Max sat on a stump at the entrance to the camp, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He looked up, shading his eyes from the bright sun that was beating heat down onto him. Lazily he hopped off the stump, grabbing his backpack as he started walking to the messhall. It was quiet as he walked. The only things to be heard were his footsteps and the subtle sound of the woods around him.
Max entered the messhall, not bothering to close the door behind him. He walked into the kitchen and started going through the pantry. He pulled out a box of old crackers, a jar of peanut butter, and a bottle of apple juice. Max grabbed a knife from one of the drawers before sitting at the counter.
As he ate, he looked out over the messhall that had been full of kids and their parents the day before. Now it was empty, just like the rest of the camp. The tables were folded up, the tents were taken down, and the equiptment was put away. All of the campers had been taken home by their parents. Now Max sat alone in the kitchen, munching away at some stale crackers ad peanut butter.
"Max?" a voice sounded from outside. Max watched the door as David walked in. "Are you in here?" he called.
Max let out a sigh before replying. "Kitchen." he called back. David caught sight of him, making his way to the young boy with a smile on his face.
"Sorry that took so long Max." he apologized, Max shrugged.
"Whatever, are you ready to go yet?" Max asked.
"Yep. Gwen's getting the car warmed up now."
Max put back the food and slowly made his way to the camp mobile. David opened the back door for him, Max only replied by tossing his back pack in before climbing in himself. David closed the door and entered the passenger seat.
"Got the address?" Gwen asked. David pulled out his phone and typed the address into the GPS. As they puled out and started to drive, both counselors took a glance at the mirror. They watched the younger boy clutch his teddy bear to his chest, pulling his legs up as he started to slip into sleep. This was oing to be a long drive.
After two hours they pulled into the parking lot of an old white house. it was small and looked run down. Gwen exited first, followed by David. they turned to look at the boy still asleep in the back seat.
With a sigh Gwen turned around and walked to the door, knocking without hesitation. "Hello?" she asked, knocking again. "This is Gwen, David is here with me. We are the counselors from Camp Campbell." There was no reply. Gwen was starting to lose her patients as she knocked for the fifth time. The sun was falling from the sky. Gwen gave up knocking and pounded against the door. "Open up, your son is waiting for you out here!" Again, no reply. Gwen grew angry as David grew worried and anxious.
"Hey!" A voice called from behind. The two turned around to see a lady with short blonde hair and brown eyes walking her dog on the other side of the street. "Are you looking for someone?" she asked.
David walked down the stairs and parking lot to greet the girl. The two began to talk as Gwen climbed back into the car, slamming the door behind her. The boy in the back seat stirred and sat up after a moment.
"Sorry Max." Gwen said apologetically as she looked back at the boy. He looked around before slumping back into his seat.
"They gave you a fake address. I've never seen this place before." He sighed. "Just drop me off with the police, I'll figure something out." Before Gwen could react, David climbed back into the car and started it. "Wake me when we get there I guess." He stated sadly before laying back down and falling back asleep.
"Poor guy, didn't sleep at all last night." Gwen commented.
"He was up all night waiting for his parents." David replied in a bitter tone as they pulled out of the drive way.
Gwen looked back at Max one last time before turning to face forward. "What did she say?" she asked after a few moments of silence. She looked over at David. He had a look that Gwen had never seen before. It was angry and sad, like he would break at any moment.
"She told me no one has lived there for years." David replied with a sigh, his eyes glued to the road.
"So what now?" Gwen asked, immediately regretting it.
"Dammit!" David yelled slamming his hands on the wheel. There was a loud honk that woke Max. The car started to swerve. Desperately bother David and Gwen grabbed the wheel trying to steady the car. Gwen yanked the wheel from David's hands, pulling it over to the side of the road.
"The fuck David! Are you trying to killus?!" Max shouted from the back seat.
"Sorry buddy, just go back to bed." David replied.
"David, I'll drive, just calm down." Gwen said reassuringly. She opened the door and stepped out of the car. David sighed before stepping out of the car aswell. Max watching them, sitting back in his seat. He looked out the window where David and Gwen stopped to talk.
No doubt it's about me. Max thought. They're probably talking about how I'm too much of a handful and I'm not worth this much trouble. Max slumped down further into his seat, hugging his bear as tears brimmed his eyes. He pulled his legs to his chest and burried his fce in his kneew, blinking away tears as he failed to fight off sleep.
"Are you ok?" Gwen asked David, stopping him as they crossed paths around the car.
"No, I'm really not." David stated plainly. "I just don't understand how a parent can just abandom their own child like that or any child for that matter. I don't know what to do Gwen. Should we take him to the police?" He asked.
Gwen shook her head. "No, I mean, I know we should but, I don't trust them. I know that they'll just throw him into some system that doesn't give a shit about him and just forget about him."
"I don't want Max to be lost like that." David pleaded.
"Any other suggestions?" Gwen asked, looking more worried that before.
"I don't know, for know I can take him back to my place." David turned to leave before Gwen placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll stay over tonight and we'll figure it out together." she said with a reassuring smile. David smiled back and gave a small nod.
As they got back into the car, they looked back to the small boy. Max was curled into a ball, asleep with his face burried in his stuffed bear. Gwen turned the key and the car started smoothly as they pulled away from the side of the road
Max could feel the heat around him. He enjoyed it, pulling the blanket up closer to him. Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking into the darkened room. "Where am I?" Max asked into the empty room. As he looked around he saw the light blue walls with nothing on them. There was a grey carpet and a white dresser across the room. Max sat up looking down at the queen sized bed.. The sheetd and blanket matched the walls. He looked next to him. There was a night stand with a small grey lamp and an alarm clock that read '5:32AM'. Slowly Max hopped out of the bed, throwing on his hoodie and grabbing his bag from the foot of the bed. He opened the door quietly and walked out into the living room. The television was on, but he couldn't tell if anyone was actually watching it. He made his way to the front door. Quietly and slowly, he undid the lock, there was a small click sound when the lock released.
"Max?" a voice came from behind. "Where are you going?" Max whipped his head around and saw David standing in the kitchen holding two mugs.
His heart was beating so fast, but after finding out it was just David, Max was able to calm down a little. He closed the door and Gwen looked back from her spot in fron't of the TV.
"You're awake." She said with a relieved tone and tired smile.
"Where am I?" Max asked looking around.
"Oh, this is my home." David gave a small smile. Walking past Max with a tray of three mugs. Max followed and sat on the couch as David past out the drinks. two cups had black coffee while David's cup had a clear red-orange three sat in silence for a few moments, drinking the strong coffee and relaxing tea.
"Why am I here? Shouldn't you have taken me to the cops or something? Why are you guys even awake this early?" Max's head was buzzing with questions. It was hard forming eachother into actual words.
"We never actually slept last night." Gwen laughed, the grogginess was highly prominant in the voice as she inched the bridge of her nose.
"The hell? What the fuck were you two doing up all last night?" Max paused for a moment, then continues to talk before anyone else could. "Wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know." He said shaking his head. Gwen's eye widened.
"It's not like that you little shit." Gwen spat with less venom that she was hoping for.
"You're right Max." David said putting his cup down. "We should have taken you to the authorities. I just couldn't bare the thought of them throwing you in some foster home and leaving you there. So all I could think of at the time was to bring you here."
Max stared at David with a concerned face before looking between the two adults. "Did you stay up last night 'cause of me?" he asked, a tinge of guilt filling his voice. David smiled sheepishly and Gwen nodded.
"We were trying to figure out what to do." Max looked down, a look of regret crossed his face. He didn't want them worrying about him, he saw it as him making their lives harder. They were probably ready to throw him out. But then why hadn't they earlier. Max couldn't understand why they cared so much about him. "David has an idea but you might not like it." Gwen added, breaking Max out of his thoughts.
He looked to David who scratched at the back of his head. "Well if you want to, only if you want to, you could stay with me." he said quietly. Max raised on eyebrow at David.
"Why would I wanna stay with you?" he spat. It had no power behind it, sounding more hopeful and solemn than harsh, as he had intended. "Besides, isn't that kidnapping or something, won't you get arrested?"
"Not if we go to the police and tell them what happened." Gwen chimed in. Max looked to her as she spoke then back to David, a pleading look crossed his face.
"I can fight for you until you can come home with me. Then no one will be able to hurt you." David smiled reassuringly. Max was taken back, speechless. He opened his mouth to speak but immediately closed it. "Max it'll be alright , I promise." David set his hand on Max's shoulder. All Max could do was look up to the tall man sitting next to him. "I will never stop fighting for you Max."
Max couldn't stop the tears from falling. No one had ever cared this much. He fell forward into David's side, wrapping his arms around his torso and burrying his face into the mans soft green shirt as he wept. David held Max for awhile. Gwen watched with a relieved smile before getting up from the armchair. She took a seat on the floor directly infront of them, raising her hand to rub circles in Max's back.
After the sobs stopped, Max muttered something and pointed at David. It was unaudible as Max pressed his face harder into David's side. Gwen and David looked at eachother, giving a shrug. "What did you say?" Gwen asked quietly. Max ruffled his face in David's shirt as an attempt to dry any tears. He sat up and looked at both of them.
"I said, I will murder you if you tell anyone about that." He repeated, as he rubbeb the last of his tears away, avoiding eye contact.
David smiled as Gwen gave a small laugh. He nodded, "Okay Max."