Chapter 7: True Colors – Monroes Story

Previously on Monroes…

Don stands up for Rea in front of Marvin…

But it all turns out to be an act.

Ash has too much to drink and causes a scene.

Charlie recognizes Alma at the function but he loses her in the crowd.

Determined to find Alma, Charlie returns to the Monroe Mansion.

Chapter 7: True Colors

Monroe Mansion – The Tower

Despite the close call with Charlie the previous night, Alma wasn’t too worried. In fact, she was in good spirits thanks to the trolls on the internet who were already making memes out of Ash’s embarrassing kick into a table.

One meme read: “When you try pickup lines in a language you just leant”

Of course, there were more serious pieces like “Ash Monroe is proof of the decline of the manosphere” and “Ash got kicked because women get a free pass to violence” followed by a counter article titled “Why equality doesn’t mean letting women kick you”. It was clear that some people were just using that simple incident for their own social wars.

“Poor uncle Ash…” Alma thought as she scrolled through yet another derogatory article on her cellphone. Ash’s incident reminded her of why she wanted to detach herself from the Monroes: every mistake you make gets amplified in the public eye.

May came up the stairs to inform Alma that she had a visitor.

Alma, who was sitting on the bed, stood up to see who May was talking about. She was expecting to see Hunter come running up the stairs with another bag of candy but instead, her worst fear came true: Charlie Leighs had found her.

She panicked, ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

May immediately realized that something was very wrong but couldn’t understand why. She always thought Alma liked Charlie Leighs, judging for the wall full of his posters just behind her bed. Was she just star-stuck or was it something else?

“Alma, are you okay in there? Please come outside. Charlie Leighs has come all the way here to see you.” May said, standing at the door. Alma did not respond.

Charlie stood beside May and knocked at the bathroom door. He got a good look at the wall full of posters of him and a feeling of uneasiness washed over him.

“It’s me, Charlie,” he began to say, “I just want to talk to you.”

“Leave!” Alma suddenly yelled, “I don’t want to talk to you. I’m just not ready to.”

“Come on, Alma. What’s the matter? You used to be able to tell me anything. It’s still me. I haven’t changed.”

Alma angrily flung open the door, “That’s exactly what the problem is. You’ll never change.”

“Wait, you two know each other?” May interrupted, completely lost.

As for Charlie, his eyes were fixed on Alma’s tummy, quite visible underneath the thigh-length cotton dress she was wearing.

“Are you… So you are…” Charlie said with disbelief, staggering back.

“Yeah and it’s your— Hey, are you listening?” Alma impatiently asked Charlie who had clearly spaced out.

Alma was right in front of him but he couldn’t hear a word she was saying. Her face became blurry in his eyes and he began to feel really hot all over. Then, his legs gave in and before he knew it, he was on the ground, sinking into deep unconsciousness.

There wasn’t much Alma or May could do but wait until Charlie recovered. While they waited, Alma finally told May how she came to know Charlie.

Their story goes back to Charlie’s “teen band days”, with Alma on backing vocals and guitar, and Charlie as the lead singer.

They started out as just two friends with a burning passion for music but, as the old saying goes, boys and girls can’t be “just friends”.

Their relationship was filled with passion and they rarely had disagreements, not because they were the ‘perfect pair’ but because they both chose to overlook their differences, though there were many.

They kept the peace and that was all that mattered until their careers took over their everyday lives and it got pretty difficult to just overlook certain issues between them like Alma’s desire to work all the time and Charlie’s insatiable need for travel.

As Alma sat on the floor beside unconscious Charlie, old feelings started to return, feelings of regret and anger but also a little hope that maybe their relationship wasn’t too far gone to save. But the love, if it was even real, was gone.

With a gasp and a stir, Charlie started to come around, slowly at first but then he frightfully sprung to his feet and started shouting, “Oh my word! This is real! This is really happening!”

“I knew you wouldn’t take it well.” Alma unenthusiastically said, dusting herself off as she got up.

May had just excused herself from the room when Charlie blew up at Alma again, “Why the hell did you not tell me?!”

“Because you… I didn’t think there was a point in it,” Alma sharply replied, “Our relationship was already on the rocks and after you left to do your solo album and your tours. I was pretty sure you were never coming back to the band or to me.”

“But Alma,” Charlie said a lot calmer now, “You should have told me what you’re saying to me now. This whole time, I thought you were just angry at me for leaving the band. Alma, if you had told me, I would have left everything just for you.”

Alma sat on the bed and Charlie sat beside her.

“Is that so? Why are you even here now?” Alma asked, doubting him. Charlie had told her many things in the past and made big promises and yet, there they were months later, neither lovers nor friends.

Charlie nervously replied, “I saw you at that party yesterday and so I came back here to look for you. The thing is I just wanted some closure—”

Alma silenced him with the wave of her hand, “I meant before yesterday.”

“Well, I did try to look for you but… Look, Alma, I’m at a really high point in my career. I need to be focused and I can’t let this get in the way. Besides, you said it yourself – our relationship wasn’t in a good place. My feelings for you weren’t—aren’t that deep.” Charlie admitted.

Every word he said felt like a punch in the face to her.

“All those I-love-you-s, all those promises you so carelessly made…” Alma reminisced as tears began to blur her vision, “I… Just go. And don’t come back.”

Charlie came closer to her, “No, Alma, it’s not like that. We can still make this work for the baby—”

“Just go! Never come back! Leave! Leave!” Alma screamed over and over, pushing him towards the staircase until he finally left.

She knelt on the floor by the staircase, crying and screaming. So much was going through her head. It was all too much to bear.

Elsewhere in the Monroe Mansion,

Bailey was finding Ash too much to bear.

She had just come out of the shower, into the adjoining bedroom when she found Ash there, ready to argue. Despite his drunkenness the previous night, he was the one scolding her.

“Who is that guy you were with at the party?” Ash interrogated her.

“His name’s AJ, my boss and a good friend of mine.” Bailey cheerfully replied and continued getting ready at the dresser. A call from AJ earlier on put her in a good mood and she was not about to let anyone change that.

“He’s your boss? He is just your boss? Ash emphasized, “Do you always invite your boss to parties and dance with him?”

Bailey scoffed, “Did I not mention that he’s a good friend of mine? What are you getting at?”

At that point, she was already wondering if he had his cereal with vodka.

He went on with a whole speech about why he “doesn’t trust that guy” and why he thinks Bailey should stop working for him. Ash wouldn’t let her put a single word in so she ignored him and carried on dressing up and styling her hair.

Ever since they came to Central Espansy, something about her seemed to have changed. Back on the farm, Bailey would have never ignored Ash like that. Her style of dressing also changed, still modest but more slim-fitting, and she even started exercising more.

Moments later, May came knocking at their bedroom looking for Alma. She looked nervous and out of breath as if she had been running.

“Have you seen Alma? Is she in here?” May frantically asked Bailey and Ash. They both shook their heads.

“Is Alma back?” Ash asked.

May just went rambling on about Alma all at once and Ash and Bailey were finding her really difficult to understand.

Rea came out of the master bedroom to see what all the commotion was about.

“Alma is missing!” May yelled.

Rea laughed, “Okay, Mother. I think you’re a little confused. Alma went missing over a decade ago, we found her and then she grew up and left again, remember? Gosh, your memory is getting worst every second.”

May was very agitated, “I’m serious! I’m not insane. I’m telling the truth—”

“Okay, okay, I hear you. I think you should go rest now, right guys?” Rea nervously suggested. Bailey and Ash nodded anxiously.

Rea assisted May to her bedroom and sat her down on the bed. May’s room was inarguably the most pleasant room in the house, not because it was the biggest or most decorated but because May kept everything in perfect order and harmony.

Don joined Rea, Bailey and Ash in May’s room while Malibu kept Hunter occupied elsewhere.

“Tell us what happened from the beginning.” Don impatiently instructed May, who was still tense. He had a lot of work planned for the day and wasn’t interested in anyone’s stories but after he heard what May had to say, he completely forgot about work.

They all listened in shock as she explained everything, from the day Alma snuck back into the house, right up to the confrontation with Charlie. May said she went back to the tower after a while to check on Alma but she wasn’t there. She thought that maybe Alma left with Charlie but the note on the bed made her think otherwise.

It read: “Thanks for everything Grandma but this is where it ends”

“Why didn’t you tell me she was living right above our heads this whole time?” Rea raged, “She must think I don’t care about her. I could have— I swear, Mother, if anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive you!”

“Standing here arguing isn’t going to help. I’m going to go out and look for her.” Don said before leaving.

“I’ll go with him.” Ash said and then followed Don out. Rea eventually left as well, not before throwing May a mean look.

Looking for Alma was quite difficult since her “search party” didn’t know her too well.

Don, Ash and Rea went around talking to neighbors and even tried Alma’s childhood friends but most of them had lost contact with her years ago.

Malibu even pitched in to help but still, no one could find Alma. They thought of informing the police but decided not to because of how the news hounds would react, forgetting that they are just a normal family that wants their only daughter back.

Afterwards, they all just went around town aimlessly, looking for the slightest glimpse of her.

Late in the afternoon, Rea, Don and Ash returned home unsuccessful. The brothers went inside the house but Rea stayed behind in the garden out on the front of the house.

She sat on a wooden bench near a pond, remembering how Alma used to sit there strumming her guitar like no one was listening. But Rea was always listening, from the balcony high above where Alma wouldn’t look.

Rea remembered the last time Alma was missing. She was about the same age as Hunter.

Alma kept complaining to Don that she wasn’t getting to see her mom enough so Rea took her to the mall with her one day. They stumbled upon a kids’ play area and Alma wanted to go play with the other kids so Rea left her there and went to do her own things.

Eventually, Rea left the mall, went to a theatre, met up with some friends at a lounge, and then went home, alone.

Back then, Don was still very involved in the home life and so he was the first person to ask where was Alma. He was very disturbed to learn that her own mother had forgotten her at the mall.

That day was the first time Don had ever yelled at Rea the way he did and she was frightened.

She went straight back to the mall to get Alma. To her dismay, the mall was already closed.

Rea drove around for hours, trying to find the little girl but was unsuccessful. Too afraid to go home without Alma, she sat at a park crying until May phoned to tell her that Shannon brought Alma home.

It turned out that after the mall closed, Alma tried to walk home herself but she wasn’t sure of the route so she went to Shannon’s (then) house, the only place she knew how to get to from the mall.

Ever since, Alma and Don began to draw away from her and she took it all as the punishment she believed she deserved. A few attempts were made to reconcile but Rea eventually gave up.

As she sat there by the pond remembering that incident, she wondered if she tried a little harder back then, would Alma would be home and happy.

“Wherever you are, please come home, Alma. This time, I know you know the way back.” Rea tearfully spoke, hoping that by some higher force, her words would reach her little girl’s heart, wherever she was.