New places, Will

[Rocky Saunders]

Rocky didn't like people, quick movements or crowds. That was the number one reason why he'd decided to go by the river instead of to another place where the was more people. There was only a few people who he was willing to let into his life and that number was small. Sure his new foster parents had been encouraging him to go out and make new friends but he knew that they knew how hard that would be. Number one, he'd been shuffled to way too many foster homes before and that had made him a hard person to get to. Number two, at his last foster home he'd been severely abused, and neglected. That was where most of the scars on his body had came from. That was why he'd decided to run away a year ago and had just recently been found. Part of him wished that he would have been able to stay at the racetrack for just a few months longer. Since in a couple of months he would be turning eighteen and they couldn't just force him to another place. What made it worse was that he'd lived on the east coast his whole life and now he was in Wisconsin of all places. Supposedly it was because it would be a lot easier to meet new people if they didn't know about his past. Since it had been all around the state for awhile.

He stared down at the river for a moment, water had always been a bad thing in his book. Sure you needed it to survive but water was the reason why he had been outside on that bitter cold day. He'd needed to break the ice off of the water troughs, that he didn't mind. But the fact that he had been lacking gloved was something else, his hands had been frozen after the first trough. Then, when he was back in another field a long way away from the stall that he called a home the horse had slipped and went down. He had felt his right leg break and he knew that it was a miracle that he had ended up free from the saddle. Plus, the horse that he had been on hadn't been hurt. That wasn't the case for him though, plus everything had been made worse by the fact that it took a while for people to even find him. It hadn't even been his foster parents that found him, it was a neighbor who had wondered why a horse had been standing in a paddock with a saddle on.

Just thinking about that again sent a sharp pain down his leg making him wince. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before slowly opening them. That was the worst part about everything, that pain. Not just physically either, it was mentally too. Another thing that made him slightly angry was that he had been forgotten about, lost in the system. Or at least that was what everybody had said since it had taken them a few weeks before they had finally found a file on him a few weeks ago. Supposedly something had went down just after he'd arrived at his last foster home and they'd completely forgotten about him. If they had only remembered then he could have been saved of all the pain. Just that thought alone made a tear slowly making its way down his pale face. He wiped it away quickly, he wasn't about to cry out in the open.

[William Siffer]

Will was not in a good mood. His back was hurting, his gloves were wearing out, and he couldn't figure out where to buy new ones. He moved slowly along the bank of the river, looking into the water. His reflection was saddening to his own eyes. A boy without the ability to walk, sitting in a mobile chair, gloves on his hands, dull eyes, and a stern set on his lips. He shook his head, hair falling over his eyes and rolled on down the water's edge.

He stopped beneath a large tree, and pulled a pen out of his pocket, opening up a red sketch book. A large willow tree wedged itself into the bank of the river, the trunk branching out over the water and the leaves touching the ground on the other side. He drew with grace and curtousy, pulling his strokes gently down the page. Each leaf smiled with the sun as the light shone through. He looked up as he heard another person moving about nearby.

He looked over at the boy who appeared to be pondering something. He watched in shock as a small tear slid down the boy's face, quickly wiped away by a stiff hand. He'd already watched him wince and he began to wonder if he was ok. He cocked his head and closed his sketchpad, his hands finding the wheels of his chair and pushing forward. As he drew nearer, he said in a soft voice, "Are you alright?"

[Rocky Saunders]

All of a sudden he heard that notice of another voice behind him, the voice of a male. He jumped slightly and then shook slightly, and not just from the sudden shock of hearing somebody behind him either. For the past few days his right leg had been really bothering him for the past couple of days although nobody knew about it. Now, the pain was getting worse though and he knew that he would have to actually say something about it. Then things would come up again about something that the doctors had mentioned. Supposedly they were confident that they could help relieve the pain that he had but he hadn't been so sure about it and had refused. For once, people had respected his decision sure the person who he was worked for at the track had but that was different. Or at least he thought that it was.

"No, nothing is working out I was dragged away from everything that I've ever known and not to mention everything hurts." He said quietly as he stared down at his hands. They were scarred too but not that bad compared to his legs, most of those scars had occurred because of some of the things that he'd been forced to do. His blue eyes stared down at the water for a moment, he knew that most people would see him as normal by the way he was dressed now. He had a long sleeved shirt on to cover up the scars on his arm and he never wore anything but jeans. Not to mention he wasn't moving so nobody was able to see the limp. Although he knew that most people picked up that something had happened to him by how quiet he was and he didn't like to be startled. They would usually ask what had happened and that was when he would just quietly tell them a few things before he suddenly left. Most people would feel sorry for him or put their arm around him and he couldn't stand people touching him.

He knew that what he had just said was the most he had ever told a stranger but he didn't know why things had started coming out so suddenly. Maybe it was because this person was just that, a stranger most likely he didn't know his story. But that had never made him talk to a new person before, perhaps it was because he was so startled that that sentence had just came out.

[William Siffer]

((sorry for the weight, and the short post. I'm so museless for this one. ))

Will slowly moved forward, his eyes cast toward the water as he moved, trying not to seem threatening to this boy who was so obviouslly hurt by something. He decided to try consoling him before asking what had happened. "I can understand what it feels like to lose everything you've ever cared about. It's happened to me on many occasions. As for the physical hurt," He tried, "There are worse things."

He finally reached the boy's side, sensing that he didn't want to be touched. Will put his hands on the arms of his chair and scratched his shoulder with one hand, straightening his gloves again and resting once more, "You can talk to me if you want. I'll probably understand better than anyone what you're feeling, and you can bet your life on it that I won't hold it against you." he thought for a moment, "Your secrets are safe in my hands."

[Rocky Saunders]

He'd had a lot of things that he cared about ripped away from him. Even though some of the things were just small one of them hadn't been. Sure it had been an animal it still hurt that he hadn't been able to do anything to stop them from taking Comet away. "I know there's a lot more than physical pain, I don't know what one hurts the most." He said and then thought about the many times that he'd been told that he was a worthless nobody and other things along that line. He hated what he had to go through for those two years, there'd just been to much pain involved in it and most people didn't even know the half of it. He tended to keep everything and side and nobody had really heard all of what had happened to him. If they had then they probably would be shocked and want him to do something that he didn't want to do. Either that or they would say they knew how he felt and he would know that wasn't true.

He could talk to him and have his secrets safe. For some reason he actually believed this boy. For some reason he seemed different then all of the people who had told him that before. Maybe it was because he hadn't suddenly confronted him and tried to get him to talk about things. This person was actually taking their time with things and wasn't as if he was forcing him to speak. He moved his arm so that it was resting on his knee and little did he know that with that small movement his shirt sleeve had moved up slightly and had exposed one of the many scars on his body. "I never knew my parents, they died when I was two. From then on I was shuffled from one place to another. I got used to it after awhile and just learned not to try and get close to somebody because I'd just leave anyway. Then for two years I was abused and was in an accident that messed up my right leg and my left one slightly. Then it didn't heal right and one day everything just came crashing down and I was reluctantly brought to the emergency room. It was then that they learned it didn't heal right." He said and then paused to stare down into the water.

"I just couldn't take it any more and left about a year ago and was at a racetrack until about two weeks ago." He said and then closed his eyes and felt another tear slip out.

[William Siffer]

Will listened intently, blocking out the sounds of a breeze rustling the leaves on a nearby oak tree. This boy was in terrible pain, and not just bodily, he'd been hurt on the inside. He took in everything the boy said, every detail soaking in carefully and slowly. "I don't know what it's like not to have a family, well, actually I do, but I know what it's like to feel alone. You don't have to feel alone."

Will realized how he sounded and tried to back off a little, "Can I help in any way? I mean, give you a roof over your head?" He scratched at his nose as a stray leaf fell into his face, then brushed the hair away from his eyes slowly, his eyes always on the boy next to him, never wandering away.

Then an idea crossed his mind, "I think," he said, "That I wish I'd never met my parents." he looked up quickly to judge the boys reaction but quickly decided to press on, "My mother killed herself and soon after my dad shot me which is how I ended up in this 'situation'." He used air quotes. "I wish I didn't have to know the man that did it, but lucky for me I'll never have to again."

[Branden Devereaux]

He knew that he didn't have to feel alone but everybody who he had talked to before had just seemed to ask too many questions about things. Not to mention, they just stared at him and he could tell that they were looking at the few scars that he couldn't cover up. Of course, his communication skills were not the best anyway they never had been. It was because he'd basically been an outsider his whole life. Very few people had actually tried to really talk to him and befriend him. Maybe if people actually tried to do that before then perhaps he wouldn't be the person that he was today. "I know that I don't have to be alone lots of people have told me that before. It's just that most people usually just end up staring at me when they talk to me. And it's not like they're looking you in the eyes they're looking at everything else like the scars." He said quietly even though he liked this boy, he made him feel like he was an actual person.

He thought about the boys question about helping him. He didn't need a place to stay or anything like that. What he needed wasn't as simple as that, it was far more complicated. "I don't need a play to stay, I live with people already. What I want is more of an impossible dream. I just wish that people wouldn't stare at me when they speak or me or treat me like I'm just some inanimate object." He said and then sighed, one of his hopes was that this town would be different then all of the rest. Yet, so far it hadn't seemed that way. He'd been stared at by every person he met and he had just stayed around the house for a few days. Since he didn't want people knowing that he was there. Since he was almost certain that people would just want to see what he really looked like and things like that. He'd seen it all before and had known that it would be the same here. Sure his foster parents had assured him that it wouldn't happen he knew that it would. One could call him slightly paranoid by that fact.

He listened to what was said next by the boy. He couldn't imagine something like that happening. Perhaps, in a way they were in the same boat. After all, people had harmed both of them. "I'm just glad that I got away from the people who hurt me before they did something worse to me." He said before he found himself looking at the water again.