Happy New Year everyone! Sorry it's been so long. Things may look a little different. That's because they are! Kinda. I've been going through the story and re working it a little. Mostly fixing errors and combining/ consolidating chapters. Some little details have been changed or altered, but the story and plot points remain the same. For those who where reading the story and want to get to some new true blue chapters go to chapter 15. Not a lot of new stuff right now. Lots of life stuff been happening for me, but this little project has not been forgotten.
Chapter 1 – Prologue
He rolled over and pulled the blanket over his neck. After today he was more then willing to succumb to sleep; along with taking a blood draw they had given him twice as many shots then they usually did. The Doctors interest seemed to have peeked more then usual as of late. He didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing, but he never knew what they where truly even looking for in him. Even in his half asleep state he could still feel the numb stings on his left arm as a reminder of their pokes and prods. Each little prick, patched by small round band-aids, covered the better part of his upper arm. He wanted sleep, but sleep escape him. He heard something as he slowly opened his eyes. His room was dark; lit only by the dull light of the moon coming in from the small tinted window at the top of the wall. That wasn't a surprise though, it was obviously late.
He sat up and rubbed his face, he swears he could hear something... What was it? It held some kind of faint familiarity. He sat up allowing the brown light blanket to fall into his lap to reveal the blue jumper he wore to bed every night. He looked around at his cell to see if there was anything that could of woken him. Even through the blurry tired eyes all seemed normal: The same four thick smooth concrete walls painted over in gray, there was the thick cell door locked on the other side, the window above the bed that touched the ceiling and had a tinted coating on it. He'd never been able to really see outside it clearly. In the corner was a small TV and a play system accompanied with the small collection of games and movies he had been given over time. He sometimes got little things like that when ever he was a 'good boy'.
After today they said he was going to go outside – the other reward he got when he was 'good'. They where even giving him a bonus of a nice new pair of black sunglasses with red decals. He looked forward to the new glasses after He'd accidentally sat on his last pair. Frankly he was tired of the headaches. He wasn't sure when it started; at first bright light had only been a slight irritant to his eyes, now it hurt altogether. Hopefully they would give them to him before they gave him the 'very special' surprise they had waiting outside tomorrow.
He reached up and gently touched his mouth. He wondered if all the attention was because he really had been a good boy or was it more compensation. They where really interested in what happened and kept telling him what a good job he did. It hadn't felt like a good day. He let his tongue probe the fleshy spot where his left upper canine had been. Both upper canines had fallen out. He had lost their baby teeth versions two years ago, so he knew these where the ones that weren't suppose to come out. He had thought the pain of his cavity that had been growing for months was bad, but it paled in comparison when his jaw began to throb. A kinda throb that made it so you couldn't see or pay attention to the things around you. There had been blood and then the teeth where no longer in his mouth. At least the pain had gone with them. There was that. He reached up and touched his bottom fang. He pushed at it to see if it would wiggle. When it didn't he sighed in relief. He was scared the bottom ones would go too. He thought teeth randomly falling out was just the fuel for cliche nightmares, but his reality had become a nightmare long ago.
He sighed again and, this time more awake, looked around the room. Realizing something was a miss in the room, He remembered that tonight was suppose to be a new moon. The dim light couldn't be coming from the window. He slipped out of his bed and looked to the wall adjacent to the door. There had always been a pipe in the wall; something to do with the air ducts. He had never given it much thought other then listening to the idle conversation of the adults talking about air flow and AC. Well, there had been the one time he'd stuck his arm threw it to feel at the empty space on the other side.
The usually uneventful pipe now held a light. He moved over to it, kneeling in front of it, and he looked at the perfect circle of light that splayed across his chest. He lifted his hand up and held the strange light. Wiggling his fingers and letting the light create shadows that followed his movement. He smiled and giggled slightly. There was that noise again. He dropped his hand and tried to look into the pipe. He hissed; Bad idea! He placed his hands over his eyes and rubbed slightly. Waiting for the speckled white to dissipate after the light had been too bright for his sensitive greens. Regaining his composure he turned his head and listened.
He heard a sniffle!
Wasn't it? He splayed his hands on the wall and pressed his head closer to listen. Yes! There was definitely someone on the other side! It sounded like a child none the less! They didn't sound very old, not that he could tell that well from sniffling, but they had to be the same age as him. Maybe even someone younger.
"Hello?!" He said with his mouth to the pipe, "Hello? Is someone there?"
"Huh! Who-" There was more to the reply, but he couldn't hear it.
"I can't hear you!" He called through the pipe again, "Th-there's a pipe on the wall. Please come closer to it."
He heard the sound of shuffling feet before the voice on the other side of the wall came clear through the pipe, "H-hewo? wair am I? I I I wanna go hooooome!"
"Calm down, kid. Calm down." It was another boy on the other side. He definitely sounded younger, "You don't want to make them mad."
"Ttthhem?" The other boys voice hitched in away that made it obvious he was breathing harder, "Y-you mean the ssscary people who grabbed me?"
"Yeah, theys grabbed me too. But...But that was a while ago." He grimaced when he heard the boy on the other side start to sob. He didn't want him to cry, "No, no calm down!" He tried to think of something to get the kid to stop crying, but admittedly he was out of practice talking to other kids, "What's your name?"
There was a sniff, "Sssthanford."
"Hey Sanford it sounds like yous have a bit of a lisp dere?"
"Yeah, I lossthed my front teetths a few daysssth ago. It was scawy, but M-my foster dad sthaid that it was just baby teetths theys supposta come ouths."
He rubbed his cheek where his canine should have been, "Yeah, loosing your teeth can be scary, but don't worry yours will come back... Hey, Sanford, how old are yous?"
"...Five."
He chuckled and relaxed into a seated positions in font of the pipe, "Thats the age for it then. Don't worry about it."
"Whathss your name?"
He smiled and pushed his hand into the pipe till he could feel the free space on the other side, "Well Sanford, I'm Ace."
Ace felt another hand touch his hand hesitantly before lightly squeeze it. Pulling his arm out of the pipe he finished with a, "Nice to meet y'ah."
"Nittthhe to meet you too Acccthe."
Ace grinned, and teasingly said, "Yous keep up that lisp and I may just have to start calling yous Snake."
They both laughed. A sound Ace hadn't made in what felt like a life time.
