Chapter Text
“What’s it going to be, Charlotte?” Sam holds the delicate frame between his long fingers, tainting the glass and rubbing his sweaty fingers on it.
“This is all going to come back and bite you in the ass, Sam. I’ll make sure of it.”
He laughs, because he doesn’t care. Because he is aware, and so am I, of the little weight that my threat carries.
“You don’t expect me to believe that, Lottie?” He taps his fingers on the photo, where Lee and I stand dressed in ivory, grinning like we’d just won something huge. And for all these years, I believed we had. Until all of it was torn down and burnt.
“Don’t fucking call me that.”
He leaps forward like a hungry dog, but halts just as he is at a hand’s distance from my face, like his leash was pulled. Smirking, he lets the frame fall to the ground, as the glass shatters. “My, my. Did that shock you? Imagine the shock Lee will go through when he’ll learn of all your lies.”
“Shut up.” I take a step back from him. “You can’t do that. You won’t.” Mustering up the little courage I can, I spit. “Because Gordon won’t let you. Because you can’t do anything of your own accord. Because you are just his little bitch.”
“And you are a liar.” He’s angry, but I know what Gordon is like, too. He doesn’t like to show his strength by plotting shady murders and assaults when he can just buy their silence for money that he spends like dirt on his hands. “See all those pieces?”
He points to the broken shards of glasses on the hardwood floor, our picture still stuck onto the frame. I had glued it onto the cardboard of the frame, because it wasn’t staying in place. Lee just laughed and said that we could’ve gotten a new frame. And I just kissed him.
“You’ve told more lies to Lee than the number of all these shards. Lied about yourself, lied about your job, about your family, about your life, about everything. How do you think he is going to react?”
I don’t say anything. But I know. He would hate me. Hate me not for the lies, but for the trust I couldn’t place on him. In my mind, I could already witness him saying, “You could’ve told me Charlie. Why didn’t you?”
But what would I even say? I had no answer to that. To this day, even I don’t know why I never told him that all those trips were not to offices, but to laboratories. That I was not a PR manager hired and bond with such a crazy NDA that I couldn’t even tell my own spouse who I’m working for. My mouth dries out, as the hunger that I’ve been feeling all this morning forces its way back into my mind with a tiny growl.
The flustering reality of it all going into possible ruins shuts all that I can think about, and I reach clumsily for the cabinet. I hold on tightly to it, and Sam, like he is, says. “Charlotte. Are you alright?”
It’s not much, but it gives me hope. Maybe the boy I’d known all those years ago is still down in there somewhere, who believes Gordon is a jackass who deserves to rot.
“Sam, come on.” I croak. It’s not me to break down in front of any one, but with Lee on the line, as well as our future, I can’t help myself. Besides, it’s a normal thing during these times. I look back at him, as the setting sun paints the left side of face a dark orange. “You said you were gonna grow up and change it all. That you wouldn’t be like them.”
His lips are set in a grim line. His silence hangs over me like a dark cloud, and I continue in a hoarse voice. “And where are you now? You should be helping me right now. You and I – we were supposed to fight them together.”
“Exactly.” He lashes out, as he balls his hands into fists. “Fucking exactly, Charlotte. We were. Together. Kind of hard to do when the girl I have loved all my life runs off to marry a fucking school teacher.”
I shut my eyes close, knowing I gave him the way to mention it. I don’t bother correcting him about Lee, and instead I sit down on the bed beside him, my head feeling light. I don’t want to fight him right now, or ever. I just don’t want to.
“No, come on now. Speak up.” He picks up the cardboard from the broken frame, ripping apart the photo. Staring at it momentarily with an obvious dislike, he shoves it towards me, crumpling it.
“No,” I cry out, reaching for his hands and trying to grab it. “Don’t do that.”
“It was supposed to be us.”
“Let go of it, Sam, it’s my photo.”
“We promised.”
“We were nine!” I scream, and in a fit, snatch the photo, to only see it torn from the middle. I stare at him as he holds the part with me in it, as I try to flatten my photo, with Lee. “We were nine! And you were the only boy I had ever met in there! I am allowed to love whoever I want. And I don’t love you. I don’t. You’re my friend, Sam. You were. Until you joined Gordon. Because, fuck you, falling out of love does not mean that you get to fucking target me everywhere, and threaten to ruin my life, just because you hate yours. And as for your fucking promise for being together, that’s not the only promise we made, did we?”
I stand up, Lee’s photograph safe in my palm, as Sam looks at me with guilt-ridden eyes. For a moment, I want to believe it’s the same nine-year-old boy I had been friends with as a kid, but the harsh truth is that he’s not. That Sam is gone. That Sam was gone the moment I decided to leave that place alone.
“We also promised that we’d do anything to make sure Gordon doesn’t continue what he does. That we’d fight against him, no matter what. And guess what, Sam? I didn’t break that promise. You did. Tell me now. Should I go ahead and threaten to ruin your life too, now?”
He hangs his head low, and finally let go of my photograph, as it flies down slowly to settle among the broken shards.
“He gives me a purpose.” He whispers. “Like I can do something. And I just – I don’t care for him. I don’t. I just – I love you Charlotte.”
“Please, stop it.” I shake my head.
“No. No. I love you, I do. I love you so much. I love you. Fuck Lee. Fuck that guy.” He tries to reach for the photo in my hands, and I quickly slide away, falling to my knees. He doesn’t stop. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
Glancing at Lee’s photo, torn but still full of all his shine, I say. “I love you, baby.”
And that’s when Lee kicks the door down, and in a horrific fit of rage – kills Sam.