My Borrowed Son | 2 | Decisions
Amanda hated this. She hated this whole this. Curses, she really hated this.
Amanda had managed to shove her current troubles aside just long enough to focus on the thumb sized boy hiding under the park bench. After everything that happened, Amanda determined a few things.
One, the boy was real. No hallucinations could move real blades of grass and whimper and cry like a real human child.
Two, the child was alone at the moment. He kept looking around expectantly but refused to leave the pole more than a few inches before scurrying back to its perceived safety.
Three, he needed to be taken care of. He had obviously been there for a few days, but Amanda couldn’t be sure.
Finally, she needed to leave him alone. If he was more animalistic, Amanda didn’t want her scent or whatever to taint him. She thought some kind of parent might be back to collect him any minute. She knew some animals would leave their young for days on end while they hunted or lured off a predator, but she didn’t want to even consider the later. She also knew the law and abducting children was not something she wanted on her record - no matter how small or how in need the child was.
At the same time, she couldn’t just leave him.
So, she compromised with herself.
She sat at a neighboring park bench, the whole time keeping eyes on the chipped base of the bench and the little tuft of sandy brown hair she could see. For hours, she sat and kept an eye on the small boy while also researching “tiny humans” on her phone.
Sadly, she only found communities of authors and artists fascinated with small people with tails called “Littles,” which was part of a larger series written by John Peterson. There were other references to small, human-like beings who possessed sentience, but who knew what the little boy actually was.
In all honesty, Amanda was focused so intently on the boy not only because of the whole situation, but because the distraction was a welcome one. It was far from relief, but it was a good way for her to keep her mind preoccupied at the very least. The tension of what to do next with her life and what to do with the boy loomed over her like the impending night.
What made the evening even more tense was that the neighborhood kids came and began to play on the playground, kicking their soccer ball dangerously close to the thumb-sized boy’s hiding place. It was on the second time that Amanda moved back and sat on the bench just over the boy’s hiding spot that her anxiety began to calm.
By the time it was sunset, the children had gone home with their parents and friends, leaving Amanda alone with the little boy. Amanda checked again and again and, sure enough, there was the little boy slumped over, barely awake.
He had to be so tired.
He looked so small and helpless right there, barely sitting upright against the cold metal pole. She looked into his dreary eyes and could see the spark of life draining away with each passing second.
Amanda had been won over by her irrational, caring side. Whether the child was abandoned or not, he needed help. Amanda would return the next day with the boy if need be, but he needed help now.
Nerves made her hand shake more than she thought as she knelt down and caught the eye of the small boy again. Dark circles were under his eyes, and he barely moved when she pulled the grass blades to the side. He was obviously exhausted to the point where he couldn’t even run away anymore.
Amanda didn’t want to just grab him. He was probably very fragile.
At the same time, she didn’t want him to run away either. A rough plan was in the forefront of her mind, and she was risking everything on it working.
Based on all the fictional pieces she read about “The Littles,” all a “human bean” had to do was reassure the small person (because they really were just little people with mouse tails) and then the small person would trust the human.
It seemed ridiculous, but it was the best laid plan that Amanda could come up with in her emotionally exhausted state.
So, straining a forced smile, Amanda laid her hand onto the grass in front of the boy a few inches away. He whimpered and curled in on himself, hiding his fear filled eyes from Amanda. The way he shied away made Amanda think that the boy was bracing himself to be grabbed or pinched. The sight made her heart ache.
So, she withdrew her hand ever so slightly and smiled again, making sure to appear as non-threatening as possible.
“Hey, sweetheart. You’re okay. You’re safe now, okay? I’m not going to hurt you,” said Amanda gently. Was she losing her mind? Was this some sort of acceptance her mind needed to go through to begin recovering from her divorce? The boy’s eyes blinked away tears as he looked back up at Amanda.
“Come on sweetheart. I won’t hurt you. Let’s go home,” she said. The child looked around but didn’t seem to find what he was looking for and, to Amanda’s shock, yielded to her request.
He stood shakily, picked up something, and toddled forward until he stood at the tips of Amanda’s fingers. She held her breath as she marveled at the child as he glanced from Amanda’s hand to her eyes. Amanda felt her features soften involuntarily as she gazed at the boy.
“I’ll protect you. You don’t have to be scared of me,” she said tenderly. “Come on. Just step on up, okay?”
The sandy haired boy seemed to glance around once more, looking warily back toward the bench. Was he looking at something? What was keeping him there?
“It’s okay sweetheart,” Amanda coaxed again.
Then, turning away from the bench and his little hiding place by the bench, he lifted his foot and crawled up onto her hand.
A shiver ran through her body as she felt his weight in her hand. Amanda thought he might vanish or that she might wake up at any moment, the whole thing being a dream. Instead, this impossibly small life crawled into a ball in the center of her hand, shivering and casting uncertain glances at her every few seconds.
She couldn’t believe it. His weight was like a stack of just a few quarters in her palm. He wiped his eyes with the back of his dirt smudged hand. He looked up and met Amanda’s gaze once again, making her heart skip the next few beats. All at once, the fear and anxiety of being around this little boy in her hands melted away and was replaced by a protective surge she wasn’t expecting.
“Hey there,” she said softly, curling her fingers so he wouldn’t accidentally fall. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
The boy locked eyes with her and blinked. Was it just her imagination? Or was there some recognition in his eyes at her words? Then, amazingly, he offered the first little smile she had seen since discovering him. That look on his face alone created a wordless connection between them. Amanda could see the boy’s insightfulness, even at his young age, and it only strengthened her resolve to protect him.
Without severing their eye-contact, she stood and began the trek back home. Amanda never had such a nerve wracking walk back to her apartment. Keeping the boy steady in her hands step after step was a terrifying venture all on its own. Still, the most terrifying events were yet to come.
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Ducky Pajamas
The next GT July prompt was "Pajamas", and it only made me think of Oscar for some reason ... mostly that he deserves nice comfy jammies. So I decided to delve into an AU that @creatorofuniverses and I have mused about a lot but haven't written yet. This ought to give a short but sweet idea of the vibe of this as-yet-unwritten AU.
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Oscar liked his pajamas.
He’d never really had pajamas before. He used to wear the same clothes he might wear on a supply run, dust and all, back before things changed. There were a lot of things he’d taken as normal that maybe weren’t. Not the way Sawyer talked about it. Things had changed a lot since he left the motel with a human of all people, but so far the changes were good.
He ate breakfast every day now, where before he’d skip it most mornings. He played with toys and drew with crayons the human had carved down to fit his small hands. He listened to nice music and had clean blankets that weren’t threadbare.
And he had pajamas. The fabric, soft and cozy against his skin, was light blue and dotted all over with yellow blobby shapes. Sawyer called the shapes “duckies”, and Oscar liked the word, even if he wasn’t sure the blobby shapes really were anything.
He sat on a nest of blankets a lot like the one he’d left behind and yet so much nicer, and traced a finger over one of the duckies. The “room” around him was actually a dresser drawer, one emptied of human things and filled instead with things for Oscar.
Change had always scared him. He’d cried the first few nights in his new room, a strange place far from all he’d ever known. But as he sat and traced the blobby yellow shape of a ducky on his nice warm pajamas, Oscar understood that some change was okay. Some change was good and warm and kind.
In the other room, a human moved about. That didn’t scare him like it used to, because he knew this human would be nice to him. Sawyer was getting ready for bed, too. And then he’d come read Oscar a story, another very new but very welcome tradition.
Oscar couldn’t wait to hear which story Sawyer picked.
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My Borrowed Son | 1 | That Day
It would’ve been the perfect day to rain. The divorce was finalized. The house and everything in it were divided up accordingly, but only two boxes of an entire life together had been cracked open. The rest were still taped and shoved in every free space available.
Seven years. It had only been seven years. Well… they don’t call it the seven year itch for nothing, but why did it have to be her?
Amanda Silverstein sat on the edge of the hard plastic bench just beside the playground in the neighborhood she moved into just one month ago.
The sun shone brightly on the metallic structure that made up the playground. The swings drifted back and forth in the light breeze that didn’t reach the clouds high above. It looked abandoned, but school was in session, so no kids were present yet.
In a perfect world, Amanda could have seen her children playing on a playground like this. The house her and her now ex-husband had was next to a lovely playground.
All of these hopes and dreams were now dry and fading like the link signature on the divorce papers sitting on her kitchen table.
They weren’t, however, dry like her eyes. Amanda hadn’t stopped the slow stream of leaking tears since she went on her walk. The warmth of the sun couldn’t penetrate the barrier of numb sorrow strangling her heart. Every moment, she wondered what she could’ve done differently. Could she have spoken softer? Was it the hours she worked? Her desire for kids? What chased him away? Or was it inevitable? Were there too many differences in the first place? Was there anything she could’ve done?
Amanda hung her head and laced her fingers through her hair by her scalp. Deep breath after deep breath, she was managing to keep herself from succumbing to the nausea plaguing her. Head throbbing, she leaned back and stared at the cloudless sky.
It was only now that she realized she wasn’t shuddering with every breath. She filled her lungs and exhaled the first calm breath she had taken in hours.
What was she going to do now? Work, obviously; but what else? The possibilities were endless, and the vastness was all consuming.
It was too much…
And…
Really…
What she was actually asking herself was what was she going to do without him.
Was it even worth it?
Chest clenching in the familiar aching throb, Amanda felt on the verge of another round of sobs when she heard something.
It was a soft sob, and it didn’t come from her. It was a sniffling sob that sounded close, but a quick glance around revealed no one.
Amanda composed herself and wiped her palm against her cheek, smearing what little makeup she placed on her eyes.
“Hello?” she called. The little sob was close, but no one was around her.
More importantly, the sob sounded like it was… under… the bench.
Amanda swallowed dryly and dared her curious side to peer under the bench as she heard another impossibly soft cry. There was no way something was there, right?
She pulled her skirt to the side and looked, heart skipping every other beat in her chest as she did.
Naturally, nothing seemed to be under there… at first.
Then, after a moment of staring intensely and unblinking at the same spot while allowing her eyes to unfocus, she saw some of the tall blades of grass twitch. Amanda held her breath. Did she just see that?
She focused on the same spot and, once again, saw the tall blades of grass twitch and something pull closer to the pole. Mortified, Amanda pulled her whole body up onto the bench, fearing it might be an injured creature like a mouse.
But… how could it be a mouse? It was a light sandy brown and was too round for a mouse.
Perhaps it was one of those crying dolls that a child lost earlier on the playground?
Amanda dared herself again to peer over the edge and, with the utmost care, pulled the blades of grass out of her field of vision.
Almost instantly stunned, she found herself locking eyes with the smallest boy she had ever seen in her life. Soft brown eyes and gaunt features, a boy no bigger than Amanda’s thumb was huddled next to the metallic part of the pole that supported the bench.
Upon seeing Amanda, the child scurried away to the other side of the pole, peering out only a little to reveal his fear filled eyes.
Amanda felt like she was about to faint. Stunned beyond words didn’t cover the rush of emotions she experienced. Completely flabbergasted, Amanda could only stare at the boy, jaw slack with surprise.
Was he real?
Was he a hallucination?
Was this some kind of manifested stress creature because of everything she was going through recently?
She found herself muttering, “Hey there,” before she could stop herself. The boy, who looked thin and filthy, whimpered, and retreated back behind the pole once again, and he didn’t reappear despite Amanda being able to hear him.
Amanda’s anxiety from her own predicament was immediately replaced by questions and concern about this child.
Was he alone?
Was he real?
Where were his parents?
He looked human enough, but he couldn’t be human if he were that small, right?
What should she do? Should she call the police? Or was he more like an animal and, if she touched him, he would be rejected by his family.
What should she do?
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