Hey, guys!
I somehow sped through writing this chapter and now it's ready. I am in the middle of figuring a couple of things out, so it might be a while til the next update. We'll see.
I hope you guys enjoy!
Chapter Three.
Despite everything that had happened during the day, Lex had no trouble falling asleep. Despite the horrors that he had seen, he slept peacefully.
Until a scream broke the silence of the night.
Lex bolted from his bed and ran to the room across the hall. He didn't bother to put on a robe or slippers like he always did, he just ran.
To his relief, the child was still there when he opened the door.
The child sat on the large bed in the middle of the room, his eyes shining with tears and his hand in his mouth to muffle another scream or sob. The sight made Lex's stomach twist. Sure, all kids had nightmares, but Lex had the feeling that this one had been worse than any nightmare he could have dreamed up.
He walked over to the child, but stopped right before he reached the bed. What was he supposed to do here?
He remembered the way his mother had comforted him after a nightmare. Her warm arms wrapped around him as she gently rocked him and whispered soothing words to him. It made him feel safe and loved.
He remembered the way his father had dealt with him after a nightmare. In the best of cases, he would be lectured for being weak and disturbing the silence that was ordered after dark. In the worst cases, Lex would show up to school sporting bruises under his clothes from his father's belt. It reminded him that even his subconscious was weak.
And the way Lex had taken care of a nightmare.
His throat went dry and he couldn't swallow as he remembered. A soft blue pillow against the face of his baby brother, loud screams slowly turning into silence.
Lex tried to shake the image from his head, but the blue lips against the too-pale skin of his brother's face wouldn't never fully leave his mind.
But no. Lex wouldn't do any of those things, he decided. His mother's comfort would be too much for the poor alien, his father's so cruel that Lex would never even consider it, and what had happened to Julian…
He couldn't think about Julian right now. It wouldn't help anything.
So he sat down on the edge of the bed.
The child flinched as soon as the bed moved under Lex's weight, and Lex hesitated. He didn't want to make the child upset. He just wanted to help him.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Lex asked. He wasn't sure if he would get any sort of answer from the distraught child in front of him, but he would try.
To Lex's surprise, the child looked up at him and nodded. He hadn't expected an answer from him when he was upset. Lex remembered earlier when the child had freaked out because he had accidentally picked him up, the child wouldn't even look at him after that. Maybe they were making a little progress.
"Scary…"
Lex's head shot up and he looked directly at the child. The kid talked! Sure, it was about his nightmare, but he talked! Lex could hardly think with the grin on his face and the warm feeling in his chest.
"I'm sorry, buddy," Lex said. He didn't know what else to say. What was there to say? He wasn't sure that the words his mother had used to calm him would help the child.
Lex swallowed, then cleared his throat. He was so out of his comfort zone. He had no idea what he was doing.
"Um… Do you want something to drink?" He asked. When he was little, his mother had always given him warm milk after a nightmare.
The child hesitated and Lex saw something flash in his eyes, something he knew all too well. Fear.
"It won't hurt you," Lex told him. "I promise."
The child seemed to contemplate this for a second, then nodded.
Lex smiled and helped the child to the kitchen. The child followed close behind him, but also at a distance where Lex knew he wouldn't be able to grab him. He couldn't help but think it might have been on purpose.
When they got to the kitchen though, Lex quickly picked up the child and placed him on the counter the way his mother had done for him when he was little.
The child flinched, but then looked around and began to relax.
As soon as the child was situated though, Lex got to work. Luckily for him, warm milk wasn't exactly hard to make. Unlike Kraft mac 'n cheese…
He grabbed a pot, mug, and the jug of milk. He was pretty sure that his mom had added some sort of spice to the milk when he was little, but he didn't remember and wasn't exactly up for experimenting tonight.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Lex asked as he poured the milk into the pot and turned on the heat underneath it.
The child looked around as if he was waiting for someone to pop out from the shadows and take him back to the lab, then he pulled up the sleeve on the oversized shirt Lex had given him.
Lex turned down the heat and pushed the pot of milk off of the burner. He wanted to look at whatever the child was trying to show him.
He walked over and gently took the child's arm in his hand. It was bony and thin, but soft. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for though. Down his arm was a long white scar. It was faded to the point where it was almost invisible, but the shine and dent was what helped Lex identify it. Lex knew how to spot a scar almost as well as he knew how to run a business.
"Did they do this to you?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.
The child nodded. "Green rock…" He said. "Hurts."
Lex nodded back, feigning understanding, though he was happy that the child was talking again. He remembered something about meteor rocks from the reports, but he didn't know anything about a green rock.
"Did they cut you with it?" Lex asked.
This time the child didn't answer. Instead, he looked down at the ground. Lex still counted it as a win though. He had been able to have a small conversation with the boy.
The milk didn't take long to warm, but the silence made it feel longer than it should have.
The child didn't take his time with the milk the way he had taken his time with the nuggets, and Lex watched as he gulped it down greedily. He wanted to reassure the child that nothing would happen if he drank it slower, but he was just thankful that he was able to get the kid to eat and drink. That's what was important right now.
The child yawned, and Lex knew that it was time to get him back to bed. He just hoped that there wouldn't be another nightmare for the poor child.
He picked him up off of the counter. This time, the child didn't fight back. He didn't relax against Lex, but he didn't scream or fight against the hold. Lex wondered if he was just too sleepy to care.
Lex put him on the bed and gently tucked him in. "Sweet dreams, little guy," he said, then walked back to his own room.
I know, it's only one scene, but I hope it was a good one scene! What did y'all think? Please follow, fave, and review!
Thanks for reading! Love y'all!