Chapter Text
Babe, there’s something tragic about you
Something so magic about you
Don’t you agree
Babe, there’s something lonesome about you
Something so wholesome about you
Get closer to me…
Andy and Katie had been on the road for days. They took turns driving while the other slept in the back. There was no telling how far they would need to be before they got to a place where the cops weren’t looking for them.
It was Katie who had spotted the abandoned house. It looked decent, with a “Foreclosed” sign on the front lawn. They didn’t have anything to properly pick the lock with, so Andy used the screwdriver they kept in the toolkit to pry open the back door while Katie held her flashlight steady for him.
As they shone their lights on the abandoned rooms, they quickly realized that they were not alone in this house that people had forgotten. There were bits of food on the kitchen table; recent, by the looks of things. They moved together, from room to room, hoping whoever it was that they found wasn’t a maniac.
It was in the smallest bedroom where they found life.
A not-so-clean twin sized mattress lay on the floor. A few thin blankets looked to have been kicked off. And a teddy bear lay to the side. Junk food wrappers were strewn about the area.
As they shone their flashlights about the room, a noise from the closet drew their attention. They moved to the doors, off their rollers with a few slats broken. Andy peered between the broken wood. In a whisper, he said, “There’s a child in there!”
Katie moved to the doors, hesitantly touching the wood. “It’s okay! We’re not going to hurt you. Can you come out?”
There was a slight creaking as, slowly, a little boy, dirt and dust covering his skin and clothes, crept out of the closet. Katie and Andy moved back a bit so as not to frighten the boy any more than he already was.
“Hi there! My name is Katie and this is Andy. What’s your name, sweetheart?” She crouched at eye level to him, holding her hand out to show she was friendly.
The little boy looked between the two strangers, considering them carefully. Andy reached into Katie’s bag on the floor and took out their last apple. He offered it to the boy, who quickly grabbed it and backed up to the closet doors.
“Tate,” he finally answered back before chomping down on the sweet fruit. He hadn’t had an apple in a long time and it tasted even sweeter than he remembered.
“Nice to meet you, Tate,” Andy said as he took out an unopened water bottle from the bag. He placed it on the floor next to the boy.
After another moment, where Tate greedily savored his new treat and Andy & Katie exchanged looks, Andy sat on the floor and Katie changed her position to sitting on her knees. Katie opened Tate’s bottle of water for him before rummaging through her bag and producing another bottle; she and Andy could share for the night.
Tate, by that point, had decided that he’d rather sit on his bed. He was tired and he didn’t think these two strangers would hurt him. They probably only wanted somewhere warm to sleep for the night.
Katie cleared her throat. “Tate, where’s your mum and dad?” she asked after he had finished the apple.
“They died. And then I came here where the Mercers lived. And then they left.” He said it so quietly, the two adults almost thought they imagined it.
“And they left you here on your own?” Andy asked him after a beat.
“They musta forgot,” Tate replied, his voice now thick with exhaustion.
Katie got him to lay down before pulling the blankets over him while Andy picked up the teddy bear and handed it to him. They exchanged more looks over him.
“Go to sleep, Tate. We’ll see you in the morning, okay?” Katie gave him a warm smile.
“Okay,” he said before turning over and closing his eyes. He trusted that they would be there when he woke up. Minutes later, his breathing evened out and he was fast asleep.
The adults crept out of the room to talk.
“We can’t leave him here!” Katie whispered to Andy.
“I know! But we can’t just take him with us!”
“We have to! His foster parents left him here on his own! The sign outside says foreclosed. I’m not leaving him here. And, anyway, it’s my car.”
Andy huffed, but he knew she was right. It would be irresponsible to leave the boy on his own when he had so quickly come to trust them. “Yeah, fine. But we’ll need more money. And more food.”
“We’ll stop at that fruit stand we saw advertised tomorrow. And we can get more money later.”
With that decided, they huddled close together in the room opposite Tate’s, using her jacket as a pillow and his as a blanket. Andy hoped they wouldn’t come to regret this decision.