Lion (manxboy)

Chapter 13

Trigger warning and violence in this chapter, you've been warned!

*********************************************************************

Lion awoke from his deep sleep, sitting up in his bed and stretching his body. Once again, he reminisced the previous night with Elijah, toes curling and butterflies fluttering in his stomach. Lion stood from his bed, getting dressed and ready for his tenth day at work. It didn't seem like much to Lion, but for Elijah, it meant a lot. The boy walked out of his room and into the kitchen, tiptoeing his way through the open space, the cold floor freezing his feet. He was a little frustrated the heating was not turned on, reaching over for the thermostat and cranking it. Lion then made himself a coffee and walked towards his computer, peeking at Elijah's desk to see if the laptop would have miraculously reappeared, but it still wasn't there.

Making himself comfortable, Lion opened the files on his computer and began working, sipping from his coffee every once and a while. The boy spent half of his day working hard and finishing tasks his boss asked him to do. With a few hours down, Lion rubbed his eyes and stretched his legs, sipping the last drop of his coffee before shutting everything down and moving out of his office and back into the open space of the apartment.

The boy looked around, noticing muddy footprints on the ground. He put his cup of coffee down on the kitchen island, hesitantly turning his head back to see where the prints lead. Lion didn't want to follow them, but the curiosity pushed him. The boy should have heeded the warnings in his head as he padded towards the open door. Upon entering, Lion didn't see anyone or anything. Shrugging it off like it was nothing, Lion turned around only to come face to face with a grinning Donovan.

"Nice to see you again, Lion." Donovan chuckled, the knife in his hand shining in the sunlight peering through the opened window, "why don't we make this quick. You get dressed and come with me, or I murder you and Elijah." The man held a wicked smile that sent shivers down Lion's spine.

Lion swallowed hard, keeping his eyes locked with Donovan's, "think this through, Donovan. Do you want to kill Elijah?" Lion tried his best to distract the man as he reached a hand for the baseball bat against the wall, "Elijah should be home any second now. He could be at the door as we speak." Donovan turned his head enough for Lion to swing the bat against his knee.

The boy ran for his room, swiftly closing the door only to be stopped by Donovan's large form, "I didn't want to do this the hard way, kid." Donovan growled in anger before pouncing on Lion, knocking the boy out cold. The man dressed the boy as quickly as possible before putting him on his back.

Donovan walked around the apartment for anything out of place before turning around towards the door and carrying Lion down to his car. The man earned strange glares from people as he sat the boy in his car. One man sauntered towards Donovan, tapping him on the shoulder as Donovan turned around with a soft smile.

"Is everything alright here, sir?" The man asked, a worried look on his face.

Donovan nodded, turning towards the man, "yes, we were just about to leave when he fell asleep on my friend's couch. I decided to carry him down and bring him home." Donovan found the perfect excuse watching as the man nodded and moved away.

Donovan walked around his car to the driver's side, getting in and driving off towards his hideout.

***

Lion's eyes shot open, his body seemingly tied to a chair as he tried to wiggle himself free but only failed. The boy's frantic eyes moved around the dim-lit room, squinting as if he could see anything within the darkness, but nothing came. That is until a door opened, the light from outside shining in as Donovan and another man walked in. Donovan held a freakishly menacing smile on his face while the other man had nothing but a cold mask. The two walked towards Lion, who sat silently and glaring at the both of them. The door clicking sound echoed in the open space before it cut off by a chair slamming in front of the boy.