Chapter Ten: Cruel Girls

It's been a month.

Well it's actually been twenty-two days, six hours and fifty-nine minutes since Johnny last saw Daniel and it felt like someone had ripped Johnny's heart and lit it on fire.

The tan boy seemed to disappear completely from the face of the world along with Freddy.

Johnny knew he wasn't the only one affected for some reason; it seemed the disappearance of the two boys threw off the Cobra Kais own group dynamics.

Dutch went back to his old Dutch. He started throwing himself more into practice resulting in more random fights with people for no reasons. Staying out late drinking anything he was given or could find and sleeping with anyone who numbed the pain long enough.

Tommy seemed more closed off, not bothering to attend practice some days claiming that his parents needed him for something. He took up more activities ignoring the rest of the group, leaving messages unread and staying locked up in his room for long hours.

Jimmy & Bobby started to drift apart, the two once joined at the hip seemed more like distant cousins meeting for the first time. Once no one knew where one ended and the other began now they boys couldn't even see each other's eyes across hallways.

However none took it harder than Johnny.

Johnny felt like he wasn't living anymore.

Hell he didn't even know if he was to be honest.

All he is doing nowadays is just moving through the motions of his former life like the old steps to a song.

Everyday became a blank routine that he followed. From waking up, going to class, going to Karate and going back home to sleep. Sometimes eating and sleeping became difficult chores themselves so he would skip them. Everything started to blend in together and nothing stood out anymore to the boy. Even Johnny's parents tried speaking to their son only to be blank stares and locked bedroom doors.

Even Sensei Kreese and Ali seemed to catch onto the look in Johnny' eyes, keeping their distance from the dirty blond who seemed on the verge of a mental breakdown. Johnny didn't care, nothing seemed to make sense anyway since Daniel disappeared.

The only time he could think about it was Danny. Where was he at? Who was he around? Was he eating? Was he dating someone else? If he was dating someone else was he happy? Does he miss me? Was that the last time I'll ever see him?

Those were the only things that stayed on Johnny's mind.

There aren't many things Lucille LaRusso prided herself on. She worked dead end jobs barely making enough to survive, her failed relationships that never went past and cheap dinner somewhere and the time she missed her son growing up however there were certain things she did pride herself on.

One, having Daniel regardless of how young she was or how inexperienced.

Two, being able to stand on her own two feet without having to feel indebted to anyone.

Three, always keeping a smile on her baby's face.

But today Lucille felt lower than dirt. She could only watch her baby stare at the walk of his little room, eyes void. Daniel was sitting on top of the comforter legs pulled into his chest as he rested his face on his knees not even bothered to change out his outfit for the day. He seemed to become hollow overnight since his first day of school. The naturally playfulness and child joy that thrived in his eyes seemed to have drowned in the hatred and anguish lurking behind. Hell, Lucille hasn't heard Daniel speak since the next day when he begged her to come to the school to approve his first block class. When she asked about changing his class he gave the excuse that the class seemed boring and he wanted something harder to help his mind improve.

Lucille, it was a lie. She knew it had something to do with the famous Johnny Lawrence.

Absolutely.

Okay maybe she didn't know if it had something to do with Johnny but it had to. Johnny Lawrence was the only person who was ever able to get anything type of reaction out of Daniel. When Daniel and him broke their connection Lucille was there holding her baby as he cried for days until finally Daniel just seemed to grow quiet.

"But not anymore. Johnny Lawrence I let you break my baby's heart one time already and all I could do was sit back and watch. Not again. Johnny Lawrence, no one, and I mean no one makes my baby cry and get away with it. Not while I got something to say about it." with that Lucille took one last glance at her baby before grabbing her purse and marching out the house.

She was on a mission and if she remembered anything about Johnny from Daniel's rambles. She knew the boy was still in karate and there was only one studio reserved for the high class.

Cobra Kai.