FATHER ALWAYS SMILING

Chapter 40 ~~~~~

Before Nick could answer, the old door opened, and from where Nick was all he could make out with the swelling of his eyes was that of combat boots as jeans were inside the neck of the boots as the smell of rain filled the air.

"Ah, too late. You took too long to answer," Alastor told him as if he got a question wrong on a quiz show. "Now you're going to find out no matter what. I was going to be lenient somewhat given the history I found of your familial background, but I changed my mind, as did this individual. And really..." he leaned in close and whispered like a snake flooding his brain. "You don't deserve it."

Before Nick could respond before he could even let out a scream, he felt a sharp prick in his neck as his head began to spin as he collapsed to the ground. They drugged him with some fast-acting narcotic. And as his consciousness slowly began to fade, he could hear Alastor speak to this other person.

"Do what you will, but don't kill him. Not yet, I'm sure a certain someone would be more than willing to have their fun with him. You know what to do..."

Whatever it was that they were planning Nick greatly wished, that he would never wake up, for he felt the nightmares of his childhood would be far more preferable than what would be in store the moment he opened his eyes.

* * *

As Alastor walked quickly through the school's open doors to the parking lot, there he saw his daughter sitting in the car, in the back seat with Elain. She wanted to make sure that the teenager was alright. Bless her little heart.

Tapping the car's passenger window, he then waved when his daughter looked at him through the car window. He opened it, and kneeling, he asked her.

"What do you want to do, Amalie? Home? Or hospital?"

It didn't even take her a second to answer. "Hospital. I want to be sure that Elain is okay. She was hurt because of me."

"You sure?"

She nodded.

He stood up. "Very well, hospital it is then." He then closed the door to the back of the car before getting into the driver's seat, looking at her through his rear-view mirror. Seeing that she was already wearing her seatbelt. And even have Elain wear one while the girl's head rested in Amalie's lap. His smile grew faintly. She was such a smart girl.

As he pulled out of the parking lot and began to drive to the closest hospital that he knew of as fast as possible, he had to be convincing after all, he glanced back to see Amalie looking out the back passenger seat blankly and asked. "Is he gone now?" she didn't specify what kind.

"Yes," he tells her simply.

"Good..." was all she said, and that caused his smile to grow, showing teeth.

She really was a good girl.

* * *

Elain thrashed about, her mind panicked lungs and throat burning, right arm hurting. But none of that mattered. The only one who did in that very instant was one little girl.

"Amie!" Elain bolted upright, heart hammering in her chest, only for her to instantly become dizzy and lightheaded. Grasping the railing of the bed she didn't recognize as she tried to clear the fog from her mind. Trying to get her bearings of the room she was in. It didn't look like the school. In fact, the moment she looked around she knew exactly where she was.

"How are you feeling, Miss Ortiz?" Elain froze before turning to see Alastor sitting by her side. Dressed in a white dress shirt with a light blue sweater overtop and tanned slacks. She reached for his hand with her right, only to stop and stare at her arm. The bandages were different, crisp and clean. Tears welled up in her mismatched eyes as she remembered what happened.

As that bastard of a man, no, he wasn't even that, tore her graph off her arm in response to her trying to gouge out his eye for strangling her.

"You deserve this." His words echoed in her mind as grief, frustration and anger filled her, as her throat burned with a need to curse the worst expletives she knew of.

She then shook her head; this wasn't the time to think about herself. "Amalie!" she says, swallowing her tears as she pushed aside her frustrations. "Where... where is she?"

Alastor gently placed his hand over hers, his smile reassuring. "Don't worry, she's fine. Your mother is with her getting looked at." When she paled, thinking the worst, he added. "As a precaution, she wasn't hurt. She managed to get away as you told her to do."

"And that man?" she asked as he removed his hand from her shoulder.

Alastor was silent for a moment. A hand covered his mouth as he spoke. "On the run, I heard the commotion when I arrived at the school to collect you both and saw him chasing her. He knew that he had no chance of getting away with what he had done, so he ran to the basement. I chased after him, but he ultimately escaped through an old fire exit."

"Oh... I see..." she said as her body began to shake.

"Miss. Ortiz?"

"I'm sorry..." she said, her voice shaken and filled with shame as she looked up to him with tears falling. "I should have done more. I should have..." her words stopped as Alastor leaned in close, gently pulling her to his side, hugging her.

"It's not your fault." He says softly, his words whispering in her hair. "You did everything you could. That is all I could ever ask. You were brave, you were wonderful, and you went above and beyond for my daughter and me. If anything, I should have gotten there sooner, then both of you wouldn't have been hurt."

She continued to sob, uttering apologizes as he continued to hold her close as he ran a hand through her hair as she gripped his back tightly with her left hand, clawing at his clothes as she cried uncontrollably.