Ryan thought he would be able to lay in his nice, big room alone with the door locked and enjoy the time by himself. Unfortunately, it was only minutes after lying down that he fell right back asleep. When he woke back up the clock on the bedside table said 6:12. Was it AM or PM? There wasn't much light shining through the window. Was the sun just going down or just coming up?

Maybe that wasn't even the right time. What time had it been when he had escaped Seth's incessant chatter? He hadn't looked. He didn't really care. Surely no one had really noticed him missing. He was probably better off out of the way. The new plan of staying hidden fell, though, when his stomach started growling and the pain in his body grew sharp. How was he supposed to relax and enjoy comfort with an empty stomach and broken bones? Ryan looked at the two options laid before him. He could continue to lay alone in the silence or he could leave the room, make his way to the kitchen, and deal with whatever stood in his way. If he chose the latter option, how long would it be before he would be able to be alone again?

He decided to ignore his pains for a little longer.


Sandy wondered if Ryan was still sleeping. When he had asked Seth what time Ryan had gone upstairs, he of course gave no real answer. The real word had a habit of vanishing when his son played video games. This meant that Ryan had been up in his room for somewhere between two to five hours. Either way, it was a long nap. Probably too long.

But maybe he had just been hanging out up there alone. Doing what? What had his mother left him? Sandy assumed it was just clothes, but what if there were drugs or something? Would a mother really leave her son drugs? No, but whatever that woman was, she was not a mother. A mother would never let her son get hurt the way Ryan had been hurt.

They were about to order dinner, but Sandy had no idea what Ryan liked. He still hadn't asked him if he was allergic to anything. Was he a vegetarian? Ryan didn't seem like a picky eater. He wondered if Ryan would eat anything Sandy put in front of him. As much as he was uncomfortable with how uncomfortable Ryan was around him, he decided to look on the bright side. Ryan would eat no matter what Sandy ordered. He wouldn't starve tonight and Sandy would find out more about Ryan's eating habits sooner rather than later. Maybe they could order Ryan's favorite food to make him feel more comfortable in the house. But for now, Sandy ordered a large variety of Chinese food and hoped Ryan would find something he liked.


Ryan wasn't sure if his hunger was giving him the headache or if it was his brain being overwhelmed by the pain in his knee and ribs and wrist. He finally got so miserable sitting in pain that the prospect of going downstairs seemed like the better option. Just as he reached the stairs, his new father appeared at the bottom.

"Hey kid. I was just about to come get you. Dinner's here. We got Chinese." Ryan simply stared at the man. Maybe leaving the room wasn't worth the incessant talking. Instead of responding, he willed the older man to just walk away so he could walk down the stairs in peace. Sandy opened his mouth again, shut it without saying anything, and then walked away.

Ryan let out the breath he had been holding in and began his slow trek downward. Of course, the talking started up again the second he walked into the kitchen.

"Your painkillers are over here. I assume you need some now?" Ryan nodded gratefully and took the pills that were handed to him. "You can take them every four hours if you really need to. I'll leave them up here for you so you can grab them whenever you need them."

Ryan managed to get out a small 'thanks.' There had to be some kind of catch there. They didn't really seem like the kind of people who would steal his pills or switch out the real painkillers for candy like his other parents would have. If these people wanted painkillers, they could probably just buy them themselves. Would they be monitoring them? Ryan didn't really see why they would care so much. Maybe they didn't care if he overdosed or became addicted and so they really didn't care about giving him full access to the pills.


Sandy tried not to stare as Ryan slowly filled his plate with chicken fried rice. The poor kid could barely stand. He waited for Ryan to pick up his plate to grab it from him.

"Here, let me take that for you." He tried to do it slowly, but Ryan still jerked back at Sandy being so close. Sandy ignored it and walked to the table, sharing a look with Kirsten along the way.

The dinner conversation was, as always, monopolized by Seth. Rosie went back and forth between being off in her own head and loudly interrupting Seth to throw in her own two cents. Ryan stared down at his plate, at the table, at the centerpiece, anything but the people sitting around him. While Sandy wished he would feel comfortable enough to join in the conversation, he was simply glad that he was eating.

When the conversation got back around to video games, Seth threw Ryan's name into the conversation. Sandy tried to use it as an opportunity to get Ryan to talk. He wasn't sure if Seth had just finally gotten hungry enough to stop talking and fill his mouth with food or if he had sensed that it would be a good time for Ryan to speak, but either way, Seth silenced.

"Do you like video games, Ryan?" Ryan froze for a few seconds and then nodded his head. He looked so uncomfortable that Sandy immediately felt bad for putting the attention on him.

"Why don't you ever talk?" Sandy opened his mouth to chastise his youngest, but Kirsten had it covered.

"Rosie, Ryan can talk as much or as little as he wants to." Rosie dropped the subject, Seth began talking again, and Ryan visibly relaxed.