Welcome to the first chapter of "If I Don't Make It Out, Remember That I Tried." It's more of a trailer/sneak peak than anything else, for what's upcoming. This will most likely be a Nathan/Peyton; Lucas hasn't been paired up yet. This will deal with the theme of suicide and child abuse.
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"Hey, Nathan." Lucas spotted his half-brother sitting, tying his shoe on the bench. "How are you?"
Nathan glanced up in surprise, and Lucas winced when he saw yet another bruise on his brother's body. "Go away," Nathan replied frostily, haughtily. "What do you want from me?"
"One of those days, huh?" Lucas sighed. Nathan was forever having mood swings. He suspected it had to do with Dan, who was now the assistant coach. The man really didn't treat Nathan with respect at all, and Lucas wanted to do something about the bruises he saw appear randomly on his brother's body nearly every day.
"Get away from me!" Nathan stood up and pushed Lucas away. "What on earth do you want? Leave me the heck alone! You're going to get me killed one of these days!" His face was hot with anger, his fists were clenched, and Lucas wondered mildly if he'd ever thought of cooling down.
"Hey!" Whitney glanced up sharply when he saw Lucas stumble backwards. "Nathan Scott, what are you doing? Leave Lucas alone. Lucas, come help me get out these basketballs."
Lucas sighed and shook his head, knowing that the coach knew that that the only reason why he wanted Lucas to help was because he wanted to get Lucas away from Nathan. The coach was very good about that. He knew that Nathan got a lot of crap from his father at home, but he was having trouble handling the crap he was getting from Nathan. "Sure, Coach," he said, jogging over.
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"Hey, Mom." Lucas placed the keys to his S-10 on the counter. "How are you?"
"I'm tired, but we'll have enough money to pay the bills this month… How are you?"
"I'm good, I'm getting tired of Nathan hassling me though."
"Honey, he gets it bad from his father." Is it crazy that I wish Dan were permanently out of our lives because I suspect he abuses Nathan, yet I want him to be involved with Lucas and take some stand as a father?
"I know, Mom. I wish we could help him." Lucas sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He wasn't about to tell anyone, but he had reported Nathan's abuse at the police station right after practice, deciding that enough was enough. Whether or not the police would listen to him, he didn't know, but he was sick of seeing his younger brother hurt.
Karen sighed. "Lucas, we're barley making the bills for ourselves. Now, it's helped that Skillz is working in the café and I can do some of the work at home. If Nathan wants help, we'll help him, but until then, I don't know if there's anything I can do. It's not like I can legally pursue custody of Nathan – at least, not until he wants me too." She sighed. "It really helps that Jamie's working in the auto body shops. It's not like we don't have the money, but I really don't have the money to fight for his custody, especially when he's not mine and doesn't wan to live with him."
Lucas groaned. Why did we have to bring this conversation up, again? "I know. I just wish there was some way we could help him. I mean, I saw another bruise on him today, Mom! And Whitney's totally ignoring it! I know he sees what I see!"
"I don't know what to tell you there, Lucas," she replied apologetically. "Just do what you know how to do, okay?"
Nodding, Lucas grabbed a can of Coke and headed upstairs. "Right, Mom. I've got told some homework." Time to wait to see if anything happens.
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It was a very different scene at the Scott house. "I told you I didn't touch your damn car," Nathan hollered back at Dan.
"What are you doing, boy? Swearing at me?" Dan shoved Nathan back, and he stumbled back into the wall. "That car was expensive!"
"I didn't touch it! You probably crashed it when you were drunk! I took my own car this morning! Ask Whitney, he saw me drive home," Nathan pleaded, begging Dan to listen too him.
"Why were you talking with Lucas?" Dan yelled, changing his line of attack before Nathan even had time to respond.
"Wasn't—kid came up to me," Nathan protested, not seeing Dan's fist until it was too late.
Dan's hand snaked out and he grabbed Nathan's arm. "Ow!" Nathan cried in angry protest. "You wanna let me go?"
"If I let you go, you're gonna swing at me," Dan taunted. "So, not really."
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After about twenty minutes of screaming and yelling, Deb could take it no longer. "Keep it down, Dan!" she shouted, coming into the living room.
"What in the name of…," she breathed, seeing the mess on the floor. "What happened?" she demanded, turning to Dan.
"He wouldn't listen to me," Dan said simply, his face twisted in a half-smirk.
"Are you drunk?" Deb demanded angrily, crossing her arms, looking at her husband in disgust.
"Me? Drunk. Ha—that's a funny story! Now, Nathan on the other hand…" Dan looked up from where he was pinning Nathan to the ground.
"Low, Dad," Nathan grumbled from his spot on the floor. "Real low."
"Shut it, Nathan," Deb warned. "Dan, go… Elsewhere. Let Nathan go."
"Fine." Dan stalked off, obviously angry at Deb's interference.
"Are you alright, Nathan?" Deb asked, bending down to help her son.
"Hurts," Nathan muttered painfully, trying to sit up.
"Well, whose fault is that?" Deb snapped, helping him sit up. "You're bloody—and a mess. Go clean yourself up. I'll get this blood off the floor," she said.
Nathan sighed, then turned as he heard a knock at the door. "Police—open up!"
Swearing, Deb shoved Nathan. "Nathan, get upstairs and get cleaned up, now. Dan, go open the damn door."
Grabbing wildly, Deb got the bucket of water that she had on the stove and poured it over the mess. "Dan, go open the door!" she called, pulling the hallway rug over the spot.
"Fine," Dan said angrily, grumbling as he made his way too the door. "Can I help you, officer?"
"Yes, we need to speak with Nathan," the officer said. "We received a call about some loud noise going on?"
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Nathan was upstairs, frantically trying to wash up. As much as he hated Dan, he couldn't bear being moved away from him. His only other option was either Keith or Karen's house—and he really didn't want to move in with Lucas.
"Hey, Nathan, cops need to talk to you a second," Dan yelled up the stairs. "I'm so sorry, officer. You know how teenagers can be."
Slowly and painfully, Nathan made his way downstairs, grabbing his hoodie to hide some of the bruises and new marks. "Yes, officer?" he asked.
The officer sighed as he looked at Dan. "I don't really want to do this, Dan, but we've had so many complaints about noise and such lately… One of your neighbors said that they think Nathan is being abused, and as such, we have to pull him from the home and investigate the claim."
"What?" Dan's voice was louder than Nathan had ever heard it, and he winced. "This is all your fault, Nathan," he bellowed, hitting Nathan squarely in the face.
One officer jumped on Dan Scott, another officer pulled Nathan away from the crowd.
"Dan Scott, you're under arrest for child abuse… You have the right to remain silent…"
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"So where do I go now?" Nathan asked, sitting timidly on the police officer's chair.
"Well, we wanted to originally place you with your uncle Keith, but he's in prison serving time for assault and battery… And your mom admitted she pretty much let the abuse happened, so we can't put you there, either."
"So what does that mean?" Nathan asked.
"Karen's house is your last choice, Nathan. I don't have any homes available right now."