A/N : Chapter two up already, that was soon, I'll let this rest for a few days now while I update my other stories, I promise the next chapter will be up within 7 days. Enjoy.
Chapter 2
It was 5am, Lucas' alarm clock went off, he immediately turned it off. He hadn't slept at all, after taking an hour long shower, he just sat up straight in his bed, staring into the dark void of nothing. He couldn't have slept even if he wanted to, his back was killing him, the fresh wound of the new carving on his back was stinging like hell and hurt too much to touch.
He put on his clothes and walked downstairs, everyone was still asleep, with the exception of John Harold, his father. John was sitting in his brown leather chair, holding a glass of scotch in his hand. He took a sip of it as he watched Lucas enter the room.
"Good nights sleep ?" John asked without even looking at Lucas. Lucas froze, he hoped his father wouldn't do anything this time, he hated it when it happened before school. It barely ever did happen then, but there had been moments. Lucas swallowed before answering.
"Yes, thank you, sir." He said as he walked to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for Haley and John. Shana always slept till noon or later, she didn't work, she didn't do anything that could be considered as good. John was an accountant, a welthy one, Lucas didn't know how they got so rich, he didn't care.
He got to the kitchen without John calling him back, he sighed in relief. He began to take everything he needed out of the cupboards and fridge. He was making eggs with bacon for John and two bowls of cornflakes for him and Haley. When he finished making his and Haley's lunch for school, she entered the kitchen. Which meant it was 6am, the time she was forced to get up.
She looked straight in his eyes, she could tell he had been crying, not because his eyes were red, but just because, she just knew, everytime, just as he knew she had been crying. She didn't say anything, besides greeting their parents, they were forced to be silent unless they were asked a question. It was their way of controlling them even more.
Haley sat down at the breakfast table, followed by John. It was another one of the things they were forced to do, Lucas was forced to make breakfast, then he, Haley and John sat down and ate their breakfast together, in silence. It wasn't so they would appear as a happy family or anything like that, he did it to torture them even more. He would always give them these smiles, evil smiles, telling them he owned them, both of them. They were trapped, not literaly, but emotionaly, they were trapped. He knew that and they knew it, and every morning he delighted in reminding them of that fact, sickening them in the process.
When 7am came, Lucas had already done the dishes and he and Haley were ready to leave for school. Every single minute in their life had been controlled by their father, he told them what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.
They walked up to the car and stepped in, Lucas flinged as his back brushed up against the leaning of the car seat, it didn't go unnoticed by Haley. Tears filled her eyes as Lucas started up the car and began to drive, without a word.
"He branded you again, didn't he ?" Haley asked as she watched his expression turn sour, she got her answer by that.
"It's nothing, I'm fine. What about you ? How's your burn ?" Lucas asked, he was more concerned about his sister's wellbeing than his. He had it all settled, he had written a little, and left it with his father's lawyor, telling him not to open it and give it to the police if he ever died or dissapeared. The lawyer had been a little thrown by this requst, but he had oblidged. This way, if anything ever did happen to Lucas, Haley would be cared for.
"It's fine, stings a little, that's all." Haley said, it was a lie, she had lied to her brother, but she didn't want to scare him. She had noticed this morning that this burn looked worse than all the others after it had just happened. She thought it could be infected, or maybe it was simply in her imagination. Either way, she would take care of it on her own.
Lucas parked the car at school and got out along with Haley. They walked to the school, staying close to each other, still avoiding the stares that continued to last. It was the second day and news of their weirdness in the gym locker rooms had already gotten out, they ignored the whispers and stares as they headed for their first class.
The first class of the day was English Literature, one of Lucas' favorite classes. He didn't have many favorite things in his life, excep Haley. But he related to the things they discussed in the class, it was the only class he would ever freely speak up in.
They sat in the back of the class, staying pretty unperceived by their fellow class mates. The only person Lucas recognized was the girl with the curly blonde hair he had seen earlier with that other girl and that guy. She looked into his eyes for a second before taking place in the seat before him.
The class started as most of the students listened very carefully and some drifted to sleep. Lucas smiled as he escaped in the quotes of books being read aloud, the only escape he ever had.
The teacher looked at a sheet of paper and began to read a sentence as he looked at his class.
"Malcom X. once said; 'You can't seperate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.'. What do you think about this sentence, was he right, or wrong ? Can one truly be at peace without freedom, or not ?" Mr. Simmons, the middle-aged, brown haired teacher asked.
Lucas and Haley's hand immediately went up, Haley loved this class too, and it was a subject they knew everything about. Several other students raised their hands aswell, while some remained in the background, not wanting to participate in this class.
"Miss. Sawyer." Mr. Simmons said as he pointed to Peyton, she lowered her hands as well as everyone else, and began to speak.
"I think he was wrong. I mean, look at us high school students, we don't really have much freedom, if we aren't being controlled by our parents, telling us where to go, then we're being controlled by our school, our teachers, telling us what do do. But that doesn't mean we're not at peace, I believe you can be at peace at all times, even without freedom." Peyton said, she wasn't sure if she believed her own words, but she liked to have an oppinion that controdicted the oppinions of the writers.
"Do you actually believe that ?" Lucas asked in wonder, he couldn't comprehend anyone would actually believe someone could find peace without freedom.
"You disagree, euh, mr...." The teacher tried to remember Lucas' name, but since this was the first time he had his class, he didn't know his name.
"Lucas James, and yes, I disagree." Lucas said as he looked at Peyton, looking into her eyes, he saw something he recognized in his own eyes whenever he looked in the mirror, hurt, pain. He wondered why that was.
"Why do you disagree with Ms. Sawyer's opinion, Mr. James ?" Mr. Simmons asked as he looked at Lucas, looking at Peyton.
"I don't agree with her opinion, but I don't agree with Malcom's opinion either. I agree that peace can not be found without freedom, because without freedom, you have nothing, especially peace. But I don't really agree with Malcom X because I don't believe in such a thing as peace, not for the living anyway." Lucas said, everyone was amazed by what he had said, they had no idea he was so deep.
"That's interesting, care to elaberate ?" Mr. Simmons asked, he quoted this quote of Malcom X many times over the years, he had gotten very different answer, but never one like this.
"I just don't believe that living human beings can truly ever be at peace. There's always one thing or another that keeps you from reaching that stage. In my opinion, the only people who are ever at peace are the people who are dead. When someone dies, people always say Rest In Peace, but no one ever tells a living person to Live In Peace, that's because that's simply impossible. The dead have peace because they leave all of their worries when they leave this world. The living can never truly be at peace, because they always carry their worries with them." Lucas said, he knew that it was a rather dark and gloomy answer, but he believed it to be the truth.
Before anyone could respond to that, Peyton spoke up again, this time on Lucas' side.
"I think he's right. I know what I said, but I must say I'd sooner believe what Lucas said than what I said." Peyton said, Mr. Simmons nodded, he was enjoying this little debate.
"I agree too, 100%" Haley said as she looked at Lucas and gave him a small smile, she knew exactly what he meant and how he got to that conclusion, she knew, because she had wished for that peace to come for years now and she knew he had been wishing the same thing.
"And you are ?" The teacher asked Haley.
"Haley James." She said, the only thing she was proud of in her life was the James name, the fact she shared it with Lucas and the fact it wasn't her father or mother's last name made her proud about at least one thing.
"Ah, Lucas' twin sister." He said and Haley nodded, but said nothing. The class continued and when the bell rang, it was time for Haley and Lucas to go back to reality, which completely sucked for them. They headed out the class into the hall when they heard someone call out to them.
"Hey, James twins!" Peyton yelled as she cought up with Lucas and Haley, they turned around to meet her, wondering what she wanted.
"Hey, I'm Peyton Sawyer." She said, reaching out her hand, Haley and Lucas both shook it, introducing themselves.
"So, Luke, is it okay if I say Luke (Lucas nodded, Haley also called him that sometimes), I really liked what you said in class today, it was really deep and meaningfull." Peyton said as she gave Lucas a smile, he however didn't smile back. He and Haley were always very cautious around other people, they had to be after what happened at their old school.
"Euh, so I wanted to invite you to come have lunch with me and my friends later, you interested ?" Peyton asked, looking from Haley to Lucas, but mostly to Lucas.
Haley didn't say anything, she didn't really care, she knew Peyton was only inviting them because she seemed to have a thing for Lucas or something like that, Haley didn't really have much experience in that area.
Lucas wanted to say yes, but he couldn't. He knew if he said yes, he would be making a mistake, yet again, and it would cost him and Haley.
"I'm sorry, we can't." Lucas said as he turned around, followed by Haley, leaving Peyton stunned. She couldn't believe that they just left like that, without saying a word, they just left. She sighed and went to find Brooke and Nathan, she wouldn't tell them about this, they were too curious about them already, she didn't want to ad to that curiousity, all though it was starting to affect her too.
Haley followed Lucas into their Math class and sat in the back, they never noticed that the girl with the straight, dark brown hair was no one other than Brooke Davis herself, eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Is this how it's gonna be from now on ? Reject every possible friend we could make ?" Haley whispered to Lucas as she was close to his ear, no one could hear it or was interested enough to hear it, but Brooke did hear it.
"I know it's not nice, but after what happened last time, we can't risk it. You know what they'd do to us if it ever happens again." Lucas whispered back, Brooke didn't know what they were talking about, but whatever it was, it seemed serious.
"I know, I know. But it was Gina's fault, she was our friend and she betrayed us by spreading all those rumors, who's to say that would happen again this time ?" Haley asked, neither she nor Lucas realized someone was listening in to their entire conversation.
"Yeah, but chances are it would happen again, so let's just drop it, okay ?" Lucas said, he knew he was being blunt to Haley, but she needed to realize that the only one she could trust was him and vice versa.
"Okay, it's dropped." Haley said as she let out a sigh. She knew why Lucas was so afraid to make friends again. She was afraid too, but she hated living her life in such complete isolation, it was slowly killing her.
Brooke wasn't sure what she had just heard, but she knew she needed to find out what those rumors were about. It was only a matter of time...
As soon as the class was over, Brooke went to find Nathan and Peyton, since they all had a free period this hour, they had a free period each day, most students went to study hall then or the library or they went to the courtyard and just hung out with their friends, as Brooke, Nathan and Peyton always did.
As she went outside and headed for her usual table, she saw Nathan and Peyton were already sitting there, laughing about something, she didn't know what, she didn't care.
"You guys will never believe what I just heard." Brooke said as she sat down, overexited.
"Hello to you too." Nathan said as he raised his eyebrows at her.
"Bite me." Brooke replied, sticking out her tongue, Nathan chuckled as Peyton rolled her eyes.
"See, much better." Nathan replied as he pretended to snap at her.
"Cute, now what did you hear ?" Peyton said, she wasn't as playfull as Brooke or Nathan, but she had her moments, but she was usually the one to be serious, Brooke always said she was jealous of that quality in her.
Brooke told Nathan and Peyton the conversation she overheard between Haley and Lucas in detail. She always had trouble remember things she learned in class, but when it came to gossip, no one remembered it better than her. They listened carefully as Brooke spoke, they found it strange too and even Peyton became more curious about what the twins were hiding.
"We need to find out what school they came from, today." Brooke said as she thought about the possible things Lucas and Haley could be hiding.
"And do what exactly ?" Peyton asked, she had no idea where Brooke was going with this.
"We skip school tomorrow and go to their old school. Pretend to be new students or something, we'll blend in and ask around about Haley and Lucas." Brooke said, Nathan smiled, he was liking this plan. Peyton however seemed worried.
"I don't know Brooke, it must have been something really bad that they had to move, maybe we should leave this alone." Peyton said, she didn't want to invade anyone's privacy, and by the sound of this plan, that was exactly what they were planning to do.
"Oh, come on P. Sawyer, don't tell that after everything I've told you you're still not curious ?" Brooke questioned her, when Peyton didn't answer, Brooke smiled, they were going through with the plan.
"I thought so." She said as she grinned.
"Okay, so how are we gonna find out where they transferred from ? I can't ask them, I invited them to join us for lunch and they kinda blew me of." Peyton confessed, Brooke's mouth widened as she heard that.
"You little bitch, you were so trying to get some info out of them, and then try and tell me you're not curious." Brooke said in pretend hurt tone, but everyone knew she just found it funny that Peyton had the exact same thoughts as her and Nathan.
"I'll find out, when I see Lucas I'll start some small talk with him and then casually ask him about his last school." Nathan said and Brooke said that was a briljant idea, the plan was being set in motion.
Lucas and Haley sat in the same corner as they did the day before to eat lunch. They weren't saying much, they used to talk as much as possible out of the house, but after a while, talking faded away and became simple stares. What would they talk about ? The abuse ? The torture ? The rapes ? No, they hardly ever talked about it, except for the usual 'are you okay' questions, they didn't talk about it.
Being in each others pressence was enough for them, it was comforting, knowing they had each other to lean on, but they hardly ever broke down infront of each other. They were both so busy blaming themselves for what happened to the other, that they were afraid to show too much emotion when they were together. They didn't realize it yet, but they were slowly drifting apart.
Before they could even look up, the guy with the raven black hair they had seen several times around school, had come and sat down at their table, without even asking.
"Can I help you ?" Lucas asked, he wasn't always very friendly towards people, not like Haley, who always was. But Haley understood where Lucas was coming from, why he didn't trust anyone, the only person they ever trusted stabbed them in the back, which worsened their trust issues even more.
"I'm Nathan Scott, Captain of the Tree Hill Ravens basketball team." Nathan proudly said as he reached out his hand and shook Haley and Lucas' hands as they introduced themselves, the same way they had done to Peyton.
"So, I saw your free throws, you're really good. Could I be I played against you and your team at your old school ? Euh, what was the school's name, I don't remember..." Nathan said as he pretended to trail of thinking of the name of the school, tricking Lucas into telling him without giving him any reason for suspision.
"ThornView High, but I didn't play on the team, so you must be mistaken me with someone else." Lucas said, without the knowledge that Nathan was pumping him for information.
"Oh, so, are you joining our team ?" Nathan asked, he couldn't just walk away right after he got the name of the school, he had to make some more small talk first.
"No, I don't have the time." Lucas said, he wondered where this conversation was headed, Nathan didn't seem like the type to just step up to the new kids and start hanging with them.
"Oh, I see. Well, if you change your mind, come find me. Nice talking to you." Nathan said as he stood up, winked at Haley and walked away.
"That was strange." Haley said, she didn't trust Nathan, he seemed to have a hidden agenda, she didn't want Lucas to get hurt even more then he already has.
"Yeah..." Lucas said as he looked at the table Nathan was walking towards, where Peyton and the brunette girl were sitting.
"I got the name, ThornView High, I'll look it up during 6th period, I've got computer class. I'll text you when I know where it is." Nathan said as he sat down, Brooke was content, Peyton was still a little worried, she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but she stayed silent as she listened to Nathan and Brooke bable about stupid meaningless things.
When Brooke was sitting next to Peyton during her homeroom class, she felt her phone vibrate, as did Peyton. They both got out their phones, carefully, so their b*tch of a teacher wouldn't see it and read the same message.
'Hey, got the adress. Some town callled, no guess there, ThornView, 2hr drive, leaving at 5am. Meet up at rivercourt. Be ready. X Nate.' The text message read, Brooke looked at Peyton, she seemed very exited, Peyton sighed, she had a bad feeling about this, as if they were going to do more harm than good by going there. Then again, you always do harm when you try to find out someone's deepest, darkest secrets...
As yet another day had passed, Lucas pulled the car up at the house. They had just finished having the same conversation they had each they, should they tell ? The conversation was always the same, a routine, a ritual if you'd like. Dreading yet another night home, they stepped out and went inside the house.
They went into the living room, to greet their parents, not knowing how long it would take for the bad things to begin this time, but when they entered the room, no one was there. Not Shana, not John, no one. All they saw was a note on the coffee table.
Lucas picked it up and read it aloud.
Shana was sick,
took her to the ER,
won't be back until morning,
don't leave the house!
John.
Yeah, right, sick, she probably overdosed again, John wouldn't be back for a few days if that was the case, but they would still have to do their usual routine, because they had no idea when exactly he would be back.
"I can't believe we have a night of, it's been months since we had one of those." Haley said in utter disbelief, the last time Shana overdosed was 5 months ago, they had spend 6 wonderfull days alone then, only to get the living crap kicked out of them afterwards because somehow they had been to blame for what had happened. Haley knew that would happen again, but still, it was worth it if she got a few nights of again.
"Yeah, I guess we have some time to rest." Lucas said as he sat down on the couch, he was exhausted, his back hurt, his legs hurt, his arms hurt, his head hurt, every fiber of his being hurt, just as it did with Haley.
She sat down too, thinking about the few blissfull days they would be left alone. She wondered if now was a good time to tell Lucas about the wound she thought was infected, because it wasn't the first time it had happened, it had happened once before, when she was 7, Lucas had taken care of it then.
"Luke, I have to show you something, I think it might be infected." She said as she rolled up her sleeve and revealed the ugly burn wound of the cigarette. It wasn't just red, but also showed signs of green and black collouration. It was indeed infected.
Lucas stood up, walked upstairs, got some disinfectants from the bathroom and came back with some clothes, a few bottle's of something, some bandages and a small boll of water.
"This is gonna sting." Lucas said as he dipped the tip of the white cloth in the water, he knew he had to clean out the wound as much as possible before he did anything else. As the water touched her burned skin, Haley flinged a little, it stung a lot.
"You okay ?" Lucas asked as he saw tears forming in the corner of Haley's eyes, she simply nodded and told him to continue.
"I'm gonna put some of this stuff on it (he showed her a yellow bottle with red stuff in it) to dissinfect it, it's gonna sting more than the water, but it should help." Lucas said, Haley nodded and braced herself for the pain to come.
As Lucas put the dissinfecant on her wound, she tried to pull her arm away, it stung that much, but he had anticipated that and had a tight grip on her arm, not tight enough to hurt her, but tight enough to keep her from pulling it away.
When he was done, he put a small bandage around it, it felt less painfull than it had all day long.
"Thanks Luke, you're a lifesaver." Haley said as she side-hugged him, carefully, so she wouldn't hurt his back. She didn't press him into showing her the fresh wound, she knew he would show her in time.
"If dad isn't back tomorrow, I'll do it again in the morning, before school, just make sure to keep it dry." Lucas said as he stood up and cleaned everything he had used up, so there would be no evidence of it.
"Why do they do it? Is it because we're addopted? Or because we really are bad kids?" Haley asked her twin brother, small tears running down her face.
"I don't know, probably both, maybe neither. I don't know, try not to think about it too much. Concentrate on something good." Lucas said, all though he knew that was impossible, if Haley was anything like him, which she was, then the thoughts of all the things that happened to them kept running through their minds, like a movie they could never shut off. The memories were in there, there was no way to forget them or ignore them, they were haunting them, taunting them even, driving them slowly over the edge...
It was 4.30am when Peyton arrived at the rivercourt, she wasn't able to sleep, so she figured she might as well could make it an early start. Much to her suprise, she saw Nathan and Brooke were already there, appearantly they hadn't been able to sleep either.
"If we leave now we'll be able to get some breakfast before infiltrating in the school." Nathan said as he threw his keys in the air and cought them with the same hand.
"Infiltrate ? You make it sound like we're in some secret agency government thing movie." Peyton said, Brooke and Nathan chuckled.
"We kinda are P. Sawyer, we're like spy's and we're going undercover in the school to find out a secret and save the world." Brooke said as she locked arms with Peyton and followed Nathan to his car.
"You had me untill the 'save the world' part, a little over the top." Peyton chuckled as Brooke simply rolled her eyes. Brooke was the most exited of them all, she was dying to find out what Haley and Lucas were hiding, even if it was the last thing she ever did...
TO BE CONTINUED