I heard a large crack and a scream. I rushed out and felt a small child wraps its arms around my waist.
"Ellis? What's wrong kid?" this was my fifth time babysitting the seven-year old brat, and every time there was a new injury.
Tear filled blue eyes looked up at me. Blood covered the bottom half of his face, with more streaming from a broken nose.
"K-Keif heet it. An' i' 'urts reel bad."
I sighed and knelt down to further inspect his nose. Keith, his so called 'friend' who was hell-bent on trying to damage every part of Ellis' body.
"Well, it doesn't look that bad Let's get you fixed up kiddo." My gaze drifted down to his shirt, which had a bid of red coating the blue fabric. I cringed at the sight. "You're mother's going to kill me. What'd he hit you with?"
He didn't respond, but his hand shook in mine as I led him to the small bathroom. Setting him on the edge of the tub I rummaged through the cupboard under the sink for the overused first-aid kit.
It had almost become part of a routine by now. First I'd take Ellis off of his no-good parents' hands, then Keith would hop over the back fence. And without fail Ellis would get hurt. I'd chase off Keith, fix up the kid, and asked what he wanted to do. For some unfathomable reason he always wanted to watch the Titanic. We always did.
But today was by far the worse. Ellis wasn't spewing random words, or making any type of noise except whimpers of pain. I give him bonus points for not screaming or crying. He just winced and screwed up his face. This was one tough little kid. The nearest hospital was a two hour drive away, and I didn't have a car seeing as Keith and Ellis decided to play mechanic on it. So my make shift job would have to do.
I put a band-aid on the cut after cleaning him up. Sighing again I peeled off the ruined shirt and shoved it to the bottom of the trash can.
"Why'd 'chu do that?" An accented voice sounded in my ear.
"So your mother doesn't fire me for not taking care of you. It is my job to keep you safe." I moved to his room, the walls covered in posters of a random racer and horse pictures, searching for a slightly clean shirt and cursing when my search came up empty. I quickly unbuttoned my shirt and slid the overlarge piece of clothing over his tiny frame.
"Ma won't care none ..Pa eit'er."
"They will kid, soon as they see your no-"
"'Dey wont care! De've done worse 'fore dis." His voice died down, and he was very suddenly interested in the carpet below his feet. I stared in shock at his reaction. Hell, anyone could see it was bad, but beating their own son just went too far.
Impulsively I crushed Ellis to me and pressed my lip to his forehead.
"It's gonna be ok overalls. I swear to God, even if there's a zombie apocalypse or something, I will never let them hurt you again." A moment passed.
"Nick?"
"Yeah?"
"Why ya cryin'?" Memories of my drunken father rushed through my head and I closed my eyes, forcing a smile to my face.
"'cause I really like you kid, and I hate seeing people I care about hurt."
"'Chu like me?" I nodded. He grinned up at me. "Then you'll always be 'ere fer me, right?" I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yeah, I promise."
"good." He laughed back.
"Here." I tossed a baseball cap at him, retrieved from my back pocket. "I was going to give it to you later but, eh what the hell." He caught it and smiled.
"Ah shoot Nick! Dis is awesome. But . Why've 'chu givin' it to me?"
"Oh come on, you didn't forget it was your own Birthday, did ya?" He shook his head, grinning ear to ear.
"Hey, Can we go to Kiddie Land?"
"Sorry sport, no money for tickets . Anything else?"
"Ummm, oh! Can we watch-"
"Titanic? Why not." His blue eyes widened.
"How'd 'chu know I wanted to watch?"
I chuckled. "Lucky guess."
Right after the "dinner with Jack" scene ended I turned it off, and looked down at the sleeping kid using my leg as a pillow. Pressing my lips to his ear I mumbled words I had never said before.
When Ellis woke up later, Nick was gone. And for some strange reason his left ear tingled, and he swore he could hear three words echo in the air.
"Love ya Kid."