A man falls - Part 3

Lucas woke feeling better. His consciousness was restored, the hallucinations stopped and he could manage, for the time being, the hunger that was beginning to raise inside him.

He found himself sleeping on the floor, dirty as hell, and smelling bad. He remembered what happened but had the impression it was just a nightmare. He tried to imagine alternative explanations, because the idea of being bitten, by a crazy human, was already too unbelievable. The idea of being bitten by something *not human* was definitively part of a nightmare. The explanation Lucas made for himself was that he was robbed by a crazy person that drugged him. Everything was just an hallucination, a crazy history he was far from being ready to share with anyone.

However, there was a flaw on his history: as he reached a road, and a cab passed by, he managed to find lots of money inside his wallet. What kind of crazy thief would leave the money? He then begin to feel worried, what if the guy was a pervert? Oh crap, *that* idea was unconceivable! The idea of vampires begin to sound more feasible.

He got home, a small apartment he shared with other two colleagues. At that time, they already left for work. Lucas attempted to take a fast shower, but the dirty was too much so he had to try again, slowly. When he was already dressed and shaved, the fog on the bathroom's mirror begun to fade away, and he noticed he had two scars on the side of his neck. The scars looked very old.

He then managed to go to work. He was a trainee at a small law firm, Guliver & Smith, which had only begun to draw attention as they managed to defend and set free one of most prominent judges of the supreme court, who was accused of being part of a conspiracy to set a few drug-lords free.

As Lucas entered the building, Sandra, the lobby receptionist, screamed "Good Lord! We thought you were dead!". Lucas got really scared with her scream, and very confused, since he was sure he was only missing for a day.

Sandra continued: "Where the hell were you? The cops gave up searching for your body on the woods five days ago!"

Lucas felt weird, as he thought he only was missing for a day, but something inside him knew she was telling the truth. He begin to breath very fast, and his heart was like it would blow away.

He managed to calm down a little, and asked her: "But how the cops knew I was in the woods? I woke in there this morning, and I don't quite remember what happened to me."

Sandra was astonished. She replied: "They found your blood outside a bar, near the trash. They concluded you had a fight, probably someone tried to steal your money and you fought back ... the trail lead to the river, and they tried to find your body for two days, until someone noticed several blood marks on the sideways of the road nearby, and again, the tests revealed the blood to be yours. They searched for three days, and then gave up. We tried to contact your relatives but couldn't find anyone. I think the TV reported your disappearance for the entire state, tough."

Before she could finish her last sentence, Richard Smith, one of the lawyers, the son of Patrick Smith, one of the company's founder, and a very good friend of Lucas, dropped his switcase on the floor and run to Lucas, giving him a hug and a small slap on his face.

- What the hell, Lucas? You almost killed everyone of concern! Where in hell have you been? Wait, don't answer: My father will need to listen to this. He almost cried whenever your face appeared on TV.
- Ok, Ok, but please, let me come to my room and leave my stuff in there.
- Alright, but how did you come here? With the police?
- No, I went home and took a cab. I woke in the woods this morning, I didn't know this much days had passed!
- Holy crap! Sandra, can you call the cops and ask for the detective in charge of Lucas case? He needs to know he is good and well, and I'm sure he will ask Lucas to go to the police station to give his testimony.
- Yes Mr. Smith, Right away.
- Sandra, I told you before; You can call me Richard. I feel as old as my father when you call me as a I call him.
Sandra laughed, and picked the phone.

Richard and Lucas took the elevator to the 10th floor, where Lucas used to work. Although the elevator was empty when they got in, and that it went straight to the 10th floor, by the time they got there, most people on the building was already aware that Lucas was back, so when the elevator's door opened, Lucas was welcomed by about sixty people, and more than half of then didn't work on that floor.

Mr. Patrick Smith went down to the 10th floor and announced he would excuse everyone from the firm from not working that day, if they wish to attend to the party the firm would gave to Lucas.

Lucas was feeling a bit uncomfortable, and he thought to himself "what if I went missing to use drugs or something? Now they throw me a party, that's weird".

They made a little celebration, as Lucas told his story over and over again. Mr Patrick remembered he had to attend to the court in about half a hour, and asked to speak to the judge on the phone. The judge got so impressed with the story that he rescheduled the court session to the next day, and declared the day as a city holiday (a thing that by law only the city major could do, but the major didn't contest that later, as he liked the idea very much).

A press conference was scheduled to 8h p.m., but the conference room of the firm was too small, so a hotel two blocks away was kind enough to lend theirs. The Major, the judge and almost every personality on the city managed to get there. Some were forgotten, and got pissed of. Other were invited but couldn't get in, as the conference room was completely full half an hour before the ceremony begun.

Every major TV station on the state sent a team, and some of them would rebroadcast their version of the story nationwide.

Lucas was lost in the woods and confused by the morning, but at night, he was very famous. What a day.