SONG TO LISTEN TO: Heathens- Twenty-One Pilots

"Charlie."

I hear my name before I feel him shaking me. I open my eyes, and it's too dark to see, but the voice belongs to Johnny. His voice is barely audible; a whisper's whisper.

It's late, and I can't imagine him waking me up unless he absolutely needs me.

I slowly sit up, as he puts a finger to my lips. He helps me stand up, holding me firmly and bringing me outside. I stumble along, trying to wake myself up. It's gotten easier to be suddenly awake since my time here. Much easier. Still, I do need a small period of adjustment.

"Johnny, what is it?" I nearly trip over a few twigs and vines, bracing myself against him.

Moving through the forest is easier. A lot is easier here in fact. Maybe I'm learning something.

Something I'm not supposed to know.

The air is cool, and cuts through my cloak. If it were windy, then I'd be in trouble. At least for now I can cling to Johnny for warmth. I wonder where he's taking me.

He brings me a few feet further from the cave, until he let's go. My eyes are adjusting, and the sky is full of stars so it's getting easier and easier to see, though as of right now I can mostly only see his outline.

The stars are beautiful, like twinkling dots in the sky. Everything feels magical. A silent forest, a dark and cool night. It takes me right out of the violence and brings me back. The air smells like fresh dirt and leaves. Even the soft burn of hunger somehow feels right, as if the universe is feeding me.

Johnny stops moving, kneeling at the base of a tree. I bend down in to get a closer look, but Johnny sticks out his hands holding me back.

The forest is silent. Not even the animals, beasts or boys dare make a sound. His cloak flaps against him as he shakes, pulling out something from his pocket. I look up and breathe out, my breath visible through the night. It's normally cold at night here, but not cold enough that I can see my breath. It could be the cold that shakes me, or how low my blood sugar is.

Johnny grunts, and I hear something sliding along a hard surface, then a snap.

"Shit." He mutters, dropping the broken thing.

Matches.

He begins to try and strike the matches again. I can finally make out more things in the dark, but he blocks my view from the base of the tree.

The match hisses as it's lit, and he grabs my hand, pulling me down next to him.

The flame glows through the dark, illuminating the base of the tree. Johnny's hand, holding the match, touches soft skin. The match itself is essentially pressed up against the cheek of a boy, whose panicking eyes dart from the dangerously close flame to my eyes

"Thomas," I whisper. "Thomas."

His dark hair dangles dangerously close to the flame. He closes his eyes and tries to pull away from the heat. He can't move. Is he tied up?

"He's here." Johnny says. "We have him."

I stumble backwards, and my breath joins the flame in filling the silence.

"Johnny," my voice shatters like glass. "Johnny, no."

He leans forward, his hand on my knee. "Charlie we have to kill him."

I shake my head. "Johnny."

I can't say anything except his name. All words have escaped me except his name.

Johnny, the boy from my neighbourhood. The one who wants to be a teacher one day, who loves the colour purple, who wants nothing more than to have parents who love him. The one who has brought Thomas here to execute.

"Charlie, he knows who you are, what you are. He'll tell Pan." He says.

I slowly shake my head. "You can't know that. You can't possibly know that."

"We are allowed to kill, this could be your ticket back to camp. It's dangerous out here. You could get hurt." He goes to cup my face, but I smack him his hands away.

The match hits the ground, leaving us in the dark.

"Who are you?" I demand.

This is the Johnny who likes the dark, who wants to see blood, who wants to protect us even if it means destroying others.

I can feel his breath on my face. "Charlie, you have to understand. I'm only trying to keep you safe. It's your life or his."

I stumble further back. I rarely cry, when I'm stressed I vomit, and though I haven't eaten much I get feel the bile rising in my throat.

"What's going on?" I hear another voice.

I turn around, and notice the two boys, carrying a torch through the dark.

"Charlie?" Harry asks.

He looks down at me, shocked, and I scramble out from beneath Johnny and on to my feet. My shaking fingers find the dagger in my pocket. I don't dare pull it out in front of Alex and Harry, not until I make sense of this.

I turn to face them, backing away from both them and Johnny at the same time.

"It's nothing, he just had to pee." Johnny jumps in.

I shake my head, but I don't think they noticed.

"Really? So that's why you dragged out Thomas, then came back to get Charlie." Alex jumps in. "What are you planning on, killing him?"

"Why are you meddling in our affaires?" Johnny asks. "This doesn't concern you."

"Concern us? This is violence, this is insanity." Harry argues, as Alex puts a hand on his chest to hold him back.

"This is safety, this is smart." Johnny is still. "This is for the greater good. I don't want to have to fight you."

"This is a sacrifice," Harry nearly screams. "Kill him and get back safe. You selfish bastard."

"It is a sacrifice." Johnny agrees. "Doesn't make it selfish."

I grab Johnny and pull him towards me, and I turn to him.

"Johnny stop." I say.

I let go of the blade to place my hands on his arms.

"Yeah, listen to him. Need someone to watch over you, like an animal." Harry spits. "If you so much as lay one of your filthy paws on anyone else-"

It's not often I see Harry angry, but it's always to protect someone.

Alex grips Harry's cloak, not holding him back, but getting his attention. Alex raises a finger from his skinny hand, pointing down at the ground. "Harry, Harry look."

"Harry." The voice is repeated.

I turn and notice Thomas, staring straight forward at Harry. The two both have their eyes wide open, as they meet each other. Thomas' are filled with tears, as his arms shake. Pleading with his eyes. Harry steps forward, as Alex drops the torch, stepping on it to extinguish it. Harry's brow furrows, and I step closer, the colour of his normally rosy cheeks has drained to a sickly white.

He reaches a hand closer to the boy, as Alex continues to hold him in his arms.

"Thomas?" He asks, placing a hand on his cheek.

Johnny's fist collides with Harry's face from my left. Alex holds Harry in place, as his arms struggle to hold Harry up. He lets go and Harry's body falls to the ground. Alex jumps over the body and, while still in the air, knocks Johnny in the face dead on.

Alex is barely taller than me, around 5 foot 11, but Johnny towers about at over 6 feet tall. Normally, I would try to break up any fight that Johnny is in, but I've only see Alex fight once, and it was for Johnny's boots. Although in retrospect, Alex seemed to just be taunting Johnny.

Instead of intervening, I rush around behind Thomas and pull out my dagger. Cutting the boy and then running.

Running. Running so fast and so far, dragging Thomas behind me. I don't know if Alex will win or lose, but I hope neither happens. If they can fight until the dawn, then I can be safe. Then Thomas can be free from Johnny, and alive at that.

If all of it works out, then maybe we can all live.

That is, if Harry is alive. I didn't have time to check. I don't know if I want to.

We run, and the wind picks up slightly, and slightly, until it's harsh. I begin to feel winded too. It's harsh on my lungs to run, but I couldn't imagine stopping.

That is until Thomas pulls me back, harshly stopping. He points up to a tree, high off the ground, and gets down on a knee. He holds his hands in front of him then nods.

"No," I whisper. "I'll boost you."

He shakes his head and offers again. I'm not in danger though; he is. I pull him up then kneel in front of him, taking his foot in my hand before he can protest. He grabs hold of me as I forcefully boost him up into the air. He climbs into the tree.

"Charlie." Johnny's voice rings out.

The wind stops, and a harsh fog rolls in. What next, thunder? It seems as though Pan is having a fun night.

I press myself hard into the tree, trying to become one with it. I feel a hand on my hat, pushing me down. I bend down, looking up at Thomas. He gives me the thumbs up from within the tree.

It's a nervous reassurance.

I don't know why, but he wants me to stay down. It'll be harder for Johnny to see me if I'm out of where he'd normally look. He's much taller than me, so the smallest I can become the better.

Right?

"Come on Charlotte." He says again. "I'm only trying to help."

He's getting closer, much closer. His heavy steps are in sync with the harsh pounding of my heart. I struggle to keep my breaths silent.

"I could never hurt you."

I look up at Thomas as I stand. He violently shakes his head at me, pushing at me once again, but I step backwards, away from the tree. I take a step forward, careful of any branches, until I'm a tree farther away from Johnny's voice.

I could hide, or I could run. I'd rather do both if I could.

"Charlotte please." He begs. "I just wanted to help. I'm not trying to hurt you. I could never-"

I snap a branch accidently as I move to the next tree. His voice is silent.

"Charlotte?" He asks.

I can hear his footsteps, approaching me.

I start running, away from Thomas. I can hear Johnny pounding after me, his feet slam into the ground, and I can't tell if he's making the ground shake or my entire world.

"Charlotte please."

I won't turn around. I would not even dare.

I hear a heavy thump behind me.

"You bitch." Johnny mutters, but not to me.

I stop running. It's hard to see him through the forest but he's trying to climb a tree, and he's not doing that bad of a job.

Thomas.

I turn around and run back towards him, as fast as I can. My feet dart along the ground, hoping over branches, logs, and roots.

I reach them. I didn't think this far ahead in my plan. What do I do now?

"Charlotte," he stops climbing then turns to me. "Charlotte, please you have to understand. He'll get us killed. We have to stop him. I've got to keep you safe. You'll be dead."

I shake my head trying to catch my breath. "No."

He exhales, grabbing my arm. "This is for your own good."

He lifts his other hand up above his head. He's going to break my arm.

So I kick him as hard as I can in the shin. He bends over, but doesn't let go. My fist curls, then collides with his face, knocking his head into the tree. He lets go then stands up.

"The fuck is this?" He gets up, and I back away, into another tree.

I don't dare answer him. I wouldn't know what to say anyway.

"I'm trying to save your life." He says.

He takes a swing straight forward, so I duck as his fist collides with tree, and he cries out in pain.

I turn around and he limbers towards me, grabbing hold of me, and slamming me into a tree. I bite my lip, attempting not to scream. I'm better than screaming.

He grabs me again and shoves me against the tree.

My head is dizzy, and I can barely see, I curl up into a ball on the ground. He knocks me aside with his feet as he moves to climb the tree.

"See now why I need to protect you?" He asks. "You can't even keep yourself alive. I've been fighting your fights since day one."

I glare as I slowly rise to my feet, ignoring the cracking of my ribs as I do so.

I don't need him.

I pull him backwards, away from the tree, and shove him with both hands. He goes flying back, about ten feet back, and stops when he collides with a tree, shaking it.

He doesn't move or get up. I don't move towards him. Am I that strong?

Thomas jumps down beside me, dashing over to Johnny, he nods his head solemnly. I don't know if he's trying to tell me if Johnny is alive or dead. That is, until he breaks off a vine, trying to tie Johnny up.

He's done and gestures for me to help lift him up. I pick up Johnny, trying to support his massive weight over my aching body.

It must have been adrenaline. We take a few steps as I groan under his weight. Thomas struggles to support any of Johnny's weight, but doesn't make a sound.

After maybe forty painful feet up a hill, I understand where we are bringing him. Before us is the camp, surrounded by a ring of fire.

Thomas drops Johnny, as do I, propping him up against a tree.

"When he wakes up, he'll know how to get back." I nod, to Thomas.

He grabs my hand and drags me back into the forest, and we walk, for maybe an hour, maybe ten minutes. Time doesn't seem to be passing at a consistent rate anymore. My ribcage is on fire every step of the way.

We arrive back at the cave, where I see Max, still sleeping. Thank goodness he didn't wake up, or else he'd have been in a panic. Besides that, another cloak would be ruined, covered in vomit.

"Where's Johnny?" I hear Harry's voice ask. "You kill him?"

I turn and notice him and Alex, further back in the cave. Alex is unconscious lying over top of Harry's legs. Harry's is propped up against the wall. Holding a leaf to his eye.

I shake my head. "Unconscious."

Harry nods, but says nothing. He passes me a match, and gestures towards a torch on the far end of the cave. I walk over and pick it up, quickly lighting it and groaning as I walk back inside.

"Bring it here," he asks.

I bring it closer to him, until he grabs it with his free arm, wincing, as he lifts it up next to his face.

"Thomas." He speaks again.

The boy walks closer to Harry, bending down, in front of him. Harry sticks the torch out, and I grab it from his hands, sitting down, leaning against the wall, and holding the torch next to the boys' faces.

"Thomas?" He reaches with his free hand and cups the boy's face. He drops the leaf, revealing his swollen purple eye, as he pulls in Thomas for a hug, and Thomas holds him tightly, careful of Alex below.

"Thomas, I can't believe it's you." He breathes out.

Thomas is crying, squeezing Harry for dear life.

It hits me.

"You're brothers." I exhale.

They look like it too. The same dark skin and curly hair. The same giant ears, the same short height. Both stealthy, sneaky, and kind. Brothers.

Harry pulls Thomas by his hair, so he can look straight at his face. "I haven't seen you in years. You were a baby."

Thomas grins, almost laughing, as he hugs Harry.

Alex slowly slinks off of Harry's lap, holding his head. He groans, rolling off of Harry, who is too elated to notice Alex.

He crawls towards me, before lying down next to me. He has a trail of blood down his face.

"My head is pounding. Your fucking friend smashed me against a tree." He grunts. "Full force."

"He did it to me too." I tell him.

He snorts, out his nose. "Yeah sure he did, obviously not hard, or else you'd have been knocked unconscious too."

I shake my head. "He just knock my chest. Fully knocked the wind out of me. My head didn't even hit the tree."

He coughs, before sitting himself up, propping himself against the wall. "I think I have whiplash, but it'll all be over soon."

"Jared will be able to treat it when we get back." I offer.

Alex shakes his head. "We'll be fine when the sun comes up and we cross the barrier into camp. Do you know how much time it would take for everyone to heal after this? He's got a spell to fix us."

I'm convinced he's talking down at me, but he's too full of pain to commit to being rude. Maybe I should get him injured more often. Pain seems to bring out Alex's nice side.

I wince, as I drop the torch. Alex quickly snags it off the ground, wincing as he does so.

"I'm no medic, but you've probably cracked a few ribs, maybe broken some. How did you manage to fight him off?"

I shrug. "Hit him so hard his head banged off a tree."

He scoffs. "You got unlucky about the reset then, otherwise the kid would have permanent brain damage."

Do I want him to have permanent brain damage? God, I hope this was a onetime mistake. I hope Johnny was just confused. He was just trying to protect me.

I look at him. "What about you? Any brain damage?"

He rolls his eyes. "I probably have it right now. I'm slurring my speech."

His speech is slurred so slightly I didn't notice until he pointed it out.

He slowly stands up, propping himself against the cave wall. He offers me a hand, to help me up. I take it.

"This doesn't mean I like you," he says. "In fact, I've never hated you more than right now. You almost got me killed, don't even get me started on Harry. If he was dead, you'd be dead to, understand? I told you to stay away before, don't make me say it again. Harry, we should get back."

Harry slowly rises, one of his arms still draped around Thomas.

"Why, you think he's calling it quits?" Harry asks.

Alex nods. "Yes, especially after the show we put on tonight."

He begins to walk out, and we walk back to the camp in silence. We step in front of the camp, waiting for the sun to come up, as more boys file around us. They too, look bloody, beaten and bruised, but none seem to be fighting each other.

Dominique walks up, along with Fred, and Harry steps closer to them. Alex puts a hand to his chest.

"Not now, the sun is about to rise."

Harry steps back, but shakes his head. "They attacked Robert and James, separated them. Robert was devastated."

"Where did he go?" I ask.

Harry sighs. "Went running after James, I suppose. Heard him scream and went straight into a forest fire. We're lucky if he survives."

I nod, pursing my lips together. I hope he found James.

The sun begins to rise, and all the lit torches around the camp blow out.

Aching. That's all that I can feel, the sweet pain tingling all over my body. From my chest to my head to my heart to my soul. Everything hurts. The pain begins to disappear as I cross the line though, hopefully my ribs are now proper.

Even the morning sun is causing my eyes to ache. I trudge back, the few short strands of hair at the front of my head have blood caked on them. Lucky they aren't any longer. Not that it matters anyway, if Thomas gives me up I won't need to hide my hair anymore.

All of my clothes are torn and muddy, much like the others in my group. At least I don't have much blood on me. At least it's only Lyle and Samuel's blood. It could be worse; it could be Johnny's blood.

Thomas' arm is around me, helping me back. Robert is crying, as someone helps him carry James across the line. If the boy is alive, it's a miracle.

Fred is throwing up. Probably ate something rotten. Poisonous berries or the like. Once he makes it across the line he'll be fine too.

That's when they stroll out. Keaton and Gregory. They come out of a tent, together laughing. They are clean, and pristine, and smiling. I wonder who Keaton killed to get back so early. Probably another small kid, or someone innocent and defenceless.

My blood boils.

"You killed him." The words scrape against my dry throat. I can feel the tears sticking to my face. "You murdered him!"

Gregory looks at me puzzled. He knows, and I know, that he's a monster. Nobody gets to destroy people's bodies and get away with it like nothing happened.

I raise my voice. "You're a murderer. A coward. You killed him!"

Thomas' arms around me tighten and hold me back, but I scream and shake in their arms, thrash about.

Let me go. Let me kill him. Another set of arms find me. I see another boy charge at them, and another, all being held back by their friends.

"You rotten, you disgust me. You killers!" I screech.

More shouting and screeching and crying around me. One boy makes it up to them, only to be knocked on his head by Gregory's fist.

"I'll murder you!" I scream. "You killed Lyle."

~~~~~~

So, I love this. No one died, at least not that we know yet. And my sincere apologise to everyone who loved Johnny. RIP.

So, Season 1B will start again Friday, but before then I have a cool thing I want to do. So, if any of you have questions for Charlie, I'd love if you'd submit them. Anything, from events that happen, to characters, to information about her, I'll post a Q and A Wednesday if I get enough questions.

That said, I hope you enjoyed this. Let me know if you did or didn't I love hearing from you.

As always, take some time to find inner peace, and I'll see you Wednesday (hopefully :) )