Epeolatry - ✔️

Fifteen pt. 2

"A single moment of misunderstanding is so poisonous
that it makes us forget the hundred lovable moments spent together within a minute."
- khushithrone

"Nice work, Charles," Xavier smirked at his red headed colleague, "I'm impressed that Norberta didn't rip your arm off this time." Charlie glared. The two had spent the day tending to Norberta's wounds. No one quite understood where the injury came from, but everyone knew that a hurting dragon was an angry dragon.

After everything that had happened, all Charlie wanted to do was take a shower. He could only imagine the warm water that waited for him in his cabin. With this in mind, he skipped dinner and retired to cabin number 6. The sanctuary couldn't provide much of a grand living space, but the cabins became home to all who lived in them. He had lived in cabin 6 since the day he arrived on the sanctuary and he suspected that he would live there until the day he left.

When he climbed the old wooden steps to the front door and lazily pushed it open, he missed the warm dinner that was set out on the table for him. Yes, it was strange to have the lights on when he came back from a grueling day of work, but it wasn't strange enough for him to think of anything other than a shower. The figure standing in Charlie's bedroom, however, was certainly enough for him to clear his mind.

"Maddie?" The woman turned to face him with a smile as wide as the ocean. "What are you doing here?"

"I made you dinner," her voice was like honey, but Charlie couldn't bring himself to notice. "We need to talk and I figured you'd be hungry after dealing with Norberta." Maddie stalked forward, getting closer to a frowning Charlie with every step. She stopped right in front of him and she brought her hands up to Charlie's face only to have him push them off.

"What are you doing, Maddie?" Charlie's grip tightened on her hands as she tried to pull them free. "Why aren't you out with the others?"

Maddie pulled hard enough to release one of her hands and she brought it up to her face. She took another step forwards, bring the two even closer together. "We can't keep dodging the facts, Charlie."

Charlie furrowed his brow and tried to step away. "Maddie, I think you need to leave now."

"We both know it, too." Maddie ignored Charlie's words and moved with him, making it impossible for him to get away. She was like a parasite that couldn't be easily removed despite all of his efforts. "Charlie, I love you."

A resounding crash from the once closed door seemed to wake Charlie up from this horrid nightmare, but, when he turned to see who was saving him from Maddie's unrequited love confession, he saw where the true nightmare began. He hadn't been expecting to see Athene for another two week and this wasn't quite the reunion he was expecting.

The betrayal in her eyes was crystal clear even when he pushed Maddie away from him.

She was gone before he could say a word.

Author's Note
This is the shortest chapter in the whole book, but I didn't want to move on. Cheating sucks no matter the circumstance and I felt that it was important to explain the situation from Charlie's perspective.

Question of the Chapter
Early bird or night owl?