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Samson liked Valerie much more than his old boss. She didn’t make him do bad things or push him around, and she’d never once tried to kick him with those hard metal-tipped shoes, or shoot at him with a gun. She was so much better than Mr. Shadwell. Samson was almost glad Mr. Shadwell tried to kill him off, because it meant he got to meet Valerie, and she was amazing .
That didn’t mean everything was perfect, though. Valerie’s neighbours thought Samson was scary, and they didn’t like that he was living with her. The lady who lived next door kept saying things about how Samson might try to hurt her - he’d never do anything to hurt Valerie ever, but other people didn’t know that - and the man who lived downstairs always watched Samson when he went to take out the trash or hung up laundry, like he thought he could catch Samson being a bad man.
Samson tried being nice, but people didn’t like it. When he tried carrying ladies’ groceries for them, they’d scream and hit him with their handbags. When he tried helping kids get their balls back when it got stuck, their parents would come out and shout at Samson until he went back and hid in Valerie’s apartment.
No one wanted Samson’s help. No one wanted Samson around.
Except Valerie.
Valerie thought it was nice when Samson tried to do chores for her. Her brow would crinkle a little, and she’d get this cute smile on her face, and Samson would do anything to see that smile again.
He got good at doing chores. Cooking dinner and doing laundry and cleaning up became his regular routine. When he was done with all of that, Valerie let him use her television, and he even started reading a bit. He’d never been very good at school, dropping out when he was sixteen, but Valerie found him some math workbooks meant for high-schoolers, and he was working through them at his own pace. It was pretty fun, now that he didn’t have a teacher breathing down his neck and waiting for him to fuck it up.
Samson couldn’t remember the last time his life had been so… peaceful.
The peace couldn’t last forever, though. It was only a matter of time before Mr. Shadwell found him again.