Serendipity

"The beach? Sure it's fun but..." Lucious was soon cut off by C.J's chiding, "No one'll care, besides, all you do is study, you should get out and have a good time every once and a while." Lucious thought for a minute, he never does anything without thinking it through first. "Maybe... but if we get in trouble, I'm blaming you." he mockingly pointed a finger a C.J and they both laughed. The boys had been best friends since middle school, and now, almost halfway through high school, C.J seemed to be growing more and more like the crowd. Lucious had always been, and still is, a rule-follower. "Hang on a minute, I need to call my mom and tell her I'll be gone for the week." said Lucious as he removed his cellphone from his pocket. "No! You can't tell anybody where we're going, it's a secret beach." C.J said with an urgency in his voice. "What? Well... ok. But I really should at least tell her I'll be gone, I don't want to give her a heart attack or anything."
"Alright, but don't tell her where we're going."
"Whatever,"
Lucious sent his mother a text message, and the two teenagers were off. They were well on their way when C.J swore loudly and slammed on the breaks, knocking Lucious out of his light sleep. "What the-" Lucious was about to exclaim when they were rear ended by a large pickup truck. Not really rear ended as much as the truck drove right over C.J's Mini. The airbags went off and smashed into Lucious's face, breaking his nose. It wasn't until he felt the warm liquid seeping onto his flip-flops that Lucious realized the state of his friend. "My God..." he said as he hunched over C.J's limp body. A large piece of aluminum detailing was stabbing through C.J's chest. Lucious quickly dialed 911, and an ambulance was soon at the scene.
Lucious had been pacing in front of the surgery room for well over an hour when a doctor finally exited, blood splatter on his mask. His gloves had been removed, but Lucious could see a pinkish tinge where the blood had seeped though. "We've successfully removed the shrapnel, but your friend has lost a lot of blood. We don't think he'll make it. Lucious wordlessly sat down on a bench and swept his pale blond hair out of his eyes. He didn't know what to do. He just silently sat there. Watching his life fall apart as he knew it.
After spending several hours watching over C.J, Lucious called his mom to come pick him up. "Where are you?" his mom asked while they were on the phone. "Well... uh... St. John's hospital..." Lucios replied timidly. "WHAT?! What happened? Are you ok? I'll be there in a few minutes!" his mom burst out. Lucious barely had time to get a word in before his mom hung up and was on her way. It was around 11:30 when Lucious's mom showed up. One look at him, and his mom was angry. "What's the meaning of this? You aren't injured! I was worried sick!" she said as she puled Lucious into a hug. "Mom... it's C.J..." Lucious started crying before he could finish his sentence. His mom hugged him tighter and whispered soothing words into his ear. When they made it to the car, Lucious wiping tears from his face, he noticed something was wrong. "Where's dad?" he asked. His mom burst into more tears. "He died... shortly after you left..." Lucious felt himself tearing up again, and it was his turn to hug his mom. Lucious's life was falling apart as he knew it. When they got home, his mom explained to him that she have to start to work full time to keep paying the mortgage. With his mom gone most of the time, and no friends, Lucious slowly sunk into a deep depression. He was about to slit his wrist when he heard the door close downstairs. He tossed the knife into his nightstand drawer, and was about to head downstairs when he heard voices. It sounded like his mom and a man.
After what felt like hours, Lucious heard the man leave. He crept down the stairs and out the front door. Lucious said he was going for a walk when his mom asked him where he was going. When he made it to the bridge, he climbed down the side of it and walked the rocky edge of the river. Occasionally tossing a rock into the churning water, Lucious could hear the echo of a near voice. He suddenly had an urge compelling him to go towards the mysterious voice. He took a few deep breaths to clear his mind, and was off.
After several miles of rugged terrain, Lucious found a small child weeping. He crept near her and said "Hello? Are you ok?" The kid replied, through constant sobs "They (sob sob) took her (sob) just threw her (sob) in a van and took her (sob sob sob)" "Who? They took who?" Lucious asked calmly. Receiving no response, he picked up the child and carried her home while she lamented on his shoulder. Lucious looked at his watch and noticed the time. "Oh shit..." he said as he realized it was 8:30. He normally wouldn't talk like that, but with the way things had been recently, he did. He heard his phone ring and answered it- it was his mother.
"Hello?"
"Where are you? I've tried to call you several times!"
"In the woods. Sorry, I didn't hear my phone ring."
"Why are you in the woods? Is that crying I hear?"
"Uh... long story, I'll tell you when I get home."
Lucious trudged on, the child still held tightly against his shoulder. Half an hour later, he was in the woods of his backyard, circling to front door, which was unlocked when he left. He opened the door, and his mother looked up, startled to see Lucious carrying a child. "What the-?" his mom asked.
"Uh..."
"Where did that kid come form?"
"I was on a walk, and heard her, I followed her voice until I found crying in the middle of the woods. All she said was that they took someone and threw them in a van."
"Why'd you bring her here?"
"What else would I do? Leave her out there in the middle of the woods?"
"Well... no. She can stay the night, but in the morning I'm going out to search for her parents."
Lucious just headed up to his room and turned on his CD player. After a few minutes of music, he booted up his computer and checked the news about any missing people. Finding nothing, he changed into his pajamas and turned in for the night.
Lucious awoke to the sun shining brightly in his face. He groaned as he pulled himself out of bed. He threw on a pair of dark jeans and a gray tee-shirt and headed downstairs to start his day. He found a not that said:
'Lucious;
I'm taking the kid to find her parents, don't wait up on me. The coffee is brewing, and there are some waffles in the freezer.
Mom.
P.S. Thought you'd like to know, her name is Janice.'
"Coffee..." Lucious thought aloud as he let the letter process through his mind. He picked out a mug from his mother's collection, and filled it with coffee. He ate breakfast quickly, and set out for where he found Janice. About an hour later, he was in the rocky clearing. He wandered around until he found what he was looking for- tire tracks. He took a picture of them, and began to follow the trail. It was almost two hours later when the tracks looped around a house, and into it's garage. 'I knew I should have brought the rifle' he thought as peered into the window. He heard a noise inside. 'Damn, what a racket.' he almost said aloud. "Let me go!" he heard a woman's voice shouting. "Hell no, bitch, we wanna have a little fun with you first!" a gruff man's voice this time. 'We? This can't be good... I should call the police... but they'll take too long to get here- look at C.J' he unsheathed his knife from where it was attached when his phone rang. "Damn it!" he exclaimed, furious at himself for not putting it on silence. He checked the caller ID. His mom. He was running through the woods when he answered.
"Hello?" He panted, out of breath.
"Hey, just wanted to let you know I have an address. It's 577 Oakwood Street. Is everything ok? You sound winded...?" Lucious mom said.
"Well... I doubt you'll find anybody home- I found some tire tracks where I found Janice last night, they led to a house where it sounds like there's a woman being sexually assaulted. I was just about to call the police when you blew my cover. So yeah, everything's peachy." Lucious replied sarcastically.
"What? That's... ba- OOF!" (static) Lucious phone was silent. "Mom? Mom!?" he cried into it with no response. He was really worried, but he had his own dilemma at hand. He called 911 and reported the house. He went back and snapped a few pictures, and got the address, and set out in search of his mom. He kept a steady sprint until he made it 577 Oakwood Street, and then followed the road that, he presumed, would be the direction his mother would be driving from. He ran until he saw flashing blue lights surrounding a wreck. He ran straight to it, seeing that it was his mom's sedan flipped over on it's side. He completely ignored the caution tape, and the cops yelling at him, and rushed to his mom, who was lying on a stretcher, a defibrillator hooked up to her. "CLEAR!" the paramedic shouted. Lucious saw his mom's body jerk, and then resume it's lifeless position. They shocked her several more times, but to no prevail. Lucious mother was dead.