It had been a few days since Erik came to stay at Cecily’s house. And what a beautiful house it is. He’s still in awe over just how stunning it and its furnishings really are. He doesn’t remember ever having been around anything of such elegance before. He felt out of place being around such nice stuff. He wasn’t used to it. He had grown far too used to living in the trashy shack.

He’d woken up that morning and decided that he was going to go for a walk. He wrote a note and left it on the island in the kitchen where it would be easily seen.

“Gone for a walk. Probably going to go sit on the beach for a while to clear my head. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go do anything stupid. I’ll be back later. Erik”

He left the house quietly so as to not disturb anyone. Today he’s wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, a white t-shirt and an old pair of tennis shoes. He had his backpack slung over his shoulder. It, of course, had all his writing stuff in it. After leaving the house, he headed in the direction of the beach.

It took him about half an hour or so to walk to the beach. He wasn’t really used to walking that far but it was alright. He was ok. He found an empty part of the beach and set his backpack down before lowering himself to the sand as well. He sat there just looking out over the water. It was a nice day out. Still pretty early in the morning so there wasn’t really a whole lot of people there just yet. That was good. It gave him time to think about things. Such as what he was going to do from here.

Charlie needed to clear his head too. A lot was going on, at least it felt that way. He'd just gotten used to a routine in his life and then a few nights ago he'd made Callie the vegetable soup she liked and she'd gone off with a friend instead of coming home, a boy-friend. Then she'd needed clothes after staying the night with him. Just a few weeks ago he'd had to have the birds and the bees talk with the girl. Where had this guy come from out of the blue. Obviously Charlie hadn't been looking out for her as well as he thought. She was so fragile and such a tangle of emotions after the long time beingabused by her mother, He'd kill the guy if he hurt Callie in the slightest little bit. He wondered if the guy even knew how to look after a siren....what if she didn't have enough Koolaid? EEeek! What if she ate meat?

Charlie had been told to stop worrying over it, Mr. Jenkins had faith in her intelligence. He sent Charlie out. "Stop brooding in the shop, go looking for trinkets, always makes you feel better when you find a treasure." And so Charlie had the day off with his metal detector.

So far all he's found this morning was crap in spite being out here since just after sun up. Charlie normally a relaxed and easy going type was all coiled up this morning.

He'd just found a big tar and foil blob which he chucked angrily into the ocean when he spotted the Boyfriend type......but no Callie......

Erik glanced up at the sudden feeling of someone’s eyes on him. He recognized the guy. It was that Charlie guy that had helped Callie. But why was he staring at Erik?

“Can I help you with something?” he asked in a surprisingly polite tone of voice.

"I thought Calie was with you. She isn't home." Charlie said rather dully, running a hand through his short thatch of chestnut hair. Though he's a wiry man with glasses, it's obvious he's in good shape. He's tan, healthy and vigorous looking. Likely comes with hauling around all that furniture. At the moment he's wearing nothing but a pair of khaki shorts. He has a nice chest that tapers to a slender wiast. He's got just enough definition to give the hint of a six pack.

He nodded his head. "She is. Just not right this minute. She's still at Cecily's house. She was sleeping when I left. I just wanted to come out here for a while to clear my head." He watches the guy for a moment before looking back out over the water. "Why? Is that a problem?" No. He's not being sarcastic. He's just asking.

"It isn't your house..... I didn't realize....." he shakes his head. "She's not there alone is she, I mean is it safe." He's actually worried. How many nightmares did he sit through with her, Charles even entered a few of them to helop her break free of them. He taught her to shop, cook, and about the dewey decimal system. Hell yes he is worried and it shows. "Is she.....mad at me?"

Erik shook his head slightly. “No. It’s not my house. I’m just staying there for a while.” He didn’t say why he was staying there for a while. Nor did say how long he was going to be staying there. He just said a while.

“No. She’s not there alone. Cecily is there still. Yes. She’s safe. She was sleeping still when I left. I didn’t go into the room she’s in to totally make sure. But I do know she was still in there.” Yes. Erik let it be known that they were sleeping in two separate rooms. Well, except for the times Erik started screaming in the middle of the night and Callie went into his room to comfort him through the rest of the night. Last night, he hadn’t had any nightmares for a change.

He shook his head. “Why would she be mad at you?”

"Because I wouldn't let her go to the beach alone for almost two weeks. She seemed depressed, but I was afraid that bald guy would come back. That's the only thing I can think of though, well and I return her library books when they are due whether she's done with them or not." He says, rather ineptly.

"Have you known her long?" he asks.

“Oh. No. I don’t think she’s mad at you. If she is, she’s not said anything to me about it.”

He fell silent for a little while as he tried to think of just how long he’s known Callie. “Yes. I’ve known her for a while now. She was one of the first people I met when I moved to this city. That’s been quite some time ago.”

He sighed then as he thought back to when he'd first come to Bayfield. "She's the only friend I have really. She's the only one I trust."

"Are you...going to be with her while she's away.....she's special, do you know that? She needs special things, I had to find this out when I got her.....I got her away from that lunatic woman.....but she's...I can't explain if you don't know." He blurts.

He nodded his head slightly. "She's been staying at the house with me. We've been doing a lot of talking about things that have happened to me and such."

Again he nodded his head. "Yes. I know she's special. She's very special. I know what she is if that's what you're getting at." He cringed inwardly as Charlie spoke of having gotten Callie away from her abusive mother. Erik still wished that it had been him that had been able to help her.

"Then you know she can't have alcohol. and no meat absolutely no meat, she doesn't know that on her own...but you can't let her have any. It maight be good she's away, she won't keep asking to visit that witch......"

Erik listened closely as Charlie told him of Callie's special needs. "I doubt that she'd want anything to do with alcohol anyway. She was pretty unhappy with me that day she ended up running into me here on the beach. I had been drunk out of my mind." Oops. Had Callie told Charlie anything about what had happened that day?

"Can't have meat? Why not?" He was curious of course. "At any rate, I don't eat meat anyway." It's true. Erik is a vegitarian.

"Sirens, they crave one meat above all once they taste any of it....They eat the flesh of men." he said. Charlie's a vegitarian too, though it's because he lives with Callie.

Erik's eyes widen slightly. "Seriously?"

"Yes, I wouldn't lie about it or give up meat over it, if it weren't true. And she really likes Koolaid....."

"Wow. Ok. I'll make sure that she stays away from meat. Shouldn't be too hard since I don't like the stuff myself." A faint smile crept to his face. "Kool-aid. Alright. I'm sure Cecily won't mind if I make sure there's plenty of that in the house as well."

Erik fell silent for a few minutes as he sat there and stared out over the water again. "Anything else I should know?" he asked finally. "I want you to know, I'm not keeping her there. She can return to you any time she wants."

"Maybe you believe that.....I have to go. Just tell her I love her." He slung the metal dtector over his shoulder easily and ran up the beach to his van.

Enough was enough. He would not let the other man see him cry over a girl he loved like a sister, not when he suspected that the other man was keeping her there, with little strings.....on her heart.....He could think of nothing else that would keep Callie away from him, anything else and she would have asked Charlie to come too......

Erik was puzzled by the answer Charlie had given. He was even more puzzled by how quickly the man left. He sighed softly to himself and laid backwards in the sand to stare at the sky.

Callie had gone down to the beach after waking up when Cecily told her where he went. She still had the same pair of clothes on that Charlie had brought her a couple days ago as it was the only pair he had brought her. Perhaps she should have asked for more pairs but she didn’t know how long she was going to be staying around. After seeing Erik in such an awful state and him telling about his horrid past she felt the urge and need that she needed to stay with him longer than she had planned. Her pants were rolled up so she could walk in the water and not get them wet.

Finally Erik came into view and she waved to him and called his name. She had just missed Charlie leaving unless he was still in the parking lot.

”Cecily told me you were out here.” She spoke to him when she got several feet away from him.

He was, once again, lost in thought when he felt someone coming. He turned his head in the direction he heard his name being called from. A smile came to his face the moment he spotted Callie. He patted the sand next to him, inviting her to sit with him.

“I came out here early this morning. Left a note on the table. Did you sleep well?” That seemed to be a regular question from him lately. Chalk it up to him wanting to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.

“You just missed your friend,” he finally told her.

She sat down in the sand next to him and looked down at him. ”I slept alright.” A friend? Racking her brain to think of whom it could be the only logical explanation was of course Charlie. He came out here sometimes with the metal detector hoping to find stuff.

”Charlie was here?” She looked back at the parking lot before turning back to Erik. ”Did you guys talk?”

Erik nodded and looked back out over the water. “Yeah. He was here. You just missed him.” He nodded his head again. “Yeah. We talked.”

She raised an eyebrow as he said they talked. ”About what?”

“You. We talked about you. He thinks you’re mad at him,” he told her. “He also wanted me to tell you that... he loves you.” There was an almost jealous sound in his voice as he said that.

Her eyes grew wide. ”Mad at him? Why would he think such a thing?” She seemed a little worried that Charlie would think something like that.

Erik shrugged slightly. “I don’t know. Maybe because you’re still at Cecily’s place with me instead of at his place with him.”

”But he shouldn’t be mad about that. At least he didn’t seem mad. I told him why was there.” She still had a worried look on her face.

Erik shrugged slightly. "I don't know. Maybe you should call him or something. Maybe he didn't expect you to end up staying at Cecily's for longer than a day or two."

She thought about it for a moment. ”I may go back over to his place for a couple hours to see what the matter is and get some new clothes. I think I’ve worn these enough.” She said with a smile. Though she would leave for a few hours she definitely planned on coming back.

He nodded in understanding. “You should call him to pick you up.” It was just a suggestion. He reached over with a hand to take one of hers into his.

”Nah. I don’t want him to come back out here just to get me when he just left. I’ll walk over. I’ve done it before.” She gently squeezes his hand as he takes hers.

Erik didn't like the idea of her walking alone but he wasn't going to argue. He didn't want her to think he was treating her like a child or something of the sort. "Will you be back for dinner?" he finally asked after just sitting there holding her hand for a while in silence.

”I should be if Charlie gives me a ride to Cecily’s place.”

Erik nods his head before shifting his bum to move close enough to wrap his arms around her in a hug. "Be careful. There's all sorts of freaks out and about in the city," he says to her with concern in his voice. His voice lowers as he whispers something else to her. "I'll miss you while you're gone."

”I’ll be careful.” She smiles and hugs him back. ”I’ll miss you to.” Before she gets up she kisses him on the cheek. ”I’ll be back before you know it.” She teased and then walked up to the parking lot and down the street towards the city. If they only knew….

He held onto her for a few minutes before finally letting her go. He smiled as she kissed him on the cheek and gets up off the ground. He stands there watching her leave. The smile fades from his face once she was no longer in sight. He sighed softly to himself before turning and heading back to Cecily's house. He called out to the angel to let her know he was home and that he was going to go lay down for a while. He also told her that Callie had went to a friends house but that she'd be back for dinner. He then went upstairs and laid down on his bed. He didn't sleep though. Just laid there. Thinking...

((Dead thread))