Ryan Scoon, 7 years old, alone in the world, except for his 11 year old bro, but he wasn't holding up to well. 2 weeks ago, just before Christmas, his family had been going from Wellington to Whanganui to see family. Ryan's dad had been driving, at about 120, and hit a patch of oil. They, him and his brother, had been told that at 100km our car wouldn't have hit the ditch and rolled. None of them had been able to get out and their parents' heads had been below the water, where as his and his brother's hair was just sitting in it. He had had to sit there and watch them suffocate.
10 Days Later
Ryan and his brother were sitting in their room at a Wellington children's home. 2 days ago their only relatives, their mum's parents had been found dead. These last three and a bit weeks had been hell on them and there bodies seemingly couldn't take it. So now my Ryan and his brother were property of the state. But instead of being good little boys about that, they had started going out late, hanging 'round with the wrong crowd and generally making hell for people.
13 Days Later
Ryan was scared, him and matt, his brother, were in a helicopter with blacked out helmets and the co-pilot had just given us a pill. Next thing he knew he was waking up in a big double bed with his bro nowhere to be seen. He got up, and realized something, he was naked. Ryan saw pants and stuff on the desk and decided to get dressed. He stepped into the hall and saw his brother in an open door opposite me. They walked down to an elevator and decided to go to the bottom floor. They got there and there was a lady behind the desk all she said was, "Doctor McAfferty, will see you in a moment." As she said this the door to the office on the left opened and a young boy, probably a year younger than Ryan walked out and he heard a Scottish accent say, "… and if you continue to repeatedly annoy your sister, Bethany, you will get 50hrs cleaning the dojo. Am I making myself, clear?" He couldn't hear the reply, but it seemed to have satisfied this 'Doctor McAfferty' fellow. Next thing the receptionist called out, "Sir, those two Scoon boys are here for you." He turned around and bent a finger, saying, 'well come on then.' They followed him into his office.
4 Months Later
Ryan and his brother had settled into a routine at CHERUB. He was in basic training and Ryan was in the junior block. It turned out he was a natural linguist and great with numbers. It was really fun 'cos at age 8 he was doing math with 12 year olds, and learning 3 languages, Spanish, French and Russian. It was hard but he enjoyed it, especially the fitness stuff and martial arts. I had heaps of great friends, including some girls, one in particular called Bethany Parker. It was good. I had a good life and couldn't wait till basic training.