Their baby boy

Chapter 3

Third person p.o.v
Everyone entered Evelyn's room together and Ethan and Andrew went and sat down on the couch in the room while Olivia placed the food down on the bed side table and sat on a chair that was near the bed. Evelyn was sat up leaning on the headboard with Arlo sleeping peacefully with his head in her lap while he had his pacifier in his mouth.

Evelyn broke the silence and started talking as she knew that Ethan was really confused about all this. "I met Arlo's dad Lucas when I was in college. After a few months of dating I got pregnant. Lucas was really worried about his family finding out as they were really religious so we got married and I moved to a different country with him. I was already 2 months pregnant when we got married. After 7 months of our marriage we had Noah." Evelyn smiled while remembering all these memories.

"Everything was perfect the first year after Noah was born. But everything changed when Noah's dad started drinking. He came home drunk every night and would take his frustration out on me. When Noah turned two that night Lucas came home and he was drunk as usual. Noah was playing on the floor in the living room with his toys while his dad entered the room. Before I could even get up and pick Noah up there was a loud crash and then a cry. My heart stopped at that moment as I saw Noah covered in blood. His dad had hit him with the bottle that he was drinking from." Evelyn ran her hands through Arlo's hair gently as a few tears slipped down her face.

Ethan clenched his fists while he looked at Arlo while listening to his aunt. Andrew was sat next to Ethan and he looked tensed too. Olivia sat quietly while listening. "I couldn't take that. I couldn't let him hurt my baby so I picked Noah up quickly and ran out of the house panicked. I didn't know what to do. Luckily my neighbor was outside and they were able to help me take Noah to the hospital without questioning me. Lucas was arrested that night. Noah had to stay at the hospital for two nights to make sure everything was ok. After Noah got out of the hospital I decided to move back to the town I grew up in. After a week we moved back I was able to get in touch with Olivia again. I tried my best to keep Noah safe and happy. I wanted him to forget everything that had happened to him."

"Me and Olivia started hanging together more often and I was able to get a house on the same street as you guys. Everything was perfect. Noah was really happy too and he was best friends with Ethan. When Noah was five that's when I got a message from his dad again. He said he wanted to meet Noah and he had changed. I didn't really believe him so I told him he can't meet him. Lucas texted everyday asking about how Noah and I am doing and that started to convince me he had changed. He even visited a few times and seeing how happy Noah was with him made me believe that he changed and that he cared about Noah again. When Noah was seven Lucas wanted us to come and visit him. He said he wanted Noah to meet his grandparents. I didn't want to keep Noah away from his grandparents so I decided to take Noah there for a week only."

"Olivia wasn't really happy about me going and seeing Lucas again but I convinced her and told her everything will be ok. We were only planning on visiting for a week but once we got there Noah just seemed so happy with his dad and when he asked me if he could stay longer with his dad I couldn't say no to him. So weeks turned into months. Lucas took my phone away and said it was only because his phone broke. I believed him. I didn't have contact with anyone. Everything was still new to me and Noah in that place. Eventually things got so bad that Lucas locked me in the room and wouldn't let me out. No matter how much I screamed or cried he wouldn't let me see Noah. I didn't know what was happening to Noah outside. I felt so useless when I heard Noah's cries. I couldn't help him. I don't know how long I stayed in that room for. But one day some people came in and unlocked the door. I had lost all hope by now."

"When those man entered the room I thought they were sent by Lucas so I hid in the corner. But they reassured me that they were here to help so I went with them. They took me to the hospital. I asked them about Noah and they told me that they were treating him and didn't let me see him for another 2 weeks. After all the investigation the police had done I found out that Lucas abused Noah mentally and physically. He was sent to prison. Also he tried to sell him off to some people. That's when I broke down. I couldn't believe that a father would try and sell his own 10 years old son. When I was finally able to see Noah again. He didn't look like my Noah. He had bruises everywhere. He looked so thin. Also he was so pale with so many tubes attached to him."

"The doctors had told me that Noah might not even make it. After a month of him being in coma he woke up. He just stared into space. He didn't talk. He stayed in the hospital for a year. He didn't utter a single word. He didn't really eat much. The doctors had told me already that he might never go back to his normal self. I had hope that he will recover. When we left the hospital Noah was Eleven but he was still so tiny and looked so small. He didn't really interact with anyone and was mostly in his own world. I couldn't really move out of the country because Noah was still getting treatment. So I decided to move into a small town and change Noah's full name. I changed his name into Arlo Lui because I didn't want Lucas or his family to ever find him again."

"Everything that had happened to him had affected him mentally and physically. After all the treatment and going back and forth to the doctors we were able to make some progress. He slipped into little space to cope with everything that had happened to him when he was 15. The doctors had told me that this can be permanently too but I was ok with this as long as my baby was happy and would forget everything that had happened to him. I looked after Arlo and worked from home. We lived in a small 2 story house in a small town and everyone adored Arlo. I got diagnosed with cancer when arlo was 18 but I didn't want that to ruin anything so I tried to live as normally as I could. I got treatment. Olivia was finally able to get in contact with me last year and she visited me too. My health started getting worse in the last few months and I wasn't really able to take care of Arlo properly so Olivia convinced me to move in with her. I know if something happened to me I could trust you guys with Noah." Evelyn finished while letting out a sob.

Olivia quickly got up and hugged her best friend tightly. "You two are really strong. And you and Arlo are safe now." She said while rubbing her back. Ethan had no emotion on his face while he squeezed Andrew's hand who also had a few tears slip down his face. Everyone in the room was disgusted by how someone can hurt a small child and his own wife. Ethan looked at Andrew and they made eye contact. Andrew nodded at Ethan understanding what Ethan wanted to say.

Ethan got up with Andrew. Ethan sat on the chair that his mom was sitting on before and held his Aunt's hand. "I promise you that we will take care of Arlo and would protect him no matter what aunt." Ethan said while he leaned forward and hugged his aunt. Evelyn hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much. I don't know what I would do without you guys." Evelyn said with a cracked voice.

After talking abit more everyone went to sleep. No matter how much Ethan tried to sleep he couldn't. He got out of bed quietly not wanting to wake Andrew up and grabbed his pack of cigarettes and lighter and made his way to the garden. He needed some time alone to himself to be able to clear his mind up.

He sat down on the bench and lit up a cigarette and looked up at the sky while smoking and thinking about everything that he had found out about Arlo. He clenched his fist as he thought about the person that had hurt Arlo. He wanted to destroy him. His eyes turned dark and he smirked evilly as he thought about everything he would do to torture that man Lucas...