was true.
As he opened the door into the 'outside' area, he heard the voices suddenly halt and footsteps replace them. Along with a wheeling noise that sounded suspiciously like had been described of Baby.
"They're on the move. Stay close and keep your guard up," Clay warned before quickly following after the sound. The officers flanked him as he made it down the path of the playground.
"This whole place looks like my kid's daycare," one of the officers muttered. It must've then come to him what it being there meant. "This guy was a sicko."
Clay agreed fully but remained silent. As soon as he stepped around the corner, he caught sight of the door to the fake house suddenly slamming shut, followed by a crashing noise from inside. The police rushed it in moments and only gave a warning of, "HCPD! Open the door!" before they very forcibly began to push their way through.
Something on the other side had thrown a small bookcase down in front of the door but it did little to keep them from shoving through. A second door had slammed shut on the other side and Clay rounded on it quickly, trying to get through before it too was blocked off. As luck would have it, this one had a lock on it.
They had brought a Halligan bar with them so with a little force they were able to get the door open. What waited for them was a small, cramped bathroom and nothing else. The room smelled rancid and the source was the bathtub which was full of grimy water. The stained sink wasn't much better. None of this mattered as much as the paneling removed from the lower wall across from the toilet.
Clay cautiously leaned into the opening and could see a narrow crawlspace leading back into the darkness. From deep inside he could hear the clatter of metal and a the thumps and squeaks of something crawling further away. It had to be Circus Baby and Clay knew he couldn't let her escape.
"I'm going in, someone cover me. Stay back about twenty feet and keep the stun gun ready just in case she turns. The rest of you see if there's another way around to cut her off," he directed. Then he disappeared into the tight space and began to pursue the escaping figure.
It was a slow crawl, with most of the room above blocked with water pipes and electrical wires. Neither of which should've been this close together and meant at any moment the crawlspace could become a deathtrap. He had to keep low as he kept crouched and slowly edged around the corner.
Even as he was doing all of this, hearing the metal squeaking, and holding the tasing gun tight, he could've still believed it was a human down here. It seemed like the further he got from the memory of the doll amalgam, the more he wanted to convince himself that it was as simple as a human pulling the strings, even if it was William Afton himself. It would make everything so much easier to swallow.
Until he got around the next turn and saw green eyes glowing back at him. Then there was no denying what he was seeing was very real.
Charlie had said Baby could talk, maybe he could coax it into giving itself up. It seldom worked with human, but it was worth a shot if it would spare him fighting in a small space. "Baby?" He raised his light and Baby flinched back with a hissing noise. Not a good start, clearly aggressive, so he played his cards. "Baby, you're surrounded. There's nowhere for you to run to. Give yourself up and we won't need to use force."
Baby reacted about as well as he expected. She turned herself in the tight space, metal groaning and clicking in protest, and began to hurriedly crawl away. Clay was quick to follow, standing a little more but still bowed down enough to not risk hitting anything. The cops behind him struggled to keep up and were soon left behind.
Eventually Clay caught side of the backside of Baby as she clawed her way out of another break in the wall and thudded to her feet. She skated on squeaky wheels through a room filled with useless servers and rammed herself shoulder first into the door waiting on the other side. Only this time the door was reinforced and didn't give to the direct assault. She tried to ram it again, but this attempt was even less powerful.
She swiveled on her wheels to try and get better traction before looking back to see her pursuer climbing out behind her. She turned on him with an threatening shudder with her claw bared aggressively. Clay reacted by raising the stun gun with the full intention of subduing her now. It was clear that trying to reason with her wouldn't work. He aimed it directly at the center of the crazed machine's chest.
Only to be blindsided by something slamming into his side with nearly identical strength to Baby hitting the door. It took Clay completely off-guard and he was easily taken to the ground by the weight. The flashlight flew from his hand, but kept his grip on the stun gun, and reflexively fired off towards Baby when hit. It missed her by a foot and the prongs fell to the ground worthlessly.
Him and the unseen weight crashed to the ground heavily. With the flashlight thrown aside, he couldn't make much of the creature above him except that it was covered in metal wires and was stronger than any human. It manhandled him easily, grabbing him by his vest and forcing him into the corner as it hovered above him. Clay reached for his gun when it suddenly grabbed his upper arms and dug in its fingers.
Without warning, it released an electrical current through its hands and into his arms. The voltage was just strong enough to spread through his arms and cause his whole body to seize; stronger than a stun gun, not strong enough to kill. Just enough to leave Clay completely defenseless and shuddering on the floor until the electrocution was halted.
It was in that moment of freedom that Clay caught sight of what stood above him. All he could see was the edges of wires and glowing, purple eyes.
Before the creature could do anything more, prongs shot out of the vent and clattered against its chest without sticking. The officer behind him had caught up and while the taser was entirely ineffective, the act seemed to startle the animatronic and it recoiled back. It was only now that Clay recognized the loud banging every few seconds and realized that Baby was still slamming against the door.
Clay went for his gun again, slowly as to not tip off whatever wired being was still crouched beside him. It didn't notice and instead grabbed up the prongs and suddenly yanked its arm back, ripping the stun gun out of the officer's hand. It clattered on the floor right as Baby broke through the door. The second it swung open, a chorus of voices came from the other side. Baby looked around in alarm before quickly skating off.
The second animatronic's head turned back sharply before it lunged off the ground and ran after her. Clay swung out his gun and fired after it, but if any of the bullets hit then they did nothing to slow it down. The officers on the outside took the sound as a signal to begin firing as well, but also seemed to have little success. He could hear his men hot in pursuit as the officer who follower him climbed out of the vent.
"Chief, are you alright?!" the officer asked in shock as he crouched beside him. He could see how much Clay's arm was shaking- not out of fear, but from his muscles still twitching from the volts.
"I'm fine, I'll walk it off," Clay gruffly affirmed. He dropped his arm to his side. "…Radio the others. We need to get a perimeter set up around the building and make sure whatever's in here doesn't get out."
Even with the officer getting out the radio to do so, a second officer coming up in the vent, and the rest of the group following on the robots' trail, Clay had a bad feeling that they were already too late. That they had lost their one chance to corner the threat and had let something awful slip out of their reach. There was something malicious in those purple eyes, even more so than Baby's own.
Hurricane would never be the same.
It was nearly midnight when the plan went into action. They had deemed the road that led to Afton Robotics to be the 'dropping point'. Both because of the lack of houses surrounding it and because it meant the bear would be found faster, and fit in with the belief that it would be moving towards the factory. Nobody was around to see a pick-up truck suddenly swerve onto the side of the road and park beside a ditch.
The tightly packed gang jumped out of the truck and began to work fast. John yanked open the tailgate and with Charlie and Carlton's help dragged Lefty's armless and headless body out of the back. The legs had been too deeply set into the suit to be removed, but the limbs that were taken off helped dramatically with the weight of it. Marla and Lamar joined in and helped them drag it into the ditch before going back to get the arms and head.
"Hold this?" Charlie offered the flashlight to Jessica, who nodded and shined the light on the bear. Charlie crouched down and started to pick up and level one of the arms before John stepped in to help.
"Here, I've got it. Just tell me where to put it and you worry about getting it on," he said. He knelt beside her and took the arm.
"Thanks. Just hold it right… Here," Charlie said, angling the arm. "And just slide it in a little. I'll attach it from the inside." She removed the loosely set hatch and reached in over the storage tank to feel for where the arm would set. The storage tank being the reason she would still be going on feeling more than sight and why she hadn't been able to reach the legs. Thankfully, she was able to get the bolts and wrench set blindly.
"Bet you didn't think you were going to be doing field work this early. Or without pay," John lightly joked. Charlie smiled back, feeling a little ease in tension in the otherwise dire mood.
"And what do you call our run-in with Circus Baby, an unpaid vacation?" Jessica asked. She seemed a little more tense, but intended to keep the situation calm. She watched as Charlie tightened the bolts, what she could of it, and was impressed. "I don't know how you're doing this so easily."
"I'm just working backwards is all. Just everything I did earlier in reverse. Anyone can screw in a bolt," Charlie dismissed. Though she couldn't help but feel a little proud of the compliment. In comparison to the droning lessons at school, working on animatronics directly really did make her feel like a real technician. Even if she wasn't exactly fixing it, but making it look presentable.
In the meantime, Marla and Carlton were doing their best to somewhat stage the area. This mean making somewhat realistic footprints in the dirt and hoping they were believable.
"We're going to have to have him coming from the road. If we have the footprints coming from that way and suddenly stop then they might tell that they're fake," Carlton said. He studied the road and ditch as he tried to picture the scene like he knew his father would. "And we're going to do that, then we've got to loop the footprints this way and make it look like he fell backwards. Like he fell into the ditch."
"If you're sure they're going to pay that much attention, but this dirt's not super loose. It's going to look weird if we put too much detail," Marla offered. Still she leaned down and began to use a rock to rub at the dirt, trying to make what looked like an impression.
"It's better this way, trust me. Let the scene tell the story and there's not going to be any questions… Or arrests."
"Hey guys, I think someone's coming," Lamar called. He had been standing by the tailgate to keep an eye out for any oncoming cars, and he currently spotted a pair of headlights in the distance. They vehicle was too far to make out any details about it. Still, everyone began to work at double speed, including Charlie who finished tightening the bolts into place. The arm wasn't functional, but it at least looked like it was.
"Got it! Alright, onto the next one," Charlie said. She quickly grabbed up the second arm and slid its post in place, with John hurrying around Lefty to hold it for her again. She reached into its chest and began to start tightening the bolts holding the skeleton together. "Are they still coming?"
"I don't know. It looks like they're stopped down there. They might be watching us," Lamar warned. He continued watching the lights with baited breath before seeing them turn as the car pulled off onto an adjacent road. He breathed a sigh of relief. "False alarm. Don't let that slow you down though."
"I won't," Charlie promised. She managed to get the second arm done faster than the first and the finish line was in sight.
Now it was just a matter of putting the head back on. John hefted it up over the neck and Charlie guided the neck post down where it was supposed to go before reaching inside and beginning to work. It was more difficult to reach where she was supposed to this time, but she expected that. The neck's bolts were situated towards the back and the space around them had been tight.
She had to have Sammy to unscrew them, which he had done speedily and with an unsettled look on his face. He had locked eyes with the bear the entire time, as though watching and waiting for it to move, but it hadn't. He then dropped the bolts into Charlie's hand, unlocked a few additional latches, and lifted off the head without much issue. Charlie had to work backwards from that.
"You've got this," Jessica encouraged. She still angled the flashlight at the bear, but was now watching the road with Lamar. Everyone was becoming more paranoid the longer they were there.
"I'm almost there. Just hold it for a few more seconds, John…" Charlie trailed off. She continued tightening the second bolt until it wouldn't turn anymore. The head still felt wobbly, but there wasn't much else she could do for it. "Guess this is going to have to be good enough," she thought. She drew her hands out of the bear. "That's good. Just be careful when you set it down." John nodded and laid it back in the ditch.
"Alright, we. Are. Out of here!" Marla announced before outright running to the car. Carlton followed and promptly threw himself in the other side and sat in the window seat before she could. She gave a frustrated, "Carlton!" before giving in, going around, and getting stuck back in the middle. Jessica and Charlie squeezed in beside her while John got in the driver's seat, Lamar already in the passenger's.
"So we don't leave tire marks, I'm going to drive down to the Afton parking lot and turn around there. I'm pretty sure those cameras aren't up and working anymore, and if they are nobody's going to find anything weird about a random truck turning around in it," John explained. He began to drive down the road and Lamar got an uneasy look on his face. He stayed silent for a little while before speaking up.
"I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm worried about that car that saw us earlier. Like, I don't think they were spying on us, but it's hard not to notice a bunch of people standing around a parked truck in the middle of the night. If the police come out on the news asking for information, then we could be in trouble," he said. He looked out the window with a slow exhale. "Maybe I'm just paranoid, I don't know."
"No, I get it. Don't worry about it. It's not like any of us are going to be in town this time next week," John assured.
"I will," Carlton clarified.
"Right. Sorry," John apologized. Then he turned to Lamar and clarified, "Don't worry about it. Carlton's going to take the fall for us." Carlton scoffed and sat back into the backseat.
What John had said that piqued Charlie's interest though. This was the perfect time to tell them about her plan and see what they thought about it. "Hey, so… I was thinking about something," she began.
"Oh?" Jessica asked curiously. She assumed it was something relating to the bear or the police.
"About what John said, about us not being here next week. It's been a… Crazy week. It feels like it went by so fast-."
"Hold that thought, Charlie. You guys might want to look at this," John interrupted. There was a disturbed tone on his voice which immediately caught everyone's attention, and it was clear that it had something to do with the building they were pulling up on, Afton Robotics. Charlie looked out the window and realized right away what caught his attention.
There were at least five police cars parked in the parking lot. The lights were all on inside, illuminating the windows, and a few cops standing right inside the now open front doors.
"They're still here? I thought they would've left hours ago," Jessica said in surprise. She turned to Carlton, eyes still on the parking lot, and asked, "…Did your dad say they found Baby, or…?"
"Dad didn't get home yet." Jessica's eyes widened, Marla and Charlie got uneasy looks, and Carlton saw them all and was quick to add, "Which, to be fair, is normal. He was on the Freddy fire way later than this."
"So, you don't think anything happened? Baby was vicious. Somebody could've gotten hurt," Marla said quietly. The redhead shook his head in assurance.
"Nah. I mean, anything's possible, but this is totally normal stuff. If we saw an ambulance or a coroner, then I'd be worried," Carlton said. He sounded sure of his words, or maybe just sure enough to cover up his concern. "…You don't see one, right?"
"No, just cops. But I do see a reason for us to drive past the parking lot and hope we get a turn around spot before the road ends," Lamar offered. John agreed with a nod and kept driving.
Charlie tried to look into the building as they passed but couldn't make anything of what was going on inside. She decided to wait on what she was going to say until they were out of the woods. She looked out the back window as the drove past Lefty again and caught only a glimpse of its form slumped in the ditch. She was relieved to put it literally and figuratively behind her, and tried to not think of her father while doing so.
By time they arrived back at the house, everyone's sleeping pattern was showing on their faces. Marla had yawned a few times in the car and Lamar was slowing down considerably. In contrast, Carlton was wide awake and Jessica was alert, but not as energized as usual. John was as unreadable as usual and Charlie herself was exhausted for a completely different reason. Though she didn't let that discourage her and caught everyone before they could head to their cars.
"So, what I was saying in the car. I was thinking about how this whole thing has kind of been both a blessing and a curse," Charlie began, catching everyone's attention. "We all came here just thinking we were going to meet up, catch up, have a little fun, and that was going to be it, and instead we're… Dumping bears on the side of the road in the middle of the night. And in a way, it kind of ruined what we came here to do, but I also kind of feel like it brought us closer together."
"I know what you mean. Like, this has all been crazy, but its just been so good to meet you guys again?" Marla offered. She smiled at her friends. "If you would've told me two weeks ago that all of us were going to meet up and go on some sort of crazy adventure like this, I wouldn't have believed it, but I would've loved it. Take all of the danger out of this and I would have loved this."
"It really has been something else… I'll be honest, its been a long time since I've spent this much time with anyone. I've just been doing my own thing for the last few years," John said. He gave a genuine smile, no sarcasm and no holding back, and seemed give it directly to Charlie. "All things considered, I'm glad I came. I might even come again."
"I hope so, because I've been doing some soul searching and I decided that I'm going to stay in town. I can finish fixing up the house. All it need is a fresh coat of paint… And more plates," Charlie said. John didn't seem surprised by her reveal. If anything, he might've been happy to hear it. Marla certainly seemed to be from her beaming grin.
"But what about college? You're still going to go, right?" Jessica asked. She was the only one with mixed feelings.
"Of course! It's not that far of a drive. And hey, what I save on dorm costs I can put towards the house. I'll just figure out how to break it to Aunt Jen later," Charlie said, rubbing her neck uncomfortably. That wasn't going to be a fun conversation, but she would find a way through it, and she had no doubts she could convince Jen to go along with it. She smiled a little more confidently. "It'll be fun to have a project. I could even fix up a guest room for when you came to visit."
"Good luck trying to sleep with all the bears and mimes hanging around," Carlton chimed in. Jessica rolled her eyes at him and he returned with a playful smirk before looking back at the house. That smirk dropped quickly and he subtly elbowed Lamar. "Look at the window," he whispered lowly. Lamar looked towards the nearest window and stared at the drawn curtains.
"…What am I looking at?" he asked once realizing he couldn't see anything.
"See those lights? That's him," Carlton whispered. Lamar squinted at the dots of light in the window, which from this angle looked a lot like the headlights reflecting off the glass.
"I think that's just the lights from the car."
"Look again."
"I'm staring right-." The lights suddenly disappeared behind the curtain. Lamar stared for a long moment before casually adding, "I am never stepping foot in this town again."
"You willing to put money down on that?" Carlton asked with the smirk returned, now a little more strained. Lamar wished that he could, but he had a bad feeling he would lose that bet.
In contrast, Jessica seemed to be warming up to the idea and was much less concerned. "You know, that actually doesn't sound too bad," she said. Her face fell to a sad smile. "It's still going to be weird going back. I wish we got a little more time."
"Me too, but there's always next time, right?" Charlie offered.
"Right, and we've always got tomorrow too. Speaking of which, we've got to do something big to make up for lost time. Try to get as much sleep as you can tonight and leave it to me to make the plans," Jessica said. Nobody argued with her enthusiasm and instead just got ready to leave again, mutually ready to call it a night. John lingered behind long enough to speak privately to Charlie.
"I'm glad you're sticking around. If you need any help with the house, you know where I am," he said.
"It wasn't like I was that far away," she reminded, mildly amused.
"Maybe not, but I'd like to keep you as close as I can." John seemed aware of how this came out as he blanked for a moment, Charlie slightly raising a brow at him. Then he decided to throw caution to the wind and asked, "What do you think about catching a movie this weekend? My treat, your choice."
It slightly took Charlie off-guard how sudden it felt, but part of her had been anticipating it eventually. Except unlike then, where she felt a sort of wariness towards it, now she felt a little more comfortable with it. She still wasn't entirely sure what the full extent of her feelings for John were, but she wanted to spend more time with him, so she decided to take the risk.
"Sure, I'd love to," Charlie agreed. If she thought John looked happy before, he looked positively thrilled now, and she could feel the lightest flutters in her chest as he headed to his car.
She turned back to the house and headed inside where she was warmly greeted by her brother. It was the first time in ages that things felt right, like she was getting a chance for a fresh start.