Eaton

13. Invitations

Marcus p.o.v.

...My fondest wishes for the entire system.

Sincerely,

M.Eaton 

Mayor of Chicago, Illinois

I open the drawer and take out one of the envelopes Tobias bought and place the printed letters into them. All in all I should have about ten mayors coming over to discuss expansion of the 'Homeless helpers' organisation into their cities. I'll be expecting them next Saturday, so I'll have to make sure that Will and Tobias aren't around. 

*The next day, at work*

'I wrote the letters yesterday and mailed them out this morning, I should be expecting a reply any day now.' Andrew stands by the photocopying machine, printing some documents regarding the next 'Homeless helpers' which we will all be attending in a few weeks. He nods.

'You'll be greeting them at your house then?'

He looks up as my assistant, Grace brings us both a cup of coffee. We thank her and he comes over, taking a seat near my desk which is littered with papers. I feel like a hypocrite, if I ever saw Tobias' desk in this state he'd have hell to pay. 

'Yes, we'll have dinner then discuss the idea'

He takes a sip of his coffee.

'Do you need someone to take care of Tobias, then?' I do actually, but I can't say that to Andrew. He's helped me in several ways in the past. I can't possibly ask him for more, I already owe him a ton. 

'It;s fine Andrew I wouldn't want to burden you-' 'Marcus, I insist. It's fine, what's five mouths, instead of four?' He smiles. 'I'll pick him on Saturday at... seven?'

I'm about to deny again but I actually do need his help, I mean how long can I force Tobias to be absolutely silent?

'Thank you Andrew, I really appreciate it.'

'It's nothing' Tobias will be elated to know that he won't have to stay in the house with me.

*Later*

'Tobias, come down here.'

As usual, he sprints down that stairs, slowing down at the last few. As a child, I'd tell him not to run in them because, well he'd  fall and hurt himself. I used to scold him whenever I'd catch him doing and sometimes, when I'd be in a really foul mood I'd een punish him, leave him without dinner or lock him in the closet for a few hours. Evelyn would always protest and ask me to forgive him. I never would. If I had then he'd just do what he wants and get himself hurt. So really, I was just looking out for him and protecting him. It was for his own good. He got used to the punishments though so now everytime I call him downstairs he runs down up till the place where he comes into view. There, he slows down and walks. I've tried telling him to stop, I've tried punishing him, but the child buried deep within ignores me and just carries on. I'd tell him nowadays and he'd stop doing it, for about a week, only to start again later.

He walks into my office and stands behind the chair. I put away the papers I'm working on and tell him to sit down. After that incident when he was twelve he never sits before I tell him to. I remember that day. I'd called him down and, I'll admit it. I'd had a bad day and to say I was in a bad mood would be the greatest understatement of the century. He came running down the stairs and walked into my office, I'm not even sure what he had done, only that at that moment I was so angry I was two minutes away from quite literally killing him. He waltzed in and sat down in the chair, making himself comfortable like... like he owned the place. At least that's what I tell myself, he deserved it, it was his fault. I yelled and I shoved and I kicked and I slapped. When I finally calmed down, I couldn't remember where I'd hit him, and how hard. All I could recall was rage and blood. My knuckles were coated with it, his nose was bleeding and his lip was cut. I must've hit him with my ring. I felt so guilty after what I'd done that I couldn't look at for a week. I didn't eat with him, I didn't talk to him. I just completely shut him out.