Lost in the Ashes

I don't own Good Luck Charlie.

Chapter 1 : Discovery

Charlie's Point of View

I took my house keys out of my backpack and opened the front door. PJ was relaxing on the couch, or was he sleeping? Ah yes, he was sleeping, like always. I quietly walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl.

I took a bite of the apple, and started to do my homework on the kitchen table. On the table, there was a note for me. Will be at hair salon until four, Mom. I put the note on the counter and finished my homework. I crept back into the living room to see if PJ was still asleep. He was.

Gabe opened the door and walked in. "Hey Charlie," He said, Joe was waiting outside. "Bye honey," She said, kissing his cheek. He kissed her back. "Ugh, please!" I said with a disgusted expression and ran up to my room. I put my iPod on my docking station and set it on shuffle.

I got my favorite book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, from underneath my bed and started reading. I had already read the book over twenty seven times, but it seemed to never get old. The same everyday lifestyle of Greg Heffley always seemed to entertain me.

After reading about thirty more pages, I put my bookmark on page 207. I turned off my iPod and went back downstairs. Mom was home, and so was Teddy. She was attending Denver Community College, a mile away. At least she was close by.

Mom started making dinner while Teddy was on the phone. PJ had awoken from his nap and was watching TV in the living room with Gabe. "How was your day at school Charlie?" Mom asked me, cooking dinner.

"Fine, just like any normal day in fourth grade." I replied. Nothing ever happened in my school, it was so boring. We just had lessons and every so often assemblies. My principal loved calling assemblies, she liked the idea of bringing educational and fun programs into the school to help us learn and entertain ourselves at the same time. Little did she know that the kids hated them.

"Oh, that's nice." Mom said, heating the taco shells. Yay, we were having taco for dinner, my favorite! "When will dinner be ready?" I asked, licking my lips. "Twenty minutes, the taco shells are almost ready, and then I just have to wait for the meat." She explained, mixing the taco meat in the bowl.

I went into the living room and sat on one of the chairs. I checked my phone. Nobody was texting me. I sighed. "What's on?" I asked PJ. "Um, George Lopez." He responded. George Lopez was his favorite show. I liked it too, but I preferred iCarly over it.

"Dinner is ready!" Mom called a little while later. The delicious, mouth-watering smell of tacos filled the air. I got up off the chair and practically ran into the kitchen. I grabbed a can of Sprite from the fridge and mom gave me a plate with two tacos on it.

I opened my soda can. It started to fizz, but didn't overflow. I took a sip, and then grabbed a few napkins from the napkin holder. Tacos always have a lot of grease on them, and I couldn't stand the feel of grease on my hands. I picked up my first taco and took a bite. Yum!

I finished the first taco within two minutes, and then dived into my second one. Grease got all over my plate, hands, and mouth, but that is when a couple of napkins come in handy. I finished my soda and put my plate in the sink.

"Who's turn for dishes?" Gabe asked, putting his plate in the sink as well. Mom looked over to the chart on the fridge. "Charlie, it's your turn for dish duty." Mom said, looking at me. I sighed. PJ chuckled when she said "duty", he could be so immature at times.

I'm in fourth grade, and I probably am smarter than him. It is amazing he graduated high school, but he never was accepted into college. He has been living with mom and dad, along with the rest of the family. Teddy was almost out of college, and already looking to buy a house, along with her boyfriend, Spencer.

She had been staying over at his house for a couple of days, and finally came back home today. She was telling everybody the story of how Spencer proposed to her over the weekend, and how romantic it was. I quickly ate my taco during this discussion because she eventually announced that she was having a baby…

The thought of being an aunt at eight or nine made me shudder. She said the baby was to arrive in late February, or sooner. I would probably be nine by February, but if the baby came sooner, I would still be eight. My birthday was January 18th.

I walked into the living room and watched TV until everybody finished dinner. Dad had called saying he would be home late from work. At 6:30, I went into the kitchen and finished my chores. I went back up to my room and listened to my iPod for a little while later.

I eventually got bored of listening to my iPod, like I had been doing for a half hour already. I went downstairs into the basement to play the Wii. Then, I remembered dad had put it in the storage side of the basement as a "punishment" for Gabe getting a 64 on his Science quiz. I went into the storage room and looked for the Wii gaming console.

I had never really explored the storage room before, it was a pretty creepy and boring place. It was mainly just used for storing old things. I noticed a box that said "Video Diary." I wondered what that could mean. I opened the box and found a ton of old videos. I decided tomorrow I would ask my dad for the old video camera so I could watch them. I wondered what was on them…

I got bored of playing the Wii after an hour, so I went back to my room. I turned my iPod on low, mom didn't like me blasting my iPod on full volume at night. I heard a beep come from my phone.

Finally, around 8, Allison, my best friend, texted me. We got into a heated conversation over who should end up with who on iCarly. I was rooting for Seddie, and she was Creddie all the way. At 9, mom called upstairs saying it was time for bed. I hated that, how she made me go to bed so early. But, she said if I complained less about my chores, maybe we could think about a bed-time extension…

However, I always complain about my chores, so that was unlikely from happening, unfortunately. I went downstairs to brush my teeth and saw mom lighting a scented candle. She said that dad had come home smelling like dead squirrel, and we needed a way to freshen the air in the house. She also had left a window open to let out the rank air, but needless to say, she had no idea that her mistake would later lead up to the worst thing imaginable for our family…

What do you think is going to happen? You have to continue reading to find out! I'll try to update soon! Please read and review! Thank you for reading!