NOVEL SIMPLE Ch. 15 Unexpected Arrival (Charles)
The transportation experience was more immediate than Charles’ had anticipated. There was no portal, no bright lights, or even a deity to ease him through the process. Instead, Charles was simply crushed by a sentient truck and the next thing he knew he was standing in the center of a compact dirt road at night. Charles did a quick inventory to discover that while he still wore his sweats, socks, and shoes, anything he had been carrying in his pockets were missing. The night was pleasantly warm and crickets were busy chirping away in the tall grass around the road. A fair distance away from the road sat a large forest whose darkness felt incredibly imposing in the dim starlight.
“Tch.”
Charles turned to find a disgruntled looking Alison stamping the dirt.
“You okay?” He asked with a shaky voice.
Alison glared at him briefly before responding. “I just… I guess I was just hoping that hunk of junk transporter would have dropped us closer to my husband. That’s all.”
It wasn’t just disappointment telegraphed in her features. Alison was genuinely struggling without Devin around, that much was clear to Charles. The longer they were apart the more aggravated and untethered the love sick woman was.
It’s like she’s a nuclear reactor. Charles made what he thought to be a spot on metaphor in his head as he broke down the situation. And Devin is her control rods. If the rods are left out of the reactor for too long the nuclear reaction begins to grow exponentially and without restraint. We need to get to Devin so that he can lower his control rod back into her reactor…
Charles realized he was breathing heavier than he should be and slammed that line of thinking. It was really quite sad that he had unintentionally turned his own metaphor into an innuendo.
I really need to cut down on the hentai… Charles chided himself internally.
Ignoring her audience, Alison reached for her bag only to find that it was no longer on her person.
“No, no, no, no!” She clawed at her back in a desperate attempt to find the missing bag.
“I don’t have anything on me either.” Charles said sheepishly from the side. “I guess only the clothes on your back are brought with you on your journey. The same thing probably happened to Devin. His phone and wallet were found at the scene of his accident.”
His explanation fell on deaf ears as Alison began hyperventilating. The dark haired beauty sunk to her knees and clutched her face with rigid fingers.
“His shirt is gone, scent, gone, I can’t feel him next to me!” Tears began forming in her eyes as she visibly spiraled out of control.
Deciding he needed to do something to pull her out of this dangerous path of thinking Charles sat down on the dusty road next to the mumbling woman and asked her a simple question.
“How’d you first meet Devin?”
Alison sniffed loudly and glanced up at Charles.
“What do you mean? You were there when we started dating.”
Charles shrugged. “I mean sure I was around you guys at school, but I never actually heard how he asked you out. Or did you ask him?”
“That wasn’t…” Alison took a deep breath and wiped her cheeks with the back of her arm. “I knew Devin for a while before we started dating officially.”
“Did he know you during that time?” Charles asked with a knowing smile.
“Well… no.” Alison blushed. “I was just making sure I knew what he liked, you know, before I tried talking to him.”
That’s a polite way of saying you stalked him for over a month. Charles mused internally.
“So I imagine you didn’t make your move until after-”
“Don’t mention that!” Alison snapped.
Her eyes burned with an intensity that Charles dared not brush up against.
“Right, of course.” Charles retreated tactically. “It was around… that time that you decided to make your move.”
Alison hugged her knees up to her chest and nodded. “It hurt seeing him so upset. I wanted to take away his pain but I wasn’t able to through binoculars or a security camera.”
“Yeah. Makes sense.” Charles gave her an exaggerated nod. “Especially if that camera is hidden in his bedroom. That’s a hard area to offer comfort from.”
“Yeah.” Alison sighed heavily.
“But hey,” Charles continued cheerfully, “You managed to win him over. You guys started dating, he fell head over heels for you, and only four people through high school ended up hospitalized.”
“It was their fault for getting between us. Even if it was an accident three out of four times.” Alison crossed her arms and pouted. “But… Devin did help me apologize for that. And I meant it… mostly.”
The pair fell silent. The clear night sky above them painted a beautiful backdrop of constellations and nebulae. The lack of light pollution made the evening breathtaking in every sense of the word. Charles gazed upwards and marveled at how much he had been missing out by gaming away every evening of his life.
“Charles…” Alison spoke softly and didn’t avert her gaze from the night sky above them.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. I don’t know how I could have recovered just now if you weren’t here. Without Devin around I can feel myself…” Alison lifted a shaky hand and gazed at it with trepidation. “Slipping back into how I used to be before Devin. He’s worked so hard to help me become a better version of myself that I never thought I could be and to feel that slowly fall away… it scares me… So thank you.”
Charles nodded. “I didn’t do much. Sometimes all you need are some good memories to pick yourself back up.”
“I’ll find him.” Alison made a fist with her hand.
Her hand no longer shook.
“No matter what it takes. I swear I’ll find him in this world.”
Charles smiled. He didn’t doubt it for one second.
“That’s nice. You folks looking for someone?”
A sinister voice called out behind the pair and sent Charles leaping to his feet. He spun around to find a group of rough individuals rising out of the tall grass and striding confidently towards them on the road.
