Empty - 5. Chuck

*Chuck’s POV*

2 Years Ago

“Come on Chuck, we’re going to be late for the funeral,” mom screamed as she rushed out the door.

“She doesn’t even seem to care about anything but her image as per usual I see,” I thought as I grabbed my jacket and ran out the door and into the car.

Today was the funeral of Alexander Packard, my cousin/brother. Why is he my brother? My biological father couldn’t keep his dick in his pants and hooked up with both my mom and aunt and then vanished, never to be seen or heard from again. My aunt, ashamed something like this had happened, managed to get a man to marry her and raise Alex. She did let him know about the one-night stand that left her "scarred", but he didn’t care and took her and Alex in. He had his own demons and they eventually caught up to him, or so the rumour mill says.

“…Chuck. Have you been listening to me at all?” Mom asked, clearly annoyed by my silence and nonchalant behaviour.

“Do you even care mom? We’re the only people left alive directly linked to them and this is how you’re behaving? You’ve always cared about your image and nothing else.” I replied, annoyed by how she had been behaving since Alex died and she found out she’d be getting the estate and inheritance as well. It’s not that we weren’t well off or anything, but mom has always been jealous of the town’s richest family, the Williams. Their wealth was always something she wanted to attain. I even had to befriend one of their sons, Isaac Williams. Sure, he was a great guy, but my heart was never set on him. No, I was captivated by his mirror double, Arnold Williams. That boy was something else. He was always smiling. He was always laughing. He always had energy. He had more love than anyone I’ve met in my short 15 years of life. He was perfect. He still is.

6 years ago, 4 years before the funeral

“I am frigging 10 years old, not a toddler mom!” I shouted as she started being overly affectionate in front of Arnold.

“Can I just DIE???” I thought to myself as my face got redder every second mom stood there and molly coddled me in front of my crush and best friend.

“My baby is growing up so fast,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Anyways, I’ll pick you up at 9pm tonight. Behave yourself and I love you.”

“I love you too mom,” I replied running away from her side and into the safety of the Williams residence.

“I love you mom…” Isaac mocked as I entered the house. He had this smug grin on his face that I was ready to knock off but held back because Arnold was there.

“H-h-hey A-A-Arnold,” I stuttered as I shyly waved at him.

“You fucking moron! You’re embarrassing yourself here!!!” I mentally berated myself as I followed Isaac into the living room.

“Good morning Chuck,” he replied, beaming me one of his angelic smiles.

“I think I’m in love,” I thought as I swooned over his response and how happy he seemed. Unbeknown to me, Isaac had been observing me the whole time, trying to see if today was the day that I’d finally gather the courage to invite Arnold to join us. I guess I took too long because Isaac dragged me out of the living room and up to his room.

“It was nice seeing you Chuck,” Arnold said as he watched me leave. When we reached the room, Isaac turned to look me in the eye.

“So, when are you going to grow some balls and tell him how you feel or at least hang out with him?” he asked, amused by the whole situation. A tip to everyone out there, never let your best friend know that you like their brother, they tend to hold it over your head and tease you every chance they can.

“I can’t just ask to hang out with him! What if he rejects me? What then, smart guy?” I replied, clearly flustered and annoyed by how amused Isaac was by my predicament.

“Then you move on, plain and simple,” he replied coldly. “There are plenty of fish in the sea and you’re too young to get hung up on one person. Just ask him to hang out and if he’s a dick and says no, then he’s a dick that said no. Nothing you can do about it but move on or try again later.”

“Fine. I’ll do it later. Anyways, what nefarious plan have you come up with this time, you evil genius?”

Back to the day of the funeral

“We’re here. Now remember, act sad and show how much pain we’re in. The more real you make it, the better,” mom said as she stepped out the car, ready to start the crocodile tears show. I swear she’s going to get hers one of these days.

Extremely angry, I got out the car and slammed the door. She tensed, wanting to look back and reprimand me, but unfortunately, she had an act to keep up and she wouldn’t let my little outburst stop such a grand display of manipulation.

As we entered the church, all eyes were on us. We weren’t late, but we were the guests of honour, alongside the remaining Williams family members. Why were they also guests of honour? Simple. Arnold dated Alex and Alex shot himself in the head after not being able to cope with the death of his family a few weeks prior to this funeral.

“I guess our family name is cursed,” I thought as dragged myself to the front pew where we had our seats reserved. We sat alongside the Williams and mom really put on an amazing act. She broke down and began crying in Mrs Williams’ arms while I just sat there, watching her manipulate people’s emotions. I looked past her and saw him. The light of my life. The guy I had always wanted to ask out but never had the nerve to do such. The guy that dated my brother and I watched for the past 4 years. There, past Mr and Mrs Williams (and my sorry excuse for a mother) sat Arnold Williams. He looked so empty, so devoid of life. He wasn’t the boy I had loved. He wasn’t the boy I wanted to ask out. That boy had died along with Alex and the person left here is not him. This isn’t the Arnold I used to cry about. I walked over to try and speak to him, but he was unresponsive. His mom let me know that he’d come home like that. He had shed tears at the scene, but once he arrived home, that all came to an end. He was empty and cold. His eyes looked at you but were somewhere else. There was a wasteland when you tried to peer into his soul. The warmth they used to have is now replaced by a cold, empty look. He looked like he had no reason to live and no will to kill himself. He looked like he’d given up on life and everything in general. He looked like he didn’t care about anything, himself included. He had poured his heart and soul into someone else and they just ended their life right in front of his eyes, almost as if to say that he’d wasted his time investing his love in them. It was the most disturbing scene I had seen in my short time here in this world.

After the ceremony at the church, it was time to bury the coffin. Since his family had already been buried in the cemetery and a special place was laid aside for them, he was to be buried next to his family. At this point, I was crying because I had loved Alex. He was always there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on or just a friend when I was bored. Sure, I distanced myself once he started dating Arnold, but I soon let him know why I did it and he CRIED. He spent most of the night apologizing and saying he never knew and that he’d end it with Arnold. I don’t know why, but I slapped him and told him if he ever hurt Arnold, I’d reunite him with his ancestors. Well, I can’t do that now, can I?

As the coffin was lowered in to the ground, I collapsed to the ground. It finally sank in that this was real. Alex was no more, and I would never see his bright smile, his dark anger, his depressing cries and his amazing soul. He was gone forever, and I’d never be able to talk to him again. I managed to get a glimpse of Arnold through my tears and he showed no emotion. Not even a tear. He was unmoved by the entire scene and I was ready to give him a piece of my mind when my mom wrapped me in her arms, obviously aware that I was about to cause I scene. I just gave up entirely cried in her arms. After a while, mom released me and helped me up. When I looked in Arnold’s direction, he was looking at me. I swore that I saw a hint of sadness but that was soon lost in the desolate wasteland that he once had. It seems that he had suppressed his emotions to prevent himself from hurting. He shut the world out to avoid feeling the pain. He’d probably cried himself out that day Alex shot himself.

As we were heading home, Mrs Williams came over and wrapped me in a warm hug and gave her condolences.

“It’s been a while Chuck. Why don’t you visit anymore? Is it because Isaac isn’t here anymore?” she asked with a sad expression on her face. “I miss seeing you around the residence and I’m sure Arnold did too for a while. If you ever happen to want to pop in, please come by. You’re always welcome to come visit us.”

“Thanks Mrs Williams. I’ll see if I can.” I replied as I turned and walked to where my mom was standing. We got in the car and headed home. That was the saddest day of my life as that was the day I witnessed 2 funerals, Alex and Arnold’s funeral. Alex physically and Arnold emotionally.

Present Day

“The name’s Chuck, what’s your name?” I asked with the best smile I could muster.

He was so FUCKING beautiful. His eyes seemed less cold, less desolate. He was stunned by my appearance, but he made no move to run away. He seemed to have forgotten me with the way he was staring at me.

“A-A-Arnold. Nice to meet you Chuck,” he responded nervously. He was very guarded, and I knew why. A total stranger essentially grabbed his shoulder and introduced himself.

It’s been a while since I stared into his blue eyes, which were now less cold than they had ever been. His hair had grown a bit since he refuses to take care of it but like always, it was beautiful, wavy and jet black. He hadn’t changed much up close and I was slightly relieved.

“Uh, may I help you?” he asked, looking slightly unnerved by my appearance.

“I thought I could help you. You looked so angry when you got here, and you looked like you were crying. I wanted to come over sooner, but I was scared you’d run away from me. It also looks like you’ve forgotten who I am, but that’s cool. I didn’t really expect you to remember me since I only hung out with your brother every time I was at your house when we were 10.”

He seemed hurt by my statement and spent a few seconds trying to figure out who I was. After a while, it finally struck him that I was the Chuck his brother used to invite over.

“What happened to you? You suddenly stopped coming over and I thought you’d moved away. You also look different from how you looked when you were younger.”

“I guess puberty changed me a lot. I was at Alex’s funeral. Didn’t you see me then?”

His face darkened slightly, and he replied, “I don’t remember much of what happened at the funeral. I just remember the coffin being lowered and after a while I looked up and some guy was looking at…” He drifted off and looked at me. “It was you, wasn’t it? The guy I looked up at?” he said, looking guilty of having forgotten me.

“Yes, it was and it’s cool if you’ve forgotten me. It’s my fault for not coming around when Isaac left town. I thought you’d never want to hang out with me.”

He looked hurt that I would say such, but his reply piqued my interest.

“Sorry I was a dick in my younger years to give you that impression. By the way, Isaac is back in town.”

I was utterly gobsmacked. The bastard had returned and hadn’t notified me. Apparently, he hadn’t notified Arnold either because he still looked like he didn’t believe that his brother was back in town.

“I-I-I didn’t know he had returned. We stayed in touch after he left but he never let on that he was returning. We stopped communicating 3 months ago for some odd reason.”

“Oh… I just wanted to let you know. He won’t be staying at our house though.” He said, like I had forgotten that his mom and dad had divorced.

As I was about to speak, his someone shouted out his name and just like that, our bonding session was broken.

“I should get going. I ran away from home, so they probably aren’t happy with that,” he said, trying to end our conversation on a lighter note. “I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, sure. See you Arnold.”

“Goodbye Chuck.”

And with that, he walked in the direction of the voice’s hysterical calls. As for me, I walked to my car and drove home with a big smile on my face.