Chapter Three
_~Jack~_
I had made it up to the station with no problem. The kid clung to me the whole way refusing to let go like I was his life line. I looked around to see that no one was in the restaurant which wasn't surprising since it was winter. "Forrest? Maggie? Where are you! I got a sick kid in here!" A loud crash went off in Forrest's office and I chuckled. A few seconds later they both walked out as if they had been caught doing something they shouldn't have. Maggie's hair was messed up and her lipstick from this morning was smeared. Forrest's clothes were more wrinkled than usual and his first three buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned.
"What happened Jack?" Maggie questioned as she worriedly walked over to the bag of bones in my arms. "He's so tiny." She gently touched his face and he tensed. "N-No…k-keep going."
Maggie looked up at me. "What does he mean?" I shrugged and made my way over to the fire place. "I don't know, he said that when I first found him, and I think his hip bone is broken. So were gonna need to call the doctor see if he can help him." I gently set the kid down and saw his face turn from anguish to relief and his grip loosened from around my neck.
" Uh Maggie get 'im some blankets, and I'll um I'll call the doctor." Forrest mumbled as he walked out of the room. I glanced back at Maggie and she was already heading upstairs.
After we got him warmed up an hour later the doctor came. "Where's the young man?" He demand as he stormed pass Maggie and Forrest who had been sitting closely together since Forrest had made his call. Everyone knew the doctor had a soft spot for people, you could tell whenever he walked into a patience room. Which my family had experienced first hand on plenty of occasions. Dr. Shaw was inclined to believe that he needed to save them all no matter what the cost. And because of that there were a lot more people in Franklin County. The Doc walked quickly over the cot we had made for young boy and felt of his forehead. "He's not freezing, he's still a little cold though." Quickly pulling his jacket off himself, he pulled out a thermometer from one of the front pockets. "Have you managed to wake him up? Get him to eat anything?"
Maggie shook her head. "We tried but he just seemed to be in a daze whenever he opened his eyes. And every time he says anything it's always 'Keep Going,' or something like that. We think he's a run away. From the looks of it he's been running for a while" The doctor nodded. "Alright, and you also said something about his hip?" Maggie and Forrest looked at me. "Um yeah, I don't really know for sure but it sounded like it was broken." The doctor nodded and moved the blankets and felt at his hips. "Have you taken his clothes off and actually checked?" He asked. I shook my head. "I was afraid that if I had messed with him it would've made him worse off." He nodded.
The doctor reached in the blankets and pulled his hand out revealing a paper bag. Opening it he showed us a crumbled up piece of food. The doctor let out a sigh of relief. "He had stale bread in his pocket Mr. Bondurant." I felt my face heat up. "Oh." I glanced over at Forrest and he had sort of an amused grin on his face. Asshole.
_~Enne~_
I woke up hearing hushed voices. Warmth surrounded my body surprising me. Was I still in the woods? Or was I in someone's home? Was I dead? Or just dreaming? I tried to move something and grunted. Something heavy was laying on me making it difficult to move. "Hey he's moving!" an excited voice exclaimed. He?
Ignoring who ever had said it I kept on trying to pull my arms out from their confinements. Maybe if I opened my eyes I could find out what was holding me captive. Suddenly hands were grabbing at me. Now would be a perfect time to open my eyes, I thought but my eye lids felt so heavy. The hands started to travel. Surprised my eyes snapped open. "Wh-what…?"
I looked around wildly trying to sit up and pull the wandering hands off of me. "Young man please calm down." I turned my head and my eyes connected with brown orbs. Their owner was a middle aged man with a scruffy face and a gently smile. I finally managed to pull my hands free and moved the man's hands away from me. "Wh-where am I? Wh-what town?"" I asked weakly my voice sounded so scratchy and horse. "You're in Piedmont and you're at the Bondurant's Gas Station." Piedmont? Where's that? And wait… did he just say young man? "Wh-what?"
"Son you're in Piedmont, Virginia you're safe. But you need to rest up and eat something. Dying from malnourishment isn't the manliest thing to die of." The man lectured. What? I looked down at my body. Blankets were surrounding me but I could see my thighs which looked like they were not bigger that twigs and I felt at my chest, the bandages were still there but it felt like my "chest" had gone away.
I had noticed I had been losing weight but I didn't think it was this bad. I looked up worried. What did I look like to them? Because of my appearance would they try to keep me here with them? Two people in the back looked as if they were surveying me. A boy that looked a little little older than me seemed worried. The man smiled gently and looked up away from me to talk to the couple. "He seems a little spooked so take it easy with him, make sure he eats, start out with soup first then go from there little by little and in a month or so he'll be right as rain." I tried to stand up but the boy caught me by my shoulders and made me sit back down. "Nah little man save up your strength, you're gonna need it." I looked back and frowned. What was going on?
A few days later and I was still wrapped up in blankets by the fire. Not that I was complaining. It felt so good to be warm again with food in my stomach. So far I knew that the man I had first seen was Dr. Shaw, the person that had made me lay back down was Jack, the other man that was there was named Forrest. I didn't see him much, and Maggie. She was kind enough to take care of me and talked to me, explained who everyone was and where I was at. It was nice to finally talk to a female. Well, listen to another one; I hadn't been able to talk much since I first woke up.
And like the doctor said everything was going smoothly. Except for one small tiny little detail, everyone around me thought that I was a boy!
"So sweetie, Forrest is thinking that when you get better if you don't have anywhere to stay you could live here with us." I looked up at Maggie and shrugged. Every day it was exactly like this. Maggie would tell me that I could stay with them after I could walk around and do things for myself. Maggie smiled. "You wouldn't be a bother, and we could use the extra help." I looked away.
That wasn't the problem. I knew I was a burden already she didn't have to lie, and I still needed to keep going to where ever it was I supposed to go. So I couldn't stay for to much longer. I felt Maggie's hand on my shoulder and squeeze gently. "We'll I'll just let you sit on it for a little while. I'll be back with lunch in a few hours."
I heard Maggie stand up and start to walking away. As her footsteps got father and farther away I thought about it. I could use a place to stay for a little while. Food, cloths, a place to sleep. I pulled the covers closer to my chin. That could work. But I would only stay for a little while.
After she came back she started to spoon the soup, suddenly I felt a slight pull in my navel. I blushed and moved my arm to tug Maggie's dress. Feeling me pull her skirt, Maggie looked away from the soup with a confused expression. "What is it?"
I blushed and looked down and motioned to my nether regions. "Oh! Do you have to go to the bathroom?" She asked and I nodded. Maggie chuckled. "If you would tell me I'd understand a lot better." I looked down and blushed harder.
After we got up stairs Maggie helped me to the toilet. "I finally convinced Forrest to get one of these since going the outhouse during winter is so cold," Maggie explained. I nodded. She talked a lot about Forrest. She really must care about him. She helped me sit down and started to unbuckle my overalls. "I still think that you need new clothes. Those overalls are raggedy and have holes in them." She complained I felt my eyes grow wide and I shook my head. "N-n-n."
I tried to get the word out frustrated that it wouldn't form.
Maggie's eyes got wide. "Ok we won't, don't worry I just thought it would be nice to get you something more comfortable." She explained I sighed and hugged the bib of the old piece of cloth. It would probably be better to get something that was clean. But I rather liked these. They were the only thing I had left of home. "-tie…Sweetie, do you need any more help?" I felt my head snap up and nodded a quick no. She smiled.
"Ok well I'll be right here." She walked a few feet away and turned around giving me privacy.
_~Maggie~_
Needless to say the kid's grown on me. He doesn't talk much, which reminds me a lot of Forrest. Whenever I talk to him about meaningless things he listens with a smile and pays attention the whole time. Which reminds me of Jack, in a very little way. Jack will listen to you and seem interested but after a few minutes he'll get bored. But this little guy will let me talk his ear off. He makes the right facial expressions at the right times, will nod in understanding, sometimes he'll try to talk. But Dr. Shaw said that he was out in the cold to long and it affected his vocal cords. As if he wasn't pitiful enough.
"M-m-maaaaggieee." I turned around and smiled. He was trying to buckle his overalls that he refused to part with. I walked over to him and laughed softly. "I'll do it Hun."
After that we made your way down the stairs again. "You know it's getting harder to help you to and from the bathroom." I said off handedly. The poor thing looked at me with bewilderment. I wanted to laugh. "Oh! No no!" I chuckled. "That's good it means you're getting some meat on your bones!" I said excitedly. His face lit up with a smile.
"And Hun, not that I don't like calling you pet names all of the time but we need to know your real name." Right after I said it his face fell once again. I frowned. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, but 'boy' is going to get old after a while."
_~Enne~_
"Boy," what did it matter what I was called? I wasn't staying, so they could call me whatever they fancied. Of course they didn't know that yet.
Maggie helped me on to my cot but instead of laying back down I stayed sitting up, it was nice to be able to sleep in a bed but after a while just lying down doing nothing got boring. I watch Maggie cook and occasionally Jack would walk by, doing some odd job Forrest told him to do.
Every time he walked past he would smile and wave at me. I'd smile but he was always walking to fast to catch it. Sometimes Forrest would surface from his office, grab a bite to eat, stare at Maggie as he was eating then he would finish and leave. Forrest hardly ever acknowledged I was there.
Which to me, was a good thing, one less person to be attached to when I get ready to leave.
Ok so apparently I forgot it was family night on Mondays. Sorry, but I tried to make it up to you. I know that the first two chapters were short and that sucked majorly. And the second chapter has so many flaws. I hate that, but please don't give up on me! I'm trying to improve! I really hope you like this chapter. Please review!
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