Charlie and the Grim Reaper

Charlie… Charlie, wake up. You need to wake up. Come on, wake up! I need you to wake up now. Charlie! Wake up! Wake up! Charlie opened her eyes wide open, catching her breath. She spaced out looking at the white ceiling of her bedroom. She just let the noise coming from the alarm fill the entire room. She wasn’t going to press the alarm until she heard her Aunt Lorie’s loud high-pitched voice from downstairs calling her name. She needed to go back to sleep. She needed the continuation of the same dream that she had been having since grade school, but every time she tried to go back to sleep the dream would always go on repeat. “Lorie, can I ask you something?” “Sure. Go ahead. What is it this time? Is this about your dream again? If this is about your dream, don’t. Just finish your food because you don’t want to be late on your first day in college.” She looked at her wristwatch and realized she couldn’t have the conversation anymore. She finished her food and cleaned the table. Charlie is a tennis player at school. You could say she can do well both academically and in sports. She is a talented gal but not the typical super famous varsity player. She tried her best to be a part of the team, even if it meant proving herself to the group the hard way. Her school was just a walk-in distance from her house. She usually enjoys the morning walk or jogging from her school to her house, but this year she started using her new mountain bike to go to school. She needed that extra workout to maintain her weight from all the eating she had during the holiday season and now that school is back, she needed to get back to the reality of school and training life. Charlie went straight to the gym to prepare for the morning training. None of her teammates are around yet. She spotted some of the men’s basketball team preparing for their drills. She immediately goes to the locker room to change into her sports attire. She decides to run her lapse firsthand before the rest of the team arrives. She made sure that all the necessary equipment was ready. It’s a task that was specifically handed to her by her senior, Eleanor. She had run 10 lapses around the track oval and decided to just keep going and keep her heart from pumping. No one was ever around the track oval at 5:30 AM. She thought she saw someone from the bleachers. She stopped running, catching her breath. She walked towards the area where she saw someone seated. She looked around, scanning the whole area. She almost tripped from shock when she felt a light tap on her back. “Hey!” She stepped on her right foot and lost her balance and just right when she was about to fall to the ground, she saw a black shadow forming almost like a human form on her side. Someone held her arm. She saw James’s hand trying to reach out, but even before his hand reached out to her arm, she was already standing on her feet. “Are you okay? Did I scare you?” Charlie looked puzzled, staring at James. She was tongue-tied for a moment. She started looking around again. “Did you see it? Someone was here, right?” “Uh – no. I saw you all alone here. That is why I came here. I thought you might want to run together. No one was around during this time, Charlie. Remember?” “Right. But I saw someone sitting there, so I ran to check. Someone was here. I am sure of it.” “Charlie, it is 5:30 in the morning and you have the track oval all to yourself during this time. That is why you prefer to come to school early. I think you are imagining things again. Come on! Let’s go and run.” “Charlie, can you stop talking about ghosts? Even if let’s say they are true, would you like to meet one?” “I don’t mind if it’s my parents. I mean, there are things I wish I could still tell them.” She ran as fast as she could, passing through James. She didn’t realize James was already running behind her trying to catch his breath. “You know you can always tell me how you feel. I’m always ready to listen to anything. You haven’t talked about the accident when you were ten except for the fact that you are becoming obsessed with the repetition of your dreams. What if you are just putting too much meaning into your dreams? That is why it has been hunting you all these years.” She felt James’s hand reaching her shoulders. She gradually slowed down and held her chest, feeling how fast her heartbeat was. “You don’t understand. The dream I am having is telling me that there was somebody else during the car accident. It wasn’t just me, mom, and dad. I don’t know, maybe that someone was the one who tried to save me, but come to think of it, if that someone tried to save me, why me? Why not save all of us? Why only me?” “Charlie, I understand what you are going through, but – “You must think I’m crazy and Lorie too. But I need answers, James. I felt like I needed to fill the missing parts or holes, or whatever it is.” She walked away feeling the heaviness deep within her soul. Losing both of her parents a long time ago created the biggest hole in her life. “What happens to enjoying life just like in grade school and high school and eventually graduating from college? Did you find another goal?” She heard him shout. She scanned him thoroughly. He was drenched in his sweat flipping her soaking wet medium-length blonde hair in the air. “I’ll find out soon who the hell was in my dream.” “What, are you the FBI or a ghostbuster now? Come on, Charlie! Why can’t you just get out and hang out like the others, be drunk, and have fun? Stop running around so early in the morning! Stop preparing all the training equipment! You are not their damn maid! You are a teammate! Why can’t you be a b***h for once in your life? Charlie!!!” He yelled so hard, but it didn’t make her stop. She could hear all the frustration in James’ voice, but it didn’t bother her because she had heard all of it numerous times already. She knew James was trying to get on her nerves, but it wasn’t working anymore. She is what she is – a pathetic person, who is done dealing with people, especially with people who are trying to make her look more pathetic than she already is. The only goal she has is to just graduate from school without having to deal with so much drama. Not until she had been having the same dream after the car accident. Another goal was added to her list, and that was to find out more about her dream. After practice, she would usually put all the equipment inside a large wooden box with big wheels for easy pushing. Thanks to the wheels, because it makes the pushing easier unlike before. “Charlie! I need you to wash this water jug tomorrow first thing in the morning. So, there are three jugs in here. Please make sure that it’s clean. And I want the water ready as well. Thanks!” She saw Eleanor Prat throw the plastic water jug inside the wooden storage and walked away with her three other teammates. “Hey! She is not your maid here!” She immediately covered James’ mouth before her last sentence could be heard clearly. “Watch your mouth. What if she hears you?” She faked a smile when she saw Eleanor looking their way, raising an eyebrow. “She was supposed to hear that, okay? Will you stop running errands for her? What are you now, a water girl?” “I guess you could say that because there is also a water boy.” “Charlie!” He shouted. Charlie was thankful that nobody was around on the tennis court anymore. “I had enough of how they tried to bully you since high school. You have earned your spot on the team already. You are in team A already. I need to talk to Coach Rich about this. This must stop. Can you stop doing this already?” He threw away all the balls she was putting inside the storage. She took a deep breath before she tried to pick it up again. “What are you doing? You are not making this easy for me. I need to get all the balls all over again. What is wrong with you?” “Charlie, I was trying to talk to you and all you cared about was the scattered balls? Seriously? Don’t you have any shame at all of doing all the errands for those bitches?” “I’m tired, James. Can you just let me finish all these? I need to eat. Time…she said, pointing at her wristwatch. …we still have class.” She said as calmly as she could. James started picking up the scattered balls. After taking a shower, she sat around and watched the basketball team practice while waiting for James to finish. Her eyes felt heavy as she continued watching the men running on the court. Charlie… Charlie… Charlie? Wake up. I’m here. I have always been here watching you. I need to see you. I need to talk to you. Charlie, wake up… “Charlie let’s go! Hey!” She was awakened by a light tap on her shoulder. It was James, trying to wake her up. He scanned James’ outfit. He was wearing a long blue sleeve polo under a white shirt. She could smell the usual minty fresh shampoo that she gave him last year on his birthday. “Did you just come here?” She asked, looking around. “Yeah. I have been waking you up for about five minutes. Let’s go and grab some food.” “I think someone is trying to communicate with me through my dream.” “Did you just have a dream again? So does this person trying to communicate with you have a face?” “No. But it was a man’s voice. I am sure of that. It was a man’s voice.” “Okay. Can you tell how old he is?” “I don’t know. Maybe a little older than us or the same age as we are? He told me that he wants to see me, and he wants to talk to me.” “Okay, that’s enough. You sound creepy just now, Charlie. Let’s go and grab some food now. Maybe you are just hungry.” James grabbed her arm. She felt something in her other arm. It almost felt like someone was trying to stop her from going away. “You are spacing out again. I thought you were hungry. Don’t tell me you are still thinking about your dream again. How many times have you had already for the past few months and it’s always telling you to wake up repeatedly? Maybe it’s just all in your head because you are always thinking about it. Here is what I think: just keep yourself busy. We can hang out after practice, after class, and during weekends. What do you think?” “I don’t hang out, James. I don’t do anything extreme like you does. I am not into adventures and stuff.” ‘Exactly my point. Why don’t you try something new so that you can divert your attention other than your weird dream.” “It felt different this time compared with the dream I had way back in grade school. I told you someone was communicating with me through my dreams.” “Aren’t you feeling creeped out about it? What if it’s a ghost?” “Maybe it needs my help.” “Okay. I don’t know what to say anymore. I need to tell Lorie about this.” “No. Please, don’t.” “Charlie, you have been acting really – “I can do the hang-out thing you were saying.” She never lets him finish his sentence anymore. She didn’t want her Aunt Lorie to find anything anymore. She needs to be careful this time or else she will be grounded from her little alone-time adventures. It was that kind of adventure that she was into. She likes going out alone and she was grounded for going out so late, staying in a cemetery just to read a book, and having a little ghost-hunting trip. “Really? You are finally agreeing with me?” “Just don’t tell Lorie anything about it.” “But you told me you almost told her about it during breakfast.” “I probably should just keep it to myself, so you better keep your mouth shut about it as well. Do we have a deal?” “All right! Consider it done!” She didn’t like the smirk on his face, but it was the only way that her aunt wouldn’t get in her way through her search for the man in her dreams. It's been a week since she has almost finished reading different books about ghosts and dreams' meaning in the search for the answers that she has been having since grade school and another episode happened again. Charlie… Charlie… Wake up. I need to talk to you. It was that voice again. It’s calling her. She tried harder to open her eyes. She needed to wake up from that dream. She needed to see whom the voice belonged to. It’s her chance to finally see who owns the voice. Wake up, Charlie… I’m here… " “I know you’re there. Please wake me up.” She spoke. She felt a cold hand touch hers. It sent a magnetic reaction throughout her body. She slowly opened her eyes. She was in the library when she noticed that she was the only one there. She heard loud footsteps coming her way. It made her feel nervous. A man dressed in all black appeared from the bookshelves. He stands approximately 6ft 3inc and has black shiny hair swept on just one side of his face, not revealing the other half of his face too much. He is wearing an all-black outfit almost covering his entire pale skin. His boots were almost as shiny as his black hair as soon as the light struck them. She looked around, avoiding eye contact with the man who had taken a seat in front of him just staring at her face. “You look different up close, young lady." Hearing the man call her a young lady made her wonder. He must be way older than her. She found herself looking for the right questions to ask. What if she wakes up already and can’t ask the questions she has been meaning to ask? “You can ask me anything and don’t worry about waking up from your dream." "Can you read my mind?” “Is that what you have always wanted to ask me?” “No… I mean, I think you just read my mind just now. Anyway, first what is your name?” She stuttered. She was nervous. “It’s Lucas.” He held his hand, and she hesitantly took it. It was cold. She took her hand away after realizing he wasn’t letting it go. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" She hesitated. "You are probably right with your intuition, young lady. I am way older than you can imagine." She looked puzzled but tried to smile. She immediately stopped herself because of the serious expression all over his face. "You said you wanted to see me and talk to me. May I know why? Have you been trying to communicate with me all these years?" "Yes, I have been trying to communicate with you but you never responded." "Is that the reason why you stopped coming into my dreams? I even went to the cemetery and spent the night there thinking that you might show up." "That's probably the dumbest thing that you did. Do you know how dangerous it is to stay in a cemetery? There are lost souls and evil ones walking around the cemetery. You don't want to be in contact with them. Since we are on this topic, this is the reason why I want to see and talk to you. I have to warn you to stop visiting the cemetery." "D-dumbest? Are you telling me I am... she paused. She felt insulted. It shouldn't bother her, but why did it suddenly get on her nerves? ...I couldn't believe someone from a dream was calling me a dumb person." She saw him smirking. "That must be funny to you. I was grounded for a whole week because of that. Anyway, so you have been trying to wake me up from the dream to tell me not to go to the cemetery anymore?" "That...and because I wanted to see you." She was tongue-tied for a moment. He is back on his serious expression. "Why? Were you the one who tried to save me from an accident that happened with my family a long time ago?" She watched him stand from his seat and walked away. She hurriedly followed his long strides that with his every step echoed all over the library. "I know it's you. Why did you save me? You could have just let me die along with my family. You could have just left me there dying? Why did you try to wake me up? I have been living with all this guilt because of surviving the accident that could have killed me already a long time ago." "You need to go back now." She bumped her head onto his back when he halted abruptly. "No, please. I need answers. Why did you save me?" "I didn't save you. When I woke you up, it was your soul that I was trying to wake up. You luckily survived the accident, Charlie. I am not the person you think I am. I am no savior." She suddenly felt her heart palpitating. She held her chest, slowly stepping away from him. Her head started to feel heavy. "Charlie, are you all right?" She saw him make a step toward her. "Stop. Just stay right where you are. Let me just process what you said. How is it even possible? How am I even here? How are you even in my dreams? How?" She grabbed her chest. She couldn't breathe. "Charlie..." She tried to stay away from him but her knees were getting weak already. She found herself falling into his arms. She could feel the coldness of his skin on hers. It was really cold. That's when she realized why he was cold. He is not human. He was probably from a different world. "Go and wake up now." He held and pressed her hand. She woke up staring at the chair in front of her with tears flowing endlessly. She wiped it continuously. She wondered where the mixed emotions were coming from. The fact that she wanted to die along with her parents on the day of the accident if it weren't for the person who tried to save her, turned out, he was actually taking her soul. She has been trying to put all the blame on the one who supposedly saved her to reduce all her guilt. Right now, she has no one to blame but herself for surviving alone. That night, she decided she needed to go back into that dream again. She changed into her pajamas and went straight to sleep without eating her dinner. She has finally made up her mind. "I need to talk to you." He appeared, standing beside her closet. He walked around the room. It felt awkward. She blocked his way, walking his way through her study area. "Nice room. It's clean." "Of course it is. What do you expect? Anyway, I want to make a suggestion. I want you to take me away. Take me wherever you need me to go." "I don't think you understand how it works, Charlie. I can't just take anyone away, you are alive." "Then kill me if that's what it takes for you to take away my soul with you." "Kill you? Do you know how ridiculous this suggestion is, right? I don't kill people." "Then maybe I could just kill myself now. I have been spending all my life blaming you for saving me because I really thought you were the one who saved me, but I was wrong. Right now, I have no one to blame but myself and I can't live with the guilt anymore. So, just take my soul away from this world. I have no reason to be here anymore. I'm just tired of proving myself to everybody. Just take it now." "You do understand that you need to die before I can take your soul, right?" "Yes, I am ready to die now." She took a bottle of medicine from her bedside table and showed it to him. But before she could have the chance of opening the bottle, the bottle was taken away from her hand, floating in the air. "What are you doing? Give it to me." She commanded. But to her surprise, the bottle melted like ice. She saw him walking towards her with a serious expression. He looked exasperated. "Do you have any idea how far I went just to be here with you? And now you are telling me that you want me to take your soul?" "I don't understand. What do you mean by that?" "Go and wake up now." She stepped away from his hand, reaching out for his arm to wake her up. "No. I need to know what you are talking about. Don't wake me up yet." "You can't die without my permission. I need you to stay where you are right now because I will come and find you. You have to promise me that you are going to wait for me." The soft expression on his face made her wonder. Why is he telling her to wait for him? Who is he really? She started to feel her head getting heavier. She abruptly gets up from her bed, remembering the dream that she had. She looked for the bottle of medicine inside the drawer of her bedside table, only to find out that it was gone already. And as reality hit her, everything really happened. She had been keeping the bottle of medicine for years to take away her own life, but she never really had the courage to do it, not until she had met the man in his dreams, proving that all there was to blame for surviving alone was herself. She was walking back and forth inside her room trying to process everything that she saw and heard in her dreams when she was stopped by her cell phone ringing. It was James. "Charlie! You wouldn't believe what I am about to tell you." James said excitedly. "What is it?" She asked curiously. "Lucas is coming to town." "Lucas who?" "You don't remember him?" The only Lucas she remembered was the Lucas in her dream. "Lucas is our childhood friend. How come you forgot about him when Lucas was your childhood sweetheart?" "What are you talking about?" "Anyway, I'll come and pick you up later. We are hanging out in town tonight." "Wait, what?" And before she could finish her sentence, the line was cut. On their way to town, she opened the car window and enjoyed the cold breeze touching her skin. She closed her eyes and took in the woodsy scent and let it linger through her nostrils for as long as it could. It made her feel calm for some reason. She almost forgot the thought of dying in her dream last night. "I can't believe you forgot about Lucas. You used to tell me how much you adored the guy during our grade school years." "Really? I have someone like that?" "Yeah. And you are very open about how much you like Lucas." "You mean, I confessed to him that I like him?" "Yeah. You were not shy about it." She saw him smirk and that made her irritated for some reason. "Oh my god. And we are meeting Lucas today, is that right?" "Yeah. Relax. It's been years Charlie. I am sure he has already forgotten about it." "Could you stop smiling like a fool?" "Whoaaa. Someone is tense." "I am not." She immediately got out of the car when he pulled over at their destination. She put on her jacket and didn't mind combing her brown wavy hair. She is too lazy to do it. She never really liked the idea of hanging out with James during the weekend because it'd mean drinking beer and partying. It was not really her thing. She heard James calling the name Lucas and she didn't pay any attention. She was just busy looking around the area, noticing that it was starting to get busy with people looking for a place to eat, party, and have fun during the weekend. Her attention was caught by a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a beautiful face smiling at her. His long, medium black hair was being blown by the windy air. She saw him trying to take away the strands of his hair from his face while still smiling at her. She couldn't help but be mesmerized by how it is even possible to look manly and angelic at the same time. "It's Lucas Davidson. Still, remember me?" "Would it be so mean to say that I forgot about what you looked like before? I mean, my memories are just not functioning most of the time. Well, most of the time, I have a hard time remembering things. But it was nice seeing you again, looking like that." "You must have forgotten all about me." It gets awkward. She suddenly couldn't find the right words to say. It made her wonder why she had zero memories of Lucas Davidson in front of him. "Anyway, James told me to fetch you here because he ran with some of his folks. I have already made a reservation at one of the restaurants. We could go there now." "Alright." While on their way to the restaurant, the silence was deafening. She would shoot a glance at his face from time to time trying to remember something, but she just couldn't. She was trying to find some connection with him but there was really none. She had no other memory of having another guy friend other than James during her childhood. "I'm sorry that it had to be awkward like this when you just came back." "It's fine. It's understandable since I just came back. You don't really need to try to remember me. It's all good. I am just glad I am finally back." "Me too. I am glad you are back." "You are?" "What, me? Did I say... she paused. She wondered where it came from. Was she really glad to see him? She felt a force urging her to say it, but it felt a little weird after saying it. "I guess I am also glad you are back." She forced a smile. He smiled back. They are both looking up at the light to cross the street. As they were waiting for the green light, she stole a glance at his face again. She couldn't help but be drawn to him. As she was watching his face, as the lights turned green, she noticed that a car was fast approaching from his side. She didn't have a second thought about holding his arms to return to the pavement. "Hey, watch out!" she panicked. As she held his arms tightly, he spun around, which made him lock her around his arms. She met his brown eyes staring directly at her. She couldn't take her eyes away from him. "I'm sorry I had to stop you from crossing." She let herself go from his arms and started to cross the street with him walking behind her. She walked as fast as she could without looking back. She felt her heartbeat racing. The thing about him being her childhood sweetheart, according to James, might be getting into her. She must be crazy thinking that she was attracted to him. "Can I say something?" "Sure, sure." She immediately stopped and turned around pretending to act as normal as she could. "Did you really forget everything about me? Because I never forgot you, no matter how hard I tried. I told you to wait for me and now I am here." "What? What do you mean?" Her head started to feel heavy. Everything around her was spinning around. She heard a loud ticking of the clock that made her hold his head. The pain in her head was excruciating. "There you are! I have been looking everywhere for the two of you. I thought you were at the restaurant already. Are you okay, Charlie?" James said, looking concerned. She immediately grabbed James's wrist and checked the month and year. Her eyes grew wide open. "What?"