Chapter 84

"Breath and relax. It's your first day back, since the incident and you don't want to draw attention to yourself." Lucas told himself as he road the elevator up to his work floor. He was wearing a light jacket and a compressive glove for his left hand. He could feel his left hand starting to shake as he closed his eyes to focus. He then felt the gentle touch of someone holding his nervous hand.

While the floors were busy, it was only Lucas and Amay in the elevator. Lucas opened his eyes to look at Amay by his side. She could tell he was nervous and wanted to remind him she was still here if he needed her. Although she wasn't looking at him, he could see her face slightly blush. Her eyes met his his for a moment before quickly looking away.

"Just relax. If they asked what happened say you slipped down a ditch or just got caught off guard by a bear...or something believable," Amay told him as her own hand began to shake.

Lucas could feel his anxiety slowly fade as he slowly tighten his hand around Amay's. With a deep exhale, he smiled a little. "Thank you, Amay." He said as the elevator doors opened to his floor.

Without hesitating, Amay pulled her hand away as the door followed opened to the busy floor. She watched as Lucas placed one earbub in his ear and took the first step onto the floor. Waiting a few seconds, she followed behind him. Her eyes explored the maze like office, before slowly stopping at Lucas.

"His walk is different." Amay noted to herself. When she first went to work with him she noticed how much he hunched over and kept his head down. He was skittish and seemed scared of his own shadow along with everyone in here. Yet, after the incident with Ida she saw a slight change in him.

"He seems..relaxed and calm."

As Lucas finally got to his cubicle and took a seat, he let out another sigh and raised his hands over his keyboard. When his hands moved closer, they began to tremble. Lucas began to breath in and out as blood appeared over them. When he blinked at them, His desk was completely gone and he was back in the cave. He looked around puzzled for a moment as his heart felt as if it was beating in his head.

"Lu...cas?"

The hair on the back of his neck began to stand up as he slowly turned his head. His eyes went wide, when he saw Amay sitting there with blood all over her. The hole in her torso was visible and he could see out of it. Her eyes were lifeless as blood dripped from her mouth.

"You let...me die." Amay said as she moved a had closer to him.

Lucas was left speechless and in shock as he was frozen with fear. He heard a creek come from behind him. He quickly spun around to see the three figures from the night all of this started standing before him.

"Yo, Lucas. You alright." Chris voice called out.

With a few blinks, everything went back to normal and Lucas found his three friends standing there with weird looks on there face. He felt sweat cover his face and his heart was beating so fast that he felt like a chestburster was going to come out. He placed a hand in his head as he tried to catch his breath.

"Lucas are you alright?" Ann spoke up taking a step closer to him.

"Don't come in closer." Lucas told Ann without a single hesitation. He could smell her perfume and it reminded him of something. He didn't know it during his attack, but now with Ann wearing it, he remembered. "My God she smelled like strawberry." He muttered to himself.

Ann looked at Lucas with concerned eyes as she did what he asked. "Are..you okay?" She softly asked him while looking back at both Chris and Joe.

Joe stepped forward and placed a hand on Ann. "Chris can you run and get me a cup of water?" He ask as he moved closer to Lucas.

"Gotcha." Chris said turning around to quickly go get one.

"Hey Luc. How are you doing buddy?" Joe asked kneeling down to talk to him one on one.

Lucas took a deep breath as he could feel Amay, Joe, and Ann eyes on him. His eyes began to look side ways as he tried to focus on his voice.

"Oh. I almost got attacked and mounted by a giant spider-woman just that killed the girl I like after impaling her to the point Vlad the Impaler would have gotten a boner from. Just before finding out big-fucking-foot exist. Also I cursed my mom out and survived that. I'm doing just peachy." Lucas imaged him saying out loud to them. Instead he took another deep breath and looked at the three of them.

"Yeah. Sorry I did that camping trip and had a big scare with a bear and there was the fact I almost feel into a very deep cave. I just been a little shook from all that." He nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It also infected my sleep schedule so I sorta have insumina."

Amay, Ann, Joe looked at Lucas as his mouth said one thing, but the dark bags under his eyes nearly told them a different story. Amay sat there hoping they would by his lie as she never fully asked him how he was doing outside of just being close and sharing their connection.

"Are you sure your okay?" Ann spoke up. "Do you think you should have stayed home?"

"No!" He suddenly bursted out before clearing his throat. "Sorry about that. No. I need to keep myself busy. Staying at home would just make me feel a lot worse."

Ann and Joe looked at each other for a moment as Chis made his way back with the water. He passed it to Joe who passed it to Lucas, before he fully stood up.

"Luc. You know you can talk to us if there's a problem, right?" Joe asked him.

"Especially if something is really wrong," Ann spoke up.

"Anytime any day. You can just reach out and we will listen and try to help you out." Chis added on.

"I wish it was that easy." Lucas thought to himself as his eyes looked over at all three of them before briefly glancing over at Amay. He inhaled sharply, before speaking.

"I know guys and I thank y'all so much. If anything, I just need to take some pills and go to sleep tonight. But for now, I just want to drown out my issues by dealing with dumb people with dumb issues. Maybe they could cure my issues, by asking something really stupid?" Lucas chuckled a little and managed to get a small smile out of Chris, Joe but noticed how Ann still had her worried look.

"Alrighty then, Lucas. We better go before Little Dick comes by." Chris said looking out Lucas cubicle to see if the devil was being summoned.

"Yeah. Let's go guys." Joe said before turning around to head off.

As Chis and Joe left, Ann lingered back a little. She had a nervous look to her as she wanted to say something, but didn't know how too.

"Lucas don't over do it. Sometimes, we find comfort in those around us, but even your closest friends could keep a very deep secret...and sometimes it becomes too la..."Ann hesitated for a moment before looking away. "Just be careful, and know you are not alone. We are just a phone call away. Okay?"

Lucas looked up at her for a moment, before she turned away and hurried to her chair. A long sigh left his mouth as he thought about what she said. His fake smile dropped as his frown came back. "I wish it was that easy." He mumble to himself.

"You're friends really do care about you," Amay spoke up feeling a little sad herself. "But they can't know about any of this."

"I know." Lucas said turning in his chair to look at his computer. With a deep breath, he began to type on his keyboard to pull up his work. "After what happened, I don't think any normal person should know about or experience what we went through." He said with a heavy heart.

"I never got to ask you, but how are you doing? Really doing? " Amay asked him feeling her own face become read. She noticed how Lucas stopped all of a sudden. He looked to be thinking of an answer to get her. She watched as his shoulder rolled back as he gave a little nod.

"Would you mind if we talk more openly when we got home?" Lucas asked without looking directly at her.

"Not at all." She told him.

"Thank you." Lucas said as he started to open a file. "Now let's get to work."