Thursday's Child

by partout coton

Thursday's child has far to go. The SVU squad starts to investigate the almost-abduction of a little boy, and Benson finds herself drawn to the mother - a young woman who turned her past of child abuse into arts. But a faceless foe out there doesn't like how things go, and he's prepared to go even further than kidnapping...

1. Prologue

"No, no. Don't worry. I'll be back in time, I just want to pick up Hanson from school. Yeah, I know I could have send a babysitter, but… You know, ever since things got a little rough with Barry, I like to be on the safe side. He dropped a few comments about that he might just grab Hanson and leave. Sure, he just said it to make me upset, but ever since the divorce, I can't help but think he's capable of… Anyways, I'll drop off Hanson at my mother's in an hour, and we can meet the customer at five." Tucking a strain of her blonde hair behind her left ear, the woman sighed and crossed the next street corner.

Children dressed in their grey and dark blue school uniforms were running across the schoolyard. A young teacher with a black ponytail was just trying to mend an argument between two young boys, and parents stopped their cars at the street to let their offspring get into the vehicle.

"He's supposed to wait for me in the schoolyard," the woman explained, continuing to speak into her cell phone. "But I can't see him." She looked around, searching for her son, and as she didn't spot him, her voice slightly trembled: "Maybe he's…"

"NO! NO! HELP ME!" A child's voice shrieked, and as she turned around, she saw how at the other side of the street, a man in a brown parka held a small boy in a tight grip and tried to pull him towards a white delivery truck.

"LET HIM GO!" she called and started running, but her left leather high heel gave way beneath her so that she collapsed onto her knee.

The little boy was lifted off his feet, and as he was carried away, he kicked into all directions. The man had his hand put over kid's mouth by then, and the screams had ceased.

"SOMEBODY HELP!" The woman screamed. "PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP!" As fast as she could, she struggled to get up again, and at the same time, a man came out of the pharmacy at the corner, just a few feet away from the crime scene. "THAT BOY IS BEING KIDNAPPED!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

The stranger from the pharmacy looked at her first, then realized what was going on and ran to the kidnapper, who was just about to open the side door of the truck.

"No, no!" the woman whispered to herself and sank back to her knees.