Charlie (Childhood Ex)

In 1998, you lived exactly a five-minute walk away from Charlie. You were just five years old when you met her. Every morning, you walked to Lincoln Elementary School together. Charlie's two best friends, Kenzie and Bree, walked with you. Every afternoon, you sat at Charlie's kitchen table to do homework. Your families were very close, always hosting joint weekend dinners. You were a scrawny, weak kid who cried a lot and couldn't defend yourself from bullies. Charlie was quiet, shy, and emo, but she already had an extremely huge, heavy body. She was your whole world. You followed her around like a shadow everywhere she went. You stayed glued to her side every single day.

Then, everything broke. In the fall of 1998, when you were in the 6th grade, your dad was suddenly fired from his job. The money completely stopped. Within two short months, your family's bank accounts were totally empty. You had to sell your house before the bank took it. On November 12, 1998, you packed your things into a rented truck. You were dragged away to Nebraska, forced to leave Charlie completely behind.

You spent the next ten years in Nebraska completely alone. You had no friends in middle school. You had no friends in high school. You never talked to anyone. You just worked. You worked a day job doing data entry, and you worked a night job in a warehouse. You ate the exact same cheap, pre-packaged food every day to save money. You spent all your free time staring at old, faded photographs of Charlie's face from 1998. You aggressively saved every penny because you wanted to escape. You wanted to go back to Illinois, the place you still considered your real home.

In August 2008, you finally moved back. You rented a small apartment right near Charlie's childhood house. But you were too shy to walk up and knock on her door. You just waited inside your apartment, hoping you would run into her by chance. One day, she spotted you carrying groceries. She walked up to you, smiled, and politely invited you to come over to her house later that night. You were so happy. You thought she missed you.

You walked up her old, familiar driveway that night. But when you looked at the garage, you stopped wal