Chapter Text
Raine sat down at their desk waiting for their next case. The few things that they heard about was that it involved human trafficking. That already made their stomach sink, but considering that these kinds of cases involve children most of the time, it makes them sick.
“Whispers, um…he’s here.”
That’s their cue, in walks a teenage boy with pale skin and bleach blonde hair looking down, his condition was awful, he was skinny(way too skinny), he had numerous scars on his arms and legs, along with the noticeable face scar, nicked ear and really dark eyebags. The sight of the boy’s condition almost made Raine throw up.
“Hello there my name is Raine Whispers, I’m going to be your social and case worker.”
The kid stayed silent, he opened his mouth as if to try and say something but nothing came out, either he lost his voice or at this moment was mute. Luckily they were prepared for that, handing the teenager a paper and pencil to write with. It took about thirty seconds before he passed the paper back to them, he wrote down his name on it, Hunter.
“Well it’s very nice to meet you Hunter.”
The kid nodded as a response, Raine gave him back the paper.
“Do you have any family to go to?”
Suddenly Hunter’s eyes dilated and shook his head rapidly. Due to the reaction Raine had a theory although they hoped that it wasn’t true.
“Do you have anywhere you could stay?”
The boy shook his head again, Raine sighed they didn’t know what to do, they couldn’t bring him to Eda’s place because his trafficker was arrested there after Eda did a lure to arrest traffickers in the bonesborough area and now the place was a crime scene. The only other person they could think of was a mutual friend who was a teacher at Hexside like they and Eda. So they gave him a call.
“Hello, Darius?”
“How did you get my number Whispers?”
“I can tell you later I need you to do a favor for me.”
“What is it?”
“Sooooo……how would you feel about taking in a sixteen year old until I could find him a suitable home?”
“Uhh…I wouldn’t mind it, is this relating to one of your cps cases?”
“Yeah it is. So are you going to do it?”
“Yes of course I’m doing it.”
“So can I drop him off at your place tonight?”
“I’m alright with that.”
“Great thank you so much Darius.”
“No problem.”
Raine got off the phone to see that Hunter had dozed off. He looked so relaxed, they felt bad for waking him up but, they had to.
“Hunter?”
The child blinked and let out a yawn.
“Hey, so I found someone that’s willing to take you in and you’re going to stay with him for a bit, okay?”
The kid hesitated before nodding. The two exited Raine’s office and headed to the car with Raine texting Eda.
“Hey babe, I’m going to be home a little bit later than usual, have to drop off a kid to a temporary home, love you.”
Getting in the car as soon as Hunter sat down he fell asleep. Which is a good thing the boy looked like he hadn’t slept in a while and if he did sleep it was probably for a shorter period of time than eight hours. After an hour and a half, they finally arrived at Darius’s place. Raine tapped Hunter’s shoulder to wake him.
Hunter got up and out of the car along with Raine, walking over to the door knocking it.
The door opened and Darius was there, the man moved to let Hunter in. As Hunter walked in, Raine spoke.
“Thank you so much again.”
“It’s all good, Whispers tell me how bad did this kid have it before he met you.”
“I don’t want to give you too many details unless you want to vomit, but to list only one, the kid was trafficked.”
“Jesus Christ.”
As Hunter explored the living room, he saw a calico cat walking by. Hunter jumped and squealed for joy immediately going up to the cat, only for it to run away from him, Darius’ ear twitched a bit at the noise turning to see Hunter and his cat running from the boy.
“I see you met Mitzi, kid.”
Mitzi, that’s the cats name then. Hunter watched as the door closed and saw the man motion him to go upstairs, Darius lead the kid to the guest bedroom(eber should visit more often.)
“This is going to be your room for now, little one.”
Hunter’s first thought about this room was the fact that there’s an actual bed. Complete with a blanket, pillows, and mattress, the last time he had a bed was when his parents were alive and while he was living with his uncle, he didn’t provide Hunter a bed unless he earned it.
“So you’re allowing me to have this room?”
“Yes this is your room for the time being.”
Hunter took a deep breath before asking something.
“What do I have to do to earn it?”
Darius was shocked to say the least. The kid was asking what does he have to do to “earn it”.
“Nothing. Did you have to earn the ability to sleep on a bed where you came from?”
“Where I came from chances had to be earned, food had to be earned, water, bedding, an-”
“You don’t have to earn anything here kiddo, alright.”
Hunter didn’t buy it, but nodded anyways, he went to the bed and sat on it, it was soft and firm. Darius gave the boy his old pajamas from when he was around Hunter’s age (it was extremely soft as well) he would probably like it.
“Okay kiddo I’ll leave you to get situated and come back to tell you good night.”
Hunter just nodded, he put on the pajamas and they were so soft (the best texture) and got into bed. Darius walked in then.
“Huh, purple really does suit you. You almost look like a prince in that color. Either way tomorrow you’re going to get a tour of the school you’ll be going to for now, alright?”
“Okay.”
“Goodnight then Hunter.”
“Goodnight.”