A/N:
Released on February 12, 2017
Edited on September 9, 2018
Word Count: 1219
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Chapter 3: The Blame Falls Amiss
When Lucas gets up and hurries toward the house with a hand pressed to his burning side, he hears yelling off in the distance.
"Mason?" He asks aloud, even though he knows no one will hear him. And although every step sends shooting pains through the right half of his body, he jogs to his house which is the only safety he can think of.
~*~
Lucas shoves the front door open and practically falls through the doorway.
"Lucas!" Jerica yelps in surprise and jumps up to stand in front of him. "Are you okay? There's blood all over you!"
He nods his head in answer. Surprisingly, on the jog here, his side seemed to hurt less. Maybe it's leftover adrenaline?
"What happened? Where were you?" Jerica questions him, getting more and more aggravated.
"In the woods." He answers, just barely holding back the words, "Where else would I have been while looking like this?"
At least, he assumes he looks terrible since he hasn't been in front of a mirror yet.
"Can you walk?" Jerica asks while eyeing her brother carefully, causing him to wonder what that look is for.
"Probably." Lucas says. What he wanted to say was, "Obviously, since I walked all the way here."
"Where's Mason?" He implores, suddenly remembering his cowardly brother. He's almost sure it was Mason's yells he heard earlier.
"In his room. I had to drag him there!" Jerica sounds completely put out. "He walked in the house and yelled for me. I came downstairs just as said he was going to sleep." Jerica rolls her eyes at this.
"Obviously I yelled at him for calling me downstairs for something so stupid. That's when I noticed the blood. Then he passed out." She finishes in a rush.
"The blood? How much blood? Is he okay?" Lucas asks in a surprisingly calm voice. This night just keeps getting weirder.
"A lot of blood! His jeans were ripped to shreds from the knee down. But I wrapped up his leg wounds and they stopped bleeding." Jerica doesn't look disgusted, which isn't a shock because she's not a girly girl.
"Where's Lena?" Lucas asks when he remembers that Jerica had her best friend over tonight.
"She's sitting with Mason just in case he wakes up and needs something. We were waiting for you to come home." Jerica gives him a withering glare.
"Really Lucas, what happened? Why did Mason come home alone?" She leans forward to emphasize her next sentence. "Did you get attacked by a bear and leave him to save yourself?"
"What? No, of course not! He ran off and left me." He snaps. He could believe that Jerica would jump to that conclusion, but it still made him angry.
Lena walks into the room then and gasps when she sees the state he's in. "Lucas? Are you okay?" Her eyes are wide with fright as she rushes forward.
"I'm okay." He says quickly and steps back so that she doesn't touch him. He could tell Lena was about to reach out to help him and he didn't want to get blood on her.
"You should bandage that. Hopefully it doesn't need stitches." Lena says practically, ignoring the way he moved away from her.
"Yeah, I'll go do that." He replies, turning to go to the bathroom where they always keep first aid supplies for emergencies. This is the first emergency Lucas has needed the kit for since eighth grade when he scratched up his arm falling from a tree.
"Do you need help?" Lena offers while giving Jerica a look that says, "Shouldn't you be trying to help your brother?"
"I can do it." Lucas says, instantly feeling bad because he might've come off as rude. He doesn't like being rude to Lena, or anyone for that matter. Fortunately, she just gives him a nod and doesn't look offended.
Lucas walks off towards the bathroom, trying not to wince as he goes.
~*~
When Lucas exits his bathroom shirtless and wrapped in bandages, he sees that Jerica and Lena are sitting in the living room.
Jerica spies him standing in the hallway and calls to him before he can retreat to his bedroom for some much needed sleep. "Lucas, wait! We need to talk."
Lena turns to look at him, their eyes meeting and holding, then her gaze flicks back to her best friend.
"Hold on a second." Lucas calls back to Jerica, clearly exasperated. He's no longer tiptoeing around Jerica's anger issues. He doesn't care if she gets mad anymore. He's just too tired.
Lucas ducks into his room and grabs a random t-shirt from his closet. He pulls on the plain black shirt as he steps back into the hall and walks into the living room where the others are waiting.
His bratty sister immediately jumps up from the couch to confront him. "So, what exactly happened out there tonight?"
Lucas reaches up with his right hand to run it through his hair, but the muscles in his side stretch and scream at him. He instantly drops his hand and the pain lessens to a throb. It's weird that he can feel more individual muscles in his side now that he's hurt. He had never noticed those muscles before.
"An animal attack. It looked like a wolf." Lucas replies in a monotone. He hates the way Lena is looking at him, like he's a kicked puppy in need of care. Like he's weak.
"Okay, I'm calling the police. How bad is your side? Do we need an ambulance?" Jerica asks with little concern in her voice.
Lena looks expectantly to him for an answer. "No, don't call the police... and no ambulance. I don't need stitches. It's not as bad as it looked."
What he said is mostly true. Now it's not as bad as it looked. But earlier it was bad and really deep. He knew it would need stitches. Now it's just teeth marks that don't go very deep.
"Why not call the police?" Jerica asks her brother with suspicion. "Did you do something illegal out in the woods?"
"No. I just don't want the police to snoop around our family matters or make me go to the hospital." Lucas argues frustratedly. He wonders silently why Jerica always assumes the worst from him.
"What do you mean family matters? Are Mom and Dad doing illegal stuff now?" Jerica questions angrily.
"No. I meant that they would be in trouble because they're technically not taking care of us. Their 'vacation' has lasted a year too long." Lucas explains, sneaking a glance at Lena, but he's not worried about her hearing this. Jerica's probably already told her.
"They send money every month." Jerica declares spitefully. He wonders why she's defending them, but ignores the question in his head because she always does unexplainable things.
After thinking for a minute, he adds, "Fine. Call the police. But make it anonymous." Lucas pauses before continuing. "Say there's a rabid dog running around in the woods." Jerica nods, grabbing her phone to make the call.
He flops onto the comfortable brown couch next to Lena. They sit in compatible silence, staring out at the homely brick fireplace. He suddenly wishes that the fireplace was real and not powered by electricity, but actual chopped wood.