"I’m not, but since Ms Sharity has left me in charge and you’re the second oldest man in the house, I have to know what you’ve been doing when you’re gone all morning." Eaton, the teen, said. "Plus Hannah actually helps around the house when I need her."
"Well where is she now? I didn’t see her help you with them." Jay gestured in the direction of the two little kids.
"She’s not home right now. She said she needed to do something. But that doesn’t matter since she couldn’t have helped anyways. But you could’ve fixed Callie’s doll."
"It’s not a doll, it’s a stuffed animal."
"Fine. Just answer the question, Jay." Eaton folded his arms. Jay hesitated for a moment, then he kicked the ground and pocketed his hands.
"I was out with a... friend."
Jay struggled getting that word out; it looked like it hurt him to call me a friend. Which was a sentiment I shared: I had to force myself not to rebuke him there and then.
"A friend?" The teen raised a brow and faced me. Before he could say anything, I put a hand out and spoke politely.
"Hi, I’m Melas. It’s nice to meet you, Mr Eaton."
Blinking, he took my hand. "Oh, uh, it’s nice to meet you too… Melas." He nodded hesitantly, before adding. "And, uh, there’s no need to be so formal. Just call me Eaton."
"Of course, Eaton," I said with a smile. "I hope I’m not intruding. Jay invited me over, but I was not aware that he hadn’t informed anyone of me visiting. If it’s too much of a problem, I could come back another day."
"No, please stay." Eaton scratched his ear. "I mean, you’re just here to hang out with Jay, right?"
I felt my smile slip slightly, but I fought hard to maintain the ruse. Why would I want to hang out with him? He’s a kid and a jerk! A kid-jerk! The worst kinds of jerks!
"Yes." That was all that I said.
"Well, come on in." The teen gestured into the living room. "We have drinks and snacks if you want some."
"If it isn’t a bother."
He led me towards the kitchen as Jay stalked behind me. The younger boy was still glowering with his hands in his pants when Eaton grabbed him and pulled him ahead. Eaton began not-so-covertly whispering to Jay as they walked in front of me.
"I didn’t know you had such a polite friend. Who is she?"
"None of ya business."
"What do you mean ‘none of my business’? I’m your older brother. I deserve to know!"
"No you don’t!"
"Come on, Jay. Tell me. When did you meet her? How? Is she your girlfriend—"
I rolled my eyes and began tuning out the hushed conversation in front of me; it was not like I cared enough to eavesdrop in the first place, but sometimes, some things were hard to ignore. Their discussion ended soon after, as Jay stormed back and began pulling me away by the arm.
"Let’s just go, Melas."
"Wait, but snacks—"
I protested, but ultimately followed him.
There was a reason why I was here. Even if that reason was not high up in my priority list. It was not like I had anything else to do regardless, so why not help someone in need?
And, my true thoughts came leaking out, there is the whole possibility of there being slavers here.
I did not know for certain: it could have been a complete fabrication of my imagination, but I was almost a hundred percent sure that the people this ‘Ms Sharity’ had been borrowing money from were slavers. If that was the case, and they came looking to collect their payment, I did not believe for a second that they would be happy with being turned away empty handed.
This was more than simply being kind to others— more than doing a good deed when I could afford it. If there really were slavers here hoping to sell some kids into slavery...
My fingers twitched, and I felt an invisible itch on my face.
Well, I can’t allow that to happen, now can I?
A moment after Jay started dragging me away from Eaton, the front door flew open, and a girl came running in.
"Guys! Guys!" she exclaimed, looking around the room. She completely glazed over me, and focused in on the two boys staring back at her. "Jay, Eaton! Where are the others?"
"Hannah?" Eaton worked his jaw. "What’s going on?"
"Come on, there’s no time to explain!" Hannah said excitedly. "Gather everyone. I’ll meet you outside!"
Jay frowned and spoke up. "What do ya mean there’s no time to explain. You just spent—"
The girl ignored him and ran out another door. I could hear her calling out names as more kids began to gather, curious about what was happening; I turned to Jay and he just gave me a shrug.
"Let’s go find out what she’s harping on about."
With that, we found ourselves waiting outside along with everyone else from the orphanage. The girl from before— Hannah— stood brimming with excitement before all of us; she was so excited she apparently did not notice the extra person (me) in her family.
"Is that everyone? Good. Now I know you’re wondering why I called you out here—" she started.
Then Jay interrupted her as he picked his nose. "Hurry up, we don’t got all day."
Hannah ignored him.
"But it’ll be much easier to show you than to tell you guys," she said, before she marched up to the gate and yanked it open. A figure stepped around the corner, speaking as he did.
"Now I don’t understand the need to cause a scene. But at your behest, I have done as I was told."
There was visible confusion among everyone around me; they were scratching their heads
