Ch 14//Bruises

                                    

                                          

It wasn't until the day had already started hours ago did Charlie wake up. He looked at his phone to check the exact time, 1:52pm. He saw a few notifications on the top of the screen and unlocked his phone. Most of it was youtube and instagram. One in particular caught his eye though. It was a text from Alex.
'Hey Charles! Wanna hang by the treehouse?' Sent at 8am
Heck. Charlie sat up in bed, his back still hurting a bit. He ignored the pain and sent a reply back. 
'Sorry for the late reply! Just woke up. You still wanna hang?' 
He sent the text and rubbed his back as he waited for a reply. He realised he was still in his clothes from the day before and his sneakers were still on his feet. Ugh. He slipped his shoes off for now and stood up from the bed. He walked over to his dressor and changed into some different clothes. He decided to wear a loose fitting pastel blue T-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. He wanted to be comfy today to make up for last night.  He slipped his hoodie back on and checked his phone again. 
'Dont worry about it :) im still here if you wanna come on down?' 
Charlie smiled and typed back quiclkly. 'Sure! I'll be over soon ^w^!' 
'Cool. See you in a bit :)' 
'Can't wait!' 
Charlie wondered if the last reply was too cheesy but tried to ignore his overthinking and put his shoes back on. He grabbed his backpack and emptied out all the books. In turn, he put in his phone, his charger, wallet, his small notebook and pen. He looked around his room to see if there was anything else he might need. His eyes landed on his Teddy Bear.  Teddy always went with him. But what if someone saw and made fun of him for it? Then again, he might need it...
He looked into Teddys eyes. Teddy really wanted to come. Charlie sighed and decided to play the "better safe than sorry" card and put Teddy in his bag with the rest of his stuff. 
Now that he had everything, he zipped up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. He creeked his bedroom door open and crept down the stairs. He made it safely to the bottom and headed straight for the door. It screeched at him as he opened it and Charlie cringed, hoping his Father wouldn't hear. He didn't dare stay to find out and quiclkly made his way outside. He ran down the road just to play it safe. Once he was two blocks down he slowed his pace to a walk and focused on catching his breath. 
After about 25 minutes he found the back road and went down the same trail Alex took him down the other day. He gripped onto the straps of his backpack and took a deep breath to prepare himself for the woods up ahead. Following the trail, he soon came across the stream again. Oh boy. 
'I can do this' Charlie thought to himself. Even if Alex wasn't here to help him. He hesitated for a few moments, then hopped onto the first rock, then the second, third...now the fourth. He took a leap, but didn't quiet make it. His foot landed on the very edge of the rock instead and he sliped into the water. 
He gasped as the cold water hit him and quickly stood up, the water met halfway up his leg below his knee. He felt like crying right there, his lip quivered. He held back his tears and walked through the water to shore. He walked through the woods still with soaked clothes. Atleast his backpack was waterproof. Thank god for that. 
Alex was sitting on the balcany reading a book when he heard footseps belonging to a pair of soggy sneakers. He looked up and gasped at the sight. "Oh my gosh..." he put his book down and quickly made his way down the ladder. Once he reached the bottom he ran over to the soaked boy. "Charlie, what happened? Did you fall in that stream?" Charlie nodded and shivered. "You better get changed into something else before you get sick. Come on, I got some spare clothes up in the tree-house. Not the first time someone's took a dip" he chuckled.
Charlie followed him up the ladder and into the tree-house. Alex walked over to the crate and dug under the blankets for some clothes. Charlie took his shoes and socks off and placed them by the door. He took his bag off and double checked to see if all his things inside were still dry. 
"Okay" Alex said standing up "I have this black T-shirt, a pair of sweatpants, some fuzzy socks and a blanket in case you get cold. It is fall afterall. I don't have any shoes for you though..." 
Charlie smiled and signed 'Thank you'. He took the clothes and turned around to change. Alex looked away to give him some privacy. Charlie first took his wet sweatpants off, along with his socks. He slipped on the black ones, then the socks. Thats when he realised that the socks were pink. He smiled a little, kind of liking the color on him. He took off his hoodie, then his shirt. Alex was still looking away but saw a big spot of purple from the corner of his eye and couldn't help but look. Thats when he saw the huge bruise spread across the bottom of Charlie's back. 
"Oh my god!" The words slipped out of Alex. "What happened to your back?!" Charlie's heart skipped a beat when he heard those words. He quickly threw the shirt over him and pulled it down to cover up his marks. He crossed his arms and kept his back facing Alex. "Charlie?..." Alex spoke in a soft voice. Charlie couldn't take it and started to sob. Alex heard him crying and pulled him in for a hug. Charlie clung onto Alex for dear life, his tears soaking the blondes hoodie. Alex sat him down and held onto him, letting him cry for as long as he needed to. 
Minutes passed, and eventually Charlie had calmed down. He sniffled and wiped his tears away. He was still feeling pretty down, Alex saw this and wondered what he could do to help. 
Then he looked up and saw a Teddy bear peekikg out from Charlie's bag. 
"Be right back" Alex said standing up. He walked over to Charlies bag and picked up the stuffie. He walked back to Charlie and handed it to him. Charlie looked up and smiled a little when he saw his best friend and held it close to him. He pet Teddys fur and nuzzled into him. Alex smiled and sat back down next to him. "So..." he spoke softly. "Can you tell me how you got those bruises?"
Charlie didn't answer at first, he seemed to be thinking. He pet Teddys fur for a few more moments and then pulled out his phone. A few seconds later Alex's phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket and read the text from Charlie.
'My Dad'