Inferno Part 4

~78~ Punishing Myself

Ellie's POV

While Taylor is gone, I go upstairs and check on my boy. When I get to his room he's laying face down on his bed, his shoulders moving up and down quickly.

It's seldom that Luke cries, so I always take it seriously when he does. Right now he's hysterical, his sobs muffled by his pillow.

I lay down next to him and kiss his ear, rubbing my hand up and down his back gently. When he turns and sees me, my breath catches.

His face is painful.....I can already say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this kid has learned his lesson, with or without a punishment.

"I d-didn't m-mean to, m-momm-ma," he sobs, choking on his cry.

"I know, love. I'm so thankful you're safe."

He puts his head on my chest, burying his face in and wrapping his arms around me.

"He a-always h-hates me!"

"He doesn't! He was scared, and he took that fear and turned it into anger. He left to calm down, buddy."

He continues to lay on me and sob, and my heart breaks even more. We have to find a way to make these two understand each other. They're so much alike, that they implode around one another. If we don't figure it out, the moment he turns 18 they will become estranged.

That's a pain even Taylor isn't strong enough to bear

"Ready to talk about it yet?" I ask after his cries have finally settled.

He nods as he sits up and crosses his legs, trying to wipe the salty tears off of his swollen, red face.

"I saw this thing where people put some hot metal stuff down an ant hill and it makes this cool design...I was stupid."

I wipe some more tears off of his face and kiss his sweaty head. "Fire wouldn't have done the same thing, Lucas."

"But it's hot!"

I nod. "Yes, but that was a liquid, and it was poured down into the hole. Fire isn't a liquid."

"Oh....."

"I kinda think that you already knew that though, huh?"

He shrugs as he picks at his comforter. "He hates me....."

"I DON'T hate you," we hear from the door, and look to see Taylor filling the frame.

Luke immediately stiffens as Taylor comes in and shuts the door.

"As I was driving, I realized I never even asked you if you were ok. Did you get burned anywhere?" He asks as he sits on the bed and gently takes his hands, inspecting them.

Luke sniffs and shakes his head. "No sir."

Taylor looks at his son's face and let's out a big sigh. "I have so much lecturing I'm going to do, but I'm still too upset. I'm not spanking you until later either. I'm gonna head down to the station and get the reports..See if I can hurry it along some. I'll come back later and we will deal with this. I just wanted to make sure you're ok."

"I'm fine."

"Good," he says as he kisses Luke on the head, kisses me on the cheek, and leaves again.

When he's gone, Luke let's out a breath. "Can you spank me?"

"With the paddle?....."

He blows out another breath and lays down on his back. "He's gonna kill me....."

~*~

When Taylor comes back that evening, he brings pizza. As we all sit in the living room, Rick opens a soda and takes a long drink. "Get the reports?"