Act II: Room 429

### Introduction

Act II: Room 429, the second overall page in the first chapter of The Revival, is a sibling page to both Act I and Act III, and it is the page in which Charlie is first introduced, instead of just being mentioned, as well as the page where Damien begins his voyage over to Rick's house. It is also the page in which Damien leaves Chloe at Charlie's apartment.

#### Content

After about half an hour of convincing, I tried to gather my strength as I pulled up to the familiar neighborhood that Charlie's apartment was in.  I pulled over to the side of the road and she jumped out of the car, as did I, but with much less enthusiasm.  I led her to his apartment with certainty that he was one of the only friends I'd ever had that would never even do as much as think of putting a hand on her, and I found comfort in that.

We made our way up a couple of flights of stairs, given my daughter's elevator anxiety, and walked up to the room number that was 429.  As we knocked, we heard a girl call out, asking who we were.  I announced that we were here for a babysitter, given it was none of her business.  As we did this, the door to 430 opened.  Charlie stared down the hall before smacking his hands together eagerly, given he hadn't seen us in ages himself.  "Yo, man, it has been a WHILE!" he called out, before motioning for us to come over, excitedly.  Except, there was a feeling at the pit of my stomach, that something was incorrect about this.  Charlie had always been at apartment 429.  What was all this, then?  I had all kinds of questions but I didn't have all kinds of courage to ask them.

"Um, what happened to you living one door down?" My daughter piped up, looking up at Charlie.

"Yo, the whole crib caught on fire and they had to rebuild it.  It was wild, bro." He answered, as my daughter entered his apartment and stared at me from behind him.

"That's kinda crazy.  It sounds like big news, I can't believe I *didn't* hear about it." (I answered, emphasizing on my lack of knowledge.

"If you got time I could tell you all about it.  There was a whole legal issue." He answered, looking back at me.  Oh well, his eyes still had the same knowing shine to them.  I trusted him

"Oh no, no.  I gotta go, man, but I'll catch you on the flip side, aight?" I asked, he held out his hand and I smacked my palm against his like we had always done to say thanks to one-another.

"Aight, playa, I'ma see you later then?" He answered.

"Definitely.  Think maybe..." I answered, pausing.  "Prolly tomorrow?"

He nodded and smiled at me before looking back at Chloe, who had already settled in on the couch

"Yo, sum wrong?" He asked, lowering his voice.  He was only serious like this once in a blue moon, so it was nice to know that he still cared.

"Everything's fine, Dash.  Ain't nun wrong, she just exhausted from school today.  She prolly gon' get all the hype around 10 o'clock.  Watch out, dawg." I answered, before starting down the hallway.  I heard the door close and I heard his hands smack together again before he raised his voice, allowing me to hear it since I was still only a couple of feet away from his door.  I noticed a paper rolled up on the floor outside of his room number, and it was a noise complaint.  He had been steadily receiving those for years everywhere he went but it was always a part of his personality.

"Aye, playa, you ready for dinner, my boy?" he asked, with a lively amount of enthusiasm in his voice.  I could nearly hear the smile on his voice and it made me wish dearly that I could've stayed for a Ramune and listen to the story he had offered up to me, but you could say I was a man of my word, so I headed down the hallway with my head hung as I pressed the call button on the elevator.

As I got into my car and gently closed the door, the trademark Ford ringing sound to alert me that my doors had been opened came to a stop.  I looked up to the floor his apartment number was on, nearly expecting them to come to the window and wave despite his apartment being sandwiched between others, so it'd be impossible.  I turned my key in the ignition and the engine turned over without hesitation.  I shifted gears into reverse and backed out of my parking spot, before driving out of the parking lot and heading to the highway and merging on.  I didn't take Pontiac trail that night, because I didn't yearn for the memories.  I yearned for the opposite, to forget them.

As I saw the familiar lights along US Route 23, the memories of being in the Jeep with the body of my ex-boyfriend who lay bleeding without help or a twinge of hope snapped back into my head, and it would've been enough to make me pull over along the shoulder if I hadn't already made plans that I had to be on my way to.  I turned up my radio and put it out of my mind as the humming of the engine and the sound of the tires of my vehicle gliding over bumps on the highway tried their best to comfort me.  Hours later, when I hit Bowling Green, I turned off and headed east towards Gibsonburg, which was on my left.

Once I hit that old, familiar neighborhood I turned off my GPS and looked at all of the houses, which hadn't changed tremendously since I'd been gone.  I pulled into the driveway of the nearly overgrown blue one-story ranch-style home that had been sandwiched between one similar to itself and a two-story green house that had a for sale sign outside of it.  I hesitated to get out of my vehicle, but I eventually pushed myself out.

I walked up to the door, taking note of the overgrown grass out front before knocking on the door.  The door opened nearly immediately and I could smell a twinge of mold, but I tried my best to disregard it, because I just wanted to have a good time.  I looked up at Rick and I didn't really take in any of his features.  I walked inside and I noticed that it looked... the exact same as it did when I had been there 2 years prior.  The exact same crumpled up papers lay in the same exact place on the floor.

#### Trivia

Act II: Room 429 is the first page in which Charlie is physically present.

This page's name is a direct reference to Charlie's old apartment number.