Dead Poets Society ~ Charlie Dalton

Chapter Eleven: A terrible sight

It is midnight when Mireille wakes up. She grunts after blinking a few times, trying to adjust to the dark. She feels strong, warm arms around her waist. She looks up and sees Charlie's peaceful sleeping face. Mireille smiles lightly. She turns her head, seeing that Knox is sleeping just as peaceful. She turns again and closes her eyes, trying to go back to sleep. But she can't fight that weird feeling inside her. She opens her eyes again and moves to sit up. The events of last night come back and she sighs deeply. Should she look after him? She does want to see him and make sure that he is alright. Mireille can't wait until the morning. She climbs out of Charlie's arms and stands up. Why does she have this uneasy feeling? And why won't it go away? She takes her coat, looks at Knox and Charlie one last time before quietly opening the door and walking out. She carefully walks down the stairs and out the front door. Thank God, she has practice in sneaking out after all the meeting she and the boys have held.

Once outside, she starts running. Luckily, she knows where Neil lives. The cold winter breeze starts to hurt her face. Her feet start getting cold. Mireille hasn't put on normal shoes, she's still in her slippers. She can't stop thinking of Neil and what he would do. He looked so heartbroken. Why does his face treat him this way? She gets angry just thinking of Neil's father.

After a while, Mireille starts to see the red bricks of Neil's house. She breaths out relieved, only now noticing the burning feeling in her lungs. She looks up the house, seeing that no light in switched on. She walks around and sees a window open. Squinting her eyes, she sees a familiar leaf crown on the windowsill. She takes in a sharp breath. She quickly looks around, trying to find a way up. If she gets caught, she will be in huge trouble. Mireille shakes her head, trying to suppress the thought. She'll be quick. And it's nothing bad she wants to do. She just wants to make sure that Neil is okay. Not seeing a ladder or anything else she could use to climb, she sighs. Mireille looks through the downstairs window, seeing the living room. No one is in there. She takes a deep breath before climbing on the windowsill of the living room window and reaching up.

"Come on...", she breaths, extending her arm. She jumps a little, grabbing ahold of the upper windowsill. She lets out a breath she has been holding. Mireille pulls herself up. She lets herself falls into the room as quietly as possible. Glancing around, she is sure that it's Neil's room. Her eyes land on his bed. Her anxiety starts to rise when she notices that Neil is not laying in his bed. She quickly gets up, seeing that the door of his room is open. She takes another deep breath. If Neil's parents wake up, she's dead. So dead. She wants to sigh deeply but instead wipes her hand across her face. She can't believe she's going to walk around in a foreign house without the ones living in it knowing. Mireille tip-toes out the room and into the hallway. Her heart is beating like crazy. She thought that her uneasy feeling will fade once she's here and that it's just her overreacting but she's not so sure about that now. It's the complete opposite. It rises and grows. Fast. She comes across the stairs and silently praises that they won't creak. She slowly makes her way down and looks around. The entrance is in front of her and the living room to her left. Behind her is a corridor leading to who knows where. Mireille glances into the other direction and notices a door slightly open and muffled noises.

"Neil?", she breaths out, immediately regretting it. What if it isn't Neil? The noises don't stop. Mireille walks towards the slightly open door. She carefully opens it more, peeking her head in. Mireille could feel her blood freeze and her heart stop at what she sees. Neil is sitting in his father's office with a revolver in his right hand which is pressed against his temple. Without thinking, Mireille lunges forward, removing the revolver from Neil's head. He opens his eyes, looking at her, pure terror in his eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?", asks Mireille angrily. Neil clenches his jaw, letting go of the revolver. Mireille immediately moves it out of his reach to make sure that he won't try anything stupid. When she looks back to Neil, she sees him crying. Mireille moves to stand next to him. She leans down, embracing him tightly. He completely breaks down, hugging her back.