Chapter 22

A Chapter by Keevan

I felt like I was going to throw up. All of those memories flooded and polled around in my mind as the Bad Man spoke again.

"I thought they killed ya, girl," he said. "but I'm oh-so glad to see that my little girl's alright!"

"Lucy, is this your dad?" Edward asked. I didn't answer. I just stood there, eyes wide and staring straight ahead. I shuddered when I felt the Bad Man's heavy hand clamp down on my right shoulder. It was cold...

His AutoMail.

"Time to come home, sweetie," he said, his voice rough. "I've been so lonely without Serah to play with."

Serah...

Dont worry about it, Lucille.

Its for big girls only.

"You molested her!" I screamed without thinking. My legs faltered again, and I fell to my knees.

"Stop whining and come home," the Bad Man said. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

Edward, do something, I silently pleaded. I felt another hand on my shoulder. I screamed, my head down.

"That's enough!" Edward shouted angrilly. I saw his feet move closer, and then I heard the sound of metal colliding with bone with a crunch. The hands went away, and I felt his presence that was so close to me disappear. I heard a thud in the dirt behind me.

"Lucy, get up!" Edward shouted. He pulled me to my feet, his AutoMail gripping my wrist. We ran down the dirt path and away from that man and the hill.

"I'll get you, girl!" the Bad Man screamed behind us. "I swear it!"

______________________________________________________________________________

Once we were at a safe distance away, I fell on the ground, my knees buckled. My eyes still felt wide with shock that I ran into that pervert again. He said he was lonely without Serah. He didn't bother to mention my mother.

"Lucy, are you okay?" Edward asked. He sounded out of breath. "I think we lost him." He kneeled down in front of me and seemed hesitant about asking me something. I sat back and wishes ever-so-badly that I had a cigarette with me. But the whole pack was in my bag at the Rockbell's.

"Damn it all," I muttered. "Damn damn damn!" I coughed again.

"Lucy, calm down," Edward said. "Whas that your ded?" He wasbeing completely serious. I nodded, trying to ignore the fact that I completely forgot that I coughed blood before the Bad Man showed up.

But that's beside the point.

"Lucy, did you get your memories back that night Hawkeye ans Havoc found you in the alley?" I nodded again. "I remember....I think everything."

"Tell me about your childhood," Edward said, trying to dig deeper. "Tell me about living with that guy and your sister."

"He was a terrible man," I said, my head down and my voice barely above a whisper. "He hit us. The three of us. Me, Serah, and my mother. My mom died by getting strangled by the...the Bad Man. So did Serah."

"I think I remember something," Edward said quietly. "Al and I were playing with you one day, and then you had to go home. You and Serah looked scared. We never saw Serah again after that day, and when we tried to play with you, you told us to get far away from the house and to never go back. Two years later, after our mom died, we saw you leaving the house with Fuhrer Bradly. We never saw you again after that. You and Serah....just faded away."

"We were that insignificant?" I asked softly. Edward didn't answer. I sighed.

"You seemed to remember Serah, but not me," I said. "On the train. Do you still have that picture?" Edward pulled the photo out of his coat pocket without saying anything. I took it and looked at it again. The two little girls and the two little boys.

"Your mom took this picture," I said. "Trisha. I also remember that you grabbed my hand and wanted to stand next to me." Edward looked away. He might've been blushing.

"Things were different then," he said.

"Which means things are different now," I finished. I gave him back the picture and stood up, brushing my hands on my pants.

"Its dark," I said. "Let's go back."

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