Happily ever after 2

Helpless

After putting the phone down, she fell into Jacob's arms completely full of relief. He held her tightly as she began to cry tears of joy. Her baby was safe. "See, what did I tell you, eh? Just round a mates." Jacob smiled, but even he was beginning to get worried.

It was almost pitch black outside now and the bus stop felt like miles away as every limp took his full effort. His head began to pound and his shoulders shivered. There was no way he was gonna make the next bus.

Joey never usually admitted to needing help, however pulling his phone out, he dialled his father's number. Once again the phone took a millisecond to answer. "Son, you alright? Where abouts are you?"

It was hard for him to catch his breath. His lungs felt like all the air was being sucked out of them at the same time. "Yeah Dad, I... erm, I need you to pick me up."

Jacob frowned on the other end of the line. Joey had always liked to do his own thing and make his own way back from stuff. Something was wrong. "Joe are you sure your alright? Have you been running or something, you sound out of breath?"

"Yeah something like that-" The sound of steps from behind caused Joey to twist his neck slowly. Out of the corner of his eye, a dark figure approached him. The footsteps became louder as the figure began to run, raising his fist suddenly. For a moment he thought he was hallucinating. But it wasn't until the fist struck the side of his head that he realised he was in too deep this time. There was no fight left in him.

The impact knocked him to the ground. Joey was too weak to react and all he could do was wait to get beaten to a pulp. He wasn't quite sure if there were two men or if he was seeing double. None of that mattered anymore.

His phone fell out of his hand as his eyes began to close after the second punch. It felt like his entire brain rattled against his skull, before the impact knocked him out cold.

Jacob heard everything. The yells, crashing to the floor, but he was helpless, all he could do was scream his name down the phone. The line was cut out by some sort of crunch. He presumed that it was trod on.

Jacob didn't wait a second longer. His son was in trouble and it was his duty to protect him. "Connie!" He screamed her name from downstairs.

Connie rushed down straight away. Jacob only ever used that tone when something bad was going on. "Jacob what's going on?" She frowned as he threw his jacket on and grabbed his keys.

"It's Joey. He's in trouble. Come on." Connie didn't think twice before following Jacob out the door and into the car. Yet they had no idea where to search first.