Wake Up Call
A big lump was moving under too thick of a blanket for the summers heat, it rolled around caught underneath and was entangled. The lump eventually made its way to the edge of the bed and fell on the ground with a loud thump. The messy child threw everything off of him in a huff, sweat stuck to his back and boxer briefs. He rubbed his eyes from sleep and yawned.
His bare feet stuck to the hard wood as he walked against the floorboards, he carefully maneuvered away from any stray Lego pieces he may fall victim to.
Then Casey opened his door with just a whisper of a creak, through the curtains behind the futon the soft glows of dawn faded into the living room. Leaving stray marks of sunlight on Logan.
The boy wide eyes crouched down with a smile, his eyebrows up, he smelt the air, to him his new uncle smelled familiar eerily so. Like a distant friend just beyond a hem of trees, he could almost make out what it was, maybe if he thought long enough he could’ve grasped it. However, Casey had one thing in mind as he carefully stepped closer, a Creed wake up call. The boy leaped and flew, Casey landed smack dab onto Logan’s chest laughing, until he wasn’t.
Casey got a rude awakening as he was slammed down onto the coffee table, it cracked the glass underneath and the boy was breathless.
He was gasping for air and blood trickled down his throat from adamantium claws that scratched him.
Logan was trembling as chills ran down his spine, it wasn’t a lot of blood it was just a scratch, but the boys wide eyes and was gasping like a fish out of water made Logan want to vomit. “Wade” Logan’s voice broke as he yelled he didn’t know what to do, his eyes were racing over the child, over everything before he knew it Wade was their pushing Logan out of the way. He had never been this relieved before to see Wade.
Casey finally caught his breath as he was cradled in Wade’s arms, and began to cry.
“I want Daddy, call Daddy” he couldn’t help, but sob he wanted his Father, Daddy never played this rough, why isn’t he here? The thought at the end made Casey choke in Wade’s shoulder, why isn’t he here? The clock was ticking and it had been an overdue question on Casey’s mind every night and now that his back hurt and head pounded, he needed him.
“I know, shhh your okay, look I’m calling Vic right now okay?” He was bouncing the child on his hip as he wobbly dialed Victors number on his cracked iphone. Casey wiped his face the best he could with shaking hands and took the phone from Wade, he cradled it like his lifeline between his palms. It dialed and dialed and finally a gruff voice answered.
“Sugar, I really don’t got time for this” gun shots blared from the speakers four or five loud bangs,
“It’s me!!” Casey tugged Wade to let him down as he wiped his face more, “daddy, when are you coming home?”
Victor sighed on the other side, “I’m a little tied up at work-”
“You were supposed to be back three weeks ago!”
“I know I’m-”
“Daddy, I missed you.” Casey’s voice got small, “and you promised to be back.”
“Casey, stop complaining, after this I ain’t taking anymore jobs for awhile, I just need you to be patient.”
Casey could hear a reload of a gun on the other side, he kicked the ground and huffed, “I am patient!”
Victor pinched his eyebrow at the sniffling behind the phone, and debated on how many days it would take to shoot his way out of this hell hole. He had twenty men on him, all were trying to get the same fucking bounty for 100 grand. Usually it wouldn’t be this hard, but to Victors annoyance he had to take per-cautions this time around, “okay.” He sighed, “I’ll be back in a week, I think I can finish it by then.”
“Really?”
“Yes kid, can you hold out till then?’
Instead of Casey answering it was Wade, “no, he can’t. You don’t just leave a kid unattended for six weeks Vic.”
Victor rolled his eyes at the nagging, “he’s fine I left him food and money, what else does he need.”
“A bath? Grooming, brushing his teeth.”
“He didn’t do all that? Put him on the line.”
“No. If you have to work you come get me to watch him, you don’t just leave him here we discussed this.”
“No we didn’t discuss this the last discussion we had was you walking out.”
“That isn’t fair Victor and you know it.”
Victor held his face in his hands and he wanted to throw the phone, with his heart in his mouth he asked heavily, “what do you wanna do then?”
“What?” Wade muttered out in a bit of confusion.
“Just tell me what you wanna do, are you gonna handle the kid until I get back? You keep bitchin about it like your his Mother.”
“Fuck off.”
“You wish.” Victor loaded his semi rifle as he balanced the phone between his shoulder and ear, “should I be expecting you, when I come back?”
“No..”
“No? All this complaining-”
“I’m taking him to Xavier’s you can pick him up there.”
“Fuck no.”
Wade promptly hung up, causing Casey to whine and pull at his shirt, “I want Daddy!”
“Well, he’ll pick you up in a week.”
“But I wanted to talk to him, and you hung up!”
“I know, but he was busy..”
“No. You two were being mean.”
Wade sighed and picked Casey up, “…I know, just it’s hard sometimes…can I wash you off?”
Casey shook his head.
“Just your neck, and maybe a new shirt?”
Casey sighed, “will you be nice to Daddy when he gets home?”
Wade tried to ignore the pouting, but eventually caved in, “I’ll be on my best behavior” he put up his hand, “I swear it. If- IF”
He saw Casey’s eyes widen, “if you get cleaned up.”
Casey squinted, “can we get icecream?”
“Sure.”
Casey gave a toothy grin, “yay!”
Wade had to count his wins as they came to him, so he picked Casey up and brought him to the kitchen sink, he got a wash clothe and dabbed at the boy’s bloodied neck. Everything healed not a scratch was on him, the boy sat on the counter and swung his legs as Wade worked.
“Uncle Wade, where’s the grumpy Uncle?”
Wade knew that Logan had left the house and was standing by one of the trees most likely listening in, “he went out to get some air.”
“Oh” Casey looked at the wall behind the small kitchen table, it had little fingerprints from when he painted, and he remembered his Father getting mad at him. “Is…grumpy uncle mad at me? Is that why he hit me?”
Wade shook his head, “no, no” he put the wash cloth down, “Logan sometimes get’s startled easily, and when you jumped on him - you jumped on him right? Like you do with Vic?”
Casey slowly nodded and played with the end of his shirt, causing Wade to continue, “jumping on someone when they are asleep would startle anyone and Logan reacted, he never meant to hurt you. That’s why he was scared.”
“Oh…he scared me too.” Casey sniffled as he looked at the wall, yellow, pink, blues were dabbed onto the wall paper. He was trying to make a flower then.
“I know….” Wade started to rub Casey’s back, “and you know even if someone’s mad at you, that doesn’t mean they can hit you right?”
Casey shook his head again, “no…I mean….Dad get’s mad a lot.” After he said that Wade’s face dropped with worry, “well- has uh Vic ever hit you?” he was holding onto Casey’s shoulder like a lifeline and sweat dripped down his back.
“No, but Daddy hit’s other people when he’s mad. You do too!” Casey poked Wade’s stomach, “so what’s the difference?”
Wade made an audible sigh of relief, “the difference is the assholes I punch and the assholes Vic punches deserve it. They are like horrible human beings, but you” he smushed Casey’s face in between his hands, “are the cutest little thing.”
“And punching children is a big no-no” he looked at the readers from inside their phones, “I might have a large ass, but even I don’t deck kids, now if you do I will find you and put a bullet straight through your $#^&.”
Casey giggled in between Wade’s hands, “your silly!”
“I know that’s why I’m the fun Uncle!”
“Does that mean I can have icecream for breakfast?”
Wade let go and put his hands on his hips, “well as long as you promise not to get cavities?”
Casey drew out his pinky, “I promise!”
Wade crossed his pinky with Casey’s, “okay I will hold you to it, now why don’t you put on some fresh clothes, so we can hit the road?”
Casey laughed as he ran to his room, and changed as fast as he could almost tripping on the shorts he was trying to put on. In barely a breath he was ready at the front door, “ice cream, ice cream!”
“We all scream for icecream!” Wade shouted as he grabbed the Truck keys, Casey then went a long and gave a high pitched scream.
Wade itched his ear, “oh and it’s 9 am…”
Casey ran out of the house yelling and shouting, “icecream icecream!!!” he started to skip in a circle around the truck when he smelled his grumpy uncle Logan leaning against a tree near their fire pit deeper in the woods.
“I’m going to get Uncle Logan!” Casey shouted behind himself as he went further into the forest, he followed the familiar scent like it was a cartoon trail in the air.
The grumpy uncle was looking at the burnt wood and old sticks stuck into the ground with remnants of marshmallow from months ago alongside the stone pit.
“Grumpy, grumpy!” Casey bounced up and down on his tippy toes, “are you feeling better, are you hangry? Uncle Wade is taking us to icecream!”
Logan looked at the boy, the blood from his neck was gone and he couldn’t sense any pain from the energetic kid, “I didn’t mean to-”
“I know.” Casey shifted back and forth on the balls of his feet, “I get scared too sometimes, next time…I’ll be more careful when I play with you. I’ll make sure your awake or at least see it coming.” Casey nodded at his resolve and puff his chest a little, “I know I can be quite intimidating at times, so I will spare you of my famous sneak attacks.”
Logan huffed and shook his head, “thanks bub, that will help.”
Casey didn’t catch the sarcasm, “did my fangs scare you too?” Casey and Logan started to walk toward the truck out of the woods, Logan had to squint to see the little fangs popping in from Casey’s gums, “yes, their very frightening.”
“Oh no” Casey held his cheek, “when I smile does it scare you?”
Logan gave a breathy laugh, “no, your fine.”
“Okay” Casey nodded as he hopped into the backseat of the beat up pick up his Dad had, “but if it get’s too much tell me!”
Logan a slight nod as he got in the front seat, Wade was wearing Victor’s clothes, a shirt and sweatpants that smelt of him, with a little touch of his own sunglasses, “you two ready to get icecream?”
Casey started screeching in the back, as Logan sighed, “this is a shitty idea.”
Wade started the car which gave a loud hum and shook, “oh I know. It’s going to be a long, loooong day.”