The Death of a King

Chapter 13

Morning- 6:54 - Jax Dean
My eyes flutter open as I hear the chilling sound of Luke screaming. I yank the bed sheets off of me as I get out of bed. Rushing towards the room next to me. I open my door and see Ashter at Luke's door. He raises his hand upward to stop me.
"Shhh...he doesn't like when people interrupt his episodes. He has chronic nightmares, just leave him be. Go down stairs and get some food." That's when I notice that the lights are on, the power came back. "Ah yes, you noticed we have power again. It came back on around one o'clock. The storm has died down quite a bit but it's still pretty bad. Now go get some food. We'll check on him in a little bit. By the way, I think you'll wanna go to the dining room, he's awake too."
I can't even reply, I rush downstairs to the dining room, and there he is, eating at the table.
"Cody! Oh my God you're awake!" I hug him, making sure not to apply too much pressure. He still wincing though, but I can't blame him.
"Good morning to you too. Ow. Ow. That hurts." I let go, "Thank you. How did you sleep?"
"I want to say terrible but as soon as I hit the bed I was out."
"At least one of you slept well," he eyes upstairs, clearly hinting at Luke's screams a few moments ago. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know, I'm going to check on him in a little bit, but first. Food."
He hands me some bacon and pours a glass of coffee, it's definitely better than the home brew stuff I have at home. After everything that's happened, all of this feels so odd. We shouldn't be just sitting here having a normal breakfast. We should be out there looking for Luke's brother. Except we can't do that with the storm still going, but luckily Ashter was right. It has died down a lot. Although I'm pretty sure it's still not safe to drive in, but then again. Luke and John did. I check my phone, still no service.
"Yeah, I checked that too when I woke up from my beating."
"Your beating? I thought you were going to die Cody."
"That would have hurt a lot less now that I think about it."
"That's not funny, it was my fault I got you into this."
"You couldn't have known, besides, I'm alive either way. That's what matters."
"Still, I blame myself." He looks at me with those deep blue eyes of his, "What? I do!"
He snorts "It's fine Jax, really."
He stands up and scrapes his breakfast into the trash. "Now go check on him," he points up stairs, "I'm gonna go read some books."
So I'm left at the table alone, I finish my meal and go upstairs. I knock on Luke's door but get no answer. I turn the doorknob. It's not locked. I open the door slowly, and make my way in. Luke's sitting on the edge of the bed with his back towards me. He's shirtless.
"Oh my...I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have..." The scars on his back catch my eye. He turns his head.
"Jax..no it's fine. Come on in. I'm just...trying to get my bandages changed." His arm is bandaged but his back stitches from his bullet wound is bleeding, he must of tore some of the stitches yesterday.
"Here let me help you, your back is bleeding."
He stills himself to my touch, he's freezing. I go and grab towel and look in the bathroom for any rubbing alcohol, finding some in the bottom drawl. "Okay...this might sting...a lot." I put the towel below the wound and pour the alcohol on it. He doesn't even wince. "Or not...you do this often?"
"There's some pain that's worse than physical."
"Well you're not wrong. I know how it feels. My dad was...is abusive. I grew up without a mother. It's been a struggle but I always pulled through. I worked hard and supported myself."
"You do seem to be able to handle yourself in stressful situations. I doubt you got that talent from working at a bar."
"You're right. I got it from my dead beat dad. He taught me all about virtues and how to handle everything without booze and cigars."
"Is that a hint of sarcasm I hear Miss Dean?"
"Oh by no means would I ever be sarcastic Mr. King." He starts to say something but it's interrupted by the door opening and the sound of potter patter of a dog running. We both turn around to see Ashter at the door.
"Oh Zeus! Come here boy!" Luke's excitement rises. I can't blame him, the cutest pug is bounding towards is and jumps into the bed. I pick up the bottle of rubbing alcohol and towel, taking them back to the bathroom. Meanwhile Luke and Zeus have their reunion. I just now remembered that this is the first time in probably five days they have seen each other.
"Master luke, I believe he missed you."
"I'm inclined to believe you, he hasn't seen me in a week, poor baby."
"He's cute, pure breed?"
"Oh I don't know really, I adopted him when he was just a pup, my friend May Swan has an animal shelter, at the time she didn't have a home for him so I took him in."
"I know that place, I use to pass it everyday when I went to work."
"Small world. I suppose. I'm starving, please tell me that's bacon I smell."
"It is master Luke."
"Okay, well I'm gonna go down stairs and eat. Care to join Jax?"
"Oh...I already ate but I'll accompany you."
"Great."
I dry my hands from the blood and toss the towel into the bin. I follow them to the dining room, as Luke sits down and eats.
"It feels like forever since I've had a good breakfast. The powers back on...does that mean we can call.."
"Nope, I tried that too. Still no service right now."
"Damn.."
"Yeah I know. It sucks. Uh..." I look around the dining and living room, "Where's Cody?"
"He's asleep in the study room, he still has a book in his hand." Ashter replies.
"Oh..well that's good."
I calm down a bit, the coffee I had obviously not being a good idea. I feel wired and have nothing to do but sit around a giant mansion.
"Is it a possibility to drive now?"
"No master Luke, the storm is still too dangerous and we don't need you crashing anymore."
"Gee and here I was thinking it would be fun to do that again. We need to get to John, he's still out there. The car isn't going to keep him safe for long."
"I'm sorry sir but I cant willingly let you go out there and get yourself killed, you got lucky last night."
"Ashter, don't you get it? He's stuck in a car with nothing but a jacket and a crashed up heating unit to keep him alive. He could die!"
"So could you if you go back!"
"Fine! Fine. I'll just sit here and do nothing while my best friend freezes to death."
Luke walks away and trails upstairs to his room and slams the door. Leaving the conversation to an end. I stand awkwardly as I don't know what to do or say. So I go to the study room and check on Cody. I enter to see that Ashter was correct, he is fast asleep. I check to see if he's breathing just to make sure, and he is thankfully. I plump down on the opposite side chair and sigh. "This day just started and I already want it to be over." I look around the room, hundreds of books to read. I can promise you that none of them can amount to the mysterious book of Luke King, a book that's long since been closed off to everyone. If only I can be the one to get him to open up and be less standoffish than maybe I won't have to keep searching him up on the internet to get my facts. Then again, doing that never gave me the information about his brother. There's skeletons in these closets, I plan to find them. Just have to find where to start...