Later at the police station
Marcus and Shari both filled out statements and also a property report of what was missing, but it shouldn't be too hard to get back since the stuff was in the moving van just outside the house, but they had to file the report just the same for law purposes.
"I want to see the younger one before we head home," said Marcus.
"Why?" asked Shari, trying to understand. But she thought she understood at least part of the reason. Being an orphan had given Marcus an overgrown sense of what chivalry was all about. Anybody who said chivalry was dead hadn't met Marcus O'Malley. She did admit to herself she would hate to see a child that young end up going to prison in later years, if it wasn't possible to turn his life around now before it was too late.
"I think he just went along, because his brother would have beat him up and possibly killed him if he hadn't. I'll be back," Marcus promised giving her a hug before he turned and strode towards one of the interrogation rooms with a purposeful step.
~~~Beyond the Future~~~
A few minutes later
Marcus strode to the door of the observation room after having watched from through the one way mirror for a few minutes. He asked the policeman standing in the hall to get his wife for him. The way the older brother treated his younger sibling was disgraceful. Just in the few minutes he had stood there the older brother had hit his younger sibling at least twice just for starting to ask a question. It wasn't the playful kind of slapping his brothers and sisters enjoyed. They hit each other just to tease or have fun with each other, nothing that would leave a bruise or a mark. This guy on the other had hand slapped his brother across the face with such force that there were red welts on his cheek and he had a feeling he was going to have a bruise on his arm come morning. Marcus winced in sympathy.
He made a quick decision right there. He wasn't going to press charges against the younger of the two thieves. Marcus was almost positive he had been forced to do what he had done or the worst his brother could do to him would have happened. That's what his intuition kept telling him and what his instincts as well as his heart told him he was right.
He just needed to talk to Shari and once he told her what he had seen he was sure she would agree with him.
~~~Beyond the Future~~~
A few moments later Shari appeared at the door at a policewoman's side who Marcus had asked to get her. "What is it that you want me to see Marcus?" asked Shari quietly, noting his pensive look as well as the anger burning in his eyes.
"Just watch," said Marcus, quietly.
Shari watched and noticed red welts on the younger boy's cheek and recognized the mark of a hand hitting the boy's face with enough force to leave what looked like a palm print in red against the boy's pale skin. She winced in sympathy and had a feeling the older of the two had given it to him. As she watched her suspicion was confirmed as the boy started to ask a question and was immediately slapped for his trouble by his "supposed brother."
All the older boy could do was cuss at his younger brother at the two-way mirror he knew they were being observed through even though his couldn't see where it was located. "What do you want to do?" asked the detective standing at their side, "Press charges?"
"What will happen to the younger of the two if we do press charges?" asked Shari.
"More than likely he'll end up a ward of the state and end up in an orphanage. He's an orphan, except for his brother and his brother is going to jail if you do press charges," the detective said.
"And if we don't?" asked Shari
"Then the older of the two will get out too rob someone else and the younger will disappear with him to possibly end up dead in some alley or in prison in a few years."
Marcus and Shari shared a look as if communicating silently for a long moment and finally Shari gave a slight nod of consent. "We'll press charges on the older of the two," Marcus finally said.
"And the younger?" asked the detective.
"We aren't going to press charges in fact we would like to offer him a choice."
"And that choice is?"
"That either he can go to an orphanage or he can come and stay with us until we can file the paperwork to be his foster parents."
The detective looked astonished at that last statement and asked. "Why would you do such a thing? You don't know him," the detective protested.
"I know what my instincts tell me detective. And they're telling me he isn't a bad kid, it's just his brother forcing him into it. You saw how his brother treated him how he nearly knocked him out of his chair just from a backhanded slap. What's to stop the older from killing his own brother sometime if we don't take steps now?
"Besides, I know how it feels to be an orphan. I grew up in an orphanage from the time I was about eight or so. Being an orphan is not an easy life detective. Being an orphan is a lonely existence—not enough food—not enough money to buy the essentials like new clothes—not enough toys or activities to keep you from boredom and the worst of all very few friends. I was lucky, I had Kate and a couple of years later Stephen, Jack, Rachel, Lisa and Jennifer and of course an after school job in order to earn some cash," Marcus explained.
The detective was stunned by the words at first and then he slowly nodded in understanding. It was one orphan having empathy with another orphan he could understand that. "What happened to the other orphans?" the detective asked curiously.
"When we had all gotten out we changed our last names legally and became a real family. I wasn't born with the name of O'Malley, but it's as much mine as the name I was born with and has been for over twenty years," Marcus said softly.
"Would you like to talk to him?" asked the detective, simply having no reply to that statement of fact.
"Alone," said Marcus. "The older what's his name?" he asked the detective
"Seth Wilkerson," the detective said.
"Seth, I think has too much control over his brother and the younger of the two might be too intimidated to say anything with him around," Marcus continued.
"I've noticed that," the detective admitted.
The detective nodded and headed out of the room where the two-way glass hung and entered the interrogation room a few moments later.
"And what do you want your mother f—," said the older of the two as he heard the door open.
"What I want Seth is for you to shut up," said the detective calmly but the words were obviously a command. The teenager sneered as the detective approached the younger of the two boy's. "You're to come with me," he told the boy. The boy nodded and without saying a word or even looking at his brother he rose and followed the detective towards the door.
"And just where are you taking my brother?" asked Seth.
"That is none of your business," the detective snapped. "You don't deserve a brother if you're going to abuse him like he isn't even a human being."
"How I treat my own flesh and blood is nobody's concern but my own," Seth snarled
"Yeah, well, it is our concern when he is a minor. We have laws against child abuse and from what I've seen we are within the law to take him away from you and put him somewhere safe where he will be fed and taken care of—not abused."
"You have no right!" the teenager screamed, his face turning red with rage. "He is my brother to do with as I see fit—" the teenager's words were cut off as the detective closed the door on the words. As soon as the door closed the sound was cut off or at least muffled to where they became nothing more than indiscernible noise.
~~~Beyond the Future~~~
The detective escorted the boy to his office where Marcus and Shari were waiting. "I'll be outside somewhere if you need me," said the detective, closing his office door behind him.
"What's your name son?" asked Marcus gently as he studied the boy, taking in the details by habit. Dirty long black hair and brown eyes that held an earnest pleading soul behind them. The boy was scrawny and malnourished, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a few good meals. He had a bruise on one arm and a black eye that was fading to yellow. His pants were torn and in rags and his shirt wasn't in much better condition. There was another bruise on one thigh what looked like a relatively fresh knife wound just beginning to scab over.
The boy didn't answer as he was practically quivering in fear.
"We aren't going to hurt you," said Shari, her heart going out to the boy, as she saw him cowering. "My name is Shari O'Malley and this is my husband Marcus."
The boy looked up at her soft voice and whispered, "Mikkel."
"Well Mikkel, as my wife said we aren't going to hurt you. Why don't you take a seat while I tell you why we wanted to talk to you," Marcus suggested gently.
Mikkel sat down in the chair that Marcus pointed to and tried not to squirm. He still couldn't believe he wasn't being yelled out or beaten after all he and his brother had tried to rob them and had messed up their nice home and yet they were being nice about it. He couldn't understand it. At the very least they should be so disgusted that they were staring at him as if he was some kind of specimen under a microscope to be dealt with harshly. How could they be so nice to him after he'd broken into their home? He asked himself yet again.
"You are an orphan is that right?" asked Marcus gently.
Mikkel hesitated then replied, "Yes, mom died when she was caught in the middle of a gang war. Shot in the chest. She didn't survive long enough to make it to the hospital."
"And your father?" asked Shari, sympathetically.
"He left when I was just a baby, but we heard a few years later that he had died of a drug overdose."
Shari winced at the boy's soft explanations, but let Marcus handle it. "Well Mikkel we are willing to give you a choice. I have a soft spot for orphans seeing as I grew up in an orphanage myself and also my instincts are telling me that it was your brother's idea and you were forced to go along with it."
Mikkel looked up in surprise. "And the choices are?" he asked, quietly.
"You can come home with us and we'll file the paperwork to get foster care of you and the other choice is you'll end up in an orphanage, probably Trevor House since you're a bit old for a normal orphanage."
"Why would you do this?" asked Mikkel in astonishment. He had at least expected to be thrown into juvenile hall for the next year or so then be carted off to an orphanage. Instead, they were offering him a choice. Too come live with them or to go to an orphanage. He couldn't understand why. They should be so mad at him they didn't care what happened to him. Was it some kind of trick to get him to let his guard down? He looked up and studied their faces for a moment and as hard as he tried all he could see was concern for him, no anger or hate or any of the emotions he expected to see. Their eyes sparkled with their own light. The man's eye's also had a depth of sadness that he didn't understand and the woman's as well and just as deep. These two had both been through tragedy, but had come out stronger. You could almost physically sense it in a way that was almost tangible—and yet not. It didn't make any sense.
"Because," said Marcus after a moment. "I know what it's like not to have any family and because my instincts are screaming at me that it is the right thing to do and that you aren't a bad kid just that you've been treated rotten by life—more rotten then most."
Mikkel considered the man's words for a moment and realized there was a truth to them. A truth that went deep and had what made the man part of who and what he was.
"We can do it on a trial basis," Shari suggested as Mikkel thought about it. "And if Mikkel wants to go to the orphanage after he's tried it for awhile then that's okay to."
"Or they can try other foster families if he doesn't like it with us," said Marcus nodding his head in agreement with his wife's statement.
"Nobody is going to force you Mikkel," said Shari softly. "The choice is yours and only you can make it. We can't help you because that would be considered getting you to do what we want and then it would not be your choice but ours."
Mikkel considered then silently for a few more minutes than nodded his head in compliance. "I'll take it," he said.
"Good," Marcus said, as he relaxed. For a moment he had been afraid that Mikkel would choose the orphanage rather than the option of staying with them. "Then come along and we'll fill out the paperwork so you can go home with us for the night and we'll file the foster care paperwork in the morning."
"It's late and we all need our sleep," Shari added looking at her watch. Her watch said it was going on 1 a.m.
Marcus guided the boy out of the office and down the hall towards the front of the station and Mikkel went obediently too tired to even protest where he was being taken.
~~~Beyond the Future~~~
The next morning
Mikkel awoke slowly to sunlight streaming in his window and he opened his eyes to see himself in a room. He lay on a double bed the covers pulled all the way up to his chin and a plump pillow behind his head. There was a dresser over against one wall and if he turned his head a nightstand on the other side of the bed with a digital clock and a lamp sitting on it. There was a chest of drawers up against the far wall and a walk-in closet beside it. A mirror hung over the dresser. Other than that Mikkel noticed the room was neutral. No personal touches that would make this room homey. A guestroom then, which made sense if he thought about it.
It was after 11 o'clock and he had slept better than he had in a very long time. In fact, better than he had since his mom had died when he was five. The bed was one of the most comfortable he had slept in all of his seven years. Well time to get up and face the music, he thought with a sigh. There had to be some other motive behind the ones he had been given last night. Maybe they were slavers and they needed free slave labor so they had decided to give him a break so he would work for them. No, that didn't fit, he decided, not with what he had seen in their eyes and no one was that good at concealing their emotions. The eyes were the windows to the soul after all.
He got up and looked down at himself. He was still dressed in his clothes from yesterday although his shoes had been removed. He headed downstairs dreading the coming confrontation, but knowing he couldn't avoid it forever. He walked through the living room and shook his head at the sight. Every piece of furniture had been removed and the framed college degrees were lying on the floor their frames scratched and the glass smashed, although it looked like at least the glass had been swept up. Even the silver candlesticks that had been sitting on the mantel were gone. The entire room looked bare and not the nice comfortable room it had been before his brother had destroyed it.
"Good morning," Marcus greeted Mikkel cordially as Mikkel padded into the kitchen to find both of them sitting down and enjoying an early lunch. "It's good to see you finally awake. We thought you might sleep the day away."
"We've been in to check on you several times and you were still snoring away," Shari said.
"Yeah well, I must have been more tired than I thought," said Mikkel politely, trying to not salivate over the food and trying to keep his stomach from growling like a dog that hadn't been fed in a week.
"We saved some lunch for you," said Shari. "Sit down and eat I know you must be hungry."
Mikkel sat down without a word and bit into the sandwich with pleasure. Fresh roast beef, turkey and cheese with fresh bread. It was sheer heaven to bite into something this good. He took a sip of milk and within minutes both the sandwich and the milk were gone.
"Where do you live?" asked Marcus as soon as the last bite was gone. "We need to pick up your things."
Mikkel hesitated. "It's an apartment building that should have been torn down years ago. It's mostly squatters and a few homeless people."
"We'll go pick up your stuff now, before somebody realizes you aren't coming back and takes it." said Marcus.
"They would be too afraid to," said Mikkel. "My brother was a mean, vicious man. They would have to be absolutely positive he wasn't coming back before they'd go near his stuff. Mine, on the other hand, is a different matter. I had to hide mine in order just to keep the very few things I have from my mother."
His voice was sad Marcus noticed when he mentioned his mother. It was obvious that he had loved his mother and had been heartbroken when she had died by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Well let's get going. The sooner we go the sooner we can return. I'll see you later minx," said Marcus giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Let me just say goodbye to Davey before I go."
When Marcus was gone Mikkel asked, "Who's Davey?"
"Our son," Shari answered her expression pensive. "He's only a little over a year old. I expect he'll either have a brother or a sister soon," she said rubbing her tummy automatically.
Mikkel was amazed that he hadn't realized sooner that they had a child with another one on the way. Shari did look just a tad overweight, but he hadn't realized it was because she was pregnant.
"Let's go," said Marcus, tossing Mikkel one of his old jackets. The jacket was old faded leather, soft and subtle and a bit big on his skinny young shoulders. He looked like he was wearing a tent, but it was warm and that was all that mattered.
~~~Beyond the Future~~~
