Well, onwards we go! Wow, it seems like I pissed off a lot of people by updating so slowly… Urgh, this is probably adding oil to the fire, but I have an internship starting up soon as well… ehehehe…

I'm sorry but I mainly write by stream of consciousness! If there's nothing there I can't write…

Hunter's parents contacted him and the orphanage briefly, to say that they couldn't take him right now. The messy scrawl on motel stationary stated that they were currently in the middle of a risky business venture and that they were unable to properly care for Hunter. Hunter looked at the plain envelope with a single stamp and tore it to shreds.

How was a first-grader supposed to react in this situation? With hate? Fear? Anger? Contrary to that, he felt nothing. Just an empty void inside him. Nothing had changed really. The hole in his chest had just gotten a bit larger. He glanced outside. Today was a sunny day. He went outside with some of the other kids who had snatched a magnifying glass from a teacher and began burning the ants. They looked like they were having fun. He tried to imagine them as the Invectids Gramps told him about. That made it seem a bit more fun. As the little black blobs writhed about, someone hoisted him up by his collar. The other kids scattered as he was placed on his feet.

"We need that."

The older boys stared expectantly at him.

"Well?"

Why did they keep staring at him like that?

"Wait, he's new. We gotta teach him the rules around here."

"Dude, what's with that dorky headband?"

Cigarette smoke twined about him and he wrinkled his nose.

"Don't look at us like that!" one of them retorted and shoved his cigarette into Hunter's mouth. Hunter spat it out in a hurry. His bangs slipped down a bit and he spun around and began trying to grab at his headband.

"Aw, look! Shorty!" the boy taunted. He began to try to pry off one of the gems. All of a sudden, Gramp's words and training popped up in his head and he smashed the magnifying glass and swiped a glass shard across the eyes of the tallest boy.

-0-0-0-

"…he's blind, and the other two nearly bled to death! He aimed straight for their necks!"

Hunter sat on the bench, swinging his feet underneath. It was like waiting in front of the principal's office, but with less tension. The lady opened the door, her kindly smile slightly forced.

"Hunter, come on in."

He hopped off and followed her inside. Her office was a nit plain and lacking in ornamentation, but the blue it was painted in looked very nice. The sunlight streaming in from plate glass windows was a nice touch as well.

"Here Hunter," she said, sliding behind her desk, "wipe the blood off your face." She gestured at the tissues on her desk which he used.

Her back looked particularly stiff and her eyebrows were scrunched as she smiled and asked him many things about Gramps and himself.

"Why did you hurt them?"

"They were going to hurt me, and Gramps said anyone who tried to hurt me for bad reasons was an enemy."

"And enemies were to be killed, if I'm following what you said before," she finished. Her discussion with him was surprisingly intelligent and coherent. It was very different from other boys his age in the orphanage and more like some of the older girls in fact. He words shifted from brash and angry to soft-spoken and cruel. She wasn't sure whether his grandfather had raised him well or created a monster. Maybe he was a chimera. Some of his parts were sociopath, and other parts were an exceptional boy. Still, the fact that he attempted to murder two boys was downright frightening.

"Hunter, you can't go around trying to kill people."

"I can't?"

"Did no one ever tell you murder was bad?"

"Murder? What?"

Her fists clenched.

"I guess a six-year-old would have no business discussing murder and the value of human life," she said weakly. "Killing another person is bad, you understand? You are taking away from someone their life."

Hunter stared at her with his green eyes, and she instinctively leaned back in her chair. Such hard looking eyes, like radiating emeralds cold to the touch.

"It's bad to kill people. I understand."

"You're lucky we cleared up everything with the police. Next time, things might be different."

"Alright."

And so, a few months passed without much incident. Hunter's smile came back fairly fast, he woke up less often in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, gained a few friends once the initial panic had passed, and became sort of a favorite among his peers.

Fast forward a bit more and he ended up with his first foster care family. A fairly normal, kind old couple. He didn't really remember them. They passed through his mind suspiciously fast. Actually, most of them slipped through his memories like that. Hazy recollections that were worthless to him were erased by his mind. He remembered of course that murder was bad, because it was important, but things like random families that didn't talk to him much with children with that slipped dead animals and bugs under his blankets and called him "garbage boy" or "trash baby" weren't that important he forgot them. One time, when he noticed that his shoes were falling apart, he told them, and he could tell how both of them tried to hide their frowns and scowls in front of him before complaining from what they thought was the safety of their bedroom. Another time, there was this family who was a bit odd. She got permission from the school to let him text her where he was every hour and he couldn't walk home alone; she drove him. She wouldn't let him eat the school food and wanted every friend he made in school to visit the house and personally judge them. None of them seemed to pass. She really meant the best though.

He really liked this one family though. He forgot their names too though. He got too used to calling them "mom" and "dad" after a while. They were lonely but happy, and Hunter seemed like the perfect addition to their formerly two person family. Things were a bit tough at first. It seemed they just brought him a bunch of stuff and just… left him to their devices. Then actually started trying to talk more, and that's when the floodgates opened. He liked talking to them and they liked listening to him. It made him happy. They would butt in whenever they thought they heard something absolutely ridiculous, but then give off an exaggerated sigh with a smile on their faces. They told him all sorts of stories and they brought him on their random camping trips and somewhat sporadic trips to the beach.

"Hunter, can we ask you something?" Mom asked.

"What?"

She blushed and waved him off. He found the adoption papers shoved haphazardly in a desk. The next day, his parents inquired about bringing him back under their custody. The business venture had been a roaring success and they had crawled out of the hole they had been living in to escape the loan sharks. Now, they were rich, powerful, and successful. All they needed was the long lost son to complete the picture. The family visit ended badly to say the least.

"You abandoned your son for how many years?!"

"We were young and stupid! And now we want him back!"

"Can you hear yourself right now? Parents care for their child no matter what! You abandoned him before and now you want him back? Don't spout that bull! He's not a pet you-!"

"He's our son! Blood is thicker than water!"

"The true phrase is 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb'! You gave up the right to care for a child years ago! We've spent time and memories together! And you want him to leave that all just for a family that discarded their son away like that?!"

Their faces turned so red at that that his mother just stomped away out the door in her heel as his father angrily slammed it shut. Hunter watched, and was quiet. Nothing felt real. What happened was a delusion. Why… Dad came and hugged Hunter tightly.

"Do you want to stay with us? I'll let you go back with your real parents if you want," he asked gently. Mom nodded, her face cold and indifferent. That's how he knew how angry she was. Usually there was always at least a smile.

"I want to stay. I don't care if I never get to go to the Inner World. I'd rather stay."

"Alright."

Whew! Done!