Part 2/5

of Childhood Dreams.

November 1

7:36 PM

Fox arrived home, still slightly damp. He opened the door and looked into the kitchen where his parents usually were. Teena was sitting at the table alone drinking coffee, ignoring the world around her. 'Maybe dad's not home!' he thought for a fleeting moment. Maybe today he would be spared. But then something caught his eye. He looked at the corner of the kitchen near the stove... and there was his father. He too was sitting in a chair but his expression was by far more deadly than his mother's.

"Fox." he growled

"D-dad...I know your mad but-"

"Mad! Oh-ho-ho! I'm WAY beyond mad! " he said angrily standing up out of the seat, approaching Fox at a hauntingly slow pace.

"Just let me explain-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY OF YOUR EXCUSES!" spat Mr. Mulder, punching his son in the stomach. The force of the punch sent him flying backwards into the closed kitchen door. He was on a adrenaline rush from all the booze he had drank, and Fox knew that he was in for a bruising. Mr. Mulder picked his son off the floor and sent another punch breaking his nose. Fox yelped in pain but knew to shut up. Crying only meant another punch in the face.

He got right in Fox's face, the sent of alcohol fresh and pungent, and growled "Go to your room and don't come out until I say so. Get packed, we're going out." He let go of Fox and went to the fridge for another beer. Fox sat there on the floor slumped against the door, nose bleeding and stomach aching. He looked up at his mom who was staring intently into her coffee, having no reaction at all to the scene that just happened.

"GO!" screamed his father, smashing an empty beer bottle against the counter.

Fox got out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs, tears fighting to get out. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop them from falling.

Once he was safe in his room, he sat on his bed to think for a minute. 'Pack my bags? Where the hell are we going? Is he going to get rid of me the same way he got rid of Sam? Oh no! I don't want to be taken! Not now! I want to be with Dana and her family! Oh how I wish I could be there. I never have to worry when I'm there. She makes me feel safe, loved, wanted. Maybe I should call...'

But there was no time to think now. He knew not to push his father when he's mad. Calling the Scullys now would be the end of him for sure. Fox got up and got his little suitcase out from under his bed. He packed for about two days worth, but who knows if he even really needed it. He didn't know how long they would be gone, but he wanted to be prepared. Blood started to drip onto his hands and arms as he finished packing and remembered his bloody nose. He was so numb to the pain he completely forgot it was bleeding. As he plugged a tissue into his broken nostrils, he fell back onto the bed. He was exhausted from the entire day without even realizing it. In fact, the last time he slept was the day before Halloween. Another thing he was numb to- sleep. If he didn't watch out he'd become numb to life. As he pondered what else he was numb to, he slowly drifted off.

Fox was in the pool with the Scully children. Dana looked so beautiful in her emerald green suit, and her smile lit up the room. He was as happy as anyone could ever be! Then it grew dark, and a foreboding feeling came over the entire room. Fox looked up and everyone was gone. He wasn't in the pool anymore, he was in the middle of an ocean, all alone. Then he saw his father's face, screaming at him. Fox covered his head in fear of getting another beating. He heard something being pounded on, but he couldn't tell what. If it wasn't his head being knocked on, what was it?

November 2

2:27 AM

Fox was awoken by the pounding on his door, he looked at the clock, 2 in the morning. 'So that was what the pounding was.' he thought. He had slept for 7 hours. Unusual for him, but then again, what the hell was USUAL for him anymore? He grabbed his bag and answered the door. His father had a bottle of vodka in his hand and said through a drunken slur, "Get in the car."

Fox followed his dad to the car. It was one of the darkest nights he had ever experienced. He couldn't believe only a few hours before he went swimming with Dana and her family. Just thinking about her made he feel a little bit better. As he and his father made their way out the door, they walked past the kitchen. Fox looked inside to see if his mom was in there. As usual, she was sitting there with a cup of coffee, not taking her eyes off of it as the stem expelled. Fox desperatly wanted to yell out to her, say something to her to make her stop him. But the opportunity passed when his father grabbed him by the arm and growled in his face.

"Come on!" he yelled, throwing Fox out of the door. Good thing the neighbors were asleep or they would have thought the Mulders really were crazy. None of the neighbors really knew about anything that happened in the Mulder house, they only knew the rumors. His father threw the bags into the back of the car and threw Fox into the front seat.

"I guess I call shotgun." he said, mostly to himself.

"Shut up boy." said his father, slamming the door and staggering to the driver side.

Hours had passed, and they were still driving along the back roads. Fox had lost count of how many hours had passed but the only thing he did know was that they were driving past farms and fields that he didn't recognize. His dad wouldn't let him sleep but it didn't really matter at this point, he was to afraid to fall asleep. His eyes just concentrated on the road his father kept swerving on and noticed a sign saying the toll booth from Rhode Island to Connecticut was only 1 mile away. 'Wow,' he thought, 'how the hell long have we been traveling?' But at that speed, anything was possible.

Then his father's drunken haze got the better of him and he fell unconscious at the wheel. The car went spinning out of control! Fox grabbed for the wheel and tried to wake his father at the same time, although he knew the alcohol had a stronger affect than his yelling. Then he looked through the windshield and felt that sickening felling again, like the one he felt in his dream. He saw a bridge coming up ahead of them with a sign next to it warning them that the bridge was too weak to cross. Fox desperately tried to swerve off the road but there was nothing he could do. They went spinning into the side ramp, the wood holding the guardrails up collapsing when the car ran straight into it. They crashed off the side of the bridge and slowly fell head first into the cold, deep water.

The front windshield cracked on impact and Fox knew from all the TV he watched that he had to get them out of there fast before the car filled with water. Fox unbuckled himself and then his father and knew that the only chance of survival was by breaking the glass of the windshield all the way through. Using his foot, he stomped and stomped on the glass until his foot finally went through, creating a hole big enough for them both to climb out of. He pulled himself out first, slicing up his hands. He yelped in pain but knew that their lives were in danger, so he ignored the pain for now. At that moment the car went completely underwater. Fox held his breath and knew that the they had no time to waste now, the clock was ticking. He had to get his father out! No matter how much he had beat him, he had to save him. After all, the man was still his father through and through. Fox grabbed his father by the shoulders trying to drag him out. Time was running out and they still hadn't reached the bottom of the river. Fox's entire body ached and his mind began to black out from the lack of oxygen. He had managed to get his father out of the car and was trying to drag them up to the surface. Using one hand to steady his hold on his father and one used to swim up, he tried to continue on. They were almost there, Fox could almost breathe the air! But before he could break through the surface and take that first breath, he entered into a black oblivion.

Some time later, Fox awoke on the shore.

"Where am I?" he asked the world around him. He wanted to get up but he couldn't move. He felt something cold around his legs and looked down. He was still halfway in the water, his torso on the rocky bank, his legs floating in the current. Then it all came back to him... everything. His father taking him out in the middle of the night for a drive, him blacking out at the wheel, the bridge, everything. Slowly Fox had enough strength to balance himself on one shoulder and looked out on to the river. The tail end of the car was sticking out, bobbing up and down like a buoy in the middle of an ocean. Wood from the railing of the bridge was everywhere, the suitcases and clothing were spread out all over, and trash littered everywhere else. Where could his father be? Had he survived and left him there to rot? Then he saw him a few yards away floating face down in the water. He was dead. Fox collapsed back on to his back and started to cry. After all he had done to try and save the man... completely worthless. He wanted nothing more then to leave this place forever and never come back. He tried to stand up, but his legs wouldn't obey.

"This is so unfair! I'm only 17 damnit!" he screamed to the night sky. He violently began to cough and sputter, water emptying out of his lungs. He regretted screaming like that and his lungs felt as if they would collapse any second. The pain made it hard to think. He probably had a concussion and his whole right leg was broken...great. 'Wait...the phone!' he thought. He dug through his pocket. 'Please work...' he opened it and it made the music it always did when you turn it on. Oh the sweet sound of the phone! But he couldn't think of any number...not even 911...only one number rang through his head.

"Hello?" came her sweet voice.

"Dana..." he coughed out.

"Fox!"

"...help..."

"Fox? What? Help? We're coming over!"

In the background he heard, "Why does he need help?"

"What happened?"

"Is he ok?"

"Was it his dad?"

"No...not...at...house..." he rasped out. The blood in his mouth made him sick.

"Your not at the house? Then where are you?"

"Car... 's cold..." he whispered. "Can't...move..."

He heard a click then heard Missy's voice. "Fox? What happened?"

"Car...water..."

"Water?..." Charlie looked out the window, "Damn, it's starting to snow! He'll suffer hypothermia if we don't get him!" He had just studied about it in Science class and was glad he paid attention that day instead of drawing on the back of Megan Jones' T-shirt.

"Fox where are you?" asked Bill, concern spilling out of every word.

"...water..." he said "...'s cold..." his voice quivering in pain, fear, and remorse.

"Are you hurt?" asked Dana

No response

"Fox!"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you hurt?"

"mmm-hmmm..."

"Are you bleeding?"

"mmm-hmmm."

"Where's your father?"

"...dead..."

"WHAT!"

"Fell...asleep...car...crashed...bridge..." he managed to rasp, before he fell into unconsciousness.

"Fox...Fox! Damn..." shrilled Missy.

"What do we do now?" asked Bill, trying to think of a plan to save his friend.

"Charlie, you and Bill check all the bodies of water near a road on the west side. Missy, you and me are going south." Dana ordered. She was so pissed at Mr. Mulder that she was damn well going to see Fox alive no matter what she had to do.

They nodded in unison. Bill and Charlie got in their car and Dana and Missy ran towards theirs.

End of part 2/5