Paralyzer

Will Power

Luke drove away as fast as he possibly could, things were going all wrong, and Bo wasn’t supposed to catch him crying. He continued driving farther away from his home, he had no specific place he was going; he was just driving his pain away.

Rounding the corner, he saw a car swerving out of control heading his way. Luke quickly turned to the right putting the front end of the General in the ditch. Slowly he emerged from the vehicle and ran off into the woods, not a care in the world as to what could possibly happen to him. He only stopped running when he found himself at the county line, this was a special spot along the county line, if you fell into the water flowing beneath the ridge of where Luke was standing, and you wouldn’t be in Hazzard County anymore.

The water below was flowing rapidly, sharp rocks pointing out, or going under as waves flowed quickly in the stream. Tears from Luke’s eyes dropped down into the lake, he thought of jumping, that maybe all of this was a terrible nightmare, and the only way out was down. He stood there for minutes, eyes blurred with tears from the pain of reality.

Looking away, Luke decided to sit on a rock and ponder about what should be done next. Go home, or find his own way out of the nightmare he seemed to be living constantly. After sitting for a few minutes, he relaxed and drifted into a peaceful sleep, sliding down near the edge of the stream.

“Uncle Jesse I need to find him! It’s important! He is going crazy because I am injured! I need to walk again for him to calm down.” Bo spat out shortly after Luke had taken off.

“I agree Uncle Jesse” Daisy added.

“Uncle Jesse, I think that if Luke is left alone he may do something stupid. We need to find him now, before it’s too late.” Cooter pointed out quickly as well.

Jesse nodded and the family set off looking for their missing Duke.

In the truck, he didn’t know what to do, there was no way he could help his family while he was in a wheel chair. His cousin needed him and he wouldn’t be able to be there for him if he went into the bushes, or started running.

Cooter noticed Bo’s reaction to the situation, full of determination, but depressed as well. “Bo, what’s wrong? Are you worried about Luke?” He questioned softly.

Bo shook his head yes and started to reply, “That’s not my problem. I yelled it earlier, what good am I going to be to Luke if I can’t even walk to save him?”

“You can do it if you believe, you are strong willed Bo, you aren’t about to give up on your cousin because you are in a wheel chair.”

Bo nodded softly and thought long and hard on Cooters advice. Suddenly he felt something spark, and an idea formed in his head as he slowly moved his left leg onto the seat so he could turn towards Cooter.

“That’s it!”

Taken aback, Cooter turned to face his pal and a smile built on his face as he saw one of his best friends finally able to move their legs around a bit. “What is Bo? Does it have something to do with the fact that you just moved your leg?”

Bo nodded before answering. “Will power”

The Dukes had been searching for almost an hour before something orange came into sight of the Jeep that Daisy and Jesse were in.

“Uncle Jesse, look! It’s the General Lee!” Daisy shouted cheerfully.

Jesse smiled; he may have just found his nephew after all. Jesse CB’ed Cooter and Bo who arrived shortly after, speeding around the bend, coming to a halt before both boys rapidly got out of the pick-up. No one was in the General so that meant searching in the woods.

After miraculously walking out of the pick-up Bo set off slowly, after his family to search for his older cousins in the woods. Truthfully he knew exactly where his cousin would be.

Cooter followed Bo into the woods, assuring Bo would be fine walking for the first time in a month. They walked around a tree, Bo slowing down and carefully stepping over the stump, next thing he knew was a shadow was leaning against that stump and it caused Bo to jump into action.

“LUKE!” Bo shouted at the top of his lungs.

 Luke jolted awake, looking around for the intruder of his rest. Spotting Bo made his heart jump. “I came out here so you wouldn’t be able to get out here in a wheel chair. How are you here?” He asked nonchalantly. It never occurred to him that his cousin was walking again.

 “I walked here.” Bo spoke softly getting closer to his cousin.

Luke jumped up and neared the edge of the stream below. “My dreams can’t come true, not now. Things don’t happen that way; Bo isn’t supposed to walk now. He isn’t supposed to be able to ruin my way out of this nightmare, not make it turn into a fantasy.”

Bo stopped dead in his tracks, did his older cousin tell him he wasn’t allowed to walk, that he had just ruined something.

Cooter stepped forward. “Luke, what do you mean your way out of this nightmare?”

Luke looked down, emphasizing his need to jump to end things.

“Cousin it’s not worth it! This is real life and I am walking again. You are ill, let’s go home and rest. I promise everything will be fine and I won’t walk again until I am healed completely, but I can’t do that if you are gone.”

Luke continued to step closer to the edge, looking down with a hint of insane sparking in his eyes. “Good-bye cousin”