Charly

Chapter 1

Charly blew hard on the candles of his cake. It was the evening of his sixteenth birthday and his brothers hadn’t even tried to surprise him. That was alright though, it wouldn’t have worked anyway.

Leo clapped when only one candle stayed lit, “Oh ho! Only one girlfriend this year!”

Charly slapped his nineteen year old brother’s shoulder good naturedly. Leo was happy. Thirteen year old Jack and his ten year old twin, William were both happy. These things made Charly happy.

“Open your present,” Jack said calmly, but Charly could tell he was excited. He’ll be so happy! Jack thought, He's going to love it!

Will's mind agreed, He’ll never guess what we got him!

Charly actually could. He had known for a while what he’d be getting for his birthday. Jack and William couldn’t stop thinking about it. Leo had tried to keep his mind quiet about it but also hadn’t always been successful.

He smiled at Charly, Just pretend to be surprised, m’kay?

Charly nodded and let William put the box on his lap. The box was long and flattish. The newly sixteen year old smiled and opened his new electric guitar. It was bright red like his hair (speaking of which, he actually needed to redye it. His black roots were showing...)

He acted surprised but he didn’t need to pretend to feel happy. His brothers and he had been on the road for a while now. Staying in motels when they could but mostly living out of their van. The life they’d been pushed out of hadn’t been great (having a father in prison and a mother in heaven wasn’t ideal) but it had been mostly stable. They’d lived in an apartment that their aunt Shelma had paid half the rent for and had food regularly at least.

That was, until she plotted to have them killed to collect their insurance. (Long story.) Leo worked at a McDonalds back then. Since they'd struck out on their own, the four of them sang and played music on the streets of London and took on whatever odd jobs they could find.

When they left, Charly hadn’t been able to take his guitar. Other things were more important and took up more space in Leo's van.

Charly couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened to him and his brother's had he not met Airin and his friends… Had they not uncovered his aunt's plot. Had Leo not...

Charly shook these thoughts off. Obsessing over the past may help make better choices in the future but it did him no good now. He'd thought about this enough. Some things needed to be let go once they were out of reach and couldn't be changed.

“So,” Leo started, “Any particular girl in mind?” He nodded to the candle still glowing on Charly’s chocolate cake.

Charly didn’t believe in that whole thing (he thought it was completely bonkers to be honest) but he knew Leo did. On Leo’s eighteenth birthday he’d had a single candle stay lit. That was the year he met Fern.

Leo didn’t like to talk about Fern now. Charly knew this because he tried not to think about her when Charly was around. He didn't want his younger brother to bring her up. Sometimes, though, when they were supposed to be asleep, Charly heard Leo’s mind buzzing. He wondered what he could’ve done differently to keep her. He still thought he hadn’t been good enough for her.

Leo didn’t have the same mentality about the past that Charly did.

“No,” Charly answered his older brother, his face perfectly straight, leaving no clues for Leo to pick up on.

Jack giggled, he looked even younger than normal when he did that. Jack was older than William by three years but he was the same height and people often considered them twins. This bugged Jack to no end.

Leo smiled too, “Hm. Really? Absolutely no one?”

“Absolutely no one,” Charly repeated firmly. Sometimes he swore Leo could read his mind as well as Charly read his, because Evie the seventeen year old girl next door to their current motel room was pretty cute…

“Let’s eat the cake now,” William said, already bored. When it came to Will, no one could ever quite figure him out. Over his life, the Bailey's had him tested for dyslexia, ADHD, even peter pan syndrome. The tests had always come up negative and left the youngest brother as inscrutable a mystery as before.

It was impossible not to love William.

The four of them were in a motel room. (They all shared room five.) They were seated around the small table in the center of the room.

Charly ran his fingers down the neck of his new Ibanez. It was a standard six string but with a floating bridge. Very nice quality, he wondered how Leo had managed to afford something like this… His last guitar had, as mentioned, been left behind when they ran from their apartment before. When they’d been attacked by the monsters who, with a touch, turned any human into a new strange, mindless creature.

Leo cut the cake. The black and Iridescent green feathers that grew from behind his ears caught the light from the bare hanging bulb above the table. They were some of the visible scars from the attack. There was also a large black scar under his shirt... and his hands. They were a darkish, almost black color compared to his usual skin and claw-like. Tipped with sharp points on some of the fingers.

William practically inhaled his slice of cake and asked for more in the same breath he used to eat. Leo could never say no to anyone so he got his second slice. Jack complained about the chocolate icing (He preferred vanilla) and Leo sat there, his mind racing as usual. So typical.

Well, as typical as their crazy life could be.

Charly held his guitar and watched. Everything was a bit hard right now, but it was perfect. He had his family and his music. What more could he ask for? His life was still better than many other's.

It was good to keep things in perspective.

He ran a hand through his hair, it used to be styled in soft spikes but he hadn’t done it today so it hung down to almost shoulder length. Of all his brothers he stood out the most. He had seven earrings in his left ear and five in his right. He hadn’t done his makeup this morning so his eyes were bare but they were usually darkly rimmed with eyeliner. Nothing feminine, just a little around his eyes. Charly had been all about his punk rock look last year but since then, his priorities had changed. For example, he used to want to paint his nails black (Leo had not allowed that... Charly did it anyways in secret) and wear all black, now he sat in a green T shirt and his favorite jeans, nails bare.

There just wasn't a time or place for things like that anymore. Maybe one day...

So much had changed since last year now that he thought about it. All he used to want was to get away from his three noisy brothers and their thoughts, now all he wanted was to be with them.

He smiled again, he’d even wished to be abducted by aliens at one point to get some space…

“Okay, Charly,” Leo said, sitting back in his chair, “Play us a song!”

Charly nodded and plugged his new guitar into his amp. (It’d been practically useless up to this point.) “Any suggestions, then?”

Leo shook his head as did Jack. William was sneaking a bite of Jack’s cake and wasn’t paying attention.

So Charly chose. And he played ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne (Leo’s favorite), ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ by AC/DC (Jack’s favorite) and ‘My Name is Jonas’ by Weezer (William’s favorite.)

Life was kind of tough right now, but it was perfect.