The town seemed more alive at night. It was just one of those things he noticed all alone in his room, while his parents did Lord knows what downstairs. Ever since he was six there would be a certain amount of emotion between them that confused him so terribly, and then they’d-- No. She would ask him nicely. His father just told him more or less that he had to make himself scarce until morning. And of course, being only six he’d waste no time doing it. He’d just run as fast as his childish legs could take him up those stairs and just sit there quietly, trying to tune out murmurs as he watched the city.A city that was nothing more then a string of lights, blocking out the natural one that came from the stars. He couldn’t help but be drawn to them all.
The noises from outside were better. Cars going by, with their lights, casting a funny light over his walls as it made shadows that would grow large until they disappeared into the darkness. People out doing who knew what and making such a noise about it. He’d often fall asleep right by his window with his baby blue blanket wrapped tight around him.
By time he was twelve he started to venture out into that city. Not too far, just far enough to get away from what the childish innocence of a six year old could no longer hide. That his parents hated each other more and more each day. That his dad would often disappear for days at a time, though admittedly the time span was only growing longer. The subtle ways his mother was dying on the inside, figuratively and literally thanks to that bottle. Each of them had their own way of relieving the stress from an argument, his dad would leave and his mother drank.
So logically he ran away whenever he could. Just until morning, when she’d still be passed out and he’d still be M.I.A. like always. He’d stare out his window in the morning in a sort of longing fear of his father’s return. Longing because he loved his dad, and didn’t want to be the man of the house while he was gone. A fear that he might actually come back.
Each morning he’d go to school, sit quietly, do his best not to fall asleep from spending so much time outside, just walking to wherever his legs could take him. One night he got all the way to city limits before he froze, realizing that he couldn’t just leave.
Still, at the current moment, Thane wasn’t at school or off wandering the city. He was actually heading home, in the mid day sun, whistling. His hands were in his pockets, and his messenger bag was slung across his shoulder. He was happy as could be until he saw a black car in front of his home. It didn’t belong to them, and there for didn’t belong at all.
Gripping his the bag tightly, he took a deep breath before walking up to his house. The door was unlocked, so he didn’t waste more time then needed to calm himself down and head into his trashy home.
He didn’t find his mother sprawled out on the couch, passed out once again. Instead he found a woman in a business suit, sitting there looking at the door with a caring smile ready almost as soon as he walked in. Thane didn’t say anything to her at first. He tightened his grip on the bag and frowned.
“ You must be Thane Grlscz,” she said in her sweet, understanding tone.
If only she had known that she only gained more distrust from the boy just by knowing his name, let alone how to say it. He sat down across from her, staring blankly as he took in every little detail about the woman.
She had brown hair, nicely tied up into a bun. A little young, but still old enough to have been some dumb teenager who babysat him when he was a kid. Her hands were placed neatly in her lap, and she sat up perfectly straight like every other proper person in the world was meant to. A pin stripe suit that made her creamy skin seem pale, nice shoes and stockings.
His upper lip twisted in disgust for her. He slouched a little more then he normally did, kept his head lowered to make the bags under his eyes, seem a bit darker. His hands were in his lap but they were fidgeting about nervously. Long, spidery fingers moving about restlessly. He could almost see how his behaviour unnerved her, even if she did hide it well. She was poised to speak again, pouty lips mixed open nearly formed words but Thane cut in.
“ Why are you here?”
She brushed away a stray hair from her face before smiling a little more. “ Well, Thane, I’m from a committee that likes to help children who live in…slightly difficult households.”
He looked around quietly before saying, “ What’s difficult? I come home, I sleep, I leave in the morning. Simple.”
“Yes but…” She paused to grab a folder from next to her. Opening it up she started to speak again. “According to this, your father is never home, the neighbours have complained about yelling for…well, years, and there are periods of times when you have missed weeks of school for no reason at all.”
“ I was working,” he said calmly. “Sometimes my dad leaves for a few days and I help my mom make money around here. Nothing serious.”
“ It is when you’re only fifteen.”
“ I’m mature for my age.”
She nodded. “ Of course you are, but you don’t have to be so mature ,darling. Which is why we are sending you to live with a close relative. Just for a few months.”
The world seemed to stop at her words. He stilled, staring at her blankly as if her words never really connected. They didn’t make sense and yet they clearly bothered him enough for him to bolt up and dash to his room.
Skipping two steps at a time, he looked around the halls just trying to figure where he was going. He could hear her talking at him, following him. He checked his parents room, but his mom was gone. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen, even that damn bottle was still sitting on the dresser, mocking him.
“It’ll be alright,” the woman said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
It was too heavy, and wrong. He shrugged it off before pushing her out of his way and running to his own room. He locked the door then collapsed in the corner by his window. He grabbed at the blanket that used to keep him safe. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be because this was wrong and it made no sense. It was foreign, it was a dream and he wanted nothing to do with it.
“ Thane, won’t you come out?”
“ Screw you!”
He didn’t mean to yell, but he was out of options. They were taking him away now? After fifteen years of living in such a hell hole, they finally decided that he didn’t belong. He was used to it all and …. They had no right to treat him like this.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed between him looking out the window and the woman on the other side of the door, simply waiting for him to come out. It didn’t matter when compared to the torrent of emotions that was running through him. He just wanted to find his mom and his dad and have them prove themselves to these people. He felt so sick he could cry, and it wasn’t long before he fell asleep.
When he woke up he was in his bed again, and he smiled to himself. It was just a bad dream that had gotten a little out of control. He’d dreamt of leaving before, but never like that. He normally just went walking and never came back, almost like his dad.
Sitting up, he grabbed his head groaning as the dizziness set in. The room was swirling, but he hand on his back \made him feel better. Looking over at the person in a near panic, he wasn’t particularly relieved to see it was that woman. Still, it was better then some molester or something.
“ Are you feeling better now Thane?” She asked as she held out a cup of water.
He looked at it dubiously before taking it. It felt good to have something nice and cold to calm his nerves. His throat was more then a little dry, and each gulp of the liquid made him feel a bit better.
“ No. I’m not feeling better,” he stated bluntly. “ Where’s my mom, or even my dad?”
It was a push to ask about his dad, but he had to know where someone was. They couldn’t do this to him.
The lady just rubbed his back and spoke to him in that kind nurturing way that seemed to come naturally to the gentler sex. “Your mother was taken to The Exalted Priest Hospital.”
He looked into the empty cup, speechless. It wasn’t a hospital, it was an institution and it meant that his mom had finally snapped. At least things were starting to make sense now. His mom was in the loony bin, his dad might have left for good, and they couldn’t just leave him on his own.
“ Who are you?” he asked.
“ Morgan Newhart,” she said. Getting up, she looked around his dingy room quietly. Somehow she managed to do it without passing judgement. “ I’d suggest that you pack a few things. We’ve called a relative of yours who’s willing to take you in.”
“ Um…yeah. I’ll get on that,” he said, nodding.
She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it immediately and walked out. Whatever it wasn’t that important clearly.
Getting up, he wandered his room a few times. It was small with nothing more then a bed and a dresser with a lamp on top. There wasn’t much in the way of decorative in there either. It was bland and the walls were dirty. Standing in the middle of the room he couldn’t help but wonder why he was fighting this so hard.
There was nothing here for him what with his parents gone. And whoever this relative was wanted him, though they probably didn’t know him. He didn’t really know of his family since he stopped meeting them around seven, which left eight years of blank nothingness to fill their space. From what he remembered of his parent’s conversation they weren’t so great in the first place, but then again nothing really was.
So he looked around his room once more, and started to shove his things into his backpack. It was probably a bad thing that he could fit his life’s worth into one bag. His friend Chet had once said that he should try to get some things that meant something to him. Thane’s only reply was to change the subject.
There were no tears shed as he packed, just an empty feeling, like something that had been lost was making its self known for once. It made his throat close a little under it's control and had him going over to his window as soon as he was done. He stared out ,watching the sun set and lights start up. His window to the world was going to be greatly missed.
It wasn’t long before the woman, Ms. Newhart came back with a gentleman. He didn’t seem like family so Thane passed him off as another stuffed shirt. The balding man didn’t even give a hint of emotion toward the boy. Instead he merely looked at the woman to his side and she walked over to him.
“ We’re going to take you to the main office, Thane. That’s where your Uncle is waiting.”
“ O.K.,” he said as he grabbed his backpack and messenger bag.
She looked him over carefully before asking,” Don’t you want to grab anything else ?”
“There’s nothing left to grab. Except maybe the sheets,” he replied.
She waked over to the bed and grabbed the baby blue blanket that had been hiding under the covers. “Want to bring this ?”
He snatched it away form her on instinct, before looking away. “ Can we just leave already?”
“ Certainly,” the man said. “ Come on then.”
They all followed him down the hall, past his mother’s room because his dad was never going to show up again at this rate. Down the stairs that had the broken railing and no family pictures. Through the living room that was still just such a rotten mess with its old furniture and faux happy picture of a miserable family. Out the door that had seen too many people leave, and finally to the black car that would be taking him away.
He got in the back of the car quietly, not bothering to look at the two of them. The man sat in the driver’s seat and Ms. Newhart just watch the other man carefully before tossing a careless glance his way. Thane pretended not to notice as he stared out the car window. The car starting seemed to get her attention back on track though.
“ So, how do you say your last name?” The man asked.
Thane closed his eyes tightly and said, “ It’s pronounced Grilsh.”
“ Must be strange having a last name with no vowels.”
“ Wouldn’t know really. It’s the only last name I’ve ever had,” he said meeting the man’s eyes in the rear view mirror.
The man glared at him before fixing the rear view mirror and going back to gazing forward at the road. Thane had clearly pissed him off judging by the way the mystery man was gripping the wheel. Ms. Newhart was silently watching them both interact.
Resting his head against the window, he yawned tiredly before simply closing his eyes altogether. The lights weren’t the same. They weren't laid out for his pleasure like in his room, nor were they conveniently passing him by with each step. Too close for one, too far the other so he simply wanted nothing to do with them.
For what ever reason he couldn’t exactly bring himself to go to sleep either. He was wired as could be and on alert for what might happen. Nothing happened though. The man and Ms. Newhart didn’t even speak and before long the car was stopping, though that could have just been him and his mixed up sense of time.
“ Thane, we’re here,” said the man, gripping his shoulder a little.
Thane bolted, knocking his head against the window before struggling to get out of the car. When it did open, he fell out. All but sprawled on the ground he found himself looking up at Ms. Newhart, who was giving him a somewhat curious look.
The young man’s only response was to stand up and dust himself off. His head hurt, his butt and arms weren’t feeling much better and all he wanted to do was get this over with because he didn’t have a choice any more, did he?
“ Follow me,” the man ordered.
Thane gripped the strap of his messenger bag a little before doing what he was told though. The hallways in the place were bright like the hospitals he hated. There was a receptionist who looked at him with a strange mixture of pity and disgust before going to the next call. And before long they were in a office with so many cubicles and people talking to people. The two workers with him sent him to an office and told him to make himself comfortable as they got his uncle.
It felt strange to be left alone by them, though he assumed that he ought to get used to it. Still, he didn’t sit in the chairs that sat in front of the desk, or look too closely at anything. This was going to prove to be even more temporary then his own home.
And yet, it was hard to completely ignore the mass amounts of mahogany and statuettes. Pretty paintings and nice books, yet no real signs of a real life. There were no family pictures or trinkets from the kids. This had to be the man’s office, and somehow that made him feel even more unsafe. He stood stalk still in the centre of the room, not wanting anything to do with anything that may have a relation to that man.
Time seeped like sludge, the ticking of the clock not really helping with anything. It just made that sludge all the more apparent to him and he couldn’t deal with that. He tried to keep his breathing a step ahead of the moment, nearly panting for air before long. The door opened before he got the point of hyperventilating and his head was staring at it with wide eyes.
The man that was ushered in first was nice looking. He had short auburn hair, neatly cut and seemed well off in so many ways. He wore slacks and a sweater and had a smile on his face. He didn’t look like anyone Thane had ever met, but he had that same cheerfulness about him that his mother had had. He watched as his Uncle and the man shook hands, chatting merrily before he finally focusing on him.
Ms. Newhart stepped between them, standing a bit closer to Thane than the new guy. Carefully placing a hand on his shoulder she said, “ Thane, this is your uncle, Roderick Morrow.”
His uncle wasted no time holding out a hand to him, but Thane couldn’t bring himself to shake it. The man made him feel wrong, like his skin was too tight or something. Even running his hand through his choppy black hair seemed wrong. The man before him was a well built gentleman, and he was nothing more than some lanky teen with the joys of having his father’s hawk like face. He had a certain amount of colour to his skin where Thane was pale.
Roderick cleared his throat as he withdrew his hand, placing it at his side. “ So,” he started.” Everything’s done so we can leave whenever you want to …umm…”
“ Thane. Thane Grlscz.”
“ That’s a funny name. Must be your father’s.”
“ It must be since I sure as hell don’t know my mom’s last name,” he said with a fake smile.
Roderick didn’t yell at him though, instead he just nodded toward the other two people in the room before opening the door for Thane. The boy looked over his shoulder as he made his way to him. Waving at Ms. Newhart, he glanced at his uncle before walking out. The man took the lead as soon as they were out the door and headed for the door.
Outside he wandered in silence to a car, getting in only after the other man did. He sat there in the seat for a long moment before he noticed the way his uncle was staring at him.
“ Yeah?”
Roderick smiled politely and nodded toward the seatbelt. “ You should really put that on,” he said.
Thane just looked at it, then Roderick. Sighing, he put it on since it seemed to be the only way that they’d be leaving the parking lot. And sure enough, as soon as it was on the car was started and they were pulling off.
“ I can’t wait until we get there. You’re life will never be the same,” his uncle laughed.
Thane nodded slowly, as he rested his head against the window. He didn’t expect anything to be the same ever, and yet those words kept ringing out in his head like a siren. Glancing at his uncle he found himself looking directly into shimmering brown eyes and for the first time in hours, he smiled and nodded. It wasn’t like things could get worse after all.
