Chapter Text
They were shouting again. They were always shouting. It was always so loud.
Crouched by the hallway corner, like he always did every evening for as long as he could remember, was one Laddie Thompson. Despite being no older than ten years old, the little boy felt like he had already lived his entire life. What was there to live for if all he woke up to every day was the sound of his parents yelling and screaming about stuff? Stuff mostly related to him…
Laddie whimpered, pressing his hands harder against his ears, trying to drown out the noise. His mother was wailing, again. Something something "we can't give up!" and "we have a child, Peter!" — the same words Laddie could recall hearing earlier that day. Then he heard his dad.
"That thing you found in a cardboard box is ruining everything!" Laddie heard him yell. Laddie squeezed his eyes shut, hard enough that his eyelids ached. He sniffled. "Ten years, Wendy, and what has he brought us?!"
Make it stop, oh, make it stop.
Laddie bit his lip, dragging his teeth across his scabs and scars, peeling away skin. Blood oozed from the new cut.
"Someone needed to take him, I couldn't have just left him there! He would've died!"
"Well, Wendy, now we're all going to die because that little, good for nothing shitstain has blown off all of our money!"
Laddie sniffled again, trying to stop the growing wail in his chest. His tear-filled eyes looked down the hall, past the shadows of his arguing parents, spotting the front door unlocked and open. Mom must have forgotten to close it again, like she always did. Dad always yelled at her for that.
"I told you from the very start that he was no good!" His dad was still yelling. "He sleeps all day, and up all night! He's always hungry no matter what we feed him! And don't get me started on that weird wood and water allergy he has!" Laddie heard him scoff. "He's probably the spawn of some druggie who's girlfriend ODed, and whatever drugs she took just fucked with him. You never should've taken him!"
The door was so inviting. It was calling to Laddie; the outside world, the pretty lights, the quiet night, just outside the door. His parents were still shouting back and forth at each other, leaving the small boy alone, whose blue-ish brown eyes practically sparkled as he stared at the open door. His escape. His chance.
Laddie gulped. His hands slowly lifted away from his ears, making him squirm at the noise that echoed from the kitchen, but Laddie forced himself to move. To crawl towards the door. Towards peace. He scurried across the hall, sneaking past his parents, hiding behind the counter as he made his exit. The young boy snuck a glance up, spotting his mother's poofy red hair and his dad's head peaking out above the counter. He gulped as their shadows danced on the walls, their argument continuing, neither of them aware of the boy's escape. Laddie sniffled.
Needed to get away.
Laddie crawled as fast as he could, his dirty pants dragging across the wooden floor. Finally, he reached the door. And he didn't look back. As soon as he set foot on the porch, Laddie took off, running into the night. He gasped and panted for air, and his held-back cries began to flood out. Tears streamed down his face as Laddie ran barefoot down the road, darting past tall strangers, never stopping to answer their questions or look at their faces or even listen to their voices. Laddie just ran. Ran, and ran, and ran.
He hated them. Oh, how he hated them. Dad, who never hugged him, played with him, or even looked at him. Mom, who smiled but never held his hand, who would shout at him if he didn't listen or hit him when he cried. They were always shouting; at him, at each other, at everything. Laddie hated that. Hated them. Hated, hated, hated.
Before he knew it, Laddie was lost. When his eyes finally cleared of tears and looked up from the pavement, the small boy found himself in an alley. A very dark alley, and the only streetlamp on it was flickering on and off. Laddie sniffled, hugging himself. It looked better during the day…
Laughter echoed from the sky. Laddie whimpered, looking up and down, right and left, seeing nothing but shapes and shadows that ran up and down the street. He shook — cold and scared — as he slowly backed into the darkness. He bit his tongue, trying not to cry again, his bare feet stepping over sharp pebbles and broken glass.
Laddie felt something behind him. His back pressed against something hard and tall. Looking up, he looked straight into a pair of glowing gold eyes. Laddie shrieked. So scary. Yet so familiar.
"Where's your mama, little boy?" The monster above him snickered, grabbing Laddie by the arm and holding him in place.
Laddie screamed, trying to run, but the monster held him too tight. All around him, Laddie could hear laughing. More and more voices appeared and the shadows all grew golden eyes. It was like they were coming alive. Laddie cried.
"Don't worry, little guy!" The voices cackled. "We're just going to eat!"
Laddie was lifted off the ground, his arms held apart as the shadows surrounded him. The eyes were on him, and they got closer and closer. So familiar, so terrifying. Laddie could see the sharp teeth that shone under the flickering light.
All of a sudden, Laddie was dropped to the ground. The small boy let out a yelp, a whine creeping out from his throat. He looked up to see the shadows shrieking with fear, the gold monster eyes disappearing as quickly as they came. The streetlamp flickered on — and surprisingly, stayed on — just in time for Laddie to see the shadowy creatures run away. A man flew over him, landing on his feet without a sound, yet he growled as loud as a lion. He hair sure did look like a lion, too.
"Go mess with someone your own size, you twats!" The strange man yelled at the shadows that ran away. "I'll show those teens a piece of my mind, trying to eat a kid in our hunting grounds!"
"Paul, shut up." Another man spoke up, his footsteps coming from behind Laddie. "You're gonna scare the kid more than they already have."
Laddie gasped, the air finally coming back as he sat upright in a bolt. His eyes looked up, seeing the same golden eyes and sharp teeth from before, but they didn't belong to a monster this time. No, the man in front of him looked…kind. Worried? Laddie couldn't quite place it.
Where one expected the boy to flinch or pull away with fear, Laddie stayed perfectly still as the dark-haired man knelt down in front of him. His gold eyes flicked up and down, scanning Laddie's body, studying him. Laddie sniffed, returning the same stern and focused gaze the man gave him. The man finally spoke.
"You're tough," he said with a proud smirk, "you alright, kid?"
Laddie wiped the snot that was dripping from his nose, and nodded.
"Forget you saw those things, alright? You're safe now." The man blinked, and his eyes went from gold to brown. His fangs were gone, too. "Do you need help getting home?"
Laddie shook his head. He didn't want to go home. It didn't really feel like home either.
"You don't have a home?" The man squinted, tilting his head slightly to the side.
Laddie thought for a moment. Then, he nodded.
"Well, we can't leave him out here." The other man, the blond one, walked over and stood behind the dark-haired man. "Knowing the folks around these parts, kid's gonna be an easy meal."
"What do you suggest we do, Paul? Just take him?"
Laddie's blue-ish brown eyes lit up, just a little. He shouldn't trust strangers, but they didn't seem too bad. He felt…kind of safe here, with them. And he couldn't exactly turn down the idea of staying with them. They seemed better than Mom and Dad.
"He's pretty banged up anyway," the blond guy — Paul? — kept going, "I think he could use a bed at least, eh, D?"
The young boy in question looked between the two men, his eyes bright with hope. They exchanged a look, shared a few scowls and shrugs before they turned back to Laddie, the blond man already strutting away. Muttering something about first-aid and shoes under his breath as he turned and walked down the alley. Laddie looked back at the other man still with him.
"Guess we are taking you with us, little guy." The man gave a small smile. Laddie felt the edges of his mouth curve up too. "Call me Dwayne."
Laddie nodded.
"I'm Laddie," the young boy whispered.
"Nice to meet you, Laddie." Dwayne stood up, dusting off his leather jacket before walking down the same way the blond man had gone. "Come on, we should catch up with Paul and get you somewhere safe." He paused for a moment. "…relatively, safe."
As Dwayne walked down the alley, Laddie hopped to his feet. For now, he ignored the pain from the cuts and scratches he gained tonight, and instead focused on chasing the dark-haired man, following behind him with a smile.
Laddie hadn't smiled in a while. It felt nice.