The Beginning of The Downfall

Charlie was physically weak for the rest of the day due to the previous tragedy that had happened to him. Even with worn out legs, he managed to walk home on his own. The bruises on him was still visible as it only had been a few hours after he got beaten.

He slowly opened the door and took a step in the familiar abode. The thought of his beloved grandmother seeing him with his bruises all over his body distressed him as he didn't want to worry her. He took a look around the living, receiving no signs of his grandmother anywhere. Not until he heard her voice from the kitchen. Naturally, he averted his attention to the direction and there she stood, in the kitchen door frame.

"Oh child, what in the world had happened to you?" She said in disappointment as she walked closer to him to take a look at his bruises up close. Her face clearly spelled with worrisome as she carefully examined her only dearest grandchild's bruises.

Charlie could only stood there in silence. He knew he was going to get questioned like that but he still couldn't make out on what to answer to his grandmother. After receiving no response from Charlie, she huffed out a heavy sigh.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me about it now. You better go clean yourself up and then come downstairs for me to treat your wounds," said Granny Nancy with her voice sounding rather sorrow. Charlie said less and obliged her. He silently made his way upstairs to take a shower.

~

By the time he was done, he walked downstairs to be greeted by Granny Nancy who was sitting on the sofa, patiently waiting upon his arrival.

"Sit here," she patted the seat next to her and prepared the tools she needed to treat his wounds with. Charlie once again obliged her words and sat right next to her without saying anything else. Granny Nancy wasted no time and went straight on treating his wounds as she first examined it carefully.

"Charlie, who did this to you?" She calmly asked while her hands was busy focusing on his bruises. Charlie quietly looked down. He didn't want to tell her about what had happened as he didn't want her to worry about his well being at school. He didn't want to burden her so he once again left her question unanswered with guilt. He heard her sigh for the second time.

"If you have a problem you're facing with at school, please tell me. I deserve to know. Maybe we can find you a new school or—" just as she was about to finish her sentence, Charlie cut her off.

"Granny, you don't need to go that far. I've only fell down multiple times at school today. You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine," he said, blurting out lies and lies for Granny Nancy to believe. She nodded her head in silence, her hands never stopping treating his wounds.

"That could be true. Maybe he really did fell down too many times," Granny Nancy thought to herself. She seemed to has bought Charlie's lie and decided to think for the best. However, she still had some doubt inside of her and she deeply hoped that his bruises was not caused by bullying.

~

The morning had appeared and it was already the next day. The sun was shining rather brightly. It was a great start for everyone except for Charlie. He was on his way to school when suddenly, he bumped into none other than Noah.

"Hey nerd, you better remember what I told you yesterday. If you disobey me, I'll beat the crap out of you even worse than you could imagine," He warned him before walking off to school, laughing. Charlie could only brought his stare down to the ground while his hands slowly turned into a fist, keeping his stress in. He brushed it off and continued his path to school.

~

Once he had made it to school, he silently stepped into his classroom and walked straight to his seat without making eye contact with anyone. Evelyn on the other hand, who had arrived earlier than Charlie was in shock after witnessing Charlie coming in to class with his face plastered with bandages here and there.

Evelyn's worry grew and without hesitation, she immediately rushed towards Charlie. Her hands was about to make contact with his face until Charlie stopped her. He aggresively slapped her hands away from his face.

"You.. Don't talk to me ever again," he yelled to her face, causing her to look at him in even more shock and dissapointment. She was so unfamiliar with this behaviour of his and she was sure that something was wrong.

"But, why?" She asked, her eyes filled with nothing but misery and the growing sadness in her heart. Deep inside of her wanted to just drop down and cry in front of him because of his yell but she collected herself and held herself together. Charlie ignored her and left her question unanswered. He acted as if she wasn't even there as he pulled out his book from his backpack.

~

Brian who had just arrived walked straight towards Charlie. He was baffled to meet Charlie with tons of bandages all over his face.

"Bro, what happened to you? I thought Evelyn treated your wounds yesterday?" He said, quite loud for the class to hear. He then forced Charlie to spill the beans.

"I'll tell you later," Charlie simply replied, not in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment.

Evelyn was still confused with lots of question running around in her mind. "What is it with Charlie today?", "Who did that to him?", "Why is he pushing me away so suddenly?". She boombarded herself with more questions and it had only made her frustration even worse. She stared off into the distance after she couldn't get the answer to anything.

The situation was just full chaos as the both of them started to ignore each other and went on their class like nothing happened. Little did they know that somebody was watching them from afar, smiling in satisfaction from witnessing Charlie's behaviour towards Evelyn. Whoever it was, was definitely in euphoria.