Chapter 16 Surprises
When Logan wakes up the next morning he is aware of a few things. One, he feels a lot better than the night before. Two, he has the strange sensation something is missing. He was feeling warm before and arms were embracing him, right?
Or maybe that was just a dream? Oh god… that nightmare he had about Carlos. That was so horrible. He shudders at the thought of it.
He had felt so cold, but then someone embraced him. He suddenly realizes someone spoke to him.
"It's okay, Logie…"
The sentence replays in his mind. That happened in his dream, right?
Carlos used to call him that. Logie. He always hated that nickname, but allowed Carlos to call him that. He never knew why. There was just something about the innocence with which his friend said it that made him cave every time.
But it couldn't have been Carlos. Not even in his dream. Logan had watched him get dragged through the woods.
He shakes his head in confusion and sits up slowly. He blinks a little, before throwing the covers off of him. He looks down and wrinkles his nose in disgust when he notices himself completely drenched in sweat.
He carefully gets out of bed and puts on a fresh pair of pants and sweatshirt. He shivers a little and puts on a bathrobe as well, before shuffling out the door.
He faintly hears laughter coming from downstairs as he walks down. He smiles as the laughter sounds like music in his ears and it gets louder.
His family looks up in surprise when he walks into the kitchen.
"hey, look who's up?" Kendall announces with a smile as he eats his cereal.
"How you feeling, sweetie?" Mrs. Knight asks him as he gently sits down.
"A little tired, but much better now." He croaks with a small smile through sleepy eyes.
"You want to eat something?" James asks as he moves to stand up.
"No, no." Logan quickly tells him, already feeling his stomach churn at the thought. James chuckles a little and sits back down.
Logan suddenly feels everyone's eyes on him. He looks up and frowns at the amused, sparkling eyes directed towards him.
"What? I know, I look horrible." He says to them playfully. Kendall smirks.
"Logan, how much do you remember from last night?" He asks him, his eyes still sparkling.
"You mean before or after I puked my guts out in the hallway?" They all grimace at that.
"After." James then adds, smirk returning on his face as well.
"Well, I know Kendall helped me to the bathroom and I think into bed?" He says with a questioning look. Kendall nods with a smile.
"How about after that?" His friend asks him, taking another spoon of cereal.
"After that?" Kendall nods again. "Uh, I remember it was really cold and I started to have this really bad dream, but then I felt really calm and I think I feel asleep."
James and Kendall shoot each other knowing looks. Logan looks between them with confusion.
"Okay, I give. What is going on?" He asks them. They share one more look and all four people at the table have excited glances on their faces. "Guys, what?"
Kendall smiles as he looks down for a moment and then back up at Logan. "Well, we were downstairs when we heard you moaning upstairs. James and I rushed upstairs, when you suddenly became quiet." He exchanges another knowing look with James before continuing. "So, we walked up to your room and there he was."
"Who?" Logan asks with a frown.
"Carlos." James tells him.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Carlos was in your arms, Logan. He was lying in your bed and he was holding you. He had his head on your chest and everything." James says excitedly.
Logan gasps slightly. "What? No, but… How did he… Why…" He stammers.
"I'm serious, man. He was right there." James says, his eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, I don't know why or how, but he was there. It was like he protecting you." Kendall tells him.
"Carlos was holding me?" Logan asks them, in slight shock. The others nod. "Wow, I don't… I… Carlos was doing that?" He asks, his voice growing soft as a smile starts to appear on his face.
"Yeah, dude, he totally was. Oh, I almost forgot!" James suddenly announces. "He wore his helmet that day too!" He sasy excitedly.
"Oh yeah and he ate a corndog." Kendall adds, both friends supporting wide grins.
"Carlos did all of that? Man, why did I have to miss that?" Logan whines a little.
"He made so much progress. He even got worried about you as you were in your room." James tells him.
Logan smiles softly and looks down a little. James grabs his shoulder and squeezes it affectionately.
"You know, I uh… I might have imagined this. But I think… I think he might have talked, too." They all exchange looks at that and grow confused.
"What do you mean?" Kendall asks him.
"When I was asleep and feeling miserable… I remember havng this really bad dream that Carlos was being dragged away from me by this scary guy into the woods. He was screaming and I tried to get to him, but I couldn't. And then I felt two arms embrace me and I felt warm and safe. I thought it was just a dream, but from what you said, I guess it must have been real. So that makes the next thing what happened real, too." He smiles and pauses. His friends all look more confused and concerned than ever. "Like I said, I felt warm arms embracing me and then this voice talked to me. It said; 'it's okay, Logie.' I mean, I thought it was just part of the dream, because no one besides Carlos ever calls me that. But if he was really hugging me, then maybe he really talked as well."
He carefully picks his head up to look at his friends. They all look very shocked, before huge grins appear on their faces.
"He talked? He actually talked?" Mrs. Knight voice rings through as she starts to sniffle.
"Mom, you…" kendall sighs before pulling his mother into a hug as she cries.
"I can't believe he actually talked." James quietly says as if he is talking to himself.
"Hey, guys, I don't know for sure if he did, okay? I just assumed he did because he hugged me, but…"
"Guys?" Katie's voice calls out to them. They look up and find her staring at… Carlos. He fiddles with the straps of his helmet, which is now lodged onto his head, like it had never left. He eyes them nervously.
"Hey, buddy." James says as he gets up to walk over to the boy. But Carlos steps backwards immediately, making James back up again. He holds up his hands in surrender. "I'm not going to do anything. Sit down." He says with a warm smile, pointing to a n empty chair next to him.
Carlos looks very hesitant, like he's deciding on whether to run and hide or actually join them.
"It's okay, Carlos." Logan tells him as well, offering him a second warm smile. Carlos looks at him and Logan wants to cry when he sees his look. 'Are you okay?' shines through his eyes. "I'm feeling a lot better now, thanks to you." Logan quietly tells him as he looks at his hands.
A look of reassurance takes over Carlos' emotion. "Come on, sit down." He offers again as he pulls out the chair right next to his.
Carlos looks hesitant again, but slowly starts to move. Strangely enough he doesn't move to sit next to Logan, but chooses to take the chair next to Katie instead. She smiles widely as he sits down.
"You want some cereal?" She asks him as she moves to stand up. They all watch as he slowly but surely nods. It was hardly visible, but they saw it nonetheless and try hard from crying out with glee. Katie jumps up and goes to pick him a bowl and a spoon, setting it down in front of him.
She waits for a moment, but when he keeps his hands in his lap and wearingly looks down, she grabs the cereal and pours it into his bowl. She adds the milk and then goes back to her own breakfast. All the while keeping an eye on her big brother.
She quickly shoots her other brothers a look when they stare at Carlos at the same time. When they realize what they're doing, they scrape their throats and start to eat while making small talk.
"So, how about that hockey game last night?" Katie giggles at James' attempt to keep the guys busy while Kendall and Logan roll their eyes.
As the small talk continues, Carlos very slowly starts to eat. Everyone tries to hold in cheers and just talk like they always would. All the while Carlos watches them carefully from under his helmet.
"Hey, when you're done with breakfast, how about we watch some cartoons?" Katie suddenly asks Carlos, who looks up in surprise with his spoon midway. "Spongebob will be on in like ten minutes." She tells him.
He just looks around as everyone stares at him again, but doesn't show a hint of an answer as he starts to eat again. Kendall gently squeezes Katie's hand when he sees how dejected she looks.
Carlos gulps as he notices everyone is done with their breakfast, while his bowl is still half full. They stay seated at the table, waiting for him.
Logan is the first one who notices how uncomfortable he looks and moves to stand up. "Well, I'm ready to take a shower now." He smiles as he gets up.
James gets closer to him and suddenly looks very disgusted.
"Phew, dude. Yeah, you're right. You should get a shower. And fast. You're stinking up the place." Logan laughs and playfully shoves his friend.
"Yeah and the smell of your Cuda lime spray is that much better?" he teases, earning a gasp from James.
"Don't mock my Cuda!" He threatens with wide eyes as he points at Logan's chest.
"Really? And what if I do, huh? Maybe I should just go and empty every can right now." Logan says with a daring taunt as he starts to head for the stairs.
"You wouldn't dare!" James hisses.
"Okay then." Logan shrugs and heads up the stairs.
"Logan? He wouldn't, right?" James asks as he turns to the others still seated at the table. They don't answer, just look at him with amused smiles. His eyes grow wide and he hurries for the stairs. "Logan!"
The others laugh when he heads out and they hear him pound on the bathroom door. Mrs. Knight almost cries again as she looks over at Carlos and finds the corners of his mouth curled slightly upwards. That hint of a smile means so much to her. She wants to shout it out to the others as they laugh, but doesn't want to risk of it fading away. So she just puts a hand on her chest and sighs happily, before getting up.
"Okay, guys. Enough chitchat. Let's clean up." She announces and everyone gets up and picks up their bowl to put them in the sink. Carlos looks up while still eating. He goes to put his spoon down, but Mrs. Knight carefully approaches him.
"It's okay, honey. You can finish while we clean up. No need to rush." He looks up at her in surprise when she ends up so close to him. But he doesn't leave either.
She almost widens her eyes in shock when his mouth opens suddenly. He seems to want to say something, but he closes his mouth just as fast and looks at his hands again.
She sighs and when it is now clear he doesn't want to finish the cereal, she carefully grabs the bowl from the table. She moves towards the kitchen, when suddenly the bowl is pulled from her hands. She looks down in surprise to see Carlos nervously shifting his feet as he holds the bowl. He tries to avoid her look as he walks ahead of her and puts the bowl in the sink.
He looks her in the eyes for a moment and then hurries away again. She watches him leave in a slight daze. "Uh, thank you, honey." She softly calls out and watches him as he hurries off up the stairs.
Kendall shakes his head as he watches his friend hurry away as well. "Well, that's something he's never done before. Like, ever." He says with surprise in his voice. He puts an arm around his mother's shoulder. She sends him a slight glare and playfully pushes him away.
"Kendall! Spongebob is on!" Katie yells from the living room suddenly and he hurries off to watch the cartoon with his sister.
Lucy Crimson sits in front of the video screens, her elbow resting on the desk and her hand under her chin. She grabs her cup of coffee, ready to take another sip, but groans as she finds it empty. A sudden knock on the door has her looking up momentarily before gluing her eyes to the screen again.
"How's it going?" As her partner Nathan Parker walks in with a fresh cup of coffee she gives him a grateful look before gulping down a bunch from it. "I take it you've been watching this a long time then." He guesses with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, you have no idea." She shakes her head. "There are hundreds of tapes here. Right now I've watched like forty hours of tape from just the hall. But guess what? They hardly ever even appear there. I've only seen them walk through it when they dragged kids inside." She tells him.
"Maybe you should look at the other tapes then." He suggests as he looks through a box labeled 'torture chambers'.
"I'm not so sure I want to just yet." She tells him as he eyes the name wearingly. "Yeah, I know. Johnson was very tactful when I asked him to name the categories."
"Yeah, I gathered that." He says as he puts away a tape from the box again. "So, have you identified the guys who did this?"
"Yeah, we were right. Those four dead bodies we found, those are the guys who keep dragging kids in there." She says, pointing to the screen when they walk in once again with an unconscious child in their arms. She sighs as she watches the little girl holding a teddy bear in her arms. "God, Nathan. These kids, they came in looking so innocent and carefree. Just to think of how we found them…" She says as she sighs again.
"Hey, they important thing here is that we did find them." He tells her as he squeezes her shoulder. She smiles gratefully. "Uh, Luce?" She looks up at him. "Who's that?" She looks at the screen and her eyes widen. On the screen Carlos is being dragged off struggling and screaming in the arms of a broad shouldered man. One they haven't seen before…
A/N Yes, more progress Sorry, maybe Carlos is moving a little too fast now. But there is so much more to come.
And who was that man?
Thank you all again for all the reviews. This is really becoming one of my favorite stories to write, because Carlos is so sweet
Anyway, hope you liked this chapter and again thank you so much for the support! Until next time, Love Baxxie