Chapter Four

***LUCAS POV***

"Yo Arnold Over here!" I shout as Arnold gets out of his truck. I had ditched my classes for the day and had met up with Arnold at an old haunt of ours. The old abandoned hotel on the Highway out of town. No one ever went here and the cops pretty much gave up trying to keep kids and adults out of here. Arnold gives me a s**t eating grin before pulling a large cooler out of the bed of his truck. He holds it up as he saunters over to me.

"Brought the goods" He says when he reaches me. We head over to the building and he easily picks the lock, letting us slip in. We jog up the stairs to the second floor and enter the old ballroom of the hotel. There was graffiti and litter from old parties of kids everywhere. My eyes travel to the farthest wall and I bust out laughing. Pointing to a certain tag.

"Aw Man remember that night?" I say staring at the tag. It was a puke green smiling face with a bullet hole in the head, green blood oozing out of it. I had drawn that on the wall at a crazy party one night when I was sixteen. I had been totally trashed and the only thing I remember from that night was drawing that thing on the wall. That had been five years ago and even though the green had faded and there was graffiti overlapping it the smiling face was still there. Arnold looks over and laughs as he sets the cooler down.

"Dude that night was SICK! I think I got laid by like seven girls that night." He says shaking his head. We make out way over to the dusty old couch and plop down. I look  about the room while Arnold gets up and drags the old coffee table over to us so he can put the cooler on top of it. He opens it and produces two shot glasses, a large bottle of vodka and.... four twenty once bottles of code red mountain dew. The best chaser when it came to Vodka shots. I grin as he pours us a shot each. We clink our glasses together and knock em back, quickly taking a chug of mountain dew. It's been a month since I first saw him at burger king. I hadn't hung out with him since. But I missed my old friend. and frankly I needed to just de stress. midterms were coming up soon and I have been swamped with homework and working at The Garage with Rolland. I just needed some down time with an old friend. We take Shot after shot and I can feel myself getting more and more drunk. I look over at Arnold.

"Dude got any grass?" I slur, my vision doubling as I look at him. Were there normally two Arnolds? The two Arnolds shake their heads, matching devil grins on their faces.

"No But I have something better." They say pulling out a small vial of clear liquid. I knew what it was. and shook my head.

"LSD man really?" They nod and open the vial, taking the small dropper and placing some on the lip of my shot glass. They pour me some vodka and hand it to me. Wait, Which one do I take? I reach my hand out and try to grab one, only grabbing air. Oops not that one. I reach over and grab the right one, my hand clasping around it. We clink our glasses together again and I take the shot, downing the drink and the illegal substance.

The night wears on and I start to feel the affects, things loomed out at me, the designs on the walls started to move and talk to me. I shake my head.

"Man I am out of it. what about you?" I slur looking at the now four Arnolds. Wait there was only two a few minutes ago?. He shakes his head

"Nawh I'm fine. Let me get you home." He stands up and helps me off the couch. I stumble and burst out laughing as the smiling face on the wall starts to laugh at me. The Arnolds chuckle and help me stumble down the stairs to my car. As I reach for the drivers side he stops me, plucking the keys out of my hands. "Oh no you don't, You are not driving this trashed, get in the other seat." He says smirking. I don't put up a fight. Things were swirling around me and I felt myself slipping farther and farther. I climb into the passenger side and let Arnold drive me home. All the lights in the house were off when we got there. All but the living room light. F**k! I check the time. It was Nine at night. I Had been gone all day and I was four hours late after my last class should have ended. Double F**k! I look to Arnold.

"Do I have to go in there?" I slur. He nods and shuts the car off, getting out. He comes over to my side and helps me out, helping me to the front door. He knocks as waits until Jeremi pulls open the door. I give her a goofy grin.

"Hey beautiful I'm home!" I say before bending over and puking into the bushes.

***JEREMI POV***

I stare at Lucas in disgust as he pukes his brains out into the rose bushes outside our house. I glare at Arnold and snicker when I see his face pale and he lets go of Lucas.

"Well I got him home safety. Here's his keys, I'll be leaving now." He says quickly tossing me Lucas's car keys and jogging down the pathway. He briskly walks up the street and disappears out of sight. I turn my gaze back to my boyfriend, fury spilling into every part of my body.

"WHAT THE F**K HAVE YOU BEEN DOING!? I scream grabbing him and tugging him into the house. He stumbles and looses his balance, falling flat on his face. He slowly gets up, rubbing his chin where it had hit the floor. He gives me a goofy drunken grin and starts whistling a tune. My eyes Bugging out when I catch the tune. "LSD ARE YOU F*****G STUPID!" I scream. Suddenly Regan Screams from in her room, my voice having woken her up. I glare at Lucas. " I cant believe you!" I snap and rush to my daughters room. I walk in and see her standing up, wobbling on her legs as she cries her lungs out. When she sees me she reaches out. I walk over to her and pick her up, bouncing her trying to calm her down. "Shhh princess its ok, You're ok." I say. I hear something crash to the ground most likely shattering and hear Lucas swear loudly. my anger simmers. How could he do this? Regan calms down and falls back to sleep in my arms. I kiss her forehead and place her back in her crib. Closing my eyes I take a few deep breaths before marching out of the room and into the kitchen where Lucas was trying to make himself something to eat. I look over and see that he had knocked over a beer and the bottle had smashed, the drink laying in a puddle on the floor. I march over to him as he continues to make a sandwich, giggling to himself as he stares at the Mustard container. He looks at me.

"Did you know our mustard was a comedian?" He slurs, his voice giddy with his high. Thats IT! My hand lashes out and I slap him hard in the face. His balance failing him and he crashes to the ground. He glares up at me and jumps up, I glare right back at him.

"WHY YOU STUPID B***H!" He Roars Lunging at me. I try to get away but he grips the front of my shirt and Brings me close to his face. His eyes wild and filled with fury. " YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH HITTING ME YOU STUPID DIRTY W***E!" He screams in my face, his breath fowl and making me want to puke. I feel the first sliver of fear. I knew he had an out of control Temper. It only ever reared its head when he was drunk, like now. I grip his hands and try to pry them off my shirt. Memories of Lewis hurting me in the hallways pops into my head and I whimper in fear.

"Lucas let me go." I whisper but its no use. He Grips my shirt tighter and with drug infused strength he shakes me, my head snapping at the violence. "LUCAS STOP!" I scream kicking out and hitting him between the legs. He groans and instantly his hands loosen. He falls to his knees on the ground, falling on his side and grabbing himself. I make a dahs to Regan's room. I slam the door shut and lock it, praying he was too out of it to pick the lock. I knew he was a master at it. Going to Regan's closet I grab a large duffel bag and a smaller one for her. I quickly go about the room packing up things she would need. I pack a weeks worth of clothes and diapers, tossing in a few of her favorite toys. I zipper it and place it next to her crib. Sneaking to the door with the other bag I unlock it, peaking my head out of the room. I can still hear Lucas in the kitchen moaning from pain. Making sure I locked Regan's door and getting the special key for it I make a mad dash to my room and slip in, locking that door as well. I run around and grab my own clothes and a few things, like my tablet, laptop, phone and all the cords. I take a deep breath and go to the door, peaking my head out once more. This time I don't hear Lucas anywhere. Fear dumps into my system. Where was he? I look down the hall and don't see him. I grip my back tightly and dash out of the room.

"COME HERE YOU STUPID B***H!" Lucas screams coming around the corner. I scream and quickly unlock Regan's door, Slamming it a few minutes before he could reach me. I quickly lock it. At this time Regan was now awake and screaming, her tears flowing down her small face. Lucas bangs on the door. "LET ME IN JEREMI OR I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!" I flinch away from the door, trying to keep my own tears from falling. " I SAW THAT BAG WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO DO HUH?" He shouts. " YOU'RE LOCKED IN THERE I'M OUT HERE! I WONT LET YOU LEAVE!" He bangs on the door, Regan lets out a terrified shout and shrinks down in her crib. I rush over to her and pick her up.

"Shhh baby its ok, mommy's here. Don't cry princess." I say, my voice shaking with the tears I want to shed. How was I going to get out of here now? I had hoped I could get out of the house before he got up from the floor. My eyes Widen with Realization. I still had Lucas's car keys! I look at the window in Regan's nursery as a Plan forms in my mind. I put Regan back in her crib and go over to the window. Quickly opening it I try to ignore the pounding on the door and my daughters crying as I gage the distance from the window to the ground. It wasn't that far of a drop, thank god for one story houses. I pop out the screen and go over to the bags, tossing them out the window before picking up my daughter. She whimpered and buried her head in my shoulder. I rub her back. "Its ok, Its ok, We're going to get out of here." I whisper going over to the window. I kiss my daughters head before slowly lowering her out the window, the windowsill biting into my stomach as I lean as far as I could. I drop her softly to the ground and urge her to crawl away from the window so I could get out. Suddenly I hear the door handle rattling.

"I WILL UNLOCK THIS DOOR B***H! I KNOW HOW TO DO IT!" He screams the door handle rattling violently. I knew it was only a matter of time before he would unlock the door. With Small difficulty I manage to get out the window, tumbling to the ground with a small umpt. I jump up, grab the bags and gather Regan in my arms. Quickly running around the front of the house I rush to Lucas's car. I take the keys out of my pocket and unlock them manually, not wanting to make the car beep and alert Lucas. I look in the small back seat and sigh with relief when I see that he hadn't taken his car seat out. I strap Regan in and jump into the driver side. Just then I hear a screaming Roar from inside the house and know that Lucas had gotten the door open. S**T S**T S**T! I stick the keys in the ignition and peel out of the drive, just as the front door slams open. "JEREMI!" Lucas shouts trying to run after the car. I look out my rearview mirror to see him fall to his knees in the street. I focus back on the road, Driving toward my brothers house.

***OLIVER POV***
​

I jump off the couch as banging on the front door startles me, I had been falling asleep on the couch watching It the Murderer clown. I mean come on I know its a classic but its sooo BORING! Rolland just grunts in his sleep and shifts, falling on his side. I shake my head and jump as the banging sounds again.

"OLIVER! ROLLAND! ALLEN! SOMEONE!" Comes the muffled voice of my sister. I race to the door, barely aware of Rolland jumping awake. I reach the door and Yank it open to find my sister in tears on our front porch, Regan whimpering in fear in her arms.

"JEREMI!" I cry and pull her into the house, pulling her into a huge hug. Jeremi clings to me, burying her face in my chest as sobs leave her. I wrap my arms protectively around her. "Hey Hey you're ok. What's wrong? Rolland Come get Regan!" I say and Rolland comes over and take Regan out of her arms. "Jeremi Tell me what's wrong." I say holding her as her body trembles. What the hell had scared my sister this badly? She was always the fearless one. She looks up at me, tears swimming in her brown eyes.

"Its l-l-Lucas. he c-c-came home dr-drunk aand hi-high off LSD. H-h-he's out of co-con-control." She stutters as her voice shakes with fear. I pull her into another hug.

"Take a few breaths tell me everything." I whisper. I look at Rolland to see him going to the hall closet to grab the pack and play we had for Regan when she spent the night. He grabs Jeremi's bags as I guide her to the couch and quickly goes to our spare rom, no doubt setting up the pen for Regan to sleep in. Once on the couch Jeremi takes a deep breath.

" Lucas left today for class like he always does. Though he didn't come home on time, He wasn't answering his phone nothing. An hour ago Arnold brought him home and he was completely shitfaced. He had drank and Took LSD. He started laughing at the hulusenations he was having and I snapped. I smacked him in the face and he Freaked out." She pulls in a shaky breath, tears leaking down her face. "He grabbed me and shook me really bad. I was able to kick him in the nuts and get to Regan. I grabbed things for me and her and Had to climb out the window and take his car since Arnold had given me the keys. Now I'm here." She says and bursts into tears again. I gather her up into a hug again.

"It's ok MiMi, You're safe here, Rolland and I wont let him hurt you." I say. I was stunned. I knew Lucas had a temper and he use to drink. But he had been good. What made him suddenly fall off the wagon. It was a simple answer. Arnold Gordon. I look down at my sister. My Twin. "You can stay here for as long as you need to alright. Don't you worry about a thing. Lets get you to bed." I gentle help her off the couch and guide her to the spare room, Allen opening his door to look out. His eyes Wide when  he sees Jeremi.

"JEREMI WHAT HAPPENED?" He Cries. Rolland comes out of the spare room and shoots his little brother a look. Allen shuts his mouth and goes back in his room. Rolland Helps me get Jeremi in the other room and stays with her as I dig out a night gown from her duffel bag. I hand it too her and look over a Regan while she changes.

"Give me Regan." She whispers as she crawls under the covers. I pick up the now sleeping child and place her in her mothers arms. She wraps herself around her daughter and tries to calm down. I lean down and kiss her cheek.

"I'm right down the hall if you need me." I whisper and leave the room. my heart breaking as I hear her quiet sobs. Rolland takes my hand and we head back to our room, getting ready for bed ourselves. He lays in bed and I crawl in, snuggling up to him. "You  need to talk to Lucas." I say around a huge yawn. He nods, his chin brushing the top of my head.

" I'll head over there tomorrow to get her car and talk to him." He says, his deep voice already thick with sleep. I follow him and soon I'm out cold.

***LUCAS POV***

I stare down the road, well after Jeremi had left, To stunned to register the chill that was seeping into me. I couldnt feel it over the horror.

"What did I just do?"