An Unkindess of Ravens

Warnings and Disclaimers : See Chapter One

The sound of his cell phone jolted him out his trance. Of all people it was Tim. “What”” Nathan answered harshly.

“You should have been there tonight. We had an awesome time.”

“I’m kinda in the middle of something. Can we talk about this tomorrow?” Nathan knew he needed to control his anger. His mind was already hatching a plan and it hinged on his keeping cool.

“Sure, tell Peyton hi for me.”

Nathan clicked of his cell and tossed it across the floor. Every instinct was urging him to hop in his car, show up at Tim’s door and wring his neck, but he had more important matters to attend to right now. His priority was Lucas and his well being. Letting him shower had been a mistake. He should have taken him to the hospital, insisted that Lucas press charges. He’d been selfish and scared.

“Damn it,” he muttered, not understanding how things had gotten so radically out of hand. The sound of the shower stopping brought him back to the present.

He knew there’d be plenty of time for kicking himself for allowing this to happen to his brother. Right now Lucas needed him. He stood and backed away from the door, waiting for his brother to emerge. After several minutes, when Lucas didn’t appear, he panicked. He pushed in the door fearing he’d find his brother slumped over the sink with his wrists slit. Instead, he found Lucas wearing his robe, standing in the mirror, staring at himself.

“I look the same,” he said quietly before walking past Nathan and back down the corridor.

“Lucas,” Nathan spoke softly. The teen stopped without turning around.

“Maybe we should call somebody like your mother or Uncle Keith or...the police.”

Lucas visibly bristled at the last. He spun around, eyes wide and charged at his brother. “No cops...no...no...no one...no one knows...please...,”

Nathan allowed himself to be pummeled, waiting for the boy’s strength to wane. When he finally collapsed against him, sobbing into his chest, Nathan careful guided him to the living room, helping him onto one of the overstuffed sofas and gently guiding him down until he was lying on his side. Nathan sat across from him on the marble coffee table and spoke again.

“Your mom will be worried. We’ve got to call her.”

“No,” Lucas said, shutting his eyes.

“We don’t have to tell her about this, but we have to tell her something.”

Nathan waited and finally after several minutes Lucas nodded in agreement. Nathan got the phone and handed it to his brother. He was pretty sure Lucas wasn’t up to this but it was getting late and he knew Lucas’ mom would worry.

Lucas sat up and stared at the phone for a long time. He looked up at his brother, lost and asked in a small voice, “What should I say?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” Nathan reassured.

Lucas dialed and waited for his mother to answer. “Hi mom. I’m with Nathan. No everything’s fine, we just...we needed some time alone to sort things out. Is it alright if I spend the night? We’re at his beach house. Thanks. See you soon.”

Nathan watched Lucas slump back against the sofa as if the conversation had sapped him of all his strength. He supposed in a way it had. Nathan leaned forward to extract the phone from his brother’s hand. The sudden motion made his brother jump and flinch away.

“Sorry...sorry. I just wanted to take the phone.”

Lucas handed it to him silently.

“Lucas,” Nathan said, leaning forward, “can you tell me who did this to you?”

“Your friends,” Lucas replied bitterly.

“You can identify them? If so, you need to press charges.”

Lucas shook his head violently, drawing his knees up to his chest.

“Alright,” Nathan soothed, “we don’t have to deal with that right now. Maybe we should get you to bed. My mom has some pills she takes to help her sleep.”

“Don’t want to sleep,” Lucas said tiredly.

“Okay, no pills. Um...okay...let me get you into bed. You can stay in my room.”

“Where will you sleep?” Lucas asked fearfully.

“Down here on one of these sofa’s is fine. Okay?”

Lucas sat looking thoughtful for awhile. “Do you have to call anybody?”

Nathan smiled, “No, not really.”

“Will they come here?”

“No Lucas,” Nathan said firmly, “they will not come here. I promise.”

“Can I sleep down here too?”

“Of course you can,” Nathan smiled. “You take this sofa right here. I’ll take the one by the window. I’ll get us some sheets and you a pair of pajamas.”

Nathan headed upstairs and into his room to grab the sheets of his bed and get Lucas a pair of his pajamas out of his dresser. The voice behind him startled him.

“I didn’t see their faces.”

Nathan spun around to find his brother standing in the doorway, tears beginning to form in his eyes. He stopped what he was doing and sat at the foot of his bed. He hoped the look on his face was one that would encourage open dialogue. He didn’t realize he was actually holding his breath until Lucas spoke again and he exhaled.
“They put a bag over my head. I didn’t see their faces.”

Nathan felt sick to his stomach. ‘Fucking cowards,’ he thought as he stared at his hands. He couldn’t bear to look his brother in the eye. “I saw Tim’s jeep go by...right before I...found you.”
Guilt was eating Nathan up inside. He wasn’t sure how much to reveal to Lucas. He’d planned to kidnap and torment his brother as the final phase of initiation. It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. They weren’t even supposed to do it tonight. He’d planted the idea in his teammate’s heads, so he was just as guilty for what happened to Lucas.

“Nathan,” Lucas’ voice penetrated his thoughts, “why do you hate me so much?”

“I don’t. I...it’s just my dad, he rides me about not letting anyone steal my thunder and I wanted to show him that I wasn’t weak. It was stupid and I shouldn’t have listened to him. If I hadn’t of started all this, what happened to you...Lucas, I’m so sorry. I don’t hate you. In some ways I envy you.”

“You envy me?” Lucas laughed bitterly.

“You’re mom and Uncle Keith, they love you. My dad...he just sees me as his second chance. I wish things were different...I wish we could have been a family, you know...it would have been cool to grow up with a brother.”

Nathan glanced up to find Lucas studying him curiously.

“What?”

“I wished for the same things too,” Lucas said.