Eddie Augustine sat on a secluded bench in the park, waiting. To say that he had been shocked to get a phone call from Lucy Messer would definitely be an understatement. He never thought he'd hear from her again, and yet there he was, waiting for her to meet him.
Looking to his right, he saw her walking to him, and he had to laugh at how paranoid she looked. Of course, he'd heard about the shit she'd been through, so he didn't exactly blame her for looking like that. He'd probably be a bit paranoid himself it he'd been in that shooting.
"Hey beautiful," he greeted her. She only glared at him and sat on the bench next to him. "Oh come on, what kinda greeting is that?"
"It's not like we're friends," Lucy stated. Eddie shrugged, then scooted closer to her.
"You're right, we haven't been friends since you broke up with me. And tell me Miss Messer, why was it you broke up with me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Because I found out you're a drug dealer," Lucy said, looking away from him.
"Obviously you don't mind drugs anymore," he said, smirking at her, "You know, I'm pretty surprised you called me for this. I mean, Lucy Messer is actually turning over to the dark side? I never thought I'd see the day!"
Lucy laughed bitterly, then she turned to him and asked seriously, "So you got the stuff?"
"That depends. You have the money?"
Nodding, Lucy reached into her purse and pulled out a wad of cash. She handed it to Eddie, then watched as he counted it. He shoved it into his pocket, then he pulled out a container of prescription pills. Lucy tried to take it from him, but he held it back.
"Not so fast. I really don't think the money's enough. I think you need to do something else in order to get this," Eddie said.
"What the hell, Eddie?! I have you the damn money, what more do you want?" She tried to reach for the pills again, but Eddie shoved them back in his pocket.
"I want you," he said, a smile forming on his face.
"You can't have me," Lucy said firmly.
"Then no pills for you," Eddie said, standing up. "I don't see what the big deal is. We've dated before, and I'm not even asking to date you again. I just wanna sleep with you."
Lucy thought about it for a moment. She'd never had sex before. Was she really willing to give up her virginity for drugs? Although, how bad could it be? When her and Eddie had dated a couple of years before, she had really liked him. He was cute, charming, and had an incredible personality. Maybe if she just thought of that, then it wouldn't be so bad.
No. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't do it.
She stood up, glared at him again, then began to walk away.
"Come on, Lucy! How desperate are you to escape?" Eddie asked. He watched as Lucy stopped, then turn around. He walked closer to her and took her hand in his. "I can help you escape," he said in a low voice.
Staring at the ground, Lucy kept thinking. She needed to escape. That's the whole reason she'd called Eddie in the first place. He had what she needed to escape, and if she had to do something in order to get that escape, then she'd do it.
Looking up at Eddie, she nodded. He took this as a silent yes, and then he guided her back to his place.
As Lucy sat on her couch, staring at the tv in front of her, she knew that she had made the right decision that afternoon. Already the pills were having an effect on her, and she felt the calmest that she had in weeks. Sure, she also felt like a whore, but the shooting was shoved in the back of her head at the moment, and that was exactly what she needed. She didn't see Patrick, Elizabeth, or the massive amount of blood in her head. All she saw was, well, nothing. Her mind was pretty blank.
She'd been so spaced out that she didn't even hear the door open. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she must have jumped at least a mile in the air.
"Sorry baby, I didn't mean to scare ya," Danny said, laughing at how startled Lucy had been.
"Oh, it's fine," Lucy said, realizing that it was only her dad. "What's for dinner?"
"I'm gonna to order a pizza. You're mom has to work late tonight. She's working a rough case today. A teenage girl was murdered, and the worst part about it was that her extra-curricular activities involved doin' drugs all the time. It was horrible tellin' the parents, but it makes me thankful that I've got a daughter who'd never do that," he said, smiling and kissing Lucy's forehead.
Lucy knew it had to be paranoia from the drugs, but she couldn't help thinking that her dad knew exactly what she'd done today.
Did he follow me? Did he have Flack follow me? What the hell?!
Then the guilt set in when she realized what the ending of his sentence had been. He was proud of her for being the good kid. She then remembered what he'd told her a few months ago. They'd been talking one night, and he had admitted that when he found out that he was going to have a daughter, he'd been scared about having to deal with the stuff that he saw in his cases all of the time. He then said that Lucy was exactly the kind of daughter he'd prayed for.
Remembering that, and knowing what she had gotten herself into today, made her feel like someone just stabbed her in the heart. She'd taken the drugs in order to escape the guilt from the shooting, and now she was feeling a whole new guilt.
When were things ever going to go right for her?
A week later, Lucy was sent by her parents to pick up their dinner at their regular Chinese restaurant. That night, it was busier than usual, and she had about thirty minutes to kill before her food would be ready. Lucy headed outside to wait so she could be away from the crowds. She'd taken her daily dosage of pills, so it was a calm night for her. She leaned against the wall and stared at a text message on her phone when someone caught her eye. She looked up from the phone and gasped when she saw who the person was.
"Liam?" she asked, even though she already knew it was him. Liam turned his head and smiled when he saw Lucy.
"Hey!" he said. He headed over to her and stopped in front of her. "How are you?"
"I'm good," she lied. "You?"
"Oh, I'm doin' alright. Could be a lot better, but I'm getting by," he answered. Lucy nodded, trying to avoid staring at him. She instead stared at the ground. "You know, I never had a chance to thank you."
This caused Lucy to look up.
"Thank me for what?" she asked.
"For killing that son of a bitch. He deserved it, especially after killing so many innocent people. After killing Mary..."
His voice trailed off, and Lucy knew if he continued, he'd cry. Lucy didn't think she could handle seeing Liam cry, so she only nodded her head in response instead of starting an arguement about how she felt like what she did was horrible.
"So what's your chance of walking again?" Lucy asked, deciding it was best to change the subject. Although now that she'd started this new topic, she knew she'd have to acknowledge the fact that Liam was in a wheelchair. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been bleeding to death. Lucy didn't even know if he'd lived or not until a couple of weeks later. Her mom told her that he had lived, and he was in a wheelchair. Up until now, she'd hoped that it wasn't true, that he walking.
"I've got a twenty percent chance. That's horrible, isn't it? Why don't they just go ahead and tell me that I'm never going to walk again. Which I guess will be okay. I've gotten used to this," he said, pointing to the wheelchair.
"Why does it sound like you're giving up?" Lucy asked, "A chance is a chance. You could still walk."
"Yeah, and how would you know?" Liam asked.
"Because not long after I was born, my dad was shot in the back. The doctor only gave him a ten percent chance of walking again," Lucy explained.
Liam's eyes widened at what Lucy said.
"You're dad? No way! I remember when he taught us baseball in like, the third grade, and he didn't look like he'd ever been a wheelchair."
"Exactly. He didn't give up. He was determined to walk again, and he did," Lucy said. She bent down so she was eye level with Liam, then took his hand, "You just can't give up. You've gotta keep going. If not for yourself, then for Mary. She would have wanted you to walk again."
Liam thought about what she had said, then smiled and squeezed her hand.
"You're amazing, you know that?" he asked.
Lucy gave him a huge smile, the first real smile she'd given since the shooting. And for the first time since the shooting, she actually felt good, and she knew that it wasn't because of the drugs.
Yeah, I just had to throw Liam in at the end of this, just so you all would know what happened to him.
And I've determined that this story is only going to be ten chapters long, so only three more to go!
Keep up the reviews, please. I really enjoy 'em :)