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Leaving her son's room with a vinyl record beneath her arm, [url=https://www.eightieskids.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MV5BNzJkODYwZDMtZWRiYi00OWU3LThjMGUtMzU5NTM3OTg3YThmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjQ4ODE4MzQ@._V1_.jpg]Rhonda Decker[/url] walked through her house, the lights dimmed down so as to not damage her already strained retinas. Her free hand traced the walls, guiding her path down the stairs towards the living room; her fingertips caressing the photos she can no longer see and lately has begun struggling to remember.

Charlie had been gone for four years and the eighteen that Ronnie had with him just didn’t feel like enough. On nights like this, where the heartbreak felt just that little bit more painful, she would venture into Charlie’s room and find something of his to help guide her mind and memories back to a happier place. Sometimes she would sit and just hold one of his books. Her eyes were too far gone now for her to be able to read them. There were a few of his journals that Vicky had managed to get converted to braille for her, so some nights she would deep dive into those. Then there were nights just like this one, where she would grab one of his vinyls and just play it just so she could hear his words between the lyrics. 

Kneeling before her classic record player, Rhonda pulled out the disk and placed it gently onto the turntable. She plugged in her old headphones and placed them over her ears. Ronnie loved music and so did Charlie. Whenever she would listen in to her baby boys room, whatever band was playing was a testament to his mood. The last record he ever played was the one she was now spinning; Oh Charlie…

[url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d0LeL9BUPtA][i]Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon, come Armageddon!
Come, Armageddon! Come![/i][/url]

[color=A4C0CF]“I can hear you, Charlie”[/color]

Rhonda smiled as she closed her eyes to become lost in the music. Morrissey may have been an absolute cunt but his music was transcendent. She wondered why this particular song was what Charlie chose to listen to on that horrible day. Even all these years later, the mother didn’t know fully why her boy did what he did but she had chosen to move on, to look past it and just remember her son in happier times if that was ever a thing.

Solemnly and silently, the spectre of her deceased son entered the living room. Charlie stood in the doorway, gazing upon his mom as she moved her head to the music. Everything around him had changed. Since he shuffled off the mortal coil in a hail of gunfire, his mom had completely redecorated and made the house much more homely and liveable. His room was still the same, she had kept it that way. 

In a strange twist of fate, Rhonda Decker’s fiscal life had gotten better upon her son's passing. She could no longer work and the state was helping her out. She was legally blind and Victoria had helped build up the house to make it far more suitable for her new needs. Charlie had spent all of that time, pushing, grinding and falling deeper into the blessed darkness that he would eventually succumb to because he wanted to create a better life for his mom. In a roundabout way, his death was the best thing that ever happened to her.

[color=A4C0CF]”I remember when I brought you this home”[/color] Ronnie couldn’t help but reminisce aloud. [color=A4C0CF]”You were thirteen and I had been at work all day. My feet were killing me and it was late but then I walked by the record store and this album was just sitting in the window, staring at me. I remember cos when I came home, you and Poppy were sitting watching…”[/color]

[color=A4C0CF]”High Fidelity”[/color]
[color=D3D3D3]”High Fidelity”[/color]

Charlie sat down on the couch, gripping his knees nervously as his mother took the daunting stroll down memory lane. He was desperate to reach out and hug her, to tell her how much he loved her and missed her and how much he regretted everything that he had done. For so long he justified it all as providing for her like she had done for him. Yet that simply just wasn’t true. Charlie’s mind was not wired the way it should’ve been and he didn’t get the help he needed which cost people their lives, innocent people. 

[color=A4C0CF]”I hear that people are seeing dead folk….how strange. Yet you’re not here..or if you are, you’re not showing yourself and that’s ok. That’s ok, baby. If you are listening, I’m proud of you and I love you. What you did, I can’t change that but you will always be my beautiful boy and I know you, if you’re not here with me, you’re probably out there with Poppy or Jade, doing the southies proud and protecting people from the unsavoury dead that may want to cause us harm. You’re a good boy, Charlie Jay”[/color]

Tears were welling up in Charlie’s dark chocolate eyes. He was a coward. How could he not let his mom know that he was there, watching over her? He was being selfish again, worried that her heart couldn’t take the pain of seeing him again. 

[color=D3D3D3]”I’m sorry Mom”[/color]

He whispered, stifling back his tears. She was right though, Charlie needed to go and help everyone and end whatever was happening. Sure it would mean he would go back to where he was before but that didn’t matter as long as everyone was safe. The dead walking amongst them, this pandemic, it wasn’t natural and it needed to end. Charlie pushed himself back up to his feet and wiped the water from his eyes. It was time to do work. He headed towards the door from which he entered and disappeared.

Rhonda took off her headphones and placed them back onto the side by the record player. Her smile dropped as the music faded into a scratch.

[color=A4C0CF]”Go get em, kiddo”[/color]

[hr]

In a clearing somewhere in the woods, Charlie emerged from the shadows to be greeted by the sight of his other family. Danny, Decky, Jade and Poppy.

[color=D3D3D3]”I hear you’re the guys to call if I wanna bust some ghosts”[/color][/center]