**I am back after a LOOOOOONG hiatus. Just haven't had a lot of inspiration to write here lately. My "First Date" story got a lot of good reviews though--thank you!! I started this story right after I saw IWTB last year and I have been slowly developing it. It takes place 6 months after IWTB. The biggest disappointment for my with TXF is how M&S never saw William again.
**I do not own these characters. Only the ones I created. Mulder & Scull belong to Chris Carter.
Prologue
The small boy sat on his bed in the group home. His large blue-green eyes scanned the room. Two sets of bunk beds, a desk and an assortment of old toys filled the small space. My old room was nicer, he thought. Tears welled up in his eyes again. He seemed to cry a lot these days. He couldn't help it. He was only seven. He was scared. Mommy always said it's okay to cry when you feel sad or scared, he thought.
And he was sad. He had been brought to this home two days ago, the third home he had been to since his mommy and daddy went up to heaven. That's what his cousin Lisa told him. He knew about heaven from Sunday school. It was supposed to be a nice place where you get to play with God and be happy forever. But it meant mommy and daddy couldn't be with him. It meant he couldn't live in his room anymore, or play with cousin Lisa, or ride his 2-wheeled bike how daddy had taught him last month. Mommy and daddy may be happy in heaven, he thought, but I wish they could be happy here with me.
He looked down at the stuffed alien he was holding. It was his favorite toy. When the lady came to take him away from his house, he made sure he had Spooky. He didn't know where he got him; he just knew he had had him since he was a baby. Daddy must have bought him, but the boy had never asked. The toy was worn. The green color had faded to a dull gray, one of Spooky's black felt eyes had been missing since he was four, and the silver space suit he wore was creased and cracked and missing two of its three buttons. The only part of Spooky that was still intact was the metal tag hanging from the alien's tail. It had his initials inscribed in it. It always confused him why the initials said W.F.M. Mommy and Daddy should have know his initials were W.F.V.—William Fox Van de Camp. Billy. Maybe they just didn't notice. He never pointed it out to them.
Spooky was old, but he was the boy's only friend now. He put his face into the head of his best friend and started to cry again.
He worried about that lady coming back. She said soon he would get to go live with a new family. She called them the "Fosters family". He didn't know who the Fosters were, but he knew he didn't want to live there.
He wanted his mommy and daddy back. But they couldn't come back. They were in heaven with God.
And he was all alone.
The overhead light suddenly flickered. Startled, Billy looked up as the door flew open and smashed into the wall. Billy's heart started pounding. Two strange men in black suits came towards him. Even with him sitting on the top bunk, they were taller than him. The first man grabbed him under the armpits and pulled him off the bed. The other stood by the door. The lights went out. Billy was being carried down the stairs in the dark. His heart pounded. He tried to scream, but his voice caught in his throat.
As they approached the front door, he looked over the man's shoulder and saw what Mrs. Miller, the house mother, lying on the floor. Billy sucked in his breath. He smelled gas. As the man threw him into the back of a black SUV, he saw the other man still at the door of the house. The man ran to the street and climbed into the car just as the front of the house burst into flames. The SUV's tires screeched as it pulled away and took off into the night. Billy sunk into the back seat more terrified than ever. Who were these men? They never spoke. They never looked at him. His eyes stung with tears again. He prayed for Mommy and Daddy to help him.
Spooky was still clutched in his hands.
