A Long Awaited Call | solo
Talking with Miles had calmed him this morning. Such a simple treasure for Luke-- being able to message Miles and tell him he loved him. How such a text had rested unsent for years, but he had him now. Lucas sat on the fire escape to his apartment. The morning air was clean and pleasant, with coffee scents lingering in a cup on the window edge. He toyed with the phone in hand, and tried to get his head around what he was about to do. It was long overdue. Their family needed to be together again.
It rang twice before it picked up.
"Hello?" Hearing her voice filled his chest with warmth. There was a long pause, feeling like he couldn't say anything.
"Ma--"
She was quiet for a beat. "Luke?"
Hearing his name made his throat tense up, and he tucked his leg up and to his chest. "Yeah."
There was a deep breath. "Seriously? This isn't a trick?"
It sounded like she was breathing heavily, and he swallowed the grief he caused her. "I'm sorry, I was in trouble," he admitted, and the scrape of chair legs and her sitting had him mildly concerned for her well being. She couldn't speak to him easily. Luke wanted to hug her.
"Ma--" he begged with the one word and felt like he was four, it was impossible not to want to be a kid with your mother, no matter the age. That relationship was so profound.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"With Miles," he answered. "White Crest."
"The entire time?" she was breathless.
"Yes,"
"Lucas-- lord, heavens," she set the phone down with a thump, and he could hear her calling his Father. The phone picked up, the huff of breath familiar.
"Son?"
"Hey, dad," Lucas scratched his head, guilt clawed at his insides. He shrunk in on himself; the phone pressed close as his forehead rested on his knees.
"How, what happened?" his Father asked, and the concern and love in his tone were incredibly overwhelming.
"Hunter," he muffled. "I had to hide. He really hurt me. Father's Day fell on my birthday this year. I just kept thinking about you. I miss you. I'm sorry I was so in my head and didn’t come home. I'm sorry I hurt you so much."
A long sigh came from the other end.
"Is this hunter still after you?" his dad asked. "How long? What did he do?"
Lucas' fingers on his skull toyed with the bad scar on the back of it. His parents would see what he did to him when they got into town. Shame suddenly bled into his conscious, and he felt sick to his stomach for being so stupid with everything. Such an easy feeling to surface, and it took a lot of strength to push it down.
"Yeah, since I was--" Lucas stopped himself, and his dad demanded him to answer his question. "Fourteen or so, I-- he's fucked up, dad. He killed a lot of people in front of me. I was scared. It hasn’t changed."
"We'll take care of it," his mom said, and Lucas felt his soul leave his body.
"What?! Mom! No, stop-- Miles and I are going to finish this. Don't come here yet, this is why I didn't call you until now. I'm setting him up. I'm going to reactivate all my stuff and bait him in. I didn't want you to find out about me in that way."
"You are being ridiculous," He could hear them moving around, and Luke nearly regretted this phone call. Miles had called it. They would immediately come, and it would ruin their fragile plan as is.
"Ma, dad-- please don't come yet," his voice was quiet and incredibly broken, and they stopped shuffling around. "I mean it, what I have to do is awful. I don't want too, I hate him for making me feel like this is the only way to handle this. It might not end well. I can't afford a distraction on the scale of seeing you. I can't handle seeing you right now. Not until this is done. I'm going to fall apart."
Silence filled the call long overdue. "Don't do this, Lucas. Don’t kill him." His dad said, and Luke peered up from his crowded position on the cramped steps and out into the world.
"I have to. There isn't an option," Luke swallowed thickly.
"You will regret it," his mother said.
"I don't feel like I have another option-- I don't," Lucas started breathing a little faster as he wasn't surprised they were saying this. Miles had said the same thing. That Lucas speaking so easily about killing someone was against everything, his family taught him. Their values profoundly linked to control and safety. But it hadn't been them crawling from a grave after Gotch put him there, nearly dying at the hospital after Gotch cut his arm open. Luke felt a knot in his throat. Even just thinking about Gotch still had his mind reeling.
"He was so certain he had me where he wanted me," Luke said, swallowing the roughness in his voice. "I might have gone with him had I not started talking to people again a couple of months ago. We have a pack now, in White Crest. There are a bunch of us together. I won't let him hurt anyone again, especially... me. I promise. I have a back up if it doesn’t work out."
"Why is he toying with you?" his dad asked. “And not just--” His dad couldn’t even finish the sentence, and Lucas couldn’t tell them over the phone that he had already.
"He's gross, dad. This guy sells werewolves to these rich fucks across the country who want a taste of hunting one. It’s like trophy hunting... He wants me to come with him and bite people cause hes getting old and doesn’t want to hunt or some shit. 'Split the pay,' he even said to me. Can you imagine?"
"What the fuck," his mother muttered, and Lucas actually laughed a little, not often hearing such a slur come from her mouth before.
"It's disgusting. He's awful. He kills people in general, he doesn't fucking care about life, just money. I have the police involved, I'm hoping if I can set it up and survive his attack-- the police have something, they can be called. That is if I can't have it swing in my favor in a more permanent ending, that’s my backup. At least they can arrest him. It will hold. He won't be able to get out of it easily, I have to hope. If I don’t, I’m not sure I can mentally handle it."
"I understand," his mom said slowly, "why you don't want us to drive up there right away. You didn't do anything wrong. You-- look forward to seeing your family. I'm going to get your sister and brother too. We will all be together again."
Lucas' lip trembled, goosebumps filled his arms, and had to stop the sob which wedged quickly up his chest and threatened to come out. Hope spread easily.
"I'd really like that, ma," Luke managed to get out.
"Okay, Miles is with you? Right? He's staying close?" his dad asked. Luke nodded before he responded. "Yeah, dad, he's stuck on me. I can't exactly get rid of him again. He will be over later. Please don’t yell at him. He’s been really stressed, I worry for him constantly."
A small, sad knowing chuckle from the older man. "We're coming in, get yourself together. We’ll give you both space, no need for us to charge in. But listen to me-- you can do anything with the heart you have. You are a good, sensitive person, Lucas. It's why suffering hurts so much for you. In the end, you will make the right call, even if it’s the most difficult one. Please be safe."
"Yes, dad. I will," Luke said. "I will."
"Give me the phone, I want to catch up--" came his mom, and the smallest of scuffles, and his dad's voice was pulled away from the phone.
"Love you,"
"Love you too, dad,"
"Lucas Vincent Washington, you fill your mother in right now on everything," she was in the kitchen. He could hear her doing something, likely cooking cause she was stressed, and the family wondered why he became a chef.
"Okay, I'll try," Lucas said.
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