Always - 10. Thunder and Lighting

Things will be calm in Clearwater for a bit, but not for long. Our characters need time to recover and some...well they just need time to plot . Sorry for the shortness that is this chapter btw.
 

“Stop! Don’t hurt him! Stop! Stop!” Luke yelled in his sleep.

Drew rolled off the air mattress, and frantically scrambled across the floor to Luke’s bedside. He placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder, “Wake up, your just having a bad dream,” Drew said softly as he shook his shoulder.

“Please, stop,” Luke whimpered as he shrunk from the pressure from Drew’s hand.

Drew placed his other hand on the unbattered side of Luke’s face, “Luke! Wake up,” he said, with more concern.

Luke’s eyes flashed open, and Drew saw, for a split second, the terror within them. Before he had just seen the pain they held and now it was as if he was looking in to the eyes of fear itself. However, when Luke realized he had been dreaming as he let his eyes rest upon Drew’s, it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.

Drew smiled at Luke’s relieved expression and that’s when he realized his hand was still pressed against Luke’s face. He straightened up immediately as he took a step back.

“A-are you alright?” Drew asked slightly stumbling over his words.

Luke just nodded as he looked up at the ceiling. Drew sat down on the side of Luke’s bed and yawned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Will you tell me what you were dreaming about?” he asked with a sleepy grin.

Luke shook his head. “What time is it?” he asked in a quiet voice.

Drew looked down at his watch.

“Two-thirty six in the morning. You fell asleep around six o’clock.”

“I’m sorry I woke you up, you can go back to bed.” Luke’s voice was still quiet and small.

Drew gave him an unconvinced look. “Luke I’m not going to sleep until I know you’re alright. Please tell me what I can do to help.”

“You can go back to sleep.”

“I know you don’t want to tell me what you were dreaming about, but I think if you told me I could help.”

Luke was silent for a long while. Drew had thought he fallen asleep and just as he was about to get up and trudge back to his air mattress, Luke started to speak with his eyes closed.

“It was dark, it’s always dark, and we were at the docks,” Luke was speaking slowly and his voice was shaky. Drew watched him carefully. “Everything always feels so real. You, he was killing you. I was trying to move, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t help you. I couldn’t escape the darkness and your screams. He was hitting you, drowning you, and I-I couldn’t do anything.” Luke was shaking. Drew placed his hands on Luke’s shoulders, and Luke opened his eyes, looking up at him.

“Luke, that will never happen. I made you a promise and I plan to keep it. I am not going to let him hurt you or me. Besides,” Drew tousled Luke’s hair, “If he messes with us he will have to deal with Mom.”

Luke smiled half-heartedly, but Drew knew he was still pretty shook up. Drew gave him a big grin recalling one of the many quotes he had memorized from years of reading.

“Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment,” Drew said.

“Where did that come from?” Luke asked distracted.

“It’s a quote I read way back when. Buddha.”

“That’s pretty cool…that you know stuff like that. Most jocks are dumber than fence posts,” Luke said, settling back against the mattress.

“Well, I don’t really like stereotypes. Besides, you used to be a jock and you seem pretty smart to me.”

“I guess I never really cared for them either.”

“Luke, can ask you to do something for me?”

Luke looked into Drew’s eyes. They were filled with hope, friendship, and for what Luke thought just for a moment was longing. He dismissed that and nodded.

“I’ll be right back,” Drew said as he hurried out the door.

Luke stared after him surrounded by confusion. He grabbed the remote and raised his bed to where he could sit up a bit more. Drew was back in less than two minutes with a pencil and a thin stack of white computer paper resting upon a clipboard.

“What?” Luke asked, looking at the paper in Drew’s hand.

“Draw something for me, anything except a landscape,” Drew said with a grin as he sat down on the foot of Luke’s bed and laid the clipboard and pencil on his lap.

“I-I can’t. Drew-,” Luke was cut short at the sight of Drew’s face. “Seriously Dude? The puppy dog face?”

“Is it helping my case any?” Drew asked.

Luke smiled, picked up the pencil, and looked at Drew once more before he pressed the pencil to the page. Drew found himself once again staring out the window. Stars had been covered by a thick veil of clouds, and he could see the light rain drops beginning to fall on the pond. He watched as those tiny rain drops made way for the larger ones that fell so fast the weeping willow was barely visible. Before he had realized it twenty minutes had passed. Drew turned to face Luke and stared at the turned up corners of his mouth.

“You’re smiling,” Drew said.

Luke didn’t look up but made one more light mark on the paper and handed it to Drew. Drew felt his eyes go wide as he looked at the drawing Luke had handed him. It was a perfect imitation of Drew sitting on the foot of the hospital bed staring out at the rain. Only in the picture it wasn’t raining or stormy, instead it was bright.

“I know it’s horrible,” Luke said smiling.

Drew looked up at him in surprise, “Luke this is the best thing I have ever seen. It’s drawn with a pencil, and yet everything is so clear, precise. I look, I mean do I always look so…” Drew trailed off.

“Sad? Yeah, but I don’t have any room to talk.”

“Can I keep this?”

“I guess,” Luke said shrugging.

“One more thing though. Sign it,” Drew said as he handed the picture back to Luke.

Luke shrugged once more and quickly signed it then handed it back to a grinning Drew.

"You’re going to be famous one day,” Drew said as he placed the picture and clip board on the recliner.

"Ha, that’s funny,” Luke gave a sarcastic laugh.

Their banter didn't last though. They both snapped their eyes to the window as they saw a bright flash of lighting. A few seconds later there was a clap of thunder that shook the entire room. For a moment Drew thought he was imagining it, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Luke shaking. That’s when he remembered Jeff talking about the night David attacked Luke at the docks. The storm.

Drew moved closer to Luke and put a hand on Luke’s arm hoping it would provide the same calming effect as it did before. Even with his hand steadying Luke’s arm, Drew could feel him coming apart.

Drew’s mind was racing; he couldn’t decide what he should do. Part of him wanted to wrap his arms around Luke and never let go, and the other just wanted to be forever still. Luke made his decision for him when tears began to fill his eyes, and he began to shake even harder as the thunder and lightning began to pick up.

Drew gripped Luke’s arm tighter, and moved up beside him. He wrapped his arms around him, and Luke shook with quiet sobs.

"Everything is going to be alright,” Drew whispered.

Luke wrapped his own arms around Drew.

“The rain may fall and your tears may hurt, but those who love you provide a shelter to keep you dry and love to wipe away your pain.”

Luke buried his face in Drew’s chest and Drew could feel Luke’s tears soaking through his t-shirt. Drew was looking down at Luke’s shaking form and thoughts began to race through his mind.

What am I doing? Drew thought. Why…Why do I like holding him? I shouldn’t be doing this! I shouldn’t like it!

Drew was about to get up when looked down at Luke once more and felt his breath against his chest. All he could bring himself to do was hold him tighter and his own heart skipped a beat as he felt Luke tighten his grip as well.

“Shh, calm down. I’m here, you’re safe.”

Drew was worried not just because Luke was upset from memories, but because of what Luke’s intense crying was doing to his body; the physical pain it must be causing. Drew kept whispering into his ear, and Luke slowly started to calm down. Drew, without realizing it, kissed the top of his head, and was stroking his hair and his arms. Luke didn’t mind. To him it was calming. For the first time in a long time he felt loved and wanted.

The storm lasted the remainder of the night and Luke fell asleep in Drew’s arms after exhausting himself from crying. Drew closed his eyes, unwilling to move away from Luke, and fell asleep as well.