Chapter 4: The Signs of Pain
"If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died"
"Hawkes, Danny, and Lindsay, start logging evidence in. Actually, Sheldon, why don't you go down to the morgue and see what they've got so far. Adam, develop those pictures you took. Don and I will talk to the parents," Mac starts to walk off.
"What about me?" Stella asks.
"Take care of the kid."
She looks down at Mitchell, "Why don't we go to my office?"
"Is my brother dead?" he asks quietly.
She's not sure what to say, "We… yes."
The little boy looks frightened, "Do I have to go home?"
"Why wouldn't you want to go home, Mitchell? You get to stay at home for a couple days while the school is cleaned up; you have all that time to play instead of… having to use your brain all day long."
"I want to stay with you."
"Why? Won't it be nice to get to stay home with your parents?"
"I don't have a dad."
"Then it'll just be you and your mom for a few days."
"She's mean," he says, then immediately covers his mouth like he said something bad.
"Why is she mean?" she presses.
He shakes his head. "I have to go to the bathroom."
"Okay," Stella leads him a short way down the hall. "I'll be waiting for you out here." She pulls out her phone and calls Mac. "We've got a problem here. He doesn't want to go hoe. He said his mother is mean, then wouldn't say why. I think she abuses him."
"I'm kind of busy now with the parents. We'll talk to her afterwards. Try to keep him talking."
"Okay." She hangs up as the bathroom door opens. "Hungry?" Mitchell nods. "Let's go see what's in the vending machines."
Five minutes later they come back to her office with two bags of Cheetos, a pack of ho-hos, and two bottles of water. "What grade are you in?"
"Third," he opens the ho-hos. "Want one?"
"You can have them both," she smiles.
"Do you have kids?"
"No. I'm not married yet either so it might be a while before I do."
"Why do you have to get married first?"
"Because…," again she doesn't really know what to say.
"How come my mom's not married?"
"Well she probably was. But then her and your father didn't get along well so they split up." Stella takes her jacket off. "Aren't you hot in those long sleeves?"
"Yeah," he rolls them up before getting another cheeto out of the bag.
She looks at him for signs of abuse. "Where did you get those bruises?" she points to his left forearm.
"Fell down the stairs," he says automatically, not even looking at it.
"Do you get hurt a lot?"
"Yes."
"Does your mom do this to you?"
"Ye-," he stops, shaking his head, "no."
Mac knocks on the door and enters, a woman behind him, "This is his mother."
"I'm so glad you're okay," she runs to him and hugs him. He tries to get away from her.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you privately about Mitchell," Stella requests. "Mitchell, can you go with Mac for a few minutes?"
A/N: Even sadder. Yet somehow, I did manage to make it sadder than this. You'll have to wait for the next couple chapters before you find out what happens to him. I think there's some Mac/Stella before that. So it gets happy first... kind of. I sort of forgot to update earlier. I was busy editting five stories for this contest thing I found that's supposed to start today but didn't. I'm putting Silly Games, sequels included, in Comedy and Romance, Superman in Romance and Angst, and this other story I haven't posted yet called My Best Friend in Romance and Short Story. That one's really cute I think, but maybe that's just because I wrote it. Let's see... tomorrow my brother's go to the dentist and I have to use Sparknotes to finish my summer reading charts. Then maybe I'll type if I have time. So... I haven't really done much else except go to band during the week. School starts Wednesday; I really don't want to go back. But I pass by my locker a lot this year; actually, I take that back. I pass by it a lot in the morning. Anyway... I'll probably update Tuesday sometime. Then Wednesday if I don't have too much homework before I go to band. Please keep reviewing.