Close Your Eyes

Hours after they had arrived home from the hospital, Brian received the call that Lawrence Mitchell had been located and arrested for the rape of his daughter. He and Rose couldn’t have been more relieved to hear the news from Detective Moore, and charges were being pressed against him immediately. Although it was definitely good news that Lawrence was in jail for the time being, they decided not to wake Charlie up and tell her. The poor girl was exhausted and needed her rest, but what they didn’t know was that Charlie was wide awake, staring at the wall of her bedroom, and had been awake for hours. She couldn’t sleep. She’d passed out for a few hours after they had arrived home from the hospital, but she had woken up just before ten am, only leaving her with a total of three and a half hours of sleep.

She couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she could feel him on top of her and she could see him violating her all over again. She’d nearly thrown up earlier twice because of it, and decided that sleep wasn’t worth it. However, just because she wasn’t asleep didn’t mean she was going to get up and go downstairs. She didn’t want to see anyone, she didn’t want to eat anything, she didn’t want to face the world; she just wanted to disappear.

Brian sat in the kitchen at the table, sipping on a cup of coffee. He happened to be overly exhausted, but he was stubborn and didn’t want to sleep just yet. His mind was racing a thousand miles a minute, over thinking each and every little detail of what happened just hours ago at the hospital.

“Do you think we should look into finding a therapist that can help her deal with all of this,” Rose asked as she stood at the kitchen counter making her and Brian a sandwich for lunch.

Brian sighed, “I don’t know. Do you actually believe she’ll open up and talk to some stranger?”

“It’s worth a try,” Rose shrugged, “I’ll talk to her about it in a few days after she starts to feel better.”

Brian nearly scoffed, “I don’t think she’s going to be feeling better anytime soon.”

Rose turned to him with one eyebrow raised, “You can’t honestly believe she’s going to lock herself inside her room and stay hidden from the world for the rest of her life, Brian.”

“I never fuckin’ said that,” He shook his head, “But I don’t think she’s going to come out of her room and want to go back to school and pretend she’s fine either.”

“Well I guess we’ll just see who’s right,” She muttered.

Brian sighed as he picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip. The doorbell rang suddenly, making Brian groan. He didn’t want the doorbell to wake up Charlie, so he quickly stood from the table and headed to the front door. When he opened it, Lucas and his father stood there. Lucas was grinning like mad, while his father looked tired, as did he and Rose.

“Dad!” Lucas exclaimed.

“Hey kiddo!” Brian smiled, wrapping his arms around his son, “Did you have fun with Papa and Suzy last night?”

Lucas nodded quickly, “Totally. Aunt McKenna stayed up until eleven o’clock teaching me how to play a new song on the guitar! Can you believe that?”

Brian laughed, “That’s awesome, buddy. You’ll have to show me what you learned later,” He ruffled Lucas’s brown hair, “Now why don’t you go into the kitchen and get a sandwich from your mother. Papa and I have to talk privately.”

The younger boy shrugged his shoulders before running off to find his mother. Brian breathed out and took his over night bag from Papa Gates. “Thanks for letting him stay the night. If he’d been home and found Charlie like she was last night, he would have had a total melt down.”

“Don’t worry about it. We love having Lucas over,” Papa Gates waved it off, “Now, how’s Charlie doing?”

Brian drew in a deep breath, “She’s been up in her room sleeping since we got home. She hasn’t spoken a word to Rose and I, and she hasn’t eaten anything. She came home, took a shower, and then curled up in bed. We haven’t heard from her since, but we’ve been checking on her every hour or so.”

Papa Gates sighed, “That boy was arrested though, right?”

“About an hour ago,” Brian nodded.

“Poor thing,” He muttered, “I wish there was someway we could take away her pain.”

“Me too, Dad.”

“Well give me a call later and let me know how she’s doing,” Papa Gates said, “I want updates at least twice a day.”

“Sure thing,” Brian said, “I’ll give you a call later this evening.”

The two men said goodbye to each other and then Papa Gates left to head back home. Brian shut the door and locked it tight before letting out a deep breath. He turned around and headed back to the kitchen. Lucas was sitting beside Rose, both sharing half a sandwich. Rose flicked her eyes up to meet his, giving him a look that read they needed to explain what was going on to Lucas, and Brian knew she was right. It was either they tell him or he question why Charlie is acting so strange.

“Lucas, buddy,” Brian said, sitting down across from Rose and his son, “Your mother and I need to talk to you.”

With his big chocolate colored eyes, Lucas looked over at him, “I swear it wasn’t me. Charlie’s the one who broke it!”

“Wait—What?” The older man questioned, shaking his head, “No one’s in trouble, Lucas, although I’d definitely like to know what exactly Charlie broke, but that can wait until later.”

Rose smoothed her hand across Lucas’s light brown hair, “Listen Honey, something happened to Charlie last night,” She said softly, getting straight to the point.

“What do you mean?” He asked, “Is she alright?”

“Not right now, no,” Brian shook his head, "But she will be. We just gotta give her some time to herself, okay?”

“But,” The ten year old frowned, “She was supposed to take me to the beach today. Are we still going?”

Rose sighed, “No, Lucas, you aren’t. Charlie is in bed resting.”

“Well what happened to her?”

Brian licked over his bottom lip, not entirely sure how to explain to him since he was young and didn’t fully understand what exactly sexual assault. “Lucas, you know how adults have sex, right?”

Lucas nodded, “Duh. I learned about that stuff months ago, Dad!”

Brian forced a laugh, “Right, of course you did.”

“Well, Lucas, last night a boy decided that instead of having consensual sex with Charlie, that he would force her to participate in it with him when she didn’t want it,” Rose explained softly.

Lucas’s eyes widen, “You mean, like, rape?”

Rose nodded, “Yes, Honey, that’s exactly what it is.”

“But she’s going to be okay,” Brian quickly said, noticing the sad look on the younger boys face, “The boy who hurt her is in jail, and with the help of you and me, and your mother, and the rest of the family, she’s going to get past this.”

Lucas nodded his head, focusing his sight on the floor, “Can I go upstairs and see her for a few minutes?”

Brian smiled, “Sure, just don’t sneak up on her, and if she tells you to get out, listen, okay little man?”

“I swear, I’ll be good,” Lucas said before running off out of the kitchen to go see Charlie.

Brian sighed heavily, leaning back against his chair. “Well that wasn’t too tough, I suppose.”

Rose stood up from her chair and went over to him, sitting down on his lap as her arms wrapped around his neck. “You know,” She murmured, “I never did ask how you’re doing since this all happened last night. I mean, you are the one who found her the way she was. That must have freaked you out at least a little bit.”

Brian drew in a deep breath, “I guess I’m just trying to keep my head together. If I fall apart, this entire family falls apart, and I won’t allow that to happen.”

“Oh Brian,” Rose frowned, “Sooner or later everything is going to be fine. You just wait and see. Charlie will get through this. She’s the strongest girl I know. And this family will get through it too.”

“I really hope so,” He said, nodding his head briefly.