When No One's Watching - Chapter Four

Her mother now safely asleep, Charlie began her long discussion with herself in her bathroom until she was sure Drake had come in and went to his own area of the house. Charlie had still been successful with getting past the nightly visit, but she still wouldn’t show any hope that they were over, so nonetheless, she would be careful. Eyes still pierced her mind, unseen eyes that were bugging at her like hair sticking to her tongue. She couldn’t go on like this; she had to figure out what made her so paranoid and afraid to sleep at night. She now sat upon the carpeted floor of her bathroom, an area she had chosen for its view of the entire room. There was no where to hide from her eye, so nothing would go unnoticed for all that was behind her was wall. As so as she sat down her thoughts began pouring themselves in, one on top of the other. No longer did she think of the "usual conversation", but of how to get past this sort of dilemma she had gotten herself into. "If only I could get Kelly over here," she thought randomly, "Maybe she could sense him too." Charlie had now gotten into the habit of calling it a HE, for she was sick and tired of furthering the indistinctness of it was referring to it repeatedly as "it". Maybe this ghost was a he, she did not know for sure, but it comforted her slightly to think that she at least knew the gender of what she questioned to actually be there. She had been in such a haste to get to the bathroom that she had not realized that nothing had happened to make her frustrated yet. It was revealing itself piece by piece that she was finding a comfort alone, a sort of time away from bothering people with her worries and them bothering her with theirs. She grazed her hand over her face, knowing that she would not find the reddened welts that she could not remember ever entering the bathroom without. And even though Charlie had been rushing herself into the restroom, she had still been smart enough to grab her sleeping clothes so that she would not worry herself about someone watching her change. She was beginning to grow weary of changing at all and just sleeping in the school clothes she had worn that day. But of course, she could never make herself feel so desperate as to sleeping uncomfortably. Charlie smirked at the thought, "Then again, I haven’t had much sleep at all." she concluded the joke, thinking at least a little more rationally than usual. "Oh God," she scoffed. "Kelly’s sense of logic is rubbing off on me." Just then she heard an inhaling noise, a sort of breathing that sounded more like a man rasping for breath. A strange sound that she had only heard in movies made by actors in pain, but never by an actual person she encountered in life. She clutched her knees towards her chest, not realizing how cold it was before. She gasped, now replaying the scene of Kelly with the cold and warm air story in her mind. Charlie leaned her head against the door smiling, realizing that she was only paranoid and need not be so afraid, nonetheless she was anyways. "What are you going to do?" The question she had asked herself a thousand times or more, only now used in a different context. Instead of finding herself a way out, she wanted to know how to get the "presence" out instead. Dumb ideas first appeared, regular things that most people would initially think of. Such as a séance of some sort, but she did not know anything about such things, and was positive that even if the library did have a book on it, plenty of questions would be asked. BANG! Charlie jumped, hearing the door slam shut. Obviously the beast hadn’t had much luck at "work". "You lazy ass bitches didn’t make me anything to eat? You’re worthless." She could hear him scream through the walls. He knew where she was, and she knew that he knew. She prayed silently that he would not break the door, knowing perfectly well that he had done it many times in similar circumstances. He would come in irritated, horny, and so pissed off he didn’t care what happened. Charlie closed her eyes tightly, the first time she had since she had been home, in prayer, willing God to answer her call. As Kelly had so kindly put it, she was god sent. Would God allow a demon to defile those he sent for a purpose? And just as Charlie had dreaded, her few days of luck finally ran out. "Charlie, get your bitch-ass out of there! I need to talk to you about something." She would not budge, knowing that something had to happen to keep this from her. She now realized she had a purpose, couldn’t God see that? Couldn’t he stop all this now? "Please God, don’t let him in." Charlie placed her face into her hands and began rocking back and forth, sobbing as the screams continued. "I said get out of there. Don’t make me break this fucking door down. Get your ass up! Stop being such a God Damn baby and open the fucking door. Don’t make me fuck your life up more than it is. Your only making this worse baby doll, open the fucking door!" But even though she knew he would get in sooner or later, and that it would be worse than usual, Charlie could not make herself open the door. If he wanted to hurt her, he was going to have to fight for it; she wouldn’t make herself so free. "I am going to count to three," Drake continued, "And if you don’t open this door, I’m breaking it down and your not eating for another month, got it?" Charlie knew it was coming, so in the process that she had done many times before, she began willing herself away as the count down continued. "One…" his voice wavered, his lust obviously corrupting his patience. "Two…" Charlie whimpered, knowing the pain that awaited her beyond the door. "Three! Charlie you’re such a dumb bitch!" He began hitting himself against the door; Charlie’s body racking with sobs each time the wall jolted. She backed herself into the bathtub, wanting to avoid being hit by the falling wood. As Drake finally managed to open the door enough to let him in, she covered her eyes, still praying that God was only waiting for the right moment to intervene. In a split second whilst Drake was making his way towards her, Charlie believed she heard breathing. Someone’s gasps as if the door pummeled him and he were still struggling to get up. Her thoughts were quickly ended, as Drake leaned himself into the bathtub, his breath stinking of beer and cigarettes. "You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that baby doll." He brushed her hair away with the tips of his fingers, lowering his lips just above hers. Charlie sobbed, pushing him away, but still hearing the reckless breathing of someone struggling to stand. Drake’s face purpled as he grabbed her hand and slapped her on to her other side. "Why do you make me do this? Do you like making me angry?" He hit her again, now pushing her over onto her back. She covered her face with her hands, straining her mind away from what was happening to her. Drake sighed, grabbed her hands and pinned them down to her sides. He pushed her palms under his knees and began to pull her sweater off the top of her head. Charlie’s tears came faster now, pouring down her face as if filling the bathtub. She tried to picture herself in a bubble bath, relieving her muscles after a long working day, but couldn’t. The image of a lust crazy man tearing at her pants’ buttons kept ripping itself back into her mind. And once Drake began to lean down for a kiss once again, everything became slow motion for Charlie. She could make out the sounds of someone sighing, as if finally winning over the struggle to stand. She could hear herself sobbing bursts of fear and hate, praying and asking God why wasn’t he doing anything to help. But as Drake came within inches of her lips he suddenly stopped. Charlie looked up to find herself facing the surprised face of Drake Johnson. Charlie once again closed her eyes, not wanting to know what thoughts were unfolding in his mind. She felt Drake’s weight being lifted off of her, and listened as he grunted trying to stop himself from falling over. Charlie looked up to see Drake falling across the edge of the tub and onto the floor as if being dragged out. She continued to stare, completely astounded, but wondering if she had cried so many tears that she made the bottom of the tub slippery. Her ears pricked as Drake’s breathing turned into slow, even, breaths of sleeping. "He must of knocked himself unconscious." Charlie thought, hoping residing where fear once held a place. She fell into the bathtub, exhausted after so much worry. God must have heard her screaming, he must have come and delivered her from another encounter with Drake’s temptation. "Fuck it." Charlie smiled, "I’m alright." She lifted herself from the bathtub with what remaining strength she possessed, she tiptoed around Drake’s form, and the form of what used to be the only lockable door, and into her bedroom where she turned the lights off and began to will herself to sleep. For some reason, she felt safer than usual, as if nothing could happen once her eyes were closed. Of course Drake would wake up sooner or later, but once he did, he would have no recollection of what happened, no thought as to how he got there, he would only be pissed that the door was broken and take away all food privileges for Charlie. She did not know what happened in the bathroom, and she did not care to think about it. Charlie had lucked out when it came to running out of luck. Sleep came easily to her that night, little did she know that her suspicions were true and that someone was watching her through the dark. The only question she COULD answer now was whether he was a guardian angel, or a threatening devil.