Later that night, after looking over all the bills and counting up all the money he had, Alastor came to the conclusion that he was in real big trouble. He needed a big payment and he needed it fast. So he decided to go back to the yacht and regrettably apologize to Charlotte then beg her to give him the six-hundred dollars. He knew that there was a slim chance of it working and that he would probably be throwing away his dignity for nothing but the man was desperate.
He called up Vaggie and Angel, asking them to spend the night with the kids. This of course meant he had to explain the whole incident with Charlie. Vaggie was horrified by what she learned. She knew Charlie to be one of the kindest and most selfless people in the world, always so happy and friendly when they were young. Now to find out that she grew into such a mean and hateful person, it was almost heart-breaking.
"I don't believe it." Vaggie said to Angel sometime after Alastor had left. "I just don't believe it."
"I know it's crazy babe but you know Al wouldn't lie about this." Angel said.
"But how? How did this happen? How did she...How did she change so much?"
"Her father. The guy was always a world class jerk. Remember when he found out she and Alastor were sleeping together? He tried to get Al on statutory rape. Even though they weren't only the same age but Charlie was older than him by four months."
"Then I guess it shouldn't come as a complete shock to me that she turned out this way. When they moved away, we should have known he'd ruin her."
"Life can be a real bitch, huh?"
Vaggie nodded. She and Angel decided to stay up for another hour and watch one of the late night films. Somewhere along the middle part of the picture, they heard a creaking noise in the house. It was coming from the kitchen where the back-door was located.
"What was that?" Vaggie panicked. "Angel, did you forget to lock the doors again?"
"No." Angel said.
Still Angel brought out the baseball bat he brought over and Vaggie grabbed the poker from the fireplace. They slowly crept into the kitchen, ready to attack any possible intruder. But thankfully it was no intruder, just a tiny girl, no older than five, wrapped up in a blanket and holding a cup of water.
"Hi Uncle Angel, hi Auntie Vaggie." She greeted innocently.
"Carrie, what are you doing out of bed?" Vaggie said. "Are you trying to give us a heart attack?"
"I wanted a drink of water. Where's Daddy?"
"He's very busy tonight. He'll be home tomorrow." She put the poker back and picked up the child. "Let's get you back into bed. Angel, check the doors again so I can sleep peacefully tonight."
"You got it babe." Angel said.
Vaggie took Carrie into the other room and sat her on the bed which stood across from another bed where another girl, one a few years older, slept like the dead.
"Auntie Vaggie, can I ask you something?"
"Not now. It's too late. Go to sleep."
"But I can't sleep. Not until you answer this question. It'll be in my head all night."
"Okay, fine. What's your question?"
"Why don't I have a Mommy?"
Vaggie paused, speechless for a moment because she didn't expect her to be the one to be asked this question and because she didn't really have an answer.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Because Uncle Angel says you act like you know everything, so that must mean you're very smart."
"Well thank you, I am very smart. But I don't know everything."
"Then why do you act like you do?"
"I don't. Your uncle is just jealous because he only has half a brain."
"So does this mean you don't know why I don't have a Mommy?"
"Well it's a little hard to explain. What brought this on anyway?"
"At school today, all the girls were talking about putting on make up and dresses with their mommies and they asked me if I ever did it with my Mommy. I told them that I don't have one and they asked why and I don't know why."
"Why don't you ask your Daddy?"
"I did. But he didn't he tell me, he just said now's not a good time to talk about it. I asked Louis, he said it's because a Mommy and a Daddy didn't make me, he said I came from a cabbage. Then Ella called him dumb and said a stork brought me. Then they started fighting again and then Aaron threatened to blow em up if they didn't put a sock in it. Whatever that means."
"Carrie, this is not the right time to answer a question like that. Tell you what, tomorrow I'll talk to your Daddy about answering it. Okay?"
"Okay."
As Carrie snuggled into the blankets, she glanced over at the window and saw the clouds part, allowing starlight to shine on her face.
"Auntie Vaggie look!" She said scrambling across her bed and toward the window. "Grandma always said that if you make a wish on the Evening Star, it's sure to come true."
"Really?" Vaggie smiled lovingly. "Well wish on that star Hon. Make a wish and go to sleep. you have school tomorrow."
"Alright."
Vaggie tucked Carrie into bed and slowly closed the door as she left. Carrie looked up at the Evening Star, closed her eyes, and made a wish.
"Please, please, please." She wished with all her might. "Give us a Mommy."
Meanwhile back on their yacht, Seviathan and Charlotte were getting ready for bed. She had just finished taking her shower and was now dressed and in the middle of putting some moisturizer while he was watching TV. To be precise, he was watching infomercials about other yachts and boats much to his wife's disapproval.
"Must you watch that thing incessantly?" She asked.
"Yes I must." He replied. "It's good for my nerves, it has a tawdry escapist quality."
"What you have to escape from I cannot possibly imagine." She muttered with an eye roll. "Anyway, now that the yacht's fixed, please tell me we're going home."
"No. Not yet. I'm not ready to go back to listening to your mother pester me about breeding again. We're spending a few days in L.A."
"Oh God no!"
"What's wrong with L.A?"
"Hmm...Let's see. Overwhelming heat that will surely burn my skin and ruin my hair, Hollywood crazed, wanna-be actors who have no talent yet they offend good people by performing on the street, and celebrities who can't accept age with grace and get plastic surgery that makes them look worse than before."
"Oh come on Charlotte, you owe me."
"I owe you? What are you talking about?"
"You ruined my prized shark! It took me weeks to catch it."
"First of all, you didn't even catch it. Blitzo did. That's something I don't get about you Seviathan. You claim to be this sea-fairer and fisherman when you know very well you haven't caught a damn thing in your life. You just had Blitzo sit out there with your fishing pole while you bragged over the phone to your golfing buddies. And second, you can always have Blitzo catch you another one."
She put her lotion down on the night stand and reached for her wedding ring. Only to discover that it's now gone.
"Seviathan, my wedding ring."
"What about it?"
"It's gone. Do you know where it is?"
"No."
"I left it right here on my stand before I went into the shower."
"I didn't see you do it. You probably left it on deck while you were sun tanning earlier."
"In that case, can you go up and get it for me?"
"It's after midnight."
"I don't care what time it is. I want it now."
"I just want to see who's in the top ten yachts."
"Never mind, I'll just go get it myself."
She got out of bed, slipped on her robe and slippers.
"This is ridiculous." The complained. "The way my jewelry keeps disappearing left and right. First my ruby earrings, then my diamond bracelet, my gold necklace, now my wedding ring, what else is missing?"
She went to check her jewelry box. To her relief, the charm bracelet her mother gave her as child was still there.
"At least this hasn't been stolen." She quickly clasped it on to her wrist. "Until I figure out who's been stealing my jewelry, this is not coming off."
"If you ask me, Blitzo probably did it." Seviathan said. "Want me to fire him?"
"No, because again I don't think he'd be stupid enough to commit theft when he's on parole."
She exited the bedroom and went upstairs to the deck where she began to search for her ring. She thought that she saw it stuck in a small crack by the edge of the ship, and leaned over to get a better look. Suddenly a gust of wind caused her to trip on to the railing.
"Seviathan!" She screamed dangling from it. "Moxxie! Blitzo! Help! Seviathan! Help!
But Moxxie and Millie were asleep, Blitzo was listening to music through headphones, and Seviathan just ignored her, thinking she was just whining again. So no one came to help her and eventually she lost her grip and fell overboard into the water. She panicked, it had been years since she had actually swam in deep water and the shock of the fall combined with the water's cold temperature and the darkness of night made it all the more scary for her. She probably would have drowned that night, but fate or God or whoever was in charge of destiny had other plans for her.
It was at that moment, Alastor had pulled up to the harbor in his truck.
"Oh no!" He cried when he saw that yacht was already halfway across the water. "Damn it! Now she's gone! Gone, out in the middle of the Pacific with my money, that I earned! And now I can't even afford food-"
But his rant was interrupted when he heard screaming. He saw a woman bobbing up and down in the water, frightened with no idea on what to do to help herself. Alastor immediately took off his glasses and dove straight into the water, swimming toward her. By the time he reached her, she had passed out from shock but he managed to grab her limp body and keep her head above water as he swam back to shore.
"Miss?" He called when they made it to dry land. "Miss are you alright? Can you hear me?"
Because it was nighttime and the fact that he didn't have his glasses on, Alastor couldn't see properly enough to recognize that it was Charlotte he had just saved.
"Oh God!" He became worried when she didn't respond. "Help! Help! Someone call 911!"
Nearby fishermen heard him and quickly phoned for help. When the ambulance arrived and the medics went to aid the woman, Alastor went to retrieve his glasses. By the time he located them and put them on his face, he got a glimpse of her as she was being loaded into the ambulance.
"Charlie?"
He followed the medical vehicle all the way to the hospital, the whole time he could hear his heart ready to jump right out of his chest. As horrible as she had treated him early, he didn't want her to die. He once loved her. She once loved him. And usually no matter how awful a person turned out in the present or the future, you can't just erase the wonderful past you once had with them. As soon as he arrived at the hospital, he managed to stop one of the medics and asked if she was alright. To his relief, he said that she was still breathing.
"She's just out cold for the night. Nothing serious." He said. "But they'll still run a few tests just to be on the safe side."
"Can I see her?"
"Are you a relative?"
"No."
"I'm sorry, immediate family only for tonight. Try again tomorrow morning."
Alastor wanted to stay over to make sure that Charlotte was okay but he had kids to get back to. Not to mention that first thing tomorrow morning he had to look for a new job, get the kids to school, he needed all the sleep he could get. Besides, it's not like she'd actually care if he came to see her. As far she was concerned, she didn't even want to know him anymore.
"Goodbye Mrs. Von Eldritch." Ugh! Those words left a dreadful taste in his mouth. "I hope you're happy with your life."
He finally went home feeling both worried, angry, bitter, and sad.
