The Scars of Qulin Moore

Chapter 1

Adrienne started to bid for his attention again.

He quickly reached for the dangling pair of headphones and placed the buds into his ears, and hit play on his mp3 player and turned up the volume. The lyrics of the latest Metallica song blared through his ears.

Adrienne sunk in her seat. This had been the routine since she'd plunged the key and started the ignition-ignored, and ineffectual conversation attempts, one exit after another. The blurred trees next to the highway had more to say about the trip than Lucas. She thought she had prepared for this sort of reaction, steeling herself to his dismissive attitude but it hurt. She anticipated his disapproval after only having sprung the news on him late last night that they were heading out to a completely new world. She understood he didn't want to leave New York, but his acting out was becoming uncontrollable-fights, poor school performance, defacing property-more than that, she was terrified he would become Cordell. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter. The thought sickened her. Of course she didn't tell Lucas this was the true reason. He would've surely ran off somewhere. For many months she had battled with the decision to move until something her father said set the wheels in motion, something that would stay with her, 'no boy wants to be shown the broken mirror that his own father once broke.' She took it to mean just get him away from his father's influence. She feared for a long time that Lucas's troubling behaviors were the emerging features his abusive father had planted in the poor kid. It was a fate she'd give her dying breath to prevent. And so she decided to take Lucas away. Not by telling the truth but by framing their sudden elopement in a harmless inviting way. In time, she hoped Lucas would understand that their survival depended on Derryton.

She turned into a gas station and parked the car. "I'll be right back," she said.

Lucas nodded dismissively and watched her hurry off into the station. Here was his chance to run off into the woods. He'd seen enough movies to know how to hitchhike. Just stick your thumb up, right? Perhaps he could find his way back to the city where his friends would be waiting.

He cleared away a strand of brown hair from his eyes, his feet began to drum on the door. How far could he truly get if he sprinted full speed?

The sound of the opening car door pulled him from his reverie.

Adrienne returned carrying a cup of coffee and candy bar. Lucas kept his eyes downcast.

"Here, I got you're favorite," she said, tossing the candy on his lap. He lowered the volume on his headphones. He forced a glance at the candy, and a weak smile formed. A Snickers bar. While she was strapping in her seatbelt and as the words of a half-hearted thanks were forming on his tongue, he was jarred into a pause. Some of her makeup had come off. He noticed a large purple bruise below her right eye.

His stomach twisted. "Thanks," he choked out. He was under no confusion as to how the bruise got there. He pictured the bare knuckles of his father's fist meeting her face with violent velocity. That same shaped bruise, irregular margins, a combination of purple and black eruptions above her right cheek. He barely could recall a time when that bruise wasn't there, as if it had become a permanent feature. It never seemed to heal nor go away, always in the same shade of dark agony.

Lucas stuffed the candy into his pocket, and tried to steady his mind by seeking out that sickle-like cloud once more, but it had vanished.

Adrienne noticed the pale look on his face. "What's wrong?"

Hesitant at first, Lucas turned to her, then touched the part of his cheek that corresponded with his mother's bruise. "Dad?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me? When?"

Adrienne checked herself in the rearview mirror. Her eyes widened with embarrassment. "It's not important when. I didn't want to upset you anymore than you already were going to be with this move," she said, uneasily while reapplying coverup. "I wanted to keep the focus on getting us out of the city."