Chapter five
The next afternoon is bright and sunny. Nikolas and Elizabeth
thought it was okay to accompany Lucky to the park. They’ve been cooped up
inside all day and wanted some fresh air.
"Too bad Lulu couldn’t come," Elizabeth sighed, setting
on a park bench. "I think she would have enjoyed this."
"Me too," Nikolas nods. He notices that Lucky hasn’t
said one word since they arrived. "How about you Lucky?" Nikolas and
Elizabeth haven’t said a word about the suicide attempt last night. They didn’t
want to put Lucky on the spot or anything, but they were still going to keep a
close eye on him.
"It is too bad," Was Lucky’s answer.
"Hello Lucas," Paula and Calvin McCoy walks up behind
the trio. Nikolas immediately jumps between Lucky and the McCoy’s.
"What do you want?" Nikolas glares at the McCoys.
"To speak with Lucas. We’ve come to ask him to come
home," Paula smiled over at Lucky.
"His name is Lucky," Nikolas growled, "And he is home.
I suggest that you go back to your home and leave my brother alone."
"That is impossible," Calvin smiled. "We’re not
going anywhere without my son, and his name is Lucas. What type of name is
Lucky anyway?"
"Do you have some kind of point to make about being
here?" Lucky asked, "Or are you here just to irritate us?"
"Oh, I just thought you’d like to have a picture of your
little sister. Same age as you were when you were taken. Isn’t she
pretty?" Paula takes out a picture and hands it to Lucky. "Her name
is Laura."
Lucky’s eye’s widen and he pales as he looks at the picture of a
little girl with blond hair and sad blue eyes. Her long sleeved shirt hid
bruises and scars from masses beatings, but they couldn’t hide the black eye or
cuts on her face.
"Oh my God," Elizabeth gasped looking at the picture.
"She’s looking forward to meeting her big brother after all
these years," Paula grinned. "I hope you don’t disappoint her."
"What kind of people are you?" Elizabeth glared at the
woman. "How can you do this to a little girl?"
"She’s Lulu’s age," Lucky looks at Nikolas.
"We’ll be going now. Just wanted you to see what you were
turning your back on," Calvin takes Paula’s hand and leads her out of the
park.
"We’ll call social services," Nikolas strokes his chin
thoughtfully.
"They won’t do anything. They’ll take her out of the home for
a couple of months, evaluate the McCoy’s, who will probably put on a big show
and then place her back in the home and it’ll start all over again," Lucky
shakes his head.
"What’s on your mind?" Nikolas looks at his brother.
"I have to see Dad and that guy Earl. Guys…I can’t just turn
a blind eye to this. She is my sister, plus she’s Lulu’s age."
"We’ll think of something Lucky. We’ll get her out of there
somehow," Elizbeth squeezes his shoulder reassuringly.
Lucky is alone when he stops by Earl’s motel room. Earl is there
along with Luke, going over what strategy they can use to keep the McCoy’s away
from Lucky.
The door is open so Lucky just strolls in and tosses the picture
on the table in front of Earl. "Did you know I had a sister and they’re
doing the same thing to her what they did to me?"
"What?" Earl stares at the picture. "I heard they
had another child, but I didn’t know whether to believe it or not. I hoped and
prayed it wasn’t true."
"But it is. Look at her man, she looks bad," Lucky
shakes his head. "You know I was lucky because you took care of me when
they did that, but she has no one to take care of her and protect her. She’s
all alone. How can I turn away from that?"
"Cowboy? I don’t like where you’re going with this,"
Luke gets out of his chair.
"What am I supposed to do dad?"
"Call social services. Let them handle this," Luke
stammers, trying to ease Lucky’s mind. Sure he felt for the little girl, but he
wasn’t about to give up his son to save a kid he didn’t even know."
"Social services won’t do a damned thing dad! You know that!
For goodness sake she’s Lulu’s age!"
"Lucky…where did you get this picture?" Earl asked.
"You know where. They gave it to me. They wanted me to know
what I was turning my back on."
"Guilt. Those bastards!" Luke hissed. "I should
have went ahead and killed them.
"What are you going to do Lucky?" Earl asked, a gulf
opening up in his stomach.
"I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I just
need to be alone for a while. I just came to get someone else’s take on
this."
"Lucky…" Luke began but shakes his head. There was
nothing to say.
"I’ll be fine dad. Don’t worry," Lucky replies, before
leaving the room, picture in hand.
"Earl?" Luke looks at his old friend. "How long
have you known about this?"
"A couple of years. But I thought it was a rumor."
"I hope and pray Lucky doesn’t make a decision on this thing.
I have a bad feeling that I know what it’s going to be. Especially since the
girl is Lulu’s age."
"Me too. You raised that boy to be a good man, too good to be
exact. There’s no way he can insist on staying here knowing that another child
is being hurt," Earl nods.
Lucky sets on his bed, just staring at the picture, thinking about
all the times he was beaten. Any thing setted the man off. If he even breathed
wrong the man would just blow up. It had to be worse for her…and if the McCoy’s
went home without Lucky the man will be angry and he’ll take it out on her. How
can Lucky live with that?
"Lucky," Lulu enters the room, h er big blue eyes staring up at her
brother with complete love and trust.
"Hey sweetie," Lucky smiles, laying the picture face
down and lifting Lulu up into his lap. "What’s going on?"
"Mama’s crying again, but she won’t tell me way," Lulu’s
face falls. "Why is mama so sad?"
"I don’t know Lulu," Lucky sighed, hugging the little
girl he thought of as his sister close. "You know I love you don’t you
Lulu? I won’t let anything happen to you, right?"
She nods readily.
Lucky comes to a decision. Just like he wouldn’t let anyone lay a
hand on Lulu, he couldn’t let them hurt the other little girl any longer
either, and the only way to stop it was to go and take her out of that house.
He hated the idea, but there was no other choice. Everytime he looked at that
picture he saw Lulu and it tore him up to think someone could hurt her like
that. He didn’t know how he was going to tell his parents, nor Nikolas and
Elizabeth…especially Elizabeth. But they would have to understand that this was
something he had to do.
The next morning, he finds the McCoys in the apartment across from
his. He had decided to tell them first. Might as well get it over with and then
deal with his parents and girlfriend last. Taking a deep breath, he knocks on
the door.
Paula McCoy, dressed in a terrycloth robe, hair twisted in a
braid, a cigarette in hand is who answers the door. She stares at Lucky for a
moment in disbelief. "Why look who’s here! Calvin come to the door!"
"Lucas, what a surprise to see you here. I assume you came to
a decision," Calvin appears behind his wife.
"For Laura’s sake I’ll go back with you," Lucky crosses
his arms. "On the condition that you no longer lay a hand on her."
"So we’ve won," Calvin grinned.
Not by a long shot, Lucky thought to himself. He shrugs and bows
his head. "All I ask for is one more day with my family and friends. Then
we can leave first thing in the morning."
Paula and Calvin just look at each other then at Lucky. They
really wanted to leave Port Charles right away, but letting Lucas say good-bye
to the only family he’s really known wasn’t asking much. "Ok. Fine. Be
here at seven sharp. We’ll be leaving then."
Lucky only nods and walks away, leaving the McCoys grinning in
smug satisfaction at their victory.