"Now watch little boy," the man sneered; as he massacred, the child's parents. They screamed for him to close his eyes, but he was frozen in fear. The man shot his father in the heart & brain. Blood soaked his shirt & hair as he fell with a sickening thud. Screaming the boy's mother fell to her knees beside her husband's body. Tear streaming down her cheeks; she whispered his name over & over.

"Shut up," the man yelled at her. Cocking the gun he shoved her in a corner, slapped her, & shot her in the stomach.

Looking the boy in the eye, "Watch little one," and he shot himself in the head. All that left was John Grayson dead, his wife, Mary, bleeding to death, & their son traumatized for life. The little boy still stood in the middle of the room staring entranced at the bodies of his mother & father. His mother's voice woke him from his trance. Immediately he ran to her side; she had slid down the wall onto the floor leaving a huge smear of blood on the wall.

"Mom," he whispered, "I'm sorry I'm so sorry mommy, this is my fault, I should have..." But he was cut off.

"This is NOT your fault, look at me," she said squeezing his hand, "whatever they tell you this was NEVER your fault." She took a shuddering breath; "I was going to give you this when you turned 18, but …anyways when you find someone special like I found your dad you give them the one with your name on it & you put their name on the blank one." It was a chain with what seemed to be 2 dog tags on it. "Robin" was engraved on the back & the front had a bird on it.

"My Robin my little Robin," she whispered her voice faint. She stroked his hand; but each stroke became weaker & each breath weaker. Looking at his mother, he saw her struggle to breathe. A clock somewhere rang 12 chimes, April 12, 12:05 Mary Grayson died.

"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Robin, happy birthday to me," he sang, "look mom I'm 7 years old today." He sat there holding her hand, his brain unable to register that she was gone, far into the early morning

12 hours later' he was found.

"Oh my god someone, call the police," a voice said. More people rushed to the scene, many stayed back, fearful & disgusted. Murmurs of "Oh my" & "who would do such a thing", could be heard through the crowd. The police arrived, taping off the crime scene, and asking for identifications of the deceased. Annie, a contortionist, came forward & gasped.

"Dear Jesus," she breathed.

"Ma'am, can you identify the two bodies?"

"Yes, well almost. I don't know who the one with the gun is, but the other man is John Grayson. By the way there is a body & a boy over there. I suspect the boy is alive since he is sitttin' up."

"Thank…huh," the officer said turning in the direction of the stage, "do you know who they are as well?"



"Of course. That's John's wife, Mary Grayson & their son Dick; that's a nickname though, his name is Richard." she said walking off.

Officer Marx wondered what to do about the boy; he determined that Officer Molly would take care of the situation.

Robin just sat there looking blankly at his mother.

"Hey, Dick," Molly called.

"Shh, mommy's sleeping," he said whispering. That right there broke Molly's heart.

"Who are you," he asked still whispering.

"I'm Molly," she whispered back.

"Oh."

"Dick," she said whispering; deciding to go along with what Dick thought was true, "Hey, why don't we go & let mommy sleep. Ok?"

"Ok Molly. Night mommy," he released his hand from his mother's dead grasp & got up.

"Where we goin' Molly?"

"Right over there," she said pointing to the police officers by the gurneys.

"Dick," Molly said still playing along, "I asked your mommy & she told me today she was going on a trip & your daddy was waiting for her. So when she wakes up she is leaving & won't be able to say good bye; maybe you should say bye now."

"Ok," he said looking at his mother, "bye mommy I'll see you when you come back & daddy too."

Molly stuck out her hand; hesitantly he took it & allowed himself to be lead away. Looking around Molly saw that the bodies had been taken away.

"Molly when do you think Mommy will come back?"

"Not for a while."

"Ok." Molly took him to the officer Marx who immediately bundled him in a blanket, and carried him to a police car. He came back & looked at Molly with a frown on his face.

"So is he okay," he asked.

She frowned & almost shouted, "of course not! Would you be okay if your parents died?"

"No," he paused for moment. "I asked around seems he has no other family."



Molly shook her head, "But that means…"

"Yeah, he's gonna be a system kid," he sighed.

"They can't do that! He just lost his parents!"

"I know but you know just as well as I do, that he is too old to be adopted."

"Are you sure there's no one; aunt, uncle, grandparent, cousin?"

"If there is the parents severed ties with them a long time ago."

"What about a guardian?"

"Slight possibility, but so far no will."

She sighed, "The guardian won't want him anyways."

"What…why not?"

"Because he thinks his parents are still alive."

"Are you serious? Well no one is going to WANT him." Thinking Marx tried to figure out what to do.

"Well, we could put him in a foster home see if he can accept his parent's death. Then maybe we could move him into an orphanage," he blurted out

"I don't know," Molly said slowly.

"Come on not like there is anything to lose."

"Alright, you talk with the social worker though," she said walking off.