Chapter 73 – Charlie
CHARLIE
I was completely crushed when Bonnie and Jace disappeared over fourteen years ago. When Grant refused to give my parents any information and told them never to contact him or his family ever again it destroyed me.
Still, as devastating as that was…it has nothing on this feeling. At least back then, I knew they were out there. I had hope I would see them again one day. I clung to that. It’s what got me through the days.
Even when I saw them being kidnapped on the dashcam footage, I never lost that hope. I knew with Mitchell by my side, we would find them. And we did. But what’s there to cling to now? We were too late. I couldn’t find a pulse.
He has no pulse.
For years, Jace has in part blamed himself for what Grant did to Bonnie, despite me telling him over and over it wasn’t his fault.
He knew that it wasn't, and yet he would constantly ask himself the same thing, “What if I never left the room that night?
", convinced that he could have prevented Bonnie from being hurt altogether.
I think I finally, truly, understand how he feels – felt? Oh, God.
All I can think is, would five minutes have made a difference? If we hadn’t stopped to eat this morning, gone over the plan a dozen times before going to the wrong house, would Jace be okay?
I haven’t been able to bring myself to look at Bonnie. I can’t stand to see the pain in her eyes. If we were faster, if we had only thought to come here first…
Looking down at Jace, I can almost believe he’s asleep. Except…he’s never this still. Ever. Even in sleep. He constantly tosses and turns, muttering under his breath.
Seeing him this still. It feels wrong. It’s unnatural.
How the fuck am I supposed to look Bonnie in the eye and confirm her worst fears…that he’s gone? That we got here too late. We failed. He has no pulse. No heartbeat.
Gone. Dead.
He was in her lap. Fuck…did he die in her lap? Was she forced to sit there and listen to the life drain from him as we took our sweet fucking time getting here?
Distantly, I can hear my dads talking around me, I think they might have even said my name but all I can hear is static.
My eyes drift away, unable to stand the sight of him trying to force air into Jace’s unresponsive lungs. There’s blood all over the concrete floor, drag marks slashing through the dried-up puddle, like someone was dragged through it and in the corner…is Johnathan.
He's lying face down, just on the edge of someone’s flashlight beam, the damage to his skull in full display.
Just like Jace, he’s naked and my stomach sinks. Jace is covered in blood. When I first entered the cage, I saw the scrape marks over his back. The image of Johnathan dragging him across the concrete flashes in my mind.
I’m going to be sick.
What did he do to them?
“Charlie?” Bonnie’s voice, quiet as it is, immediately silences my thoughts. I close my eyes, taking a moment to pull in an unsteady breath before I finally look at her again.
Her focus is entirely on me, ignoring the bottle of water Caleb holds out to her. Just as I thought, I can see my own pain reflected back at me through her eyes and it hurts.
Slowly, she nods her head and offers me a strained smile before looking behind me momentarily. “Try now,” she whispers.
Frowning, I’m not sure what she’s talking about, but then I hear Dad call my name again softly. “Charlie? Can you hear me?”
“Yes.” My voice comes out hoarse and broken from the weight of my emotions, but I’m listening, even if I refuse to look at them. To look anywhere but at Bonnie.
It’s like now that I’ve finally looked at her, really looked, I can’t bring myself to look away. She’s anchoring me right now, tethering me to the present when all I want to do is disappear.
There’s a light bruise marring her cheek, and her lips are dry and cracked, but otherwise, she doesn’t appear to have been touched. She’s okay.
She’s okay.
I startle when a warm hand wraps around my wrist, and I go to jerk my arm back when I realise what they’re trying to do, but when Bonnie nods gently, I stop resisting.
My hands shake hard as either Ryan or Eli close my fist, leaving my pointer and middle fingers extended. Tears fill my eyes when they pull my hand down gently, but I don’t look. I can’t look.
My fingers touch cool skin, and I hold my breath, my entire body freezing, but I force my eyes to stay open. To stay on Bonnie, despite how much I desperately want to close them. To shut this out. To shut everything out.
Then I feel it.
All the air in my lungs gushes out and my eyes widen. It’s small. So small I’m not even sure it was real, and I finally look away from Bonnie to stare at Jace’s still unmoving body. I wait, needing confirmation, needing to know I didn’t imagine it.
Then I feel it again, the softest flutter under my fingers. “He’s alive,” I whisper.
He’s alive.
Jace is alive.
“Oh my God,” it rushes out of me, and my breaths start coming out so fast I feel lightheaded. “He’s…”
“Yes, Charlie. He’s alive.”
“You brought him back.”
“He never left.”
“But, I felt-”
“Your fingers weren’t in the correct spot. He’s alive, Charlie. He’s just unconscious. I don’t know if it’s from his injuries or dehydration, or what, but-” he looks up at Mitchell, “-we need to get him to a hospital. Now.”
Mitchell nods, handing the bottle of water that is now in his hands to Bonnie, telling her to drink before he picks her back up in his arms.
Everyone starts moving, and I panic when my fingers start to slip from Jace’s throat as someone picks him up and I jump to my feet, pressing down again and moving with them, my eyes on Jace.
“Let’s go.”