The next chapter of this ongoing story.
Baz watched over the now sleeping form of Lucas, as if protecting him from an unknown enemy. He didn't like Lawrence very much, he had always felt almost scared of him from the first day Baz had met the famous Dr Wolenczak. Lucas and Matt were both fast asleep. Baz tilted his head onto the back of the chair and closed his eyes, as if in pain.
'Why did I agree to let Lucas stay at his house?' Baz had a long kept suspicion of what Lawrence did to Lucas, but Baz knew that if he told anyone what he thought, Lawrence would ban him from seeing the kid again and Baz couldn't live with himself if anything happened to Lucas.
Just then a faint moan from Lucas caught his attention. Baz leaned forward and looked at Lucas, who moaned again and had now started to toss and turn in the hospital bed.
"Lucas, Lucas, wake up!" Baz gently whispered.
Lucas's only response was to thrash around even more, and make even more noise. Baz tried calling his name and holding both his hands to try and wake the youth up, but to no avail.
"No…No, please don't. Stop it, you're hurting her! Mummy, mummy, mummy! Nooooooooooooooo!" Lucas cried, before finally leaping up and into Baz's arms.
"Hey, it's ok. Ssshhh! You're safe now, no-one's gonna hurt ya'" Gradually Lucas's sobs slowed down enough for him to talk again.
"So what was that about? Do you wanna talk about it?" Baz comforted him. Lucas shook his head.
"I can't remember what the dream was about. It was a nice but then it turned nasty and horrible." Lucas stammered, still shaking.
"OK," Baz looked thoughtful as he laid Lucas back down on the bed again.
"Can you stay with me, just till I fall asleep?" Lucas meekly asked, looking at the covers as he did so.
"Yeah sure, kiddo. Do you want me to tell you a bedtime story?" Lucas looked at Baz in shock and amazement. "No seriously. I used to do this all the time when you were little, you used to love it." Lucas looked doubtful, but didn't protest as Baz began his story.
"This is called the three little pigs, but this is the wolf's version. Now everyone thinks they knew the story of the three little pigs, and how the mean old wolf blew down their houses, etc but that is not how the real story went. The reporters, who came from the sun, got it all wrong (no change there then). You see the wolf was in his house baking a birthday cake for his dear old grandma. He had all the ingredients he needed- except some sugar. So the wolf thought to himself,
'I know, I'll borrow some from my new neighbours, three little pigs, as the buses have stopped going into town now.'
So off he trots to the first little pig's house and says,
'Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I need to borrow some sugar to make a cake for my grandma's cake. Can you help me?'
The pig answered,
'Not by the hair of my chinney, chin-chin! And I hope your grandma sits on some pins.'
Now when the wolf heard this, he was outraged.
'All I wanted was a cup of… ah…ah…achoo!' All of a sudden the house had disappeared. 'Drat that straw. I wish I wasn't allergic to it! Oh dear, what have I done?' The wolf said, in horror. He hadn't meant to blow down the house. Then the wolf thought to himself,
'Hang on, the pig is dead, so he wont mind if I borrow some of his sugar. Problem solved after all!' So the wolf collects the leftover sugar, and goes back to making his cake. Half and hour later, the wolf runs out of sugar again. So the wolf thought to himself,
'I know, I'll borrow some from my new neighbours, the little pigs brother,'
So off he trots to the second little pig and says,
'Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I need to borrow some sugar to make a cake for my grandma's cake. Can you help me?'
The pig answered,
'Not by the hair of my chinney, chin-chin! And I hope your grandma sits on some pins.'
Now when the wolf heard this, he was outraged.
'All I wanted was a cup of… ah…ah…achoo!' All of a sudden the house had disappeared. 'Drat that grass. I wish I wasn't allergic to it! Oh dear, what have I done?' The wolf said, in horror. He hadn't meant to blow down the second house, either. Unfortunately the second little pig had no sugar, so he trotted off to the third little pig's house, where the house was made up of brick.
'Little pig, little pig, let me come in. I need to borrow some sugar to make a cake for my grandma's cake. Can you help me?'
The pig answered,
'Not by the hair of my chinney, chin-chin! And I hope your grandma sits on some pins, I saw what you did to my brothers.' And with that, the pig shoved a load of pepper through the letterbox and onto the wolf.
The wolf once more was outraged and, before he could stop himself, he began to sneeze out of control. The third pig called the police about an out-of-control wolf and soon the papers and the police were here, so you can see it really wasn't the wolfs fault at all." Baz finished.
Lucas was in hysterics at this point by the ridiculousness of the story and carried on laughing for five more minutes. After he had stopped laughing, Baz asked
"Do you think you're ready to go back to sleep now?" Lucas nodded his head and snuggled down underneath the covers and was soon fast asleep.
Baz smiled down on the sleeping child, before checking on Matt and falling asleep on the cot between the two beds.
****
The next morning Lucas woke refreshed from his sleep and found his doctor looking over him.
"Hey, wassup, doc?" Lucas joked.
"Oh, you're awake. It's half three, you've been asleep just under 32 hours." The Doctor replied, smiling. Lucas looked shocked. "But don't worry. It's normal for people with head injuries to sleep a long time, it shows they're getting better." Lucas just nodded; as the doctor finished shinning a torch in his eye and testing it's reaction. "Well, you're definitely looking a lot better. I think you might actually be allowed home today."
At the mention of the word home, Lucas started to panic as he remembered Lawrence's threat, but the doctor didn't seem to notice as he scribbled down notes on a clipboard and then left.
'No, don't wanna go home, don't wanna go home, he'll kill me if I do," Lucas thought, gently rocking backwards and forwards. 'He'll kill me, I know he will.'
****
Later that same day, Lucas's worst nightmare came true as he walked with Baz and Matt up the drive to his father's house. Lawrence lived in a lonely mansion on top of a massive hill that looked like it belonged in a horror movie. His father was silhouetted against a window waiting inside the house, watching for a moment to strike from his position. Just then the silhouette disappeared and out came Lawrence, smiling a deadly and dangerous smile.
"Thanks for taking care of him, I just couldn't get out of work in time." Lawrence said to Baz.
"Well I guess it's time for us to go home then." Baz crouched down, so he was about Lucas's height, "Well pal, if ya' ever need anything you know where I am." Baz whispered as he hugged Lucas goodbye.
"Yeah, see ya'. I'll miss you. Come back and visit us soon." Matt added, also hugging Lucas.
"Will do! Bye, I'm going to miss you too." Lucas added, nearly crying again. Lucas and Lawrence waved goodbye to Baz and Matt, as they headed down the driveway, stopping only once to wave goodbye again. Lucas watched them go, with a tear in his eye,
"Get your stuff inside, quickly!" Lawrence was calm at the moment, but Lucas knew that was only a show on the outside. Lucas meekly obeyed and, dragging his luggage into the house, Lucas was surprised to find himself fly into the wall by a blow from Lawrence.
"You're worthless, did you know that?" Lucas nodded as he felt himself being lifted by his neck and up the wall. Lucas was struggling to breathe, due to the enormous pressure exhorted by Lawrence's fist and the wall. At last, Lawrence let his grip slacken and he headed off to the kitchen. Lucas gathered his breathe, before grabbing his luggage and bounding up the stairs two at a time, into his tiny room. Lucas collapsed on the bed, feeling dizzy again from the strangulation he had received. He was so busy concentrating on his breathing, that he didn't hear his door open and close until it was too late and Lawrence had pounced on Lucas, a gun in one hand. He began to scream terrified at what was going to happen to him.
"Scream all you like, there's no neighbours to hear you." Lawrence shouted, his face red with anger as Lucas struggled to get away from Lawrence and the bed.
"Get off me, get off me, please!" Lucas begged, but all that earned him was a punch from the hand, which held the gun.
Lucas cried out in pain, as the gun connected with the side of his face. Lawrence hit him again with the pistol, but this time on his ribs. Lucas felt one of his ribs break as he screamed with agonising pain. Lucas stopped struggling, as it was just provoking his father to hit him even more. Lawrence was pleased with the result and began to smile a deadly smile.
"See, that wasn't too hard was it?" Lawrence asked in a patronising voice.
Lucas just shook his head. Lawrence suddenly leaned across Lucas's bed and grabbed his pillow. Suddenly Lawrence pushed the pillow over the nine-year-olds face, gently suffocating him.
"See what happens when you leave me all on my own? I get worse and worse. I really did miss you Lucas, but now I'm getting quite bored of having you around and you see, I really don't know what to do with you, except…" Here Lawrence paused, and pretended to think. "… To kill you."
Lucas's heart was in his mouth; surely his father wasn't about to kill him. Lucas started to scream into the pillow and struggle afresh as he saw the gun press painfully against the side of his head.
'Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me,' Lucas's plea went unheard as he heard the cocking of the safety on the gun. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and prayed a silent prayer. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Lucas let out his breath as the gun was removed from the side of his head. Then the pillow was removed, leaving Lucas gasping for breath, his mouth wide open. Lawrence didn't hesitate and quickly put the gun in his son's mouth, before he realised what was happening and put the pillow over the top of the gun.
"All I gotta do is pull the trigger, and you'll be no more. No more Lucas Wolenczak, not like many people would notice a little screw up like you anyway. You made my life hell, ever since you were born you messed things up for us and nothing has changed. You were worthless then and you're a worthless son of a bitch now."
There was a pause, as Lucas saw black dots form before his eyes.
"Shall I kill you, or not? Hmmmmm, I don't know about just yet. Maybe later." Lawrence suddenly pulled back the pillow and put the gun in his waist belt, after latching on the safety first.
"You were lucky this time. But next time you mess up, I swear I'm gonna shoot you first and ask questions later. If there is a later, that is." With that Lawrence left the room, leaving Lucas crying on the bed.