Craaven

Chapter 43: Mortemville, Montana 1988 April 23rd

Lucy didn't get a chance to speak before Max pushed past her and ran toward me. She tried to grab for him, but he was too quick and was successfully able to hug me around the waist.

"You got out!" He exclaimed happily with a smile and I smiled back.

"Yeah, of course, I did," I chuckled and ruffled his hair. He continued to hold on to me, clearly unwilling to let go; however, to both of our dismay, Lucy disagreed with Max's reaction and yanked him away from me by his arm. She shoved me away with her free arm and pulled Max behind her as if to protect him.

"Don't you dare lay your filthy hands on my son, pervert!" she hissed furiously at me. Max whined and tried to pull out of his mother's grasp but she held strong. I could see her nails digging into his skin and it sent a wave of anger throughout my body.

"Pervert?! When the hell did I ever give you that impression!?" I wondered in outrage.

"Oh, don't act all innocent now! No normal man breaks into a house to steal a child and manipulates him into loving you! That's sick! You're a paedophile!" Lucy snapped and continued to hold Max's wrist in a vice-like grip.

"Let him go! You're hurting him!" I yelled at her but she never let up on her grip.

"Don't tell me what to do with my own son! I am his mother! You're just some stranger! You know nothing about him!" she defended herself.

I scoffed, "I know more than you, obviously!"

"Oh, and why do you think that!? Because you're always in his room putting gross things in his head and making him think you love him? Maybe you've been the reason for his nightmares this whole time! Gawd! You're fucking disgusting!" she finally let Max go to shove me in my chest yet again. I stumbled back and I could feel every single nerve firing off at once. I was starting to see red and I wanted nothing more than to hit her as hard as possible.

"You are absolutely fucking vile if you think any sort of interaction between Max and I is remotely sexual! I'm not the paedophile here! Clearly, it's you for thinking like that around kids!" I snapped angrily and approached Lucy with the hopes that she'd back down from her aggressive demeanour. Unfortunately, she only took it as a challenge and stood firmly in her place with her chin up and her eyes staring daggers into my soul.

"Any parent would be suspicious if an older man was constantly hanging around their son! I'm only looking out for him! He doesn't know any better!" she hissed.

"Yes, he fucking does! I'm the one who taught him not to talk to strangers because you were too busy trying to learn how to be a good parent and neglecting him in the process!" I yelled back. Lucy shoved me back again and was just about to yell back something in her defence when Max abruptly got between us and pushed his mother away from me.

"Mom, stop it!!" he yelled and Lucy turned her attention to Max, glaring at him the same way she glared at me.

"Max, please don't..." Daniel urged gently. Max didn't listen and continued to stand his ground between Lucy and me.

"Max, for the love of Christ, get out of my way!" Lucy sneered.

Max shook his head, "No, you'll hurt him!"

"He deserves it for what he did to you! You don't understand anything, you're just a child!" Lucy argued. The tone she was using was worrying me; I was afraid she would direct her aggression towards him instead of me and I could tell by the look on Daniel's face that he felt the same way. However, Max still remained firm and he glared back at his mother, threatening her to try and hit me.

"He didn't do anything to me!! You're just saying that because you never liked him!" Max fought back.

"Of course I never liked him! He's nothing but a filthy vagrant! Why aren't you understanding that!? He's poisoned you, Max!" Lucy yelled. Daniel stepped up to the scene to try and get Max out of the way but the boy refused to budge and only swatted Daniel's hands away. Lucy continued to glare at Max for a moment before darting her eyes back towards me.