AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a style note, my chapters are typically short, but I try to pack a lot into them. Enjoy!
Chapter 3
Driving back from the fundraiser event that he had just dropped off Bruce Wayne at, Alfred parks the limo and goes into Wayne Manor. Knowing he still has some cleaning up to do, Alfred decides that he better check on the child first.
I would be quite surprised if Master Dick has fallen asleep yet. Perhaps, I could suggest that if the boy rests quietly in bed, when I am done cleaning up, I can bring him a hot chocolate. A nice hot drink on such a cool night would surely be a special treat.
Smiling, the older man reaches Dick's room. Knocking softly on the boy's door, Alfred calls out of the child within.
"Master Dick? Are you still awake?" whispers the butler, as he gently pushes open the door.
The first thing the older man notices is the cool breeze coming in from the open window. Walking across the room, the butler closes the window quietly before turning to the young child sleeping on the bed.
"What?" says Alfred, staring at the child, who is in the bed, but not sleeping. "Master Dick?"
Striding across the room, Alfred turns on the bedside lamp to reveal not a peacefully sleeping child, but a bloodied, unconscious child. Checking the boy's pulse at the throat, the butler can feel the thready pulse beating at his fingers.
"Master Dick?" calls the man a little firmly, as a gently shakes the boy at the shoulder.
A moan is the only response the child gives. Glancing once more at Dick, Alfred rushes out of the room to the nearest phone. Lifting the receiver, the butler quickly pushes three numbers and waits for the other line to be picked up.
"911. What is your emergency?"
"Mr. Wayne's ward has been attacked. Pleaseā¦" says the older man, glancing toward the doorway of the abused child, "send help fast."
