Disclaimer: I don't own any SJA characters, they all belong to BBC. Except My OCs. They are mine.


Sarah Jane's POV

After getting Luke to sleep, I decided to have Mr. Smith finish a report on the children disappearances. Thanks to Maria and Clyde figuring out it had something to do with this Laser Tag place Combat 3000, I was able to get Torchwood to go in there. They managed to find all the missing kids. I would have gone in there myself, but I didn't exactly know what I was dealing with.

As I was about to go there to investigate, Luke called me saying he wanted to come home. It had been right before lunchtime and though he wouldn't tell me the reason, I couldn't just tell him no. He sounded upset and I knew Torchwood was more than capable of handling it.

It was for the best.

Though my work used to be the only thing I loved, now I had Luke, everything came second in comparison.

Luke is my entire world.

It's only been two months since he's been living with me and things are really starting to come together; I just had to figure out how to get him to go to school for a full day.

After finishing the report, it was around 2 A.M. I tried to go to sleep, but I found that I couldn't. Normally I would just go take a sleeping pill, but I wasn't going to chance myself not waking up in the morning to make sure Luke got to school.

Maybe I will read for a little while.

I pick up the hard cover book that was sitting on my night stand and continued where I left off last. Anytime I couldn't sleep, I'd read for a little while and then I'd be able to sleep. I was finishing chapter ten when I was startled by a crash of thunder.

"Oh." I say and take a breath.

I should know better as it almost always rains here, but I guess I wasn't expecting it. I remember when I was little and used to be terrified of thunder storms. I would wake up in the middle of the night and go into my Auntie's room. She would bring me back to bed and tell me it's just a storm. For an eight year old child, that wasn't exactly the comfort I was looking for. But then again, Aunt Lavinia was never the comforting type. And eventually I got over it, and thunderstorms didn't bother me.

There was flash of lightning and then another crash of thunder.

Then my lamp goes out.

Was that because of the storm or because I haven't changed the bulbs in months?

Then I hear my bedroom door slide open slightly. Didn't I have my door shut? Yeah, I usually shut my door at night.

"Mum?" I look up and see Luke poking his head in. I set my book down and look back over at Luke, whom had opened the door fully and walked inside my bedroom. I frowned. Luke was visibly shivering and he looked scared. I patted the bed which told him he could come up on the bed. He quickly did just as another crash of thunder hit and I heard a scared whine escape from him.

I wrap my arms around Luke and start to rub his back.

"It's alright, Luke." I try to sooth.

"I don't like storms." Luke whimpers.

"I know. But it's alright." I say calmly as I rub his back. "It's just a storm. It can't hurt you. And even if it could, I'd protect you." I say, giving Luke a tight hug. I let go of him briefly so he can get under the covers with me. Once they are over him, I bring Luke back into my arms and I stroke his hair.

I felt Luke tense up as another crash of thunder hit.

"Shhh, it's alright." I say and then try to think of something. Maybe if I get him to talk about something else, he won't be thinking about it. "So, you never told me what happened on your first day. Well, the good things. I'm sure there were some good things."

Luke nods.

"Like what?" I ask.

"Clyde and I talked a lot." Luke says and looks over at me. I wipe the tears that had fallen down Luke's cheeks. I smile. I'm glad Luke and Clyde seemed to be getting along. Clyde was a lovely boy and I think he'll be good for Luke.

"Clyde's a nice boy."

"He knows about aliens." Luke says and I nod. If it wasn't for him, I don't know what would've happened when Maria and I found out there were Slitheen running the school. "Does he help you and Maria fight them? Like Maria and I did with the Bane?" Luke asks.

"Yeah. He did once. But I haven't really had Maria and Clyde helping me lately." I say. "Anyways, anything else good happen at school?"

"I like my Science Teacher." Luke says. I smile. I knew Luke would probably be fond of his teachers.

"What about the others?" I ask.

"Mrs. Taylor is my Art Teacher and she seems okay. I don't like the Gym Teacher. Clyde says he yells at a lot." Luke says and I frown. I stroke his hair. I remember Luke telling about the Gym Teacher yelling at him on his first day because he didn't want to change. But hopefully something like that wouldn't happen again or I'd go down there and have a talk with him. Luke didn't deserve to be yelled at, especially if he didn't do anything wrong.

"What about the others?" I ask. I knew Luke had more than three teachers.

"I didn't meet the others yet." Luke says. Right. Luke always came home before lunchtime was over so he never got to go to the other classes yet. I hope he won't have too much extra work to do. But I'm sure Luke will be fine.

Luke's struggle isn't the academic part of school. It's the social part of it.

"Well I'm sure you'll meet them tomorrow." I say and Luke looks at me scared. I sigh, I hated that look. It always broke my heart. But Luke had to go to school. "And I'd like you to be there the whole day." I say. I couldn't keep picking Luke up half way through the day. He was going to have to do it eventually.

"I don't want to go to school." Luke says.

"I know, but it'll be okay." I say but Luke shakes his head in disagreement. "Luke, I know you've had a rough first few days. But it'll get easier, I promise. You have your friends and there are teachers you like. And the sooner you go to school—the more you go, the easier it will get."

"W-What if I'm hurt?" Luke asks.

"You weren't the last time I picked you up." I reply.

"But what if I am this time?" Luke asks. "What if someone hurts me?"

"Then yes, Luke. Of course I will come get you." I say and stroke his hair. I didn't want Luke to think I wouldn't come, even if he was hurt, just because I wanted him to go to school for the full day. "But I would like you to try and get through the entire day. Meet the rest of your teachers and get the work you need. Okay?"

I just wanted Luke to try. That's all I could ask of him.

Luke nods. "I'll try."

I smile and kiss Luke on the forehead.

"That's all I ask." I say and I notice that the storm has seemed to stop. "I think the storm's over." I say, hoping it made Luke feel better but he seemed sad. "You look tired. You should get some sleep. But I think you should stay here. You'll help me sleep better." I say and Luke looks up at with a small smile.

I knew that would make him feel better. And in all honesty, it made me feel better too.

I have Luke switch off the lights and he snuggles back into my arms. I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing this with him.

"Goodnight, Luke." I say after kissing his forehead one more time. He doesn't reply. Luke's already asleep. I guess I should follow that.


Luke's POV

I was doing the dishes at the sink after Silvia and George had finished dinner. I really hate it when they want something like spaghetti or anything that's really messy. It takes forever to clean. But that's what they wanted and if I don't do what they want, I get punished.

"Are you almost finished boy?" I flinch at George's voice.

"A-Almost." I say as I start to scrub them faster.

"Well hurry up! Because the garbage needs to go out." He says and I nod. Then suddenly there was flash of light out the window. I glanced up and then there was this loud bang. Thunder. I was startled and ended up dropping a plate on the floor.

It shattered into pieces.

"What the hell!?" I hear George yell.


"Luke." I open my eyes and see Sarah Jane stroking my hair. That felt good. I shut my eyes again. I was tired. Why did she wake me up? "Luke. You need to wake up."

"I'm tired." I say. I was up late. It was my fault, but I couldn't help it. Why did I have to get up?

"You need to get ready for school." She says and I glance at the clock. 7:15. I don't want to get up. Certainly not for school. I don't like school. But I did promise Sarah Jane I would try and make through a whole day like she wanted. I don't want to make her mad, so I get up.

I go to my room and put my uniform on. I put my gym uniform in my backpack and sigh. Hopefully he won't yell me today. Maybe he won't as long as I do what he says.

After I am dressed, I go downstairs to where Sarah Jane is.

"I see you got your tie on." Sarah Jane says and I nod.

"You showed me how."

"And you remembered."

"I remember everything." I comment and she nods. I put my backpack on the back of my chair and I sit down at the table. Sarah Jane then puts a plate of toast right in front of me. She didn't know how to cook, so I either had toast or cereal in the morning. It was fine. It was nice that she tried.

I look over and see Sarah Jane put a few pieces of fruit into the pockets of my backpack before handing ten quid for lunch.

"So I was thinking, why don't you have your friends over on Saturday?" Sarah Jane offers. "They could spend the night." I frown and shake my head. That wasn't a good idea. I mean it sounded sort of nice, but I don't think it's a good idea.

"No. I don't think so." I say.

"Why not?" Sarah Jane asks.

"I just don't think it's a good idea." I answer.

"Luke, if it's the stuff in my attic you're worried about, it's fine. Maria and Clyde already know about it, and I can always keep it locked." She says. They knew, but Jessie didn't. But that wasn't the reason why I don't think it's a good idea, but I'm not going to tell her. I don't want to talk about it.

"No."

"It's okay, if you don't want to. I just thought it'd be fun." Sarah Jane says and I relax. I'm glad I don't have to. "I thought it might give you something to look forward to."

It did sound sort of fun.

"Well Clyde invited me to skate park with him on Saturday." I say. "Can I go?" I ask. I had to make sure it was okay and it did seem fun. He said something about teaching me how to skateboard—whatever that is—and it sounds fun, I think.

"Yeah. You can go." Sarah Jane says and I smile. Great, so I guess I had something good to tell Clyde when I see him. I then glance at the clock and frown. We had to go soon.

I don't want to go to school.

I look up when I feel Sarah Jane's arm wrapped around me. I wrapped my arms around her. I felt a little better.

"I promise it will be okay. Eventually you'll like school." Sarah Jane says. But I doubted that. Not as long as Archie and his friend David kept picking on me. Unless they decided to stop, which isn't likely, I won't like school. And it's not like I had friends besides Clyde, Maria, and Jessie. And it wasn't right that I was intruding on their friendship.

But I won't tell Sarah Jane that. She doesn't need to be bothered about it. She does enough for me already.

I get into the car once Sarah Jane gets her keys and she drives me to school. She felt weird doing it because it was like a ten minute walk, but I liked her driving me. I felt safe with her. If I walked, I'd be by myself and that'd give Archie and David some extra time to find me.

"Luke, are you alright?" I hear Sarah Jane ask me and I nod. Though I don't really mean it. I'm not fine. I had to go to school. "Luke, it'll be okay. And before you know it, you'll be coming home." Sarah Jane says and I force a smile, to make her believe I was alright.

I jump at hearing the sound of someone knocking on glass. Sarah Jane and I look over and see Clyde knocking on my window. I look back as Sarah Jane chuckles.

"I guess you better be off then." Sarah Jane says and I sigh, but nod.

"I don't know why you brought me in so early. It's not like I have first period." I reply. I could have stayed home an extra hour, now that I think about it. Why didn't I say that? Because you know she doesn't really want you.

"Well I think Clyde's waiting for you." Sarah Jane says. I don't think he has free period first—or does he? Maybe. I knew Maria did, but I wasn't seeing her anywhere. "I'll pick you up after school, okay?" I nodded. I promised I would try and get through the whole day. So I would. I don't want to make her mad.

I give her a hug before getting out the car. I watch sadly as she drives away.

"You didn't come yesterday." Clyde states and I nod.

"She let me stay home. I didn't want to come." I tell him. I didn't want to come today either, but Sarah Jane said I had to.

"I was going to text you, but I realize I don't have your number." Clyde says. I just nod, but then when I look back at him, I see him looking at me. It was like he was waiting for something.

"What?" I ask.

"I think this is the part where you give me your number." Clyde explains. Oh, he wanted my mobile phone number. I told him the numbers and he put it into his phone. He then told me his phone number and I nodded. "Are you going to get your phone out or write it down somewhere?"

"I'll do it later." I say. I didn't need to text him now. He was right here and we had almost all the same classes.

"What if you forget it?"

"I won't." I say.

"Oh right, I forgot. You have the super brain." Clyde says. "You're a regular Brainiac, aren't you?" For some reason, I got this vibe he was trying to reference something I didn't know.

"What?" I ask.

"Never mind." Clyde says. "Anyways, I won't be at lunch today. Coach got me lunch detention. Archie hits him in the back of the head with a ball and I get blamed for it. But anyways, you got Maria and Jessie." I nod, though I didn't really. They were friends. I wasn't going to intrude. I didn't want to.

"Where are they?" I ask.

"At Jessie's house. She needed Maria's help on a project or something. So it's just you and me during free. So come on." I follow beside Clyde into the upstairs hallway.

"Hold on, I'm gonna use the toilet. I'm busting." Clyde says and I nod. I kind of just wanted to follow him in there as I didn't feel safe out here by myself, but that would be weird. I didn't want to seem weird. I already am enough of that.

Clyde goes into the bathroom and then I glance over. I blanch at the sight and quickly turn away. David and Archie are walking my way.

"Oh look who decided to show up today." David says and I don't look in their direction.

"We missed you yesterday, Lukey." Archie says as he stands beside me, with David on the opposite side of me. If I tried to run or move, they would stop me. I had nowhere to go. I was stuck. I felt my hands starting to shake already. I was scared. What were they going to do to me?

"Oh Archie, I think we're scaring him." David taunts and they both laugh.

"Oh I think he might cry." Archie says and they laugh again. I shut my eyes. Why could they go away? I want them to go away. I wish Clyde was out of the bathroom. Archie then grabs me by my hair and holds me against the lockers. I whine, but I don't let any tears fall. I can't. Crying always makes everything worse.

"To think we haven't even touched you yet." Archie laughs. I then feel him go through my pockets. I try to move but David slams me back. My head hits the lock part. That hurt. It hurt more than the rest of my body being slammed against the locker.

I look and see Archie holding up the lunch money Sarah Jane gave me.

"Thanks for the lunch money, Lukey." Archie says. I glance up at David whom was still holding me against the lockers. I whine as I feel Archie's fist collide with my stomach. David lets go of me and clutch my stomach. "I can't wait to see you at lunch." Archie comments as he and David walk away. That really hurt. More than when he kicked my back days ago.

I hear the toilet flush. I stand up normally and ignore the pain in my gut. I make sure my eyes had no tears in it; I had to look like I was fine.

Clyde walks out.

"Are you okay? I thought I heard someone else out here." Clyde states. Oh no. Luke, you need to think of something! Fast!

"No." I say.

"Are you sure—" Clyde tries, but I cut him off and changed the subject.

"Yeah. Anyways, Mum says I can go to the skate park on Saturday." I tell him. Hopefully that distracts him and makes him forget about what he thinks might have happened.

"Oh cool! I can now officially make you my padawan." Clyde says as he puts an arm around me. I laugh, though I had no idea what that meant. But I guess maybe he would teach me what that meant.


The rest of the day went by decently. Mostly because I wasn't without Clyde. He always with me and whenever I'd pass Archie, David, or Becca, they'd ignore me—well, Becca would glare at me. I guess she was still angry about me messing up her clothes. But I knew it was only because Clyde was next to me. They wouldn't touch me when Clyde was around. I knew once I was alone, they'd come for me.

Gym Class went by decently. I got changed in one of the stalls so the coach didn't yell at me—well in particular. He yelled the entire class, but that I guess is how he talks. He just gave us free time, so Clyde and I went and shot some basketballs. That was actually fun.

Then it was Science Class. I liked Science Class. Mr. Clark is nice. He asked me how I was doing because I wasn't in yesterday. I lied and told him I was fine. For the whole class, he did a lecture and once again, Clyde fell asleep.

He woke up when class was over.

"Feeling better Mr. Langer?" Mr. Clark asks once he wakes up.

"Much better sir." Clyde remarks. "I'll see you later Luke." Clyde says and I sigh. I was supposed to get up and go lunch now. I didn't want to. I knew Archie would be waiting for me.

I can't wait to see you at lunch.

Of course, he knew Clyde wouldn't be there. I guess he saw that as there was no one to protect me. I didn't want to go. And it's not like I could get any lunch since they took my money. I wish I could just stay here.

"You alright, Luke?" I look at Mr. Clark.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I say.

"Shouldn't you be rushing off to the cafeteria with the rest of your mates?" Mr. Clark asks.

"Clyde's got detention." I say. Sure, Maria and Jessie were there, but I could tell they were like best friends or something like that. I didn't want to be a third wheel or whatever they call it. And I didn't want to face Archie. He was going to hurt me. And sure, then I could call Sarah Jane to take me home, but I knew she didn't really want me to do that. I didn't want her to be mad at me. And I don't like being hurt. I don't want them to hurt me. But there's nothing I could do to stop them.

"Oh I see." Mr. Clark says and then looks out the door. I blanch at seeing Archie. Was he waiting for me? "Hey! You two! Get to the cafeteria!" He shouts at them.

"We're waiting for our friend, Luke, sir." David says and I flinch. They were waiting for me. I didn't want to leave. I was safe here. But I guess I had to go, didn't I?

"You better be off! Besides Luke has some work to make up for me." Mr. Clark says. I look at him and he winks at me. I grin; was he letting me stay here? I watch as both Archie and David left, not looking very happy.

"Those two are nothing but trouble." Mr. Clark adds as he sits down on his chair.

"Thanks." I say. I guess he could tell that they were waiting for me and why they were wouldn't have benefited me.

"Well you did miss notes yesterday, so I guess this would be a good time to get those down." Mr. Clark says and I nod. And since I wasn't there, I probably should at least read them. I took out my notebook and he pulled up the slides for me to copy. I copied them down into my notebook.

"You can eat while you do that." Mr. Clark says as he then takes out a chip and eats it. I take the apple out of my backpack and take a bite. At least I still had that. They didn't check my backpack. Or else I'd have nothing.

"Is that all you have Luke?" Mr. Clark asks me and I nod.

"I forgot my lunch money." I lie. I wasn't going to tell him it got stolen. I was scared of what they would do if I told on them. What if they hurt me more?

"Well you can have these if you want." Mr. Clark says and hands me a bag of carrots. They were good. I liked carrots. "…and here. Have a piece." He holds a bag of candy in front of me. I take a piece and put it down beside my apple.

"Thanks." I say. I like Mr. Clark. He's really nice and he's funny, especially after Clyde wakes up from his lectures. I haven't met the other teachers yet, but I know he'll probably still be my favorite.

"So how are you liking your classes?" Mr. Clark asks me as he switches to the next slide.

"So far they are okay. I haven't gotten passed this class yet." I tell him honestly.

"Why is that?"

"I went home early on Monday and Tuesday." I tell him. "I-I w-wasn't feeling too well." I guess that was sort of true. I didn't feel good. Archie and David had been picking on me so it hurt. I didn't feel good after what they did to me both days.

"Yesterday as well?" Mr. Clark questions and I nod. "Luke, are you sure you're doing okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay." I say. I wasn't, but I didn't want to tell him the truth. He couldn't help me. It would just be worse for me.

"Are those boys giving you any trouble at all? You can tell me or any of your teachers, you know? We're not just here to teach." Mr. Clark says.

I shake my head.

"No. Not really." I say. "I'm just getting used to this. That's all. I've never been to school before." I knew he'd believe that as there had been a news article about the Bubbleshock Factory. And Mr. Smith made it so I was the child of the owner and that they experimented on me or something. I guess that made sense to the public eye. And I guess it was true in a sense. Mrs. Wormwood did call me an experiment.

"Okay. But I'm here to talk if you ever want to." Mr. Clark says. I grin and nod. He was nice though. At least he was nice. I finished copying the notes and just finished the small bits of food I had. Then the bell rang and I quickly went to my next class. Which happened to be right across the hallway.

History was after lunch. I apparently had missed a few homework assignments, but Mrs. Troyer said I could make those up tonight for full credit. It seemed easy enough like Science Class. Read the textbook and answer the questions. This was easier as it was write down the Vocabulary words and definitions.

"You can sit next to Clyde." She says, pointing to a desk that was in the second row, on the far right. I grin. There's where I was going to sit anyways—well I was going to sit next to Clyde if I had the choice. Clyde came in just as the late bell rang.

"Jessie and Maria just asked me where you were during lunch. What happened? Was it Archie?" Clyde asks me and I shook my head.

"I had to make up some notes in Science. I was in there." I say.

"Okay well Jessie and Maria thought they did something. Jessie threw Archie against a wall. According to Maria, it was hilarious. She sent me a video." Clyde tells me. I grin a bit. That sounded funny and I guess they'd know how I felt earlier.

"No talking." I look up at Mr. Troyer looking in our direction.

"I'll show you later." Clyde whispers.

Maybe today isn't going to be as bad as I thought it was going to be.


Sarah Jane's POV

After coming home from following a lead on the story, I decided to see if I could manage to cook something. I needed to be able to cook. But once again, I started a fire. I sigh, I guess Luke and I were getting take out again. No. I'll take Luke out. He needs something fun. I knew he didn't want to go to school today. I almost wanted to tell him he could stay home again, but I knew he would have to go back some time. I really hope he has a better day. But if not, maybe a dinner out or doing whatever he wanted would maybe make the day end on a good note.

I decided to some laundry. I took Luke's clothes from his room and brought them down to the laundry room. I put them in the washer. But then I noticed the dryer had something in it.

I opened it and pulled out—bed sheets? I smelled them and they were clean. I pulled them out and then I found a pair of underwear and a pair of pajama pants. Those were Luke's. Were these bed sheets Luke's as well?

I took the sheets upstairs with me and pulled Luke's comforter back. Yep. These were his sheets. Though, I knew they had to be. These weren't mine and it wasn't like there was anyone else living here. Unless Maria decided to use my washing machine, but that was unlikely. Not without asking first, of course.

I put the sheets back onto Luke's bed so they will be ready for him when he gets home.

I then put the clothes he had in the dryer in his room, folded. But the thing was, it was only one pair of underwear and one pair of pants. That was it.

I mean, I think it's lovely for Luke doing laundry. But I don't think he was doing it because he wanted to. If he did, he would have had more clothes in the dryer.

I had an idea of what was going on.

But I wonder why he didn't tell me.

Was he afraid of what I might say? Was he embarrassed? I could understand that, but I hope he isn't afraid to tell me things. Accidents happen. I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened more than once honestly.

I guess I'll have to have a talk with him about it.

I look at the clock. Oh, it's time to go pick him up. I take out my mobile to make sure I just didn't miss one of his calls. No calls. Not from Luke, Clyde, or Maria. I sigh in relief. I guess that meant he got through the entire day.

I just hope it was because it was a good day. Not just because I asked him to get through the day.


I drive to the school and wait out front. The kids start pouring out, but I stay in the car. Eventually I see Luke walking out with Clyde, his eyes glued to his phone. They were laughing at something. I smile. It was nice to see Luke happy for a change.

I step out of the car at seeing Luke wave at me.

"I can't believe we have a quiz on Friday." Clyde complains.

"You should have taken notes." Maria comments as she gets in between the boys. "Luke says you fall asleep during every class."

"I was catching up on my beauty sleep." Clyde replies and I laugh.

"Well you better get some more. It's not working." That girl, Jessie, comments which makes both Luke and Maria laugh.

"See you later, Luke." Maria says as she walks away with Jessie.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow." Clyde says. "I'll send you that video."

"Okay." Luke replies as Clyde runs to catch up with the girls. Luke then walks over and gives me a hug. It seemed to me that Luke had a nice day.

"Hi mum." Luke says. I guess he didn't care about me hugging him in public.

"Did you have a good day?" I ask as we get into the car.

"Yeah." Luke says. He seemed to really mean it. And I would definitely believe it, based on what I just saw with Clyde and the girls.

"I told you things would get better." I say and give him a kiss on the cheek before I turn the car around and drive home. Luke goes on his mobile for the short car ride back home which was good in a way. It gave me a few moments to prepare for what I was say regarding his bed sheets. I hope I don't upset him when I ask.

We go inside and he goes upstairs to his room. I give him a moment before I go up. By the time I got to his room and knocked, Luke had changed his shirt.

"Luke, can we talk?" I ask and he nods. He sits down on the edge of his bed and I sit next to him. I think quickly of the best way to come out with it. "I'm going to ask you something and you'll be honest with me right?" I ask. I had to make sure Luke wouldn't try and deny what I already know.

Luke nods at that.

"Did you wet the bed last night?" I ask and Luke looks away from me.

"Yes." Luke says after glancing behind him at the sheets that were put on his bed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask. I just wanted to know. Luke probably was up because the storm—or maybe he was up because he thought he needed to take care of the sheets. And then as he was going back to bed, the storm startled him.

"I don't know." Luke answers. But I knew that was a lie. I'm sure he had a bunch of reasons for not telling me. "I thought you'd be mad."

"Luke, I couldn't be mad at you." I rub his back and he looks at me with this look of embarrassment clearly on his face. "And accidents happen. It's okay." Luke grins but it quickly faded. Then a thought came to mind. I don't think this is the first time he's wet the bed. Luke knew what to do with his sheets and clothes.

"Luke, did you wet the bed when you were with your foster parents?" I ask and he nods. "What happened?" I ask and Luke starts to squirm. Eventually he just shrugs. "Luke. Tell me."

I needed to know what happened.


Luke's POV

I woke up after having a nightmare. Though I realize they aren't much different from what I'm living. I sleep in a cellar on an old mattress. I don't get any food and both Silvia and George find any reason they can to beat me.

I miss Sarah Jane.

I put my hand down and I'm wet.

Oh no, not again.

I remember this happened once when I was at the children's home. I could tell the lady was annoyed at me and then somehow all the other kids found out and laughed at me.

I haven't done it here yet. This is the first time.

Should I tell them?

I don't think they'll be happy.

Well I can't exactly sit in soiled pants and sheets, right?

But what if they beat me?

"You forgot to take the—" Silvia comes into the cellar. I could tell by her expression that she could smell it. "Oh shit—GEORGE!"

No! Why did she have to call him?!

George comes in and I knew by his expression that he could smell it too.

"Oh what the hell—?"

"I think he pissed himself—oh god it reeks!" Silvia says as she holds her nose. I looked away. I was scared. I knew he was probably going to beat me.

He threw me on the ground and started to beat me. It didn't last as long as I expected though. Only a few punches and kicks. Then he pulled me by my hair into the bathroom. He then came back and threw my bed sheets in the tub along with cleaning materials and a new pair of pants and underwear.

"You scrub them. And then in the morning you'll be cleaning every inch of his bathroom and that cellar." George says. He makes a disgusted groan before slamming the door shut.

I sigh.

I knew they had a washer and dry. It would be easier. I knew how to do laundry. But I knew they wouldn't want me soiling their washer and dryer with the bed sheets and clothes I had an accident on. So I wouldn't even mention it.

It might just make them angrier with me.

I don't want that.

I change into the dry clothes before getting in the tub and starting to scrub the sheets and my clothes. I scrubbed for hours. I also let them soak so they wouldn't reek any more. By the time I finished I could see light coming in from the window.

I was tired.

But I couldn't sleep.

They said I had to clean the bathroom and cellar. And they meant really clean. Which meant it had it be cleaner than they've ever seen it. It would probably take me all day.

I look out the window and sigh.

I didn't mean to do it.

But that doesn't matter.

It's times like this when I really miss the children's home.


"They beat me and made me spend the rest of the night in tub scrubbing my sheets. Then for the rest of the day, I had to clean the bathroom and cellar." I tell her. I give her the short version. I didn't really want to go through all the details.

I look up at Sarah Jane as she wraps her arms around me.

"You know I'd never do anything like that, right?" Sarah Jane asks and I nod. I knew she wouldn't hit me. She hasn't lied to me and she said she would never hit me. But that didn't mean she wouldn't be upset or mad at me. I don't want her to be mad at me.

I was scared of that.

What if she decided she didn't want me? Who would want someone like me? I'm thirteen and I wet the bed.

"I didn't want you to be mad." I tell her.

"I'm not mad." Sarah Jane says.

"Promise?"

"Promise. I just wish you would have told me." I nodded at that. She did say she wanted me to tell her things, but I didn't think this categorized as being hurt. I didn't think I had to tell her. But I guess she wanted me to talk to her about any sort of thing.

"It's alright. I know how to do laundry." I say.

"I guess that means you can help me sometime with that." Sarah Jane says with a laugh and I nod. I wouldn't mind. I used to have to do it by myself and whenever I messed up, they'd beat me. I knew Sarah Jane wouldn't do that.

I just wish I hadn't done it in the first place.

"Luke, it's alright. It was an accident. It happens." Sarah Jane says.

"I did it at the children's home once. They all laughed at me." I tell her. I don't know why, but I just came out with it. Weird, I felt better talking about it. Maybe it was because I knew Sarah Jane wouldn't judge me. It did feel easy to talk to her.

I felt her arms wrap tightly around me once more. Then she brought hands up to my head and she ran her fingers through my hair. I always found that comforting.

"Is that why you didn't want to have your friends here overnight?" Sarah Jane asks me and I nod. What if it happened again? They would laugh at me. They would think—I don't know. I like them and I don't want them to know about that. They won't want to be friends with me anymore. Who would?

"They'd laugh at me." I say.

"You don't know that." Sarah Jane says. I shake my head. Why wouldn't they laugh? "Now, we can figure this out." I look at her reluctantly. What was there to figure out? I don't even know why this happens. It doesn't happen often. It's just random.

"How?" I ask.

"Well did you go to the bathroom before bed?" Sarah Jane asks.

I shake my head.

"Did you have anything to drink before bed?"

I nodded. She made tea while we watched a film and that was around eight. Then I had a glass of water before I went to bed at ten.

"Were you stressed—were you worried about anything?"

I nodded.

"You said I had to go to school. I really didn't want to go to school." I admit. I was really scared. I still sort of am, but not as much as I was.

"Now be honest, but is this the first time this has happened since you started living here?"

I shake my head.

"It happened two other times." I admit.

"Well I see there is a way to help with that." Sarah Jane says hugging me tightly. I grin. I could see where she was going. I should go before bed. I shouldn't drink anything too close to bedtime—or at least, I shouldn't drink too much before bedtime. And I guess I could try not to stress myself out so much. Wait, how do I do that?

"What do I do about the stress?" I ask.

"If you're worried about something, come and talk to me. Talking about things can help. It can maybe help you feel better and I can help you with whatever the problems may be. Then maybe this won't happen. And if it does, that's okay." Sarah Jane says. I grin, maybe I could control this.

"Is it too late to say that I want to have my friends over?" I ask. It did actually sound fun. I was going to hang out with Clyde anyways, so maybe it would be fun. And if we could control this, maybe I won't have to worry.

"Of course. How's Saturday?" Sarah Jane suggests and I nod. That sounded good. "We can order pizza, rent a film to watch, and all that."

"You sure you don't want to cook?" I joke and Sarah Jane gives me a look before lightly tapping me. I laugh. Clyde was talking to me about jokes during Math. I think that was a joke.

"I think Clyde's already rubbing off on you." Sarah Jane comments. I guess that meant it was a joke.

"Is that good?" I ask.

"Oh yes, that's good." Sarah Jane confirms as she then wraps me into another hug. I was feeling a lot better now. "I love you Luke."

"I love you too, mum." I say.


A/N: Happy New Years! First update in 2017! So Luke had a decent day at school, but then came home and had to admit to Sarah Jane he was wetting the bed. And he's going to have his friends over for a sleepover. That will take place next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this. Please don't forget to review.