(Untitled)

[teenagerenegade]

Normally, though Charlie loves snow. He grew up in Upstate New York, so he figures that it's kind of a requirement. He worries about Edmund, though. He knows what he went hrough. He does his best to keep him warm. Today, he built a snowman outside their hut (he spends less and less time at his own hut), stayed out in the snow until his cheeks

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[sluttylyingliar]

There's a train taking people around the island. A Christmas train. A Christmas train that Santa rides around in, apparently. If the one vial of coke Rachel had left wasn't still full, she'd swear up and down this whole thing was some crazy trip she couldn't come down from. She rolls her eyes as the train slows down to dump her off as she trudges the rest of the way, past the candy canes and twinkling lights and creatures and shit. God, she really hopes she gets that job as a stripper. Something normal, at least.

She makes her way up to the compound, shuddering at the cold and nods at some kid standing in the middle of the stairs. As she passes she slows down, taking a moment from her silent bitching to notice that the kids looks like he's about to freeze to death and upon further reflection, maybe just took a bottle of pills. Great.

"Hey," she says, walking back down. "If you stay out here like that, you're going to literally freeze your balls off."

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie barely notices her at first. He's still looking down at the note in his hands, and Jesus Christ, if Kip actually killed himself, if Charlie actually let that happen then he's never going to forgive himself. It's not enough pills to have killed himself, though, is it? It isn't.

She speaks to him and it occurs to Charlie to look up. He's not sure if he's been crying but he wipes at his face anyway.

"I'm okay. I've got layers."

[sluttylyingliar]

Damn. This kid is seriously screwed up. Rachel knows, she's kind of an expert on that. "Okay, listen," she says, snapping her fingers to get his attention. "Did you take those? You need to go to the clinic if you did. You want to go back inside with me? I'm going to get coffee. I can make you some."

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie blinks, his eyes on her face and then he shoves pill bottle and note into his pocket and clears his throat.

"Yeah, coffee would be good," he says, voice hoarse. "I didn't take them."

[provincialbelle]

Belle was quite used to this weather and it wasn't strange to her that it had arrived. It was more strange that it had taken so long. Belle saw Charlie in the distance and made her way closer to him, concern writ over her face. "Charlie, what's that you've got?"

[teenagerenegade]

He thinks about lying to her but then he shakes his head and swallows. He licks his lips and all that he can feel is tingle.

"Something from home," he says.

[provincialbelle]

Belle looked at him curiously and wondered what from home could make him look the way he did, but she was momentarily drawn away and struck by the fear that if things came from home for everyone, she could receive something she really wasn't ready for. "I'm guessing it's not exactly welcome," she said quietly. "Is it?"

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie shakes his head and then he can't find the words to tell her what it is, too ashamed of what he might have done or let happen. He can't say any of it.

He just holds the note out to her.

[aly_brighteyes]

She'd nearly forgotten what it was like to be cold, in the way one forgets an unpleasant feeling the moment one no longer has to acknowledge it, but when she saw Charlie, Aly felt another kind of cold and she was immediately at his side. She paid no mind to the wet cold that seeped through her breeches and looked at him for a good long moment, preserving her voice for when she could find the words. Sarai was good at this, at comforting and warming people. Her speech was a more brusque thing, chipper or sweet, but rarely made for comfort.

"Charlie," she finally said, a hand curled around his forearm. "Charlie," she said it twice, like she was trying to call him back from somewhere. "What's wrong."

[teenagerenegade]

She's one of his best friends in the world, now he's here, and that's a strange feeling for a kid like Charlie Bartlett, who more or less dragged himself through all of the shit in his life. He's not used to having anyone to lean on.

He holds the note out numbly to her.

"Kip," he says.

[aly_brighteyes]

It took her brief seconds to read and digest the note and then she looked up at him, expression markedly softer, touched with sympathy. It seemed the island delighted in these cruel gifts, for what else could this be?

"Who was he?" she asked.

[teenagerenegade]

"A friend of mine," says Charlie, pointedly not looking her in the face. "No, I mean...He needed help, you know? Nobody really liked him. Nobody even spoke to him, and all he needed was someone who wanted to listen."

[dreamily_luna]

Much as her father spent his time cramming winter gear on her, Luna has just never taken to hats or mittens. They obstruct her view, keep her hands from being functional like they should be. She's compromising right now, with her hat hanging from her mittens and her hair free down her back as she stares up at the sky, some fixed point beyond other people.

She looks away from the spot, though, as Charlie nears. "Hello, have you lost your mittens? You can have mine."

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie's pretty sure that he's crying but he can't be sure; he can't feel his face and his eyes are stinging in the cold. He shoves pill bottle and note into his pocket and wipes his face with both numb hands.

"I'm fine," he says, knowing that it's a lie and saying it anyway. "I've got gloves at home."

[dreamily_luna]

Much has been made of Luna's eyes in her lifetime, and how oddly giant they are, but what most people don't know is that they can get larger and wider with surprise-- and they do. She's so surprised to see Charlie in such a state that she drops her hat in the snow.

"Oh, no," she breathes, walking up and covering his cold, wet cheeks with her mittened hands. "Charlie, what's wrong?"

[teenagerenegade]

He can't feel Luna's hands on his face and that's when he realises how cold he has to be. For a moment, he can't say anything else, and then he turns his face and presses a kiss against her gloved hand and he still can't find anything to say.

[little_moons]

I've seen that look before. On plenty of faces. Doesn't make it any easier. Especially seeing it on his.

I lower myself down onto the steps next to him, eyes drawn to his hands, gone pale in the cold, his joints bright and angry red.

"You're gonna fuckin' freeze, you know."

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie's not sure if he's crying or not and, with the bottle and the note in his numb hands, he can't exactly wipe his face. Still, if anyone on the island is going to sit there and watch him cry, Neil's one of the people that he'd choose. He's one of the people that a person like Charlie Bartlett might choose to lean on.

"I'm okay," he says.

[little_moons]

"Bullshit," I murmur, reaching up and gently curling my gloved hand over the back of his neck, just sitting there for a minute, letting him cry.

"What is that?" I ask eventually, reaching up and smudging my thumb across his cheek. I can't feel it through the gloves, but I know his damp face has to be freezing too.

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie can't bring himself to say anything so he holds the letter out and lets Neil take it from him. He lets his head drop and drags in a breath that aches in his chest.

"Fuck."