Warped Love

Chapter 8

Note – Howdy all you readers out there in… umm… "Readerland". Yeah I know that was stupid, but anyway. I hope that you guys are still into this story, b/c sadly there were no reviews last update. But either way the show must go on. I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed or even taken the time to read this fic.

After lunch they left the kitchen and journeyed upstairs to a smaller, cozy room. The wooden bookcases full of books to be explored created a musty smell, inviting and comforting. The wooden floors seemed to moan with each step that was taken. They sat on the couch, a large television illuminating the room as the pictures danced across the screen. The couch was soft and fluffy allowing them to sink into its grasp. The curtains were drawn closing off the outside light, and the light fixtures were out as well. The colors playing on the screen gave the room color and form as it changed and swirled creating a new world with every passing moment.

Lucy flipped through the channels searching for an escape; she stopped when she landed on an I Love Lucy rerun. She laughed to herself as she looked at Carter who seemed to be drifting off again.

He looked blankly at the screen watching as the title formed within the grayish colored heart. His thoughts were on the irony. He sat up in his seat "I love Lucy," he paused as his eyes met hers. "I mean; I love I Love Lucy. It's a great show, never watched it much, but… " He stopped unsure of what to say now.

Lucy began to laugh breaking the uncomfortable silence. Carter relaxed as he leaned his head back drifting away again. He hadn't noticed how tired he was until he got into the car, but now he seemed to be fighting to stay awake. Lucy watched the losing battle as Carter succumbed to sleep once more. She looked at him, watching his still form, so peaceful and perfect.

She moved closer to him resting her head on his shoulder. Feeling safer with every movement closing the space between her and Carter. She relaxed beside him, watching the television allowing the grays, whites, and blacks on the screen to lull her into a deep sleep. The dull colors continuing their dance, making the sleeping pair look as if they were dolls. Still, as a commercial interrupted the absence of color they were alive again, consumed with the various colors.

"John?" a soft, concerned voice called from the doorway, to light to awaken either of them. Millicent walked over to the television and turned it off, then for a moment she gazed at her grandson and the women asleep beside him. She smiled at them, unsure of whether to wake them or allow them more rest. She understood that her grandson had a hectic life, but to be asleep in the middle of the afternoon just baffled her.

The room was a lot darker now that the television was off. Millicent made her way to the curtains that had been drawn earlier and opened them slightly, allowing streams of light to fill the room. As she opened the last of the curtains the sun fell perfectly on her grandson, he looked like an angel with the light glowing on his paler skin, his hair glossy from the refraction of the light. The sunlight ran down Lucy's side, but the way she was sitting kept her face in shadow. Millicent took one last glimpse at them before turning and leaving the room, as peaceful as she had first arrived.

Carter began to slowly shake his head as he began to wake up. He tried to lift up his arm to shield him from the bright light. But he was unable to move, as Lucy was resting beside him pinning his arm down. He slowly opened his eyes cautious of the light. He was squinting as he made out the person beside him, he could smell her sweet skin the scent of honey milk filled the air. It was so sweet and alluring it was as if he could taste it.

Lucy shifted slightly, falling into Carter's lap and resting there. Carter was still, not wanting to wake her, just taking in the perfection that she was and always has been to him. The room was almost silent. He could hear Lucy breathing, having a calming affect. But the wind could also be heard as it ran through the trees and played across the side of the house, causing Carter to shiver as if the wind were surrounding him. He could see the trees swaying as the wind came fiercely then died down again.

Time had no purpose in that room, it was forgotten. Carter just watched as the women he had fallen in love with lay peacefully. He could feel her every movement, as she moved for comfort Carter would become more alert to make sure she was all right.

But after a while Carter began to shift in his seat unconsciously, but stopped as he realized. Lucy was still sound asleep as Carter refrained from moving against his own pain. His back began to throb and ache as the position he was in became more uncomfortable. His legs were numbing under the pressure placed on his back, but the thought of moving and waking Lucy up seemed to high a risk to try. He leaned his head back as he began to take deeper breaths to help calm and sooth his pain. He looked up and for the first time noticed the absence of the television. He used his now free arm to wipe the beads of sweat forming from trying to ignore the pain.

He turned his head and looked at a grandfather clock situated between two bookcases. The time read that it was five thirty-eight. He thought for a moment and realized that he could take his pain medication now, since his last one was a couple of days ago. His back hadn't been this bad for a while, but the struggle must have jolted him more then he had thought.

The pain became too much as it felt like the couch was on fire. He tried to move her but as she stirred he stopped, once she had settled down again he moved out from under her. He missed the warmth she had brought to him. His knees threatened to buckle beneath him. His legs were gaining back feeling, as the pins and needles set in.

He leaned against the couch taking in a last look at Lucy before he left. He limped to a small table resting behind the couch where his crutches were leaning. He grabbed them and placed them beneath his arms, preparing to leave. As he feet hit the ground and he put even the slightest bit of weight on his back, he squeezed the crutches as if sending his pain into them.

He stopped and leaned against the railing by the stairs catching his breath and preparing to go down to the kitchen where his medicine would be. He backed away from the stairs and leaned against a wall as he began to experience vertigo. He slid down the wall while closing his eyes, and sat there waiting for the episode to pass.

He could hear faint footsteps coming closer, and the muffled sound of his name. "Carter? Oh my god Carter, are you ok?" Lucy knelt down beside him. And checked his pulse. "Carter, can you hear me?" he words were in gasps as she took shallow breaths. Her worry unfiltered through the words.

Carter opened his eyes to see Lucy's scared form before him. "Yeah." He said short of breath. "I just got a little dizzy, but I'm fine. I was just…" he paused thinking of a new excuse not wanting her to know of his pain. "Water, I was just thirsty" He laughed uncomfortably, "good thing, I think I'm dehydrated." His eyes were dull and tired; Lucy could see the pain behind them. She was silent for a moment then excused herself to get him water.

Carter sat there, alone, hating himself for letting Lucy see him like this. He knew she could tell. She came back with the water, which Carter took a sip of before Lucy interrupted him. "Uh, I saw your grandmother and she gave this to me to give to you." She opened her hand revealing the pill she was given. Carter was happy to be offered it, but he didn't want to accept it, fearing that somehow it would hurt Lucy. "Carter, please take it," she pleaded.

Carter smiled shyly, "all right, but only because you said please." He took the pill and drank the remaining water. They sat there silently waiting for the medication to take effect. Lucy sat beside Carter running her hand up and down his arm gently, letting him know that she was there. Carter looked at the floor still trying to escape the wavering feeling. "Thanks Luce" such a simple phrase, but meaning more. A lonely nickname unused for so long, almost forgotten. Now it lived on reborn and remembered. Lucy smiled and looked down searching for the spot Carter seemed to be staring at.

"What are you looking at?" Lucy said like a child. Carter lifted his arm and pointed to a spot a few feet from where they were sitting. It was a marking in the floor, a darkened spot. "What is that?" she asked in a more normal voice, but keeping a hint of the childish undertone.

Carter sat up and began to speak "It's a kind of long story, sure you're up for it?" Lucy nodded and followed Carter's example by sitting up. "Ok," he cleared his throat while staring at that spot again. "Well it happened a long time ago, I don't even remember how old I was, maybe four or five. It was Halloween and Bobby and me were playing around. Gamma let us carve a pumpkin together that year. We picked it out and everything. Usually we had a service that would send them over and they would already be carved so we had to beg to get one that we could do ourselves." Carter paused as he remembered how much they whined for that silly pumpkin.

"Well the entire time me and Bobby kept arguing about it. When we were picking it out, we wanted it to be perfect so we kept telling each other what was wrong with the pumpkin that was chosen. It was like a game; Bobby won. He found the perfect pumpkin round and orange with no blackened or browned spots. He teased e the entire ride home about how he picked it so he should get to cut it as well, but Gamma made him stop and promised me that we would all carve it together." He coughed lightly as he noticed the sadness forming in his voice.

"So we got home and we weren't allowed to carve it till after dinner, only causing us to repeatedly for the next hour driving everyone crazy. But she wouldn't give in and threatened not to let us carve it if we weren't good. So of course we stopped. We went outside for a while and waited for her to leave the kitchen, and as soon as she did we grabbed our supplies. Bobby carried the pumpkin, I carried two knives, a bowl, a candle, and some matches. We hurried upstairs to the bathroom and began to carve, very badly. We cut the top off and Bobby made me take all the insides out, I made a huge mess but neither of us cared we having too much fun. We took the knives and each carved one eye, mine was a circle and his was a triangle it looked pretty special. Then while I made the nose he made the mouth with fangs and squared off teeth. It was obvious that we had done it alone, my nose ended up all warped and off center." They laughed as they both pictured the disfigured pumpkin.

"So we dug a hole where we could place the candle, and well I didn't do a good gutting job so it was quite a mess on the inside of that pumpkin. So I put the candle in then it was time to light it and see our creation. So Bobby lit about 20 matches before he finally got one to stay and was able to light the candle. We were so proud of our work that we didn't care if we got into trouble we wanted Gamma to see it. So Bobby and I picked up the pumpkin and left our supplies behind. Well as we were going down the stairs we had to put the pumpkin down because the inside was starting to catch fire."

After looking at Lucy's shocked expression Carter continued the story. "Well we didn't put it down, as we actually dropped it. It landed right in that spot and seemed to explode there was pumpkin everywhere. Well we ran to the bathroom dumped out the inside of the pumpkin and filled the bowl with water, by the time we poured the water on the burning pumpkin the floor had caught fire. We sat right here, although this is where Bobby was and I would be where you are. We just sat contemplating what to do, what our next brilliant plan would be."

Carter and Lucy turned as the noticed a newly joined figure. It was Millicent Carter "No, no continue your story John." She smiled as she walked by them down the hall towards her room.

Carter began to laugh as he wondered what his Gamma was thinking at that moment. "Then what?" Lucy said anticipating what happened next.

Carter pulled himself back into the story. "Sorry, got a little side tracked. I got up and started to clean it up gathering as much of the pumpkin as I could into the bowl, I ordered Bobby to get towels so we could clean up all the water and juice. We were once again proud with our job as everything was clean, but that burn mark was still there. We thought we were so clever, we took a plant that was in the bathroom and placed it over the spot, it looked perfect to us. From there we just waked away and went down to wait for dinner. Well after dinner we went into the kitchen and everything started falling apart. Gamma asked where the pumpkin was and we both played dumb, but whenever Bobby trued to lie he would start laughing uncontrollably. So when Gamma took him aside and asked him again he just started cracking up blowing our cover."

Lucy sat silently but in her mind she was thinking about how obvious Carter was when he lied or was nervous. Then she returned her mind to the story, and the fun she was having just sitting and listening.

"Gamma knew that we were up to something and brought us upstairs to our rooms, well she noticed the plant at the top of the stairs and the smell as if something were burning, like a match that was just blown out. As she moved the plant that beautiful mark showed up and as soon as it did we both started talking. Rambling over each other's own version, fairly similar but with minor changes, like whose idea it was and stuff like that. Since we were in so much trouble we weren't supposed to go trick-or-treating, but Gamma could never punish us long. We were just too cute." Carter joked. He yawned lightly and leaned his head back, " that was so long ago. But when ever I would miss him I would just sit up here for hours."

Lucy heard about Carter's brother, but not much. She felt privileged and honored that he would share this with her. She smiled at hi and got to her feet, "Feel better?" Carter nodded a yes and grabbed hold of his crutches beside him and stood up, with some help from Lucy's guiding hands.

"So what do you want to do?" She asked as they made their way down the stairs. "Are you hungry, because I am," she said looking over at him.

"Sure, what would you like?" He asked.

"You know I could go for pie, no pun intended on this but I really could go for some pumpkin pie." She smiled and laughed. The came to the bottom of the steps, "no a good place that has pie?" She questioned still smiling.

"Well we could order one from a bakery, but we should really eat dinner first." Now he laughed.

"Oh, but I want it now, please, pretty please?" They both laughed this time. "Ok fine, so what do you want for dinner then?"

"How about we order in a pizza, pizza is always good. Then we can order a pie from BL bakery because they deliver. How does that sound?"

"Perfect, It's like you read my mind." They both walked to the kitchen laughing and making jokes.

Carter picked up the phone and ordered their food. Once he was done they both sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen as they had done earlier.

"So I told you my little story now it's your turn." Carter said jokingly, but still wanting to know more.

"Well" she paused teasingly. "I'm not that interesting, but if you catch me staring off at something and a story goes with it I promise that I will tell you." She smiled at him. She looked around the kitchen still amazed by the size, but Carter's eyes remained on her, but now it was endearing and wanted, she felt lonely without it.

Note - Hope you enjoyed. Next update this coming weekend. Hope that you all have a great week. Smile be happy and all that fun stuff.