Aaron held his breath as long as he could. When he had to breathe, he did it very quiet. It was lucky his cast was off his arm now, because otherwise it would hurt a lot to be scrunched in this place. He'd been here a long time. It was dark and cold, and it reminded him of home too much. When he heard that policeman, Rossi, Aaron knew he was in bad trouble. When Emily called for him, he knew it was a trick so he stayed right where he was. He closed his eyes and tried to go away inside himself. He heard somebody walking up above his head and held very still, so no one would find him.
This was his punishment. His consequences. Emily didn't have to tell him. He knew all about it. JJ had to shovel snow for stealing. For a while, Aaron thought things were different here. Ever since they got Sergio and Emily explained to him about how humans ate human food and cats ate cat food. She hadn't been mad at him for taking it. But JJ had taken a bunch of things from Emily's house and kept them in her closet. Just like him. He took the plate and fork and spoon out and put them in the middle of his floor like Emily did with all the things JJ stole. He thought about all the snacks he ate at Emily's that he didn't work for. That he didn't pay money for. It probably added up to millions of dollars.
He had excused himself from the living room after JJ explained what she did wrong. The first place he checked was the bathroom, but there wasn't a place for him there. No tiny box or kennel or - the worst - extra fence metal to wrap around him and make him stand still for days and days. So he knew Emily wanted him to do the same thing his biological mom and dad wanted him to do when he was very bad. She wanted him to disappear. She wanted to forget she even had a little boy.
So, he went downstairs, into the secret space underneath them. He closed the door and felt around in the dark. There were lots of big sturdy plastic boxes like at his real house. Some had wrapping paper inside, and one had Halloween costumes. Aaron knew because he searched it out before, just to know ahead of time where he would be expected to go. So he climbed inside the box, and pulled the top on after him. He got underneath all the costumes and waited. It was scary, but Aaron tried to be brave. At least he wasn't stuck standing up. At least there were soft things inside here. Some tears came out of his eyes and he tried to keep them in.
Aaron would have to leave, he was sure of that…but at least he got to have a break from his life for a little while.
"Aaron, it's JJ. Come on and stop hiding, okay?" she called.
This was getting seriously scary. If this was because of her stealing, JJ vowed she would never do it again. She could handle anything that happened to her. She could even handle using the bathroom in front of God and everybody in jail. But the thought of anything happening to Aaron tore at her insides. He meant more to her than anything.
She knew he liked to slip into small places, so those were the first places she and Emily checked. Under his bed. Behind the furniture. JJ even forced herself to look inside all the closets in the house. But no Aaron. Emily had gone to check outside, but there were no snowy footprints.
JJ could tell Emily was trying to be calm, but it wasn't working. There was this desperate edge to her voice. It had been a half hour and they still hadn't found him yet. JJ was just about to suggest Emily calling that old cop friend back to find Aaron, but she bit her tongue. There were still plenty of small places she hadn't looked yet.
She scooped up Sergio in her arms and walked with him into Aaron's room. "Here," she said, setting the cat down on Aaron's bed to get a good whiff of what he smelled like. "Find Aaron, okay? Can you help me find him?"
JJ knew dogs were the best at this sort of thing, but Sergio was all she had, and he seemed pretty close with Aaron. He liked sleeping in bed with him, and hanging around him, and everything. If anyone knew where Aaron was, it was probably Sergio. It only took a couple minutes to figure out that Sergio sucked at finding lost people.
She was on her way back upstairs when she noticed the door leading to the crawl space beneath the stairs. She had scoped it out a few times, to see if there was anything worth taking. There wasn't. Just old videotapes and broken toys and tons of bins with crap in them.
JJ stopped short. Bins.
She eased open the door, startled by the pitch-blackness of it under here. She reached above her to pull the cord for the old-fashioned light. Things had definitely been moved since the last time she was here. It looked messy, like someone came through in a hurry and didn't care what they knocked over. The deeper in she went, the more convinced she was that Aaron was here somewhere. The mess was one reason. The smell was another. Either Aaron was freaked out enough to have an accident or Sergio got in here and did his business all over everything. But there was a difference between the smell of cat pee and human pee. This was definitely human.
Tentatively, JJ looked in one of the dark green storage containers. She could probably fit inside it if she curled up, so Aaron would have no trouble. No sign of him, just wrapping paper. Inside another was tons of regular paper. Just as JJ was about to give up, she noticed the one shoved farthest under the stairs, so she had to crouch to get the cover off. The light wasn't good over here, and it took a second for her eyes to adjust.
When they did, all the blood left JJ's head. She saw Aaron's bare foot first. Then the rest of him. He lay completely still. Not moving. Not blinking.
JJ screamed.
When Emily heard it, the hair on the back of her neck stood up. JJ had a distinct scream with notes of terror Emily had only heard from children who had known unimaginable abuse or trauma. She did not think. Emily ran. She abandoned her search of the kitchen cabinets and rushed down the stairs. Finding the door to the alcove beneath the stairs ajar, Emily ducked inside.
The smell of urine hit her first. JJ's screams were deafening in the small space, but Emily moved toward them. Toward the farthest corner, where she had stored the box of Halloween costumes. She glanced inside it at Aaron's unmoving body and she didn't hesitate. She pulled Aaron out and held him to her body. He stiffened at the contact and came alive in her arms, trying to fight off the hands that held him.
"JJ. JJ, listen to me. He's okay. Aaron's fine. He's just a little cold," Emily soothed, putting an arm awkwardly around the shaking girl, and keep her grip on Aaron, who was fighting her in earnest.
Mercifully, JJ stopped screaming. "I'll get a blanket," she offered, her voice tremulous.
"Thanks, honey," Emily called after her, and then focused her attention on the writhing boy in her arms.
He was wearing almost nothing. Just soaked underpants with Spongebob on them. "Aaron, it's okay," Emily reassured, willing her own voice to remain steady. "You need to come out of here with me, okay? Relax. You're not in trouble."
None of this seemed to register, and Aaron only stopped fighting when he ran out of steam. Then, he went completely boneless. Emily took the opportunity to carry him out and made quick work of dressing him in dry clothes. Her basement was finished, but the utility room and the area under the stairs where Aaron had hidden were uncarpeted cement, and therefore, very cold. Upstairs again, Emily sat on the couch and held Aaron in her lap.
"What's wrong with him?" JJ whispered, holding the fleece blanket with butterflies that Carolyn had given to her as a late Christmas gift. She spread it over Aaron, unprompted.
"I think he's just overwhelmed right now. I really appreciate your help, JJ. Can you do one more thing for me? It's very important."
"Yes," JJ said, seeming ready for anything.
"I need you to go to Dave and Carolyn's. Tell them what's happening and ask them if you can please stay for dinner. Can I trust you to do that?" Emily asked.
"You want me to eat dinner with that cop who hates my guts?" JJ asked in a tiny voice.
Emily sighed. "Honey, listen to me. I'm going to tell you the same thing I've told Aaron. I would never send you anywhere that wasn't safe, okay? I need to focus on Aaron right now, and while I do that, I need to know that you're safe. Please do as I say."
"Okay…" JJ managed. "Emily? I'm sorry for taking all that stuff from you and writing your checks and everything. I shouldn't have done that and I'll pay you back somehow, I promise…"
"Yes, you will…but don't worry about that right now. Go to Dave and Carolyn's. Call me when you get there."
Emily breathed a sigh of relief when JJ was on her way, and then when she got the phone call from Dave and Carolyn's home number saying she had arrived safely. Now, Emily focused on Aaron. He was warmer now, and a little more relaxed, but he still watched her warily.
"Aaron, I need you to talk to me. Do you understand?" Emily asked, keeping her voice soft.
"Yes, ma'am," Aaron answered.
Emily closed her eyes. Two-and-a-half months here, and he was worse than the first day he got here. "Why did you hide in the box?"
"Because I had to," he said, biting his lip. He didn't meet her gaze.
"Find my eyes, okay? Why did you have to hide in the box?" Emily persisted.
"Because consequences…" he mumbled.
"Consequences…" Emily echoed. "Why did you need consequences?"
"I'm like JJ…and I'm bad like the Viperfish, remember?" he said, his voice hoarse.
"What do you mean you're like JJ?" Emily wondered, confused. She held him a little tighter, relieved when he didn't tense in her arms.
"I took your stuff…" he admitted softly. "But I didn't see anything like usual so I just made myself go away. Like you made JJ go away to shovel snow…"
"What did you take that was mine?" Emily asked carefully, not betraying any emotions.
"Your food. Your paper for coloring. Your Dr. Seuss book. The clothes and shoes you got me. Your dishes from breakfast one time. Everything in this house is yours. I didn't pay for it," he said, looking close to tears.
"Honey, the things you're talking about? I gave those to you. Or I gave you permission to take them, right?"
Aaron shrugged.
"A family shares things, don't they?" Emily asked. "A family does things for one another because we love each other, don't we?" She had the sense she was losing Aaron again and adjusted him in her arms again. "Hang in there with me, okay? I know it's hard to understand. Listen to me very carefully. You didn't do anything wrong, okay?"
Aaron nodded, but looked unconvinced. "You called the policeman…"
"Yes, I did. I called him to talk to JJ. She was taking things that belonged to other people. Things that she didn't have permission to take. Just like you, JJ can eat the food in the house and she can use paper and read books here. But she was doing things she knew in her heart were very wrong. I know it's hard for you to understand."
Aaron burrowed under the blanket and Emily pulled it aside, speaking to him gently. "Do you want to talk to me about the box under the stairs?"
"It's what I have to do. For when I'm bad…" Aaron elaborated, his voice low and hoarse. "Go in a box or a cage or inside some fence stuff that's tight so I can't move…but you didn't have a cage or any extra fence stuff…"
Emily went cold. She suddenly remembered the news reports from the days before Aaron arrived. The child who had been kept in cages, forced to sleep standing up, wrapped in metal fencing. As a minor, he was unnamed, and for some reason, she had failed to put two and two together. Tears came to her eyes.
"Honey, you never have to do that while you're here, okay? If you or JJ do something wrong, it's my job as your mom right now to help you do better the next time, okay? My consequences will look like taking away a privilege. Or doing a job, like shoveling snow outside, to make up for wasting somebody's time or money. What you are talking about? Going in that box under the stairs or getting wrapped up with wire? That's abuse. Not consequences."
"I don't understand…" Aaron hedged.
"Abuse is something that hurts you and that's the only reason it's done. I give you consequences because I love you and I want you to grow up strong and healthy."
"So…I guess…love doesn't hurt?" Aaron asked thoughtfully. "Is that the difference?"
"Yes. You're absolutely right. Love doesn't hurt." Emily reassured, blinking back her own tears.
A/N: This was a tough one to write. Sorry about the heavy subject matter. Look for a new kid coming soon! Feel free to post a review with your guesses as to who might come next! Thanks for sticking with this story and sharing your thoughts with me.
