Is There Freedom?

Chapter 2

Tucker walked out of the room so he could go get some food from the cafeteria. I was alone with Luca. He sat on the edge of my bed and we chatted. It was like a game of twenty questions. What I found out about him is that he's emo like me but doesn't have the appearance of being emo. He looked and dressed like the popular and jocks of the school. He began to fascinate me in every way possible.

"What do you do in your spare time?" He asked politely.

"Um, write songs and play my electric guitar, read, write, draw, sing, and cause trouble. How about you, Luca?"

"Train horses, work on my family's ranch, weld, and fix up some cars once in a while," he honestly replied.

I smiled and my eyes lit up. For the first time, I was falling for a guy that could be way out of my league. I remember the last guy I dated, but he was more troubled than I was. After a few months of dating, he committed suicide since his brothers and father drove him to it. I cried for months. I never thought I would ever fall in love again after him. I was surely mistaken.

To my surprise, Luca made me laugh more than anyone has ever before. My heart raced a million miles a minute. Was I truly in love with him? Do I say something? Within minutes, he leaned in for a kiss and I followed. Our lips met and sparks flew all around us. Have I found my perfect match? Is he the one? "I love you, Luca," I whispered sweetly into his ear.

Then the doctor knocked on the door. We stopped but we didn't want to. It was a strain for the both of us to stop. The doctor looked at us as if we were on something. "Um, can I help you, doc?" Luca asked with a hint of a giggle in his voice.

"You need to leave. Miss Springer needs her rest. You can come back tomorrow if you like. Thank-you," the doctor said bleakly.

Luca turned to me and smiled. "I'll come back tomorrow," he said sweetly in my ear in his amazing Australian accent.

He kissed my forehead and then left. I didn't want him to leave but the doctor's request overruled mine. Tucker came back and slumped in the chair again. Then my father walked in the room. Something was different about him. For the first time in years, his face was wet from the tears he's shed. "Dad, what's wrong?" I asked cautiously as I looked at my father diffidently.

"Your mother is dead! That's what's wrong! You killed her bitch!" He was furious, full of infelicity and enmity.

I didn't know what to say. I was shocked and pleased at the same time. How else was I supposed to act? Should I feel sorry for her or should I be like whatever? "I didn't kill her. She was driving drunk and was zigzagging between the cars. Then we crashed into an eighteen wheeler, killing her on impact. You think it would be easier to blame it all on me instead of her?"

He walked briskly over to my bed, grabbing my arm and pulling my hair. Tucker was crying and ran out of the room. I screamed for help and then security came running in. "Let go of me, asshole!"

Eventually, security managed to pull him off of me and take him out of the room. My father's tight grip on my arm caused it to bleed under my skin and to leave a bruise. I had tears trickling down my face and I wanted my little brother. Slowly, Tucker walked back in and then ran over to my bed. "It's okay Tucker. They took him away," I said in between my sobs.

"I don't want him near me ever again. He's changed so much that he's become a monster to us all," Tucker wailed.