The next morning I headed back out to the art studio. I would finish early today so that I could focus on getting Charlie some help.

If he wasn't ready to come forward, I would still try and protect him. When I told Nathan that Charlie should be picked up he didn't ask any further questions and told me he would take care of it.

When I arrived, Rae was already there. She set up the supplies and easels for us. I smiled, seeing her made me feel a little less stressed. I rushed over to her and hugged her. She held onto me closely and then asked me, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing in particular, I just... haven't seen you in a while," Rae held onto my hands and brought me forward. We sat in front of one another.

"Tell me... what happened?" I smiled, avoiding the subject.

"Did you know... during the time I left that apartment back then... you were always there for me," she nodded and I said, "I realized that having people in your life in times of trouble sometimes outweighs any of the pain you may be feeling in the moment."

"What did she do to you again?"

"Nothing... actually, an acquaintance of mine... in trouble,"

"Do I know them?"

"No... I've known them only for a short while... they live across from me..." well, technically Charlie did live across from me.

"I just found out they were going through a few things. I feel a bit powerless..."

"Haze... you take on things that aren't your emotional responsibility, you know that? You can't help solve everyone's problems."

"I know..." but in this case, I really did. "Sorry, I must be sounding a little weird."

"Not at all," she smiled. "I want us to hang out more, but you're always busy on some project... make some time for me soon, okay?" I nodded and she pinched my cheek gently. I pouted and she laughed.

Our students were now entering. Rae greeted them and I turned to look at her. I rubbed my cheek a little, feeling a little relieved.

When we finished up for the day I headed back on the same route. I passed by the same place from yesterday and there was no one there. I looked down at my phone wanting to know if Nathan was able to pick Charlie up.

When I was distracted, someone grabbed me from behind.

Before I had any time to react, I got pulled to the side and then roughly shoved behind the side of the building. I struggled while swaying my feet around. I finally gained some ground and used my elbow to release myself from him. When I turned around, it was the same guys from yesterday. Charlie was there. He was forced to the ground already. His mouth was taped over and his hands were tied now.

"You guys just don't know when to quit..." I couldn't believe the nerve of people in positions of power. This escalated a lot faster than I anticipated.

"You want to add kidnapping to your list of crimes?" some of the guys seemed startled by my accusation but that quickly dissolved when their 'leader' laughed it off and approached me.

"You really don't know who you're dealing with... what you did yesterday made things worse," I glared at him.

"Are you perhaps out of touch with reality? Look at you all... oppressing one kid, and for what?" I looked at all of them now and pointed at them: "this is disgraceful. You should feel a sense of shame for what you're doing... I made things worse? Who do you think you are? That's some God complex you have... that's something I should be asking you... don't you think this is enough already? Let's put an end to this. Let him go and from now on I won't personally make your lives a living nightmare... if you choose to go the other way there will be consequences to your actions, understand?"

The leader sneered at me again. I couldn't get a read on any of the other guy's emotions. I could only see that Charlie was being held down forcibly. I needed to end this soon.

"What do you want exactly?!" he smiled at me.

"I'm going to make you regret ever stepping in, gold-digger," I glared at him. He found out about who 'I,' was and I braced myself for what was about to happen.

I saw the leader race towards me and I defended myself against his attacks. This time, it seemed like they brought more weapons with them. I was in a bit of a situation and I needed to act more quickly than this. I was able to quickly dodge a few of their frontal attacks one by one.

When I did the leader screamed at the one holding Charlie down to take out his knife. I could tell the kid holding him down was nervous since his hand was trembling. This leader was definitely dangerous.

I continued defending myself; throwing punches where needed. One of them swiped a knife at me when I was dealing with another's attack and it cut across my arm. I watched a bright red stream out from my arm. He seemed more surprised by his actions than the amount of blood coming out. The shock on their faces made me feel like they were just sheep following their leader.

When I spun around and kicked the leader in the face after getting cut I thought it was over. Some of the guys backed off some more and I went over to Charlie. I glared at the kid holding him and smacked the knife away from him. He walked away and I undid Charlie's restraints. I took off the tape and he looked up at me in fear and worry for me.

"It's going to be alright, I promise..."

"I'm... I'm sorry...they just after school they..." he started crying and I exhaled, relieved. I helped him up and looked at 2 of them on the ground flailing while trying to get up.

The other 2 moved away from me when I walked past them.

"Your arm..." he sniffed while adding: "let's go to the hospital," for once, I thought it would be a good idea.

Just when I thought it was over I heard a branch crack underneath someone's foot and when I turned around I saw the leader with a steel rod come towards Charlie.

Given the angle, I couldn't prevent the hit with my arm so I pushed Charlie out of the way and got hit in the back instead... from that point on I could hear a ringing sensation in my ear. My vision started to fade and I couldn't hear much of what Charlie was saying... everything was becoming foggier by the minute. The last thing I remember was feeling my body hit the ground...