Silent Prayers Chapters 1-5

Chapter 1

The memories reflected and swirled in the murky water as he stared down from his seat on the docks. Were they memories? The dreams he’d been having were so real, they had to be. But why were they surfacing now, after all this time? If this had been something that had actually happened, why did it pick now to un-fog itself from his mind? Probably because it was the hardest time in his life right now, so what was one more secret, Lucky thought to himself. It explained a lot, too. He knew now why he had been so upset and hurt at his parents’ lies. It turned out he had one himself, one that had slowly been eating at him for all these years. Something he was so ashamed of, that he yelled at his parents to punish himself, and to push out the any memory of what he never told them.

Lucky glanced at his watch. It was getting pretty late. He got up and headed for the boxcar, but changed his mind on the way. He didn’t want to wake up there, all alone and scared, if he had another dream again. He couldn’t let anyone know that he needed someone, either. Liz had her own problems. And what would his parents do if they found out what a hypocrite he was? By the time he realized where he was going, he was already being announced by Renaldo at Jason’s penthouse.

Jason looked at Lucky with quiet concern. He was rather pale, and looked like he hadn’t slept well in weeks.

“Hey Jason.”

Jason nodded. “Lucky. What brings you here this time of night?”

“I don’t really know,” Lucky said nervously, “I just started walking and, well, I guess maybe I wanted a night out of the boxcar, and..."

“Well your more than welcome to stay here. Maybe you could even hang around for a while, and get to know your cousin.

“Thanks Jason, I just might.”

“I’d let you take the guest room, but Em is staying there tonight.” Jason continued, “Seems the Q’s are fighting once again.”

“Well at least something is normal in this town. She all right?”

“Yeah, I think she just wanted a break from home, kinda like you. Couch ok for ya?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Lucky replied.

Jason nodded and turned towards his room.

“Hey Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Jason smiled and left, and Lucky settled in on the couch for the night.

Chapter 2

Luke Spencer stood over his still sleeping son with frown on his face. He didn’t remember Lucky being so thin. He looked worn out, too.

“You say he came by here late last night, huh?” Luke asked.

“Yeah,” Jason answered, “he looked like he needed to be somewhere around people for a change, so I let him stay. That a problem?”

“No, I know this place is well guarded.” Luke said as he thought it out, “I should actually thank you, for giving my son a night of the streets for once.”

“It was no problem.” Jason said, “Want something to eat?”

Luke looked over at the table, where Emily sat feeding Michael.

“Sure, but I’ll make it quick. I don’t want to be here when he wakes up. Weird that he’s not up all ready. Lucky normally gets up at the crack of dawn.”

They ate in silence for a while, till Jason spoke up.

“Luke, I’ve been thinking, would it be all right with you if I offered Lucky a permanent place here? I wouldn’t get him involved in anything; it would just be a place to stay. But Robin’s moved back to the cottage now, so things have quieted down. I finally decided to move into Sonny’s room, so Lucky could have mine.” Jason said.

“I guess I don’t have a problem with that. Anything is better than that boxcar.”

Emily watched this with a smile. Maybe her and Lucky could be friends again. She really missed him being there.

“That would be great!” Emily squealed, “Lucky could help out with Michael.”

“Well, he’d certainly try, but you might need someone to watch him, too.” Luke said smiling, “I seem to remember him feeding Lulu once, and most of the food ended up on him.”

They started to laugh when they heard Lucky mumbling in his sleep.

Luke got up and went over to the couch, where Lucky was now tossing and kicking the covers off. He sat down and gently shook his shoulders.

“Lucky? Hey kiddo, wake up.”

Lucky woke up with a start, and it took him a minute to focus. His head was spinning, and he felt like he was going to explode. The dream again. It didn’t matter where he went, he thought, this dream was going to follow him. He finally realized his dad was sitting next to him. For a minute he wanted to just fall into his arms and tell him everything. He wanted his father to make it all go away. But he didn’t think that was possible, so he did nothing. Luke saw the longing in his son’s eyes, and sat there saddened as nothing resulted from it. He cleared his throat and scooted back a little.

“You okay Cowboy?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here?” Lucky asked.

Luke allowed himself a small smile as he realized his son’s tone didn’t have the harshness in it that it normally held when he talked to his father.

“Just dropped by to see Jason about the club.”

“Oh, well, uh I better get going. I got someone I have to meet.”

Luke stood up quickly so he could get up. Lucky was quickly tying his shoes when Jason spoke.

“Hey, Lucky, you know I like to keep an eye on my employees, which includes you since your washing my cars now.”

Lucky nodded, wondering where he was headed.

“Anyway, I’m going to be moving into Sonny’s old room, so if you picked up a few more odd jobs around here, I’d be willing to let you stay in my old room.”

Lucky thought for a minute. There’d be more chance of running into his father here, but the boxcar was losing its' comforts now that fall was nearing.

“Please say yes, Lucky,” Emily pleaded, “it would give us a chance to catch up.”

He did miss Emily that was a fact. And Liz wouldn’t worry so much about him here.

“All right, deal.” He relented.

Jason and Emily smiled at him, which he returned as he hurried out the door.

Luke looked over at Jason, relieved that Lucky had accepted.

“Thanks Jason. And if you wouldn’t mind, keep an eye on him? I’d like to know what that nightmare was about.”

“Sure thing. And Luke, I will keep him safe.” Luke smiled and nodded as he too headed out the door.

Chapter 3

Lucky jumped down from the boxcar with his bag on his back. He had lied when he said he had someone to meet, but he really needed out of the penthouse right then. The dreams were too disturbing. Another second and he might have spilled everything to his father. He had stopped by Liz’s house, to tell her where he would be. She was doing much better now, and he knew she’d be okay if he wasn’t around as much.

When he arrived at the penthouse, he nearly collided with Nikolas as he walked in the door. His surprise at seeing him there stopped him from picking another fight with him. He just nodded, and Nikolas did the same, as he walked out the door.

“Wow, you guys actually didn’t bite each other’s heads off for once.” Emily said surprised.

“Chalk it up to being caught off guard. Never expected to see him here.” Lucky replied.

“Well, I invited him over. He’s not that bad if you know him, really.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. I won’t get into that right now.”

Lucky walked into his new room and dropped his bag. When he walked back out Emily was sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine.

“Hey, Em?” Lucky said.

Emily looked up at him a little uncertain of how to react. They really hadn’t talked forever, but him calling her Em made it seem like old times again.

“I, uh, wanted to talk to you about, well, I mean, we haven’t talked in ages, I know, but,” Lucky took a big sigh and continued, “I’d like us to be friends again, if we could. I know I wasn’t there for you when I should have been and...”

“It’s all right, Lucky, you had your own problems, too.”

“But it was no excuse, Em. We need to get this out, so we can get passed it, otherwise, I think there would always be a barrier between us.”

Emily looked at him uncertainly. She really wanted to just forget everything and move on, but she did get her feelings hurt when he started to ignore her.

“Well, okay, I know when you got back after your mom, um, after she…”

“After she faked her death,” Lucky said emotionlessly, “with the rest of my family helping her.”

“Yeah, well, I know you called then, and I did brush you off because I was hanging out with Matt and, well, doing drugs. But I kinda always wondered why you didn’t come around more after all that. I’ve always thought it was because you were disgusted with what I did and everything.”

“No, man, that wasn’t it at all, Emily.” Lucky said shocked, “I’m sorry you I had you believing that. I’ve always thought a lot of you, and the drugs didn’t change that. I didn’t come around much because…”

There was a long pause as Lucky looked down. He didn’t know how to explain this to her.

“Look, when I was growing up, I never really had that many friends. I mean, I’d meet kids and play with them, but by the time I got to know them, we’d have to leave again. After awhile, I just stopped trying. I’d stay close to my parents, and wouldn’t talk much to anyone. I kept feeling so horrible over lying to friends about who I was and where I came from and then just disappearing on them one day. But when we came here to Port Charles, I thought I finally had a home. I allowed myself to finally relax and settle in, and get to like this town. I even let myself get to know someone besides my parents. Emily, you were the first real friend I had that I didn’t think I’d ever have to lie too. But then this whole thing came up with my grandma being alive, and… and it was just like being on the run again. Suddenly we had to lie to everyone we’d known and disappear again. It hurt that I had to lie to you. But I, I thought it was just the normal way of life. That as soon as you got to know someone, you had to leave them. Then I got back, and you were having a lot of hard times, and I hadn’t been there, and I didn’t think you’d want anything to do with me. I mean, my parents have lied to me, and that’s a big thing to me. I can’t deal with lies, so I thought you wouldn’t want to deal with me after all that. I’m sorry for all of that Emily. If I could take it all back, I would tell you the truth about my mom, I would tell my parents how wrong it was to do what we did.” Lucky looked down, unsure if what he said made any sense.

“Lucky.” Emily sighed and continued, “It’s all right. I guess I understand what you’re saying. I forgive you. I have to; it seems like you were beating yourself up over this enough anyway. I don’t think there’s any reason for me to punish you further. But if you ever do lie again, which I hope you don’t, I hope you realize now that you can still come to me and talk it out. No matter what you do, I’ll always listen to you.”

“So everything’s okay now?” Lucky said smiling.

“Yeah, for once, everything’s okay.” Emily said returning the smile.

“So how about we take a walk down to the docks and get a couple grape sno cones?”

“You got it!”

Emily still had plenty she wanted to ask him, not about their friendship, but about his own problems. They could be saved for another day, though, she decided. They had already gone through enough today. Now was a time to just have fun.

Chapter 4

They had him again. Whoever it was, they had grabbed Lucky from they car yet again. He couldn’t get lose. He kicked and squirmed and bit, but nothing worked. The person would not let go of him. As he clawed to get away, he ripped a chain off from around the neck of his attacker. There was something heavy on the end of it, like a big charm. Then something heavy came down on his head, and he fell to the ground as the darkness overtook him, his hand still clasped around the chain.

Lucky sat up panicked and sweating. It always happened like that. Just when he would black out in the dream, he’d wake up in real life. He silently thanked Jason that he had his own room now. If he had been seen having this nightmare twice, he was sure they’d ask questions. And he just didn’t feel like hashing through all of it right now. He doubted that he ever would.

Rolling over, Lucky got up out of bed and walked over to his bag on the floor. It still held everything in it, since he had never unpacked. Habit, he guessed. Why scatter everything around when you might have to leave at a moment’s notice? Slowly he unzipped a side compartment and pulled out the chain with the charm on it. The same one from his dream. This proved everything had really happened. His mind just decided to forget about it for a little while. Studying the chain, Lucky carefully stretched it out on the floor. He’d always wondered what was so important about it that he held on to it, even through his years on the run. His parents didn’t even know he had it. It had hurt him not to tell him, but he knew there was some reason that he couldn’t.

It was a secret, though. A secret he had kept from his parents. He supposed he deserved all that was being thrown at him now. The bible said an eye for and eye. So he figured a secret for a secret was equally just. He hated secrets. Growing up on the run, he believed with all his heart and soul that he and his parents had to be able to trust each other completely. Any secret between them could get them killed. Thus, secrets meant death. That wasn’t something he could stop thinking over night, but it was what his parents seemed to want him to do. They wanted him to get over their mistakes and come back home. But they didn’t know that he had done that. He had gotten over their mistakes, but he still couldn’t come home. He was waiting for the punishment. They were all healthy as could be, and that wasn’t right. Was that why he worked for Helena and then went to Jason for a job? Was he trying to put his life in danger because he believed it should be? Lucky shook his head and tried to think of other things. This afternoon had been great. Emily and he had relived old times, while at the same time beginning a new, stronger friendship. Like the one he had with his parents long ago…. Stop it, he cursed to himself. He could not keep coming back to them.

Looking up at the clock, Lucky realized how late it was. If he didn’t get some sleep, it would be apparent to everyone that he had had a rough night. Picking up the chain, Lucky gave one more look to the charm on it. Then he quickly stuffed the Cassadine medallion back into his bag and went back to bed, where he eventually fell asleep.

Chapter 5

Quickly, all the passengers from flight 324 out of Boston filed off of the plane. The last man in line stopped for a second to look around. No need for him to rush off to the luggage rack, he carried all his stuff on him. Walking out into the sun, he pushed his sunglasses on over his hazel eyes. He was tall and rather stocky, probably mid 50’s. His hair was starting to gray and there were several wrinkles on his face, but he still gave off a sense of intimidation to those around him. A dark car pulled up near him, and the man walked to it and got in. He had a meeting to attend now, one he was looking forward to.

With a sigh, Lucky threw the rag into the pail. Finally done, for today at least. He was starting to think ten dollars an hour for waxing and washing all of Jason’s cars wasn’t too much after all. A room had eventually come with it too, though, so he figured he was living up to his name right now. It was still early afternoon, so he decided to take a walk down by the docks before going back to the penthouse. Jason had decided to have a small dinner party that night. Well, decided might be the wrong word, Lucky mused. He would almost bet his life that his Aunt Bobbie had talked him into it. She wanted to see her grandson and show him off to everyone. Lucky really didn’t want to go, but he knew he couldn’t back out of it after Jason gave him his own room, it just wouldn’t be right. If it had only been Mike and Emily who were coming, it would have been all right. But Bobbie had decided that Luke and Laura needed to get to know their great-nephew as well. As long as his parents didn’t say anything about wanting him to come home, though, Lucky thought he could at least be civil tonight. After getting Jason’s okay, he’d invited Liz to come too. With her there he knew he would be fine.

Helena Cassadine stood on the docks by her yacht, nervously fiddling with her medallion. She was thinking back to the past, to a horrible mistake she had made. She hated to admit it, but it was her mistake. Needing someone to full fill an extremely important job, she had hired who she thought would do it precisely and thoroughly. Well, she had been right about that. But then the unexpected had happened. She, a Cassadine, had lost control of the situation. Daniel Forst had proved himself to be a man with his own agenda. And here she was waiting to meet this monster yet again, though not of her own free will. When Daniel called, there was no choice. She quickly turned around when she heard the footsteps behind her, changing her expression to one more confident. It would do no good to show your fear to the enemy.

“Thank you, Ari, for driving Mr. Forst from the airport. That is all we will need for now.” Helena said.

As Ari walked off, Daniel studied Helena with a smirk on his face.

“And just what is it that you find so amusing, Mr. Forst?”

“Come now, Helena dear, there is no need to use such formalities. We are old friends, are we not? I was admiring how much you haven’t changed since we have last met.”

“Well, Daniel, don’t be so sure that I’m still that same naïve woman you knew long ago.” Helena replied dryly, “Though I may still look the same on the outside, I have definitely gathered many regrets of some of my past actions. Hiring you tops that list.”

“Now, now, my dear, don’t be that way.” Daniel said chuckling, “I’ve always been quite fond of you. I can’t help it if I just slightly disagreed with the way you wanted things done back then.” Daniel changed his tone to one more threatening as he continued, “And you would be wise not to pick a fight with me about it.”

Helena let down her false charade and frowned at him.

“Why are you back now?” she asked.

“We have unfinished business. It seems that I never accomplished what you hired me to do, so I’m just back to finish the job.”

“You know very well that what you think so desperately needs to be done was never part of my plan.”

“It is now, though, and you’d be better off if you didn’t fight me on this. That is, unless you’d like meet you maker a little early.”

Before Helena could respond, she saw Lucky walking down the steps. She silently prayed that he would turn around. But he didn’t. He gave her a slight look when he saw her, but continued on his way.

“Hello Lucky, how are you this afternoon.” She said pleasantly as she could.

“Like you care, Mrs. Cassadine.” Lucky retorted.

Daniel turned around and smiled his biggest smile at Lucky. “Now young man, that is no way to talk to a lady.”

Lucky stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the man. Instantly images flew through his mind, but they were to fast for him to grasp. He stood there stunned as the man walked towards him.

Daniel extended his hand as he spoke. “Lucky, was that your name? Nice to meet you son, I’m Daniel Forst.”

Lucky still didn’t move. Daniel studied him with delight. So the boy remembered him. This should be interesting. Helena just stood watching, cursing herself. She was feeling pity at the moment for a Spencer. But even the son of her worst enemy didn’t deserve to be taunted by this man.

“Well, Lucky, it’s getting near dinnertime. Shouldn’t you be getting home?” Helena asked.

The words seemed to go right past him. He finally snapped back to reality as Helena shook his shoulder. He glanced up at her and saw something in her eyes he had never seen before. He couldn’t tell what it was, but they didn’t hold the pure hate for him that they normally did. Taking one more glance at Daniel, he turned and walked away. Helena stared after Lucky as he left. They were both in for it now.