Getting It Together

Crying Baby

Jasper blinked his eyes drowsily open, letting out a small yawn as his tiny fists stretched. Something was different.

This wasn't his and dada's room? It was different. The colors were brighter and the crib was too soft. He didn't like it. It was too squishy, and the bars went higher than before, and everything was different.

Where was papa and dada? Why weren't they here? Did they leave him? Did they leave him alone?

Even the ceiling was different? It was smooth instead of bumpy and made it so he couldn't find the constellations papa had shown him. Did dada bring him here? Was something wrong? Where were papa and dada? Why weren't they here?

Cries traveled downstairs to where everyone else was asleep. The drugs had started to wear off, making it easier for Alejo to hear the cries coming through a baby monitor. He shot up from where he had been unconscious on the floor and desperately searched around the room for Jasper. Instead, he found almost everyone else. Florencio, Giovonnie, and Jory. No Logan or Jasper.

"He's not down here," Alejo found Pascal sitting in a chair close to the door, "I'm assuming you're looking for Jasper like any good parent would."

Giovonnie was awake already, leaning against a wall and fiddling with the zipper on his hoodie. Alejo almost shuddered at the familiar look in the boy's eyes: He looked dead. Like he wasn't really there and was just pretending to please Pascal. It had crept him out when he had first woken up in the cabin. Even more so after the kid he barely knew came out of the box, and started acting like Pascal hung the moon in the sky.

"Where is he?" Alejo pleads. "Pascal, where'd you take my son?"

Pascal ignored the question. "Well, that's saying you're a good parent. What kind of parent leaves their baby with a stranger while a known criminal has escaped prison? For all you know, that kid could have been working with me! Honestly, if it was me and Logan going on a date I wouldn't have left Giovonnie or Jory with a stranger under any circumstances."

"Where is he, Pascal‽ Where's my son‽ What did you do with him‽"

"Oh calm down Alejo, you always overreact. He's just upstairs. I'll take you up to him soon. Just wait for Jory to wake up. You guys sleep like rocks."

"That can happen when you drug people. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's the point." Florencio was as far from Pascal as he could get, rubbing his stomach where the scar would be. It was a common stim he'd started after being rescued, and so far it was not doing a great job of calming him down.

"Oh shush, Florencio. You're so damn overdramatic," Pascal huffs.

A groan came from Jory as he started to wake up, slowly pressing his palms flat against the cold floor and trying to collect his bearings.

"Well, since Jory is... almost completely awake suppose we can start. Since Alejo is so anxious to get to Jasper."

Alejo let out a breath he'd been holding. He needed to get back to Jasper, and find Logan. They were probably both terrified.

"It's almost six, so there's food upstairs. Oreo, why don't you follow me and I can take you and Jory upstairs. You guys can eat in your room and I'll explain the rules to you guys up there."

Giovonnie nodded and stood up. Pascal scooped up the still half asleep Jory. Giovonnie followed him up the two sets of stairs and into their room. He laid Jory on one of the two beds in the room and Giovonnie sat down on the other, on the opposing side.

Pascal left and Giovonnie looked around. The room was much bigger than the one they had before. The beds had gone from bunk beds to separate twin beds. The sides of the room were matched piece by piece of furniture. They had desks on opposite sides, and nightstands next to each bed. Most of the furniture was black. The sheets and blankets on Giovonnie's bed were purple.

Giovonnie walked over to a window, surprised that there was one even on the same floor as them, Pascal had never let them anywhere near a window. They were on at least the second floor of a house, and there was two whole windows just there. There were so many trees. Even if they went outside, there was no way they could find their way around that.

"Giovonnie!" Giovonnie shot around to face Pascal, "Stay away from the windows! You're not allowed near them unless I say!"

"S-sorry dad, I just-I just wanted to look outside!" Giovonnie stammered. "At the-the trees."

"It's fine, just don't do it again." Jory had fully woken up now, glaring at Pascal like he had laser eyes and could cut through him if he tried hard enough. "Now, let's talk about the rules. I've been thinking about them for a while, and I think that I really need them this time."

"Ok..." Giovonnie went back and sat on the corner of his bed.

"...And you need to eat when there's food. Don't say you're not hungry or anything else, you need to eat right. You can't just eat snacks like I know you would Virgil. Oh, and bedtime is at 8:30. Any questions?" They'd been here for an hour, Pascal almost seeming to come up with more rules out of thin air.

"What happens if we break a rule?" Giovonnie asks timidly.

"We'll deal with that at that point. I shouldn't have to figure out that for now, unless I have to. Do I have to Gi-Gi?" Giovonnie shook his head no. "Ok, now I need to go talk to your uncles."

"Where's Logan?" The single remark had Pascal stopping in his tracks.

"What, Jory?" Pascal turned around to face him, anger flitting across his face before it went back to normal.

Jory stared him down, firmly sat. "Where's Logan? He wasn't downstairs with the rest of us, and you aren't talking about him. You only mention Florencio and Alejo, but I know you took Logan, because he was with us in the storage unit, Flores told me when I woke up in the car. So where is he?"

"Your father, is still asleep. You can see him soon."

"When can we see Logan." Jory put extra emphasis on the name, just to see how much it would piss off Pascal. Instead of answering, Pascal went back downstairs to Florencio and Alejo.

Alejo was pacing from one side of the room to the other, waiting for Pascal to come down. He'd left them a while ago, and Jasper was still crying.

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