Chapter – 3

Amanda couldn’t rest for a minute. Though Amanda was mentally drained, her mind kept racing and she imagined what could’ve happened. Last night, they started the day as one happy little family. They were excited of their new life and were supposed to be on the roads driving happily to their new home.

Instead, her daughter was taken from right under her nose while she could do nothing to save her. Her beloved husband Victor, who went to save their only daughter–was now in the hospital.

Silent tears rolled down her cheeks wetting the pillow as she sobbed. She and Victor had met in the high school and has been together ever since. Victor has always been a caring husband and a good father, Alexa admired him. Victor was a responsible man–he drank beers sometimes and never once smoked.

Amanda wondered who that young boy might be. He did not have any one waiting in the hospital. She also did not know the actual story yet. Her fatigue got to her and her eyes drooped as she fell in to a troubled sleep.

When she woke up again it was around three in the afternoon, she tensed when she noticed Alexa’s side of the bed was empty. For a moment there she felt as if her heart–stop, thinking about her daughter being kidnapped again.

Amanda breathed a sigh of relief when she found Alexa in the kitchen, eating biscuits as there was no food around. She rushed to her daughter, engulfing her into her embrace before kissing Alexa repeatedly.

Changing in to more appropriate clothes, Amanda took the car instead of walking. She wanted no repeat of last evening’s event. She stopped at a diner to buy food and Alexa clung to her–never once leaving her side.

Once inside the diner, Amanda remained on guard and tensed whenever a new customer entered. She soon left the diner with her food and both ate in the car. She was very nervous and the faster she could leave the town the better she would feel.

Upon reaching the hospital, she was glad to discover that Victor, Vernon and the boy whose name she did not knew were all fine. They were moved into the general ward with a chair next to each bed and a common TV. The beds were separated with thick long blue curtains. The boy was on the bed opposite to Victor and Vernon laid two beds away.

Victor was asleep when she got there and she felt bad for the boy as he had no one near him. She enquired a nurse, who informed her that no one came to visit the boy. Her maternal instincts kicked in as she rushed towards the boy.

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Lucian was wide awake and looked around fearfully at the people, unfamiliar faces made his uncomfortable. All he could smell was blood and pain, which did nothing to lessen his anxiety.

The girl from the previous day ran towards him and he visibly relaxed at her sight.

“Hey,” she whispered holding his hand that was free of tubes.

“Hi,” he whispered back, his voice hoarse. His throat parched with the lack of water.

“I’m Alexandra, what is your name?” The boy chewed his lips as he thought about revealing his name. His uncle said to stay away from the humans. However, he could not bring himself to lie willingly to the young girl.

“Lu-Lucian,” he coughed, his throat making it harder for him to speak.

“This is my mommy,” Alexandra introduced her mother and Lucian looked at her contemplating whether she was safe.

“Here honey, drink some water,” the new woman held a cup of water with something cylindrical thing sticking out of it. Lucian had watched humans sucking the drink from similar cups before, though he never used it.

Remembering how the humans drank from them, Lucian mimicked their action and almost sighed in relief when the cool water kissed his throat. He gulped the remaining water greedily until the cup was empty and looked at the woman in front of him with gratitude.

She smelled clean and he could feel the warmth radiating from her. For once, he felt safe around the humans.

“Hello Lucian, how are you feeling now?” The new woman spoke in a kind voice, which reminded him of his mother. He has forgotten her face by now. No matter how hard he tried he could not figure out her facial features.

All he remembered now was a silhouette wearing an expensive dress and she had a kind voice.

“It hurts,” he answered truthfully. He did not feel the pain yesterday, but it hurt a lot he found it too difficult to breath.

“Where are your parents?” Alexandra’s mother asked combing his hair in a soothing manner.

Her simple action made him sob at the memory of someone doing the same to him; he felt the familiar warmth and comfort he hadn’t felt so long.

“Oh! My poor baby, do not cry, please…” Amanda tried to console him.

“I don’t know, where they are,” he sniffled and Amanda felt her heart ache on seeing the young boy in tears. She embraced the young boy, who felt just curled and snuggled into her chest.

Victor woke up shortly asking for his wife. Amanda rushed to his side leaving Alexa with Lucian to keep company. Vernon being admitted in the hospital, they had two cops for security and Amanda felt safer here.

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It took almost two weeks for Victor to come home and the days passed excruciatingly slow. Arthur has helped them financially to pay the hospital bills. He offered to visit Tennessee, but Amanda declined as Arthur’s fiancée was pregnant.

So far no one claimed the boy and the attempts to find the boys’ parents were futile. He forgot his parents’ name or the place he came from. Lucian was handed over to the local orphanage and resided there. Alexa missed him and demanded to see him often. The two weeks had brought the young ones considerably closer.

Victor filled Amanda with all the details. She was shocked to learn about Lucian. He looked so innocent with his big black eyes which held sadness and Amanda couldn’t believe her husband’s claim.

Vernon, though he was hurt had witnessed everything. He thought the boy was special somehow and closed the case saying the kidnappers were attacked by an unknown animal. Even if he came out with the truth, no one would have believed him.

Their attorney helped them fill the loopholes with suitable explanation and the autopsy reports further cemented their claim by stating that the victims were attacked by an animal. If it wasn’t for the boy they would have been dead and buried six feet deep under the ground. Vernon was thankful for that and made no big deal of how the boy did it.

He reasoned with Victor that the boy must be someone like spider man from the movies with special abilities and Victor believed him. Alexa was depressed thinking about leaving Lucian behind and continuously pestered Victor to bring him with them.

As Victor thought about it, Alexa wasn’t ready to accept him as her brother. She was so against it, she wanted him to come with them and she didn’t want him as a brother. Alexa has gone five years without a sibling and they thought she acted that way because she was not ready to share her parents.

The Matron of the old orphanage, Ms. Clarence has been a close friend to Victor as he frequently volunteered their fundraisings. The orphanage was overflowing with no room for new children.

Lucian’s stay there was only temporary as they were looking for a foster home to put him in. She had informed Victor that the boy was not comfortable with being around anyone and never steps out of his room.

With some advice from Vernon, Victor applied for a legal guardianship until the boy turns eighteen and has agreed to support the boy in every way. It was difficult, but Vernon had a few influential contacts and they pulled the right strings to do it.

Their trip to Vermont was delayed for another week due to this process and they were finally on the road on the fourth week. Victor was still recovering while the boy had only an angry bruise and by the looks of it he would not scar like Victor.

Amanda had come into terms that the boy was special. According to her the boy saved Alexa and took the bullet for her, she did not give another thought about the boy except that. Lucian warmed up to Victor and Amanda after a while, and addressed them by their names as Alexa was not ready to accept him as a brother.

She had threatened to strangle him once when he tried to address Amanda as mom. The poor boy paled and apologised to their daughter who gave him a cold shoulder for days before she accepted his apology.

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A month later…

The drive to Vermont was peaceful. The family enjoyed the road trip as they have not gone out of Tennessee before. They stopped at a roadside motel for a night before travelling again. Next day, they were given a warm welcome by Arthur and Raelyn.

Arthur and Raelyn took an instant liking towards Lucian. Victor settled into his new job and things once again started to fall in place.

They have settled into their new home in a calm town called Hinesburg. They also got admissions for both Lucian and Alexandra in Hinesburg Community School (HCS), which was one of the best schools in Vermont.

Raelyn had given birth to a beautiful boy named Nate Maddox Steller. Lucian felt happy and safe after a long time. He has found a new family who fed him and even bought him new clothes and toys.

He stayed in Alexa’s room for the time being and she shared her toys with him. He forgot playing with toys before. In his memory he was always running from something or someone with Uncle Dimitri–he did not even know what those scary creatures where.

Amanda made him hot chocolate and cuddled with him during the rainy nights so he could sleep without nightmares. Victor’s new job paid him well and Amanda took on part-time jobs so they can save for their future.

Their happiness only increased by several folds when Amanda discovered that she was pregnant again. There were ups and downs, but at the end everything seemed to work out for them.