Chapter 24-1

I'm sorry. Please forgive me. -Charlie Chapter 24 Warning this chapter may be triggering Charlotte for the third night in a row woke up gasping for air. Her restless nights were plagued by dream of Landon and her unborn daughter where she stood and watched as Landon did to her daughter what he did to her. Charlotte tried to get her bearings, but the unlit room increased her fear that she was back with Landon. Chase wasn't in the room as she scrambled to find some source of light despite the pain still radiating through her body. Reaching over with her good hand, Charlotte sobbed as she found her phone and fumbled to turn on her flashlight and scan it around the room to make sure she was still with Chase. Despite letting out a sigh of relief, her body was still shaking as adrenaline coursed through her body. Charlotte carefully swung her legs off the side of the bed, grabbing a hold of her ribs that felt like a knife was sliding in and out. She carefully stood up and turned on the lamp by the bedside table to see the empty glass of water had fallen to the floor in her struggle to light up the room. Turning off her flashlight, she saw it was 8 pm, but she didn't feel like eating dinner. She had been in and out of sleep the last 3 days waking up to pain only to go back to sleep after taking some pain killers. Chase made sure she ate and drank, but even moving her jaw was a struggle. Pain blossomed throughout her entire body and there wasn't a part of her that didn't ache. Her bones ached, her muscles ached, her heart ached and every time she was reminded of the pain, she remembered that she deserved it. Charlotte slowly made her way into the bathroom and for the first time in 3 days finally got a look at herself in the mirror. Her face was distinct shades of black, blue, green and purple. Her eyes will still heavily swollen but when she opened them blood red stared back in her left eye from a burst blood vessel. Her lip was puffy and red from the stitches holding the deep wound together. Tears fell down her face, and it surprised her she could even cry. She slowly reached out with her left hand, sobbing as she hovered over the various bruises on her face. There was hardly any skin left untouched and deep emotional turmoil stirred inside of her. Turning away from the mirror in disgust, Charlotte quickly went bathroom before leaving it and found a jumper of Chase's with a hood she could use to cover her face. She dried her tears and took some pain relief before leaving the room she had been holed up in for 3 days to find Chase. She checked his office first, but when she heard soft music coming from the kitchen Charlotte slowly made there. When Charlotte entered the kitchen, Chase had his back to her dressed in jeans and a black shirt. His laptop was open on the island bench where the soft sounds of Sam Smith flowed through the room. He was stirring something on the stove as he hummed along with the music. Not wanting to disturb him, Charlotte quietly sat down next to his laptop at the island bench and pulled the jumper sleeves down to cover her hands. She watched him reach for the salt and start singing into it at the chorus for Latch in a high pitch voice that made Charlotte chuckle and clutch her ribs as blinding hot pain shot through them. She watched as Chase stopped and turned around to face her and blinked a few times before smiling at her. "I'm making soup for dinner. I was going to bring it up to you. You didn't have to come down." He turned back around and poured the salt into the pot, giving it a stir before leaving on the island bench across from her with a frown on his face. "It's okay." She whispered softly and played with the end of the jumper like a child would. "You don't need to hide your face from me, Charlie." Charlotte looked at Chase who was resting on his elbow frowning as she shrugged her shoulders. "I do. It's ugly, disgusting, swollen and all sorts of colours. No one needs to look at it. I can't even look at it." She looked down onto the marble bench top as she heard Chase sigh. She peeked up from under the hood and her fringe and saw Chase turn off the stove and served two bowls of what looked like pumpkin soup. He placed them on the bench before pulling out what smelt like bread out of the oven. Charlotte couldn't help her reaction and flinched when Chase sat next to her and pushed the bowl and bread towards her. "Thank you." She whispered and opened her sore mouth to eat the soup. They both ate in silence with Sam Smith filling the room. Charlotte ate slowly as every movement sent a stabbing pain through her ribs and eating with her non-dominate hand was difficult. Chase finished before she was even halfway and started typing on his laptop while she finished. Once Charlotte had finished the pain in her body had lessened as the medication did its magic. She went to slide off the chair so she could clean up the dishes and screamed when Chase reached out to stop her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She begged while covering her face as she waited for the raining of fists to collide with her damaged soft flesh. "Hey, Charlie. It's me, Chase. Look at me you're safe he isn't here. I'm sorry." He had his hands raised in the air as she sobbed "I-I- I know." She said on a shaking breath as she slowly lowered her arms. She knew she was safe, but that didn't stop the fear coursing through her body, causing her limbs to shake like a tree on a windy day. "I just wanted to help." She said breathily as she tried to calm down, her erratic heart telling her to run and never look back. Charlotte tried to take a few calming breaths and reminded herself that this was Chase and he wouldn't hurt her. Eventually, the tears and shaking stopped, she Charlotte looked up at Chase to see him watching her wearily. "I'm sorry." She whispered and looked down at the floor and pulled the sleeves of the oversized hoodie over her hand again. "Look at me, Charlie. It's okay. I'm going to hug you okay." Charlotte looked up and saw Chase holding out his hands for her to step into, which she did. She ignored the slight throbbing in her right shoulder and wrapped her arms around Chase's waist, willing her erratic heart to calm down. She tried not to tense when Chase wrapped his arms gently around her, but she couldn't help her body's reaction.