The dark room was growing ever darker as the night wore on. It was late and Charlie could feel that in her bones, she should be tucked away safely in bed sleeping peacefully. Yet she sat on the couch, stunned and horrified. Ensnared in a dreamlike state as she tried to make sense of what was happening to her. This couldn't be real, because if it was everything that she had ever believed in was untrue. Her world was crumbling around her like brick walls crushing the city they were built to protect. A million questions ran through her reeling mind, a million questions that she couldn't find the words to phrase, so she settled to sitting in a stunned silence with tears burning in her eyes.
“No! No I-… I never wanted to k-.. I mean, I didn’t want to-... Just now, that was an accident!”
Charlie flinched slightly as Mila's voice piped up. “So you accidentally almost killed me?” Charlie laughed harshly. “That makes it so much better. Thanks for clearing that up.” Her cruel voice was almost a snarl as she glared passed Mila and at the far wall, blinking away tears that spilled onto her cheeks once again. She hated crying, hated it more then anything else. It was weak and pathetic, the exact opposite of everything Charlie wanted to be. Yet as she reached her clean hand up to wipe away the tears in her eyes she wanted nothing more then to let loose the waterfall of emotion that she had been holding back, she wanted to curl into a tight ball and cry until her chest hurt and her eyes were puffy. She wanted all of this because she was human and sometimes when you are human things became too overwhelming for you and you need some kind of outlet for your pain. “There was nothing you could have done to prevent it.” Charlie rolled her eyes and tried to turn away from Mila. "Next your going to say that I was asking for it." Her thick, sarcasm filled voice was distant and very quiet, almost inaudible, as she reached to push a strand of hair out of her eyes.
Charlie wasn't sure why she even asked 'why', because she wasn't interested in the feeble excuse that Mila gave her. "You lied to me? I fucking knew that there wasn't anyone here named Mark Rothers." She shook her head, disgusted with herself for being so naive, so quick to trust. If there was anything she had ever learned in her life, it was that peoples motives weren't ever pure. 'Why would I do this?' She mentally scolded herself. 'Why would I let a complete stranger into my home, what sense does that make?' She leaned her head back onto the pillows, suddenly feeling very tired and weak. She knew exactly why she'd done what she had. Her reasons had not been motivated by pity for some poor soul on the sidewalk, she had been completely self involved that night when she let Mila into her apartment. She'd been alone, starved of any human contact that wasn't necessary or for someone else's gain. Charlie had craved the company of another person so much that her judgement had been impaired and look at where that had gotten her.
She grew more and more sick as Mila's explanation ran on, her sarcastic comments ceased as she closed her eyes and listened to the words that Mila said. She was describing Charlie's death, in some sense. "I didn’t know it would be so powerful, or that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from…” Charlie flinched. "Oh." Her voice was strained as she realized that Mila was talking about her blood. "Oh... wow." There was no amazement in her voice as she squeezed her eyes closer together, trying to block out the awful image that came with the description. "You were never supposed to find out…” Some plan that was, Charlie suppressed another snide laugh as she sighed and looked up at Mila. “…I know what you must think of me, for doing this. It’s just that…I would rather not kill people…” Something in Charlie's chest fluttered, a feeling that could have been loathing but felt more like... pity. There was genuine sadness in Mila's tone, and Char could tell that there was much more to this story. She wished she could have cared enough to know.
She noticed the soft blankets being pulled closer to her body as Mila's voice murmured that she should sleep. Charlie did want to go to sleep, because if she slept then she would forget about all of this for at least a little while, and the dazed headache that she had would finally go away and she would be able to actually think straight, at least for a little while, when she did wake up. But sleep wouldn't come to her, her body was too on edge and she was in full survival mode, to sleep meant to be vulnerable and she couldn't let that happen. However she still reached down to pull the blanket over her waist, it made her feel less exposed, which was silly and very childish. But the young part of her still insisted that this blanket could act like a barrier between herself and the outside world and that was comforting.
Charlie was acutely aware, when Mila came back from the kitchen with the wet cloth in her hand, of her phone in the other woman's pocket. She closed her eyes slowly and sighed. Even if she could get the phone, who would she call that would believe her story? No one. Absolutely no one. She resolved to sitting quietly and staring up at Mila with stony eyes.
“Please, don’t pull away. I’m not going to do anything.”
"Why don't you just lick it off? Seems like an awful waste to me." Charlie's voice was a sneer as she felt Mila's cold hands, stark in contrast to the warm cloth, wrap around her frail wrist. She tried fruitlessly to pull away but Mila's grip on her wrist was too firm and Char had to resolve to glaring at the undeniably beautiful monster before her. She felt the cloth swipe over her palm, through her fingers, the red was replaced by the alabaster colour of her palms. She looked up at her clean fist and sighed loudly. The blood had been like fuel to her anger and defiance, with it gone she just felt tired and very, very sad. The room settled into an uncomfortable silence as she sat there and glared down at her hand. "What now?" Charlie's defeated murmur finally broke the quiet after several long seconds. Her eyes were cold and the fight in them was dead. She turned her head away from her fingers, a frown twisting on her lips. "What are you going to do with me now?"
She fiddled her hands slightly on her lap as she thought. What would happen now? She could tell someone, but that wouldn't get her anywhere but the nuthouse, and she couldn't imagine actually putting into words what had just happened. 'I was attacked by a vampire.' The words even sounded silly in her mind. Shuddering slightly she buried her ace into her hands to muffle her groan of frustration and confusion. "It's not like you can keep me here forever." She continued when Mila herself didn't immediately respond. "People will realize that I'm gone, they'll look for me!" Not true. She hadn't seen her parents for nearly two years, hadn't even spoken to her sister for three years and her brothers for almost seven. No one would think much if the flighty girl from work stopped showing up and she had no friends who cared enough to wonder about her. Charlie was alone. Yet she still kept up the pretence of being loved, it was a game that she played very well.