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Charlie woke up screaming, grasping at the air in front of him. No one was there. Nothing was there. He wasn’t in Purgatory. He wasn’t in his cave. He had no idea where he actually was. He rolled out of the steel framed bed and looked at the bars on the wall. Prison… How did he get to be in prison? Who was this little kid staring at him from beyond the bars? In his hazy morning eyes, he thought she was Juanaflippa, but Flippa would never do anything to get herself into prison. She was a good kid. She knew her rights.
“Charlie?” Tubbo’s voice cut through the bars. “You awake, man?”
Charlie walked over to the bars, squatting to look at the kid who know hid behind Tubbo’s legs. “Yeah, I’m awake.”
“D-Do you want to meet Sunny?”
“What’s that?” He glanced up at the younger name, not moving from his position.
“Sunny… Well, she’s legally, according to some paperwork… She’s, um, our daughter.”
Charlie looked down at the little girl, still holding on to Tubbo’s leg. “Hi, Sunny. Hi… I like your sunglasses. They kinda look like my glasses, but with shades.”
Quickly, he snapped up, grabbing Tubbo by the collar and pulling him close. Tubbo stared at the man with wide eyes. Sunny watched the men, wondering if maybe they would be dead in the next few seconds. No matter how many times Bad tried to convince her that what she read did not equal Charlie Slimecicles personality, she would not believe it until she saw it.
“I didn’t sign a fucking thing,” He muttered.
He hadn’t signed a single piece of paperwork, not since the day he went to court. The last adoption paper he signed was Flippa’s. This was not his–
“It’s nice to meet you. I’ve been so excited.” She looked up at him at an angle that made her blue-green eyes visible.
Parts of her looked like Tubbo. His hair and his heterochromia. Except the green wasn’t the same as Tubbo’s… The green was the same as Charlie’s.
“Aw… Wait, they told you about me? They told you about me ?”
She nodded, smiling wide. Charlie wasn’t letting go of Tubbo, not even through the bars. However, Sunny grabbed his free hand and pressed two tiny diamonds into it.
He looked at Tubbo, who only shrugged. Tubbo was used to this. Charlie looked at this little girl, who outside of prison, obvously lived in lavish… carrying around diamonds and giving them out freely. Charlie felt a pang of guilt. Somewhere in a cave, Juanaflippa was sitting without a penny to her name. Charlie had never provided much. He wanted to blame the fighting with Mariana… The divorce. Except even when they were married, they had nothing. They lived in a hole in the wall. They gave Flippa all the food they had while they starved most nights. If he tried to venture out and make a name for himself like Roier or Bad, he would just end up dead. He wondered if Roier and Bad were also in jail with them.
“Can I call you Pop?” Sunny said in such a soft voice, Charlie couldn’t help but soften.
He knelt back down. “How about you call me Pop Cicle?”
Sunny laughed, a good, hearty laugh. He hadn’t heard a laugh that sickly sweet since before Juanaflippa’s first death. Now when she laughed it sounded cold and distant, like she didn’t actually find him funny anymore.
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Trust . The word hang loosely in the air around him. Sunny looked up with big, hopeful eyes. He repeated the word. Trust. Could she trust him? Could she? Juanaflippa didn’t! He had killed Tilin right in front of her. How could she trust him? No one trusted him. He tried to kill half the kid that’s that were running around them now. Trust…
“Course you can. Of course, you’re my daughter.”
The word hung above him. A mocking guillotine. This wasn’t his daughter. His daughter was waiting for him at home.
Sunny stood in front of him, staring at the snow around her feet. “They told me some things about you. But I think I can help…”
He blinked, squatting down to her level and looking her in the eyes. His voice deepened as he spoke, making Sunny sink in a little.
“What did they tell you?”
She shook her head, averting her gaze. “Just some stuff…”
“Some stuff?” He bit back a laugh. “Okay. You’re still here, though? Why? Why are you here?”
She grabbed his hands, ignoring all the goop and grime. Pulling her glasses off her face, she looked him in the eyes. She pushed every bad thought about him down. She pushed every bad thought about herself down. She pushed every thought down and just looked at him. In this the emptiness that was the field, she felt like she was safe, even knowing his history.
“Cause, like you said… I’m your daughter.” She looked around. “This is prison. Everyone has done something bad.”
“You’re just a baby… What have you done?”
She didn’t answer, she just pulled him in for a hug. “Can I sleep in your cell tonight?”
He stood shocked for a moment, unused to the touch, unsure when the last time he was hugged. “Yeah.”
She pulled away, “Just promise you won’t hurt me.”
He looked at her. It was her birthday, she was two months old. She looked like a five year old. Juanaflippa didn’t even get that old… He blinked back, yes she did… She was alive. Juanaflippa would be so excited to be a big sister. Juanaflippa always made herself look older anyway. Charlie always thought it was to try and one-up Chayanne. Chayanne looked like he was pushing fourteen when pressed. Charlie didn’t really know when that happened. Had he been gone that long? Had he missed everyone growing up?
“Of course.”
He hated that he had to promise that. He was never meant to be a violent man. The little voice in his head nagged him, You killed your siblings. You killed your father. You killed Tilin. You killed Tilin. You killed Tilin. You killed them. You killed them all. You’ll kill everyone in the end. Charlie took a deep breath and picked Sunny up.
“We have to go, I think.”
“Okay,” She pressed her head against his. “I do trust you, Pop.”
“Thank you, Sunny.”
“Did you know my Ma Lenay is a mermaid?”
“No, why don’t you tell me about her.” He chuckled as they walked back into the building.
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Charlie laid in bed, Sunny’s head on his chest. He tried to appoligize if he moved in the middle of the night, but she wouldn’t hear any of it. He couldn’t get used to the idea of someone just happy to spend time with him. Juanaflippa resented him every other day. And when she didn’t, Mariana did. Their big bed at home was half empty most days and Charlie more times than not found himself on the couch.
As he drifted off, carefully listening for any asthmatic breathes, terrified that Sunny would just stop breathing, Charlie thought he could hear the sounds of his old home. As he closed his eyes, he saw her. Her without all the cracks. Her without all the tearing at the seems.
“Papa,” Her voice was smooth and soft again. “Papa, please you need to stop.”
Juanaflippa held his hand as they stared out at the sunrise. They were in their home in the wall. Mariana was singing to himself as he cooked breakfast. It was before anything was bad. Well, anything was too bad. They were never truly a good family. They were self-isolating and outcasted, but they were filled with enough love for who mattered. Down in the grass below, he could see Tilin skipping around, toward the stairs to join them for breakfast.
Charlie squeezed her hand. “Stop what?”
“Papa…”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Flippa.” He shouted.
A pot dropped in the kitchen and suddenly he was alone and the home was no longer a home, but a crime scene. He lay in the crater that he left. The blood spattered on the wall a mix of his and Bad’s.
He didn’t wake up. Sunny pulled at his arms and screamed and cried until a guard pulled her out and handed her off to Tubbo. Charlie didn’t wake up even when they were attempting to escape. Sunny punched and yelled, fighting against Tubbo as they ran. It was no use. She had her Pop then she lost him just like that.