|
|
Lucky's gaze
shifted to Liz, but her presence there seemed almost
unreal to him. Suddenly not even
her beautiful face could pull her
thoughts together. ''Go away!''
he shouted. ''It's not really you! It
can't be!'' Liz, along with
everyone else in earshot stared at Lucky
in disbelief. He groaned loudly
and sank to the floor. He held his head
between his hands, as if it hurt
him. ''None of this is real. It can't
be.''
Laura
walked slowly to her son and put a hand on his shoulder.
''Lucky, you aren't making any
sense-''
''DON'T
TOUCH ME!'' Lucky screamed, his voice panicked. He jumped to
his feet and his eyes darted around
the room. He stepped back, stumbling,
and fell back against Taggert's
desk. ''Why are you doing this to me?'' he
asked a little more calmly, but
his voice was shaking.
''Doing
what, Lucky?'' Liz asked, advancing on him. ''You were the
one who pushed ME away!'' Lucky
said nothing, but pushed himself further
back on the desk, scattering the
piles of paper there. Liz bit her lip.
''I'm sorry if I scared you, by
disappearing like that, but I-''
''YOU
LIED!'' Lucky shouted hysterically. ''Just like EVERYONE
ELSE!'' He dropped his voice and
spoke directly to liz, his voice dripping
venom. ''That's it, isn't it? You
were helping THEM all along, weren't
you? Just one big, happy plot to
reunite me with my parents! Stage a
fight, try to comfort me, KNOWING
how I would react, then disappear, so
WHAT- so they can be there to comfort
me when I think YOU'RE DEAD?!''
Liz only
stared at him with wide eyes. She looked toward the
entrance she had walked through
herself a moment earlier and saw Gail and
Scott Baldwin walk in. She uttered
a silent prayer and returned her
attention to Lucky. ''Lucky-''
she started.
''STOP
IT!'' Lucky said, and this time there was real panic in his
voice. He had noticed Dr. Baldwin
walk in and was now sliding even further
back on the desk, near the point
where he would fall off. Scott and Gail
looked to Lucky with equally shocked
faces, he looked unnervingly
like a caged animal. ''You can't
do this to me,'' he muttered, eyes
darting to his parents, the psychiatrist,
Liz, and then back to the doctor
again. ''I'm NOT falling into your
trap!''
Gail fished
around in her bag and handed something to Scott.
''Always be ready for an emergency,''
she whispered in explanation. Scott
nodded and walked with her toward
the distraught boy. He carefully hid his
hand, and the syringe Gail had
given him, in his pocket. Lucky's eyes
locked with his, but he didn't
notice the syringe or Scott's attempt to
hide it.
''Lucky, honey,''
Gail began, then paused, waiting for his response.
Lucky said nothing, but continued
to stare, enraged at her and the group
standing further back. Taggert,
Garcia, and the Spencers stood watching
silently, too shocked to move or
speak. ''Nobody's trying to hurt
you, Lucky, or trap you.'' Lucky's
attention was now focused wholly on
Gail, but everyone could see the
panic in his eyes and face.
Scott
sidled up to the side of the desk, his hand dipping into his
pocket. ''WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!''
Lucky shouted, enraged. ''GET AWAY FROM
ME!'' He jumped off the desk and
backed into Taggert's chair, and
sat on its back. He threw each
booted foot on Taggert's desk, one
after the other. Scott stepped
toward him, holding the syringe carefully.
Lucky suddenly drew his legs toward
him, then pushed mightily. The desk
creaked, then toppled over, sending
pens and papers flying in every
direction. Everyone stepped back
involuntarily, except Taggert, who rushed
toward Lucky, running around the
toppled desk. He paused only to
lift the phone off the floor, then
advanced on Lucky. Scott walked
toward him from the other side,
and Lucky looked wildly back and forth
between them, assessing each man's
strength and weapon. Finally he decided
Scott,
with the syringe, was a bigger threat, and lunged at him,
yelling something about tricking
him. Taggert ran in from behind, and hit
Lucky smartly on the head with
the phone.
Lucky
felt the sharp blow from the phone and fell to his knees. The
world swam in shades of gray before
his eyes, then he passed out, and
slumped to the ground.