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Luke woke up suddenly, his mind a mess of half awaken thoughts and dreams.
The thunder roared outside of his bedroom window and he sighed. For a moment, Luke thought he heard someone screaming. Apparently it was only the sound of the storm that, for the last few days, had been roaming around their town, destroying trees and cars with its winds and rain.
Luke turned around to try and fall asleep again when he heard it again. A scream. This time he was sure it was someone screaming. He had spent too much time in the foster system to recognize the sound of someone suffering, be it physically or emotionally.
Rising from the bed, Luke looked around his room, until he found his Exy racquet and grabbed it without a second thought. He opened the door and walked slowly through the house. He had no idea what he was going to find, but sure as hell, if someone entered their house and was trying to hurt his parents he would have his head messed up by an Exy racquet.
For a crazy moment, the boy remembered a conversation he had with his Uncle Nicky, not by choice, obviously, in which the man, feeling now familiar with Luke after he had been living with Andrew and Neil for the last year, tried to have the most cringe worthy conversation ever.
“Now, Luke, if you ever hear some weird noises from Andrew’s and Neil’s room, do not call the police, alright? No one is killing no one, they are just very…”
Luke had no idea what else Nicky was going to say, because Andrew had slipped a kitchen knife, subtly, close to his cousin’s ribs and the only thing he vocalized was a screech at feeling the metal against his torso. Luke shook his head to dissipate his smile, he was not a naïve child, he had lived in different orphanages and houses, with kids from all ages and it was obvious he would know, through the many conversation he eavesdropped, what Nicky was talking about… Now having that conversation in his old man’s hearing range was so not a smart thing to do…
However, Luke was sure this was not one of the situations Nicky tried to warn him about. First, his parents were really quiet while he was around and their bedroom was on the opposite side of the house, making it very hard for that kind of noises to reach his bedroom. No, it was something else, something bad, something that Luke was not sure if he wanted to know about…
Luke closed the distance between his bedroom and his parents in slow strides. The screams could no longer be heard, however, the closer he got, the better he could hear two voices. One was talking slowly and the other was whimpering. Luke felt his heart constrict when he realized Neil was the one whimpering. Neil was always the one with the bigger smile and the warmer hug, Andrew was full of hard edges and harder love, but Luke loved both of them nevertheless their pros and cons. And now, listening to both of them in a way so different from the one he was used to, was world shattering.
Luke sat outside of his parents’ door, too weak to move to his room and heard their whispered voices.
“Neil, it’s me… I’m okay, Luke is okay, you are okay! You are home, in bed!”
“The fire, the car…”
Luke opened his eyes in understanding. That afternoon, his parents had got him from school, in the middle of the storm. Rain was falling down on them in harsh motions, creating dangerous places in what used to be familiar and safe roads. Luke remembered the way Andrew had to swerve suddenly to avoid a collision with a truck and how the car in front of them was not fast enough, being impaled by the truck in a screech of metal, plastic and glass. The car crash was brutal and even with all the rain, a fire quickly spread through one of the cars. People tried to help until the ambulance and the firefighters could get there, but it was impossible to put out and when the authorities arrived whoever was in that car had lost their life. Luke remembered his parents forbidding him from leaving their car, from approaching the fire, from watching someone die… When both returned to their car and restarted their travel, his dad was eerily silent, but Luke thought it was because he saw the accident… and not even his old man’s worried expression made him think twice about the situation.
“It was the same model where my mom…”
Luke could hear Andrew’s shushing noises.
“The smell…”
His old man was trying to bring his dad back from his memories. Luke knew his grandmother, if he could call her that, died because of her husband, but he didn’t know anything beside that… Now, he was wondering if her death was even more brutal than he thought and if his dad saw it happening…
“Yes or no?” he heard his old man ask.
“Yes”
Luke had no idea what that meant, it was just something his parents sometimes did, something that was only theirs. He could hear them moving in the bed and then stop again.
“Do you know that Luke tried to paint one of the cats orange?”
Luke perked at his name being uttered again.
“No…” Neil’s voice was muffled like when he put his head over Andrew’s shoulder and talked while touching his neck (not that Luke had ever witnessed a moment like that or even taken secretly a picture to send to his Uncle Aaron as a way of revenge after he tattled about his bad grade in biology).
“Apparently, he wanted to have a mini Fox… The pest is out of control, I tell you! We shouldn’t have left him alone with those morons… Crazy junkie like you!” Andrew was saying in a soft voice, something that Luke thought impossible of his old man doing.
“He is a lot like you too… I’m glad…”
Luke gasped softly, feeling his eyes prickle and he rubbed them furiously. Stupid dust, where the hell was it coming from, making his allergies kick up?
The boy felt his hands flex around his racquet and tried to control his breathing, but apparently, his dad wasn’t finished yet.
“I’m really glad… that we chose him… or that he chose us… I’m never sure how it really happened…”
“Crazy attracts crazy…” Luke almost snorted at his old man’s words.
“And I’m really happy that we are living all together… and that we are happy… You are happy, right, Andrew?”
“I’m miserable… I have to divide a perfectly good house with two crazy junkies and two nerve-wrecking cats… I’m a time bomb, right now…”
Neil chuckled softly inside the room and Luke rubbed his eyes again. He tried to rise silently, but tripped in the carpet and cursed out loud. Sudden movement behind the closed door alerted him and Luke stood straight, with his racquet in his hand when Andrew opened the door.
“The fuck?” Andrew asked, seeing his son like that.
“I was going to train…” Luke said immediately and Andrew’s eyebrows rose.
“In the middle of the night with a storm roaring outside?” his old man was having none of his bullshit.
“Yeah, so what?” Luke’s bravado almost made Andrew smile.
Suddenly behind him, Neil’s face appeared and when his dad noticed his reddened eyes, he sucked in a breath.
“Luke…” Neil said softly.
“Damn allergies… We should get rid of the cats or this carpet…” Luke complained, rubbing his nose and looking at the floor.
Neil looked at Andrew for a few seconds, until the other man nodded his head in accordance to whatever Neil was trying to ask without words.
“Hey, do you want to sleep in here, tonight?” Neil asked and Luke looked up suddenly.
“Well, if you are that afraid of the storm…” Luke tried to be sarcastic, but failed miserably when his voice broke.
Luke entered the bedroom, left his racquet against the wardrobe and waited for Andrew to lay down first, then Neil. He thought it might be safer for his dad if he felt surrounded by people he cared about. When Luke was already covered with the heavy duvet, he turned around to look at his parents.
“Good night…” he said softly, eyeing the arm his old man had draped over his dad, in a protective manner.
If Luke grabbed Neil’s hand with more force than usual and fell asleep still holding it against his chest, no one mentioned it.