Corgon

Chapter 4 - Time to go

When Sam woke up Lucy was nowhere to be seen, he was alone in a well-lit room, with pale blue walls. He sat up and realised he was fully dressed and suddenly the memories of last night came flooding back: Sophie crying, his fight with his mother, him coming here and Lucy making him better. The pain around his eye started to come back too. It hurt to blink and his vision felt restricted. He painfully remembered his mother had hurt his eye but it didn't feel as bad as it did last night.

He got up and looked in the mirror at his eye. It was not only swollen now but the skin around his eye was now purple and blue in some places. The swelling had decreased since last night, thanks to Lucy keeping ice on it, but it still was a shiner. His right eye seemed a lot bigger than his left but that was due to left eye being quite a lot smaller than it normally was. The white of his left eye was more bloodshot that normal and his green iris seemed a lot dimmer compared to its normal healthy shine.

Sam didn't regret what he'd done, he just wished it had made a difference, which he knew it haden't. He would go to school today and see Sophie and she would beg him to come home. Sam would give in knowing that if he didn't Sophie would be hurt, and then he would be beaten again. This was known as it had happened before, his mother had beaten him before and he had left. But the next day he would go home and get hit for staying out all time. Sam didn't like this harsh reality but he knew that he couldn't help how he felt. He couldn't just leave Sophe, Cara, Thomas and Robbie on their own with an abusive mother and a father that was never there.

He decided not to think about that. What Sam hadn't yet done was look at the time but when he did he realised it was eleven o'clock in the morning, school started two and a half hours ago. He thought it was now time to go and find Lucy and find out why they weren't at school. 

Sam quickly got changed into a pair of black jogging bottoms and his yellow vest top. Then he started to head down stairs. When he got to the bottom step he heard three people talking and one of the three was crying. It was Lucy crying and one of the other voice must have been her fathers. Sam had only met Lucy's dad four times in the fourteen years he had been friends with Lucy. He always seemed to work. 

But but the third voice coming from the living room confused Sam as it was not one he'd heard before. Sam had met Lucy's mother a maximum of ten times over the years, but what he did know was that she was from London. This voice was one of a female but the accent was northern. That woman wasn't Lucy's mum. He didn't know who it was but she sounded young and patronising. Sam didn't like the was she was talking to Lucy. She was telling her to stop crying, but in a way that sounded fake and full of artificial care.

Sam decided not to enter the room but he thought he should let Lucy know he was listening. He willed his mind to tell her, which was hard as that much thinking caused him to go dizzy. After a few moments there was no answer but he stayed anyway. Lucy wouldn't mind, as she would end up telling Sam sooner or later anyway. 

Lucy seemed to be arguing with her father and the woman seemed to be the reason Lucy was mad. From what Sam could deduct from the conversation, Mr Felton wasn't meant to be with this woman. Was he having an affair? No, he wouldn't do that to his wife, he loved his wife.

Mrs Felton was a nice woman who worked very hard. Although Lucy wasn't always happy that she never got to see her mother, she did know that her mum cared. Mrs Felton spent all the time she could with her daughter and tried to make sure she wasn't alone all the time. A few years ago Mrs Felton had asked Sam what he thought of Lucy, Sam answered her honestly and told her that Lucy meant a lot to him and that they were best friends. Mrs Felton had then given Sam permission to stay over whenever he wanted to on the condition that he looked after her only daughter.

Before Sam could think about whether or not Mr Felton was having an affair he had to move, Lucy was about to leave the room, meaning she would walk straight into her best friend who was eavesdropping. He quickly ran upstairs, which he learnt was a bad idea as his head was not up to fast movments. He ran into the spare room and got into bed. If Lucy was to come in, Sam didn't want her to think he was awake. 

Not that he didn't want to talk to his friend but Lucy would be angry after what had happened downstairs and while angry Lucy listened to little reason. So Sam curled up under the covers and hoped to wait out Lucy's angry period.

A moment later Lucy stormed in and shut the do. "I know you're awake Sam, don't pretend not to be." Lucy wasn't one to be fooled. She walked straight to the bed and got in next to Sam. Sam opened his eyes and found Lucy eyes were now pink ank puffy and her cheeks were flushed. 

"What's wrong?" Sam didn't want Lucy to think he had been listening to her conversation with her dad. He attempted to sound like he knew nothing but Lucy didn't look convinced. 

"I heard your thoughts Sam. You told me you were listening. What did you hear?" She shuffled closer to Sam and put her head on his chest. Lucy didn't seem angry at Sam for listening, she just seemed upset. This was understandable, as much as she resented her parents for having no time for her she was happy that she still had parents that were together.

"Not a lot...Is your dad having an affair?" Sam couldn't think of any other way to bring it up, so he decided to be blunt with it. Lucy was his best friend, he knew she would be okay with it. Sam wrapped his arms around Lucy as she began to cry again. Immediately Sam wished he hadn't asked, but he knew she would still answer. 

"Yeah, i-it's been g-going on for mo-nths. He doesn't-t love mum any-more." Lucy tried to hold herself together, but around Sam she didn't have to. He kept hold of her and stroked her hair. 

"I j-just don't kn-know what to..." All of a sudden Lucy sat bolt upright. Tears were still flowing from her eyes, but her green iris had a glow that told Sam she had an idea. 

"Let's go!" Her eyes had now stopped glowing and instead started to shine. This idea had excited her and Sam got the feeling nothing would stop her. She smiled for the first time since last night, this made Sam almost agree straight away, but then reality came back into focus.

"What do you mean? Just up and leave? We can't do that. We have school, and family and friends. We can't just go." Lucy's smile didn't falter despite Sam's realism. Lucy hopped out of bed and ran to the hall, after a few moments of her being gone Sam decided to follow.

Lucy was found in her room frantically packing clothes into a duffel bag, which was almost the same as Sam's except it was a bit bigger. She was rushing around so quickly it made Sam feel dizzy.

"Lucy? Didn't you listen to me? We have school-" 

"We're smart kids Sam. We'll be okay." She stuffed all her underwear into her bag and looked around for what else she needed. She headed back to her draws and stared picking out socks.

"But then there's...our friends." Sam hoped that would slow Lucy down but he was wrong, she was too busy putting th socks into the bottom of her bag. She quickly started towards her wardrobe and began picking tops.

"They'll understand Sam." She didn't even pause to look at Sam, but Sam knew her heart was set on leaving. He didn't know what else he could say.

"But what about family?" Lucy stopped. She folded a pair of black jeans and put them in her bag. She turned towars Sam and her eyes now looked less happy and more tired. 

"Sam, you can't tell me you're happy at home and I'm sick of being on my own all the time and now I know my dad is having an affair...I don't want to be a part of this family." Sam dropped his eyes and Lucy knew he was worried. But despite that Lucy could feel that Sam wanted to go.

"What do I need to do then? Get more clothes?" Sam looked up to see Lucy was smiling again. Something about his friends eyes made him feel like he could do anything. The trust between the two friends was so strong that it could almost be seen holding them together. Lucy ran and hugged Sam. He felt safe in her arms and he knew she felt the same.

After a moment Lucy pulled out of the embrace and smiled at her friend. "Yeah you need more clothes, any money you have and probably some food. I can get pans and lighters and matches, but get some if you have them. Come straight back here when you're done. By then I'll be ready too. We'll be okay Sam I promise." With that Lucy kisssed Sams head and continued packing.