THURSDAY

Lucas opened his eyes. What? Where was he? He lay still staring at white sheets over his head. He was under a blanket? Why? And then in an instant all the memories of the night came flooding back. He felt his lip begin to tremble at the memory of the fear. He curled up. He hugged himself tight. Shutting his eyes as if by doing so he could block out the memory. But nothing could block it. He could hear the spider clattering from behind him even as he covered his ears. And then he heard a murmur. He stopped listening. Although this time he could understand it.

“Lucas?” the voice said and he froze. “Lucas, hey?” it said again, but this time he knew it was his dad. 

Lucas sat up slightly pushing the blanket out off his face. He stared at him. His dad was sitting next to him in a chair. 

“Hey, buddy,” his dad said smiling. He looked as exhausted  as Lucas.

Lucas looked around, not responding to his dad. The room had a kind of warm lighting with wispy white curtains with yellow sunlight peeking through. The walls were a kind of cream color. It was not just Lucas and his dad in the room though. There was another man there. He looked like a cop. What was going on? He looked back to his dad. 

“How are you feeling?” someone asked him.

 He flinched and jerked his head to the side. There was somebody else in the room. Standing on his other side just slightly behind him was a woman. She was tall and slender. She was wearing a baby blue scarf. She had strawberry blond hair pulled back in a bun. She looked almost painfully familiar; it took Lucas a moment to remember her. She was Penny's mom. Why was she here? It took him another long moment to remember who Penny's mom was. She was a nurse at a mental health facility. She had come to speak at the school one day for some mental health awareness. Was he at the hospital? He blinked trying to think.

“Lucas?” 

He was brought back to reality by his name. Penny’s mom had said it. Had she been speaking this whole time?

He blinked trying to focus. “Eh-” he began but stopped, his throat hurt and his mouth felt dry. 

She smiled in the kind of way one does in pity. As if he were some sad puppy. Lucas felt annoyed. Sure he looked like crap but he did not need her pity. Why was he here? Did they think he was going crazy? 

The woman opened her mouth to speak but Lucas cut her off forcing words to come, “Whats going on?” was all he could get out but it worked.

“Well, you see, well how much do you remember?” she asked tentatively.

He thought for a moment. How much did he remember? All of it. Right? Had more happened? He had been running. He felt his body tense. Running from the monster. Lucas’ heart began to beat quickly. 

“Lucas?” he heard his dad say.

Had the fear shown on his face. Of course it did, true terror was harder to hide than people think. 

“What do you remember?” his father asked him. 

He stared at him. What could he say? The memory was there. But after he ran it seemed to become vague and blurry. And even so, what was he going to say? Oh, not much, just something out of man's most twisted nightmare. No, he could say nothing. He only shook his head looking around. But the fear was still written on his face. 

“You remember nothing?” the woman asked, kneeling down and pinching her lips.

Of course he remembered something he was sure everyone in the room could tell. The fear was plainly showing on his face. But he again shook his head. 

“Well,” she said, pushing some stray hairs behind her ear. 

“Well, Lucas. You were picked up last night,” his father began, “And well. You kind of had some sort of breakdown,” his father said.

Lucas almost laughed, is that what they were calling it? Just some sort of breakdown. But all Lucas did was shake his head. Even a blind man could tell he was lying but the others just nodded.

“You seemed to have been running from something and screaming,” the cop said bluntly.

He took a small step closer. He had a black eye. He nodded and sighed.

“Yah, I tried to stop you but you flipped out and ran off. I had to pin-”

“That's enough,” the woman interrupted him.

So that was the guy who grabbed him last night. Lucas nodded again. He felt small. He was tired and still scared with so many thoughts and emotions mixed in his head. His dad and the woman talked for a little bit asking Lucas questions here and there. Lucas felt dazed. The fear from the night was still there but not as fresh now. 

“You ready to go then?” his dad asked, touching his arm.

 Lucas flinched but gave a weak smile and nodded. He could go home? 

He sat in an office for what felt like an eternity as his dad checked a few things. Finally he got in their car. The ride home was quiet but not long. Lucas noted the time of day. It was about seven in the evening. The sun was beginning to set. He began to feel afraid. Night was coming. The thing would come at night. He saw his dad glance at him nervously.

“You ok?” his dad asked quietly.

Lucas forced his body to react and he nodded. 

It was ok, they'd be home in a minute or two and be inside when the sun set. And sure enough they were soon home with the door locked behind them. Lucas looked around. It was all as it should be. His grandpa sat on the couch. 

“Eh, how are you doing boy?” he asked, folding his arms.

“Fine,” he said, smiling weakly.

“Come on, dad, leave him alone. You tired Luces?” his dad asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Lucas nodded. He said good night to his grandfather and dad and then went to his room. He was glad his dad gave him his space. He wanted to be alone to think. He wished he could text Roxanne or Penny. He didn't know where his phone was. Had he left in the alley? He closed his eyes and tried not to think about the alley. But it was all consuming. Taking over his thoughts and mind.

 Lucas lay on his bed curled up. He looked at his hand. For the first time he noticed it was wrapped in some kind of bandage. He gingerly peeled it off and looked underneath. He winced. There was a deep bite in it. He winced again remembering himself trying to stay quiet. He wrapped his hand again. He pulled the blanket up. Trying to feel safe. But there was no safety now. The thing had found him. Was it after him? Would it come to his house? Would it kill his family? He laid there trying to push away these thoughts. He closed his eyes trying not to think about it. The apartment his family lived in was full of people. But so was the school normally. 

What if it went to the school again? What if it went to Penny or Roxanne? He rubbed his eyes. He felt his hands shaking. Finally, he got up. He would just go make sure the windows and doors were locked, that's all. His grandpa and dad had already gone to bed. He was not too surprised; both of them seemed to be more morning people. He checked the door. It was locked. So were all the windows. He took a shaky breath and began to walk back to his room when he heard talking from his father's room. The light was on under the door. He edged closer. It was his dad, who sounded like he was on the phone with someone.

“Yah, I hate to say it but it looked like he remembered. Yah. I don’t know what it was to scare him like that. I mean. I can't imagine. He's a good kid. I mean maybe a dog. The bite on his hand? Yah. H-he's never hurt himself before though. I know, I know. Lots of things stress. But we know he was clean. I know. He'd never do that. But what did he see?” 

The conversation went on like this for a little while. Lucas limped back to his room. He felt defeated. But what could he do? He lay down in his bed again. His body hurt all over. He closed his eyes feeling exhausted. He curled up pulling the blanket over his head. He remembered being a little kid and doing the same after a nightmare. He had called out and his dad had come and held him till he felt safe again. But now. Now it was different, now he could not call out and he was completely alone. And now, it was no nightmare, it was all real. All so real that a nightmare had crawled up from the depths of the earth and was now here. Here and real.