Chapter Seven

Nathan suddenly awoke from a deep sleep. He slowly opened his eyes and scanned the room, noticing the TV still on and Haley sleeping soundly beside him. He silently cursed at himself for falling asleep in her room. As he got up from the bed and rubbed his eyes, he looked at the clock. It was too early in the morning for anyone in their right mind to be up and he couldn't quite remember what it was that had awoken him. He waited in silence for a second or two then heard it again. He quickened his pace and barged into his best friend's room, switching on the light. He paused for a brief second, surprised. Lucas was tossing under the sheets, yelling every few minutes. His voice was getting hoarser as he yelled and Nathan knew he was doing damage to his injuries. Knowing he'd be in pain from moving around so much when he finally woke up, he bent over and shook his friend's shoulder gently. It didn't faze Lucas so Nathan shook him a bit harder. Nathan jumped a little as Lucas's eye opened wide and scanned the room nervously. He was very pale, drenched with sweat, and breathing heavily. Nathan hastily propped another pillow behind him so Lucas could sit up slightly. He sat down beside him on the edge of the bed.

"Luke man, are you okay?" he asked nervously.

Lucas just stared straight ahead and shook his head no.

"What happened…?" Nathan asked.

Lucas sat in silence for a minute, as if he was trying to stare through the wall, "I remember, Nate…," he said, barely audible.

Nathan quickly got up and picked up the phone, dialing the number that had become so familiar.

"Hey…Lucas needs you." He said, trying to stay calm. He hung up the phone and waited as his friend sat in silence.

Almost twenty minutes later, Nathan, Haley, and Deb stood silently in the doorway of Lucas's room. Haley tried to walk forward into the room to embrace her brother but Nathan held her back and put his arm around her.

"Not now, Hales…" he told her. "He needs to talk to her first."

They heard footsteps come rushing up the stairs down the hall and turned to see her quickly coming towards them. She brushed past Nathan's shoulder and smiled at him, walking into the room. She heard the door shut behind her as the three of them left and she walked over and sat down on the edge of Lucas's bed, taking his hand.

"Lucas…" she whispered, sympathetically embracing him.

He felt her squeeze the many bruises on his chest. Brooke held him in her arms, feeling his tears soaking through her thin shirt. She softly ran her fingers up and down his back, letting him tell her without words what he had been through that night. He finally pulled away and lay back onto his pillow. She lay down on her side facing him and gently stroked the stray hairs away from his face. Pulling her hand away, she noticed the blood on her fingers. She quickly took a rag from the nightstand and pressed it against the cut that had opened on his head. He winced slightly and stared at the ceiling as she tended to him. After a few minutes, she finally broke the silence.

"Luke…are you alright?' she asked quietly.

He shook his head and stared at her.

"I remember now…" he whispered, his voice crackled.

She nodded and rubbed her hand over his shoulder, trying to show him she understood.

Flashback

"Lucas, he's still there." Alex said worried.

Lucas looked into his rearview mirror and glanced at the car that had been following them since they left the river court. He put his arm around her and smiled.

"It's fine, babe. He's probably lost and just needs to find a town." he said trying to calm her fears, "see…there he's going now," a look of relief spread across his face as the car sped up and passed them.

He felt Alex sigh and smiled at her. Squeezing her hand he turned back to the road and instantly a bright light shone in his eyes from the side.

"Lucas!" Alex yelled.

The car slammed into them and sent them spinning across the highway until they finally hit a pole and stopped. It took Lucas a second to realize what had happened but he quickly forced himself back into reality. Reaching up he wiped the blood from his forehead where he'd been hit the steering wheel. He suddenly turned to face his partner seated on the passenger side.

"Are you okay?" he asked her anxiously.

She nodded her eyes full of fear.

"Let's get outta here…" he told her, taking her hand and climbing out the passenger side door after her.

They stood outside the mangled car and held hands, looking around.

"Look! It's like the guy turned around in the median just to hit us…" she observed as they stared at the other car in the ditch.

"I guess he knows what he did though…he ran off." Lucas said, pointing to the empty driver's seat of the other car.

"C'mon…let's get you to the hospital…make sure everything's okay…" he told her squeezing her hand.

He turned his head and out of the corner of his eye a figure came out behind them and jumped him, knocking Lucas straight to the ground.

End Flashback

Lucas slowly spilled the story to Brooke, slowing as he reached the end.

Brooke embraced him again, and he sat in her arms for what seemed like hours to him.

"Lucas…?" she started nervously.

He looked at her.

"What else happened…?"

"I…I don't know…" he replied feeling guilty for not being able to tell her everything.

Brooke saw the fear in his eyes and quickly hugged him again.

"No, no…it's okay, Luke. You'll remember." she encouraged him.

He laid back down beside her and she put her hand gently on his chest.

"Are you okay, now?" she asked.

He hesitated and then nodded, trying not to make eye contact with her.

"I'll be back…" she whispered.

She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Leaning against the wall, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor. Pulling her knees up to her chest she leaned her head back against the wall, she felt bad for Lucas. She saw the fear in his eyes when he talked about what he had dreamed about. The doctors had warned them that the medication to ease his pain would have side effects, one being his night terrors and their ability to make them even more livid with each passing time. She heard footsteps and quickly looked up and found Nathan standing over her. He sat down beside her on the floor and put his hand on her shoulder smiling.

"You okay, Brooke?" he asked sincerely.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just worried about him…"

"We all are…but he'll get through this. And you'll get through this. It just takes time."

"I wish I could help him more, you know? He's already gone through so much and now it's like he has to relive it all. I wish…I wish he could stop taking the medicine, make the dreams a little less…real, I guess." She confided in him.

He nodded, understanding where she was coming from.

"My mom asked when we left the hospital about that…She was worried this would happen…that when Lucas started to remember and that it would be too much for him to handle…"

"What did they tell her?" she asked hopefully.

"That it was pretty much impossible…" he started.

Brooke's face fell a little.

"…They said he'd be in too much pain to be able to stop taking them, that if Lucas didn't take them then he'd be in too much pain to sleep and sleep is the only thing helping him recover right now." Nathan told her.

Brooke nodded.

Nathan got up and stuck his hand out, helping Brooke to her feet.

"How about I make breakfast and you can hang out here again for the day." He offered.

"Sounds great, Nate." She replied, reaching to go back into Lucas's room.

Brooke sat on the edge of the couch in Nathan's room. Lucas's head lay in her lap and Nathan and
Haley were curled up on his bed. It was almost 3 in the morning and the movie was almost over. Lucas had been exhausted. He'd stayed awake all day, skipping the naps he usually took and even convincing Deb that he was strong enough to walk over to Nathan's room to watch movies. It had taken until 2 that morning before his body finally won the battle and he fell asleep. It was a little weird for them, Lucas usually fell asleep right after dinner when he was given the meds. But today, it was like he tried to fight them off, trying not to sleep. Brooke rubbed his shoulder as he slept spread out beside her. She sat silently, enjoying his company. As she rubbed his arm, he started to move. He turned back and forth until blood from the stitches on his chest bled through his shirt. She quickly called out to Nathan who awoke and got up from the bed. He came over and scooped Lucas up in his arms, carrying him over to the bed next to Haley. Haley heard the commotion and stirred, realizing what was happening.

"He's dreaming again…" Nathan said calmly.

Haley grabbed one of Nathan's shirts from the drawer and pressed it against Lucas's chest as Nathan tried to keep the boy still. Brooke lightly shook his shoulder, trying to wake him. He woke up in about the same way he did the last time, very pale and soaked in perspiration.

"Luke…did you dream again?" Haley asked.

He nodded as she rubbed his shoulder gently, really seeing the fear in her brother's eyes.
Brooke went over and sat beside Lucas, taking the shirt from Haley and pressing it against him. Haley went over and sat beside Nathan on the foot of the bed, snuggling close to him, watching her brother in fear. Nathan pulled her close, waiting for Lucas to be ready to tell them what he'd remembered.

After a few minutes of silence the boy swallowed hard and grabbed Brooke's hand as another piece of the story unraveled itself.

Flashback

Lucas yelled as his body hit the pavement. He rolled over onto the figure and punched him twice but the man was stronger. He stood and pulled Lucas up by his arm, hurling him at least a couple of feet. Lucas groaned as his already throbbing head hit the pavement and he heard his foot crack as it slammed against the concrete guardrail at the side of the highway. The man walked over and kicked Lucas hard three times in the chest before laughing. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Lucas stood up and jumped onto the man's back, sending them both onto the ground again. They both fought hard for what seemed to Lucas to be a lot longer than it actually was as he heard Alex screaming. After awhile, she ran over and tried to pull the guy off of Lucas.

"Allie! Don't! Go get help!" he yelled.

This only resulted in the man knocking his fist into Alex's knee, sending her rolling across the road.

"Luke! What about you?" she yelled, almost hysterical.

"Don't worry! Just go!" he yelled, as loud as he could.

He looked away and saw Alex get up, hoping she could get away. Just then, as he turned to watch her leave the man's fist made its way onto the back of his skull.

End Flashback

Lucas swallowed hard again when he finished as the other three sat and stared at him. Haley reached out and rubbed Lucas's knee letting him know how she understood how hard this was for him. Brooke ran her fingers through his hair and smiled slightly at him. The four of them sat in silence, trying to process the new piece of the story.

---

Lucas lay in bed and smiled as Deb turned to leave the room.

"You okay for the night?" she asked sweetly.

He nodded, regretting it as his head pounded.

She set the tray of food down by him and put her hand on his arm, smiling.

"The doctor's coming by tomorrow to check in…try and get some rest Lucas. You look worn out."
she told him before gently rubbing his arm and leaving the room.

When she was out of sight Lucas sighed in relief as he finally brought his hands and held his throbbing head. He rubbed his temples and breathed deeply. Reaching over, he took the handful of pills from the napkin on the tray where Deb had left them and stared at them all, lying in the palm of his hand as it shook. He carefully reached over adding the handful of pills to what now seemed to be a collection of them piling up in the top drawer of the nightstand. It had been almost 36 hours…since he'd taken anything…a full day and a half…since he'd let himself sleep. He took an ice cube from the glass of water beside him and rubbed it over his forehead. He managed to convince everybody that he was doing better, that he was sleeping well, that the dreams had stopped, that the pain was easing…that had proved to be the toughest part. Even the slightest touch from someone sent pangs of pain through his body, but he'd tried hard not to let it show. No one knew that he'd stopped taking his pain medicine to stop the dreams. No one knew that the story he was remembering seemed as if it was a song on repeat playing over and over, with no stop button. His head was spinning. He'd never known pain like this. But he wasn't going to let himself take the medicine; he wasn't going to let himself remember.
---
Haley lay in her bed and stared at the clock. It was almost five in the morning, way too early to wake Nathan. She gently pulled the blankets off of her and made her way across the room. She pushed the door open slightly and peeked into the room she'd come to know so well. Letting her eyes adjust to the dim light as she scanned her way through she felt as if her heart skipped a beat. She pushed open the door all the way and pulled the blankets off the empty bed as she panicked. Throwing the blankets back down, she quickly made her way down the hall and barged into Nathan's room. He heard her come in and jumped, startled from his sleep. She stood by the edge of the bed and shook his shoulder.

"Nathan!" she whispered firmly, yet frantically.

He opened his eyes and looked around, confused.

"Hales…?" he asked slowly, sitting up to face her. "What's wrong…?"

"Lucas…he's gone…"