The Loving Silence

Chapter 28

Mica opened gestured for them to sit down and opened his mouth to respond. But Rue beat him to it.

"I, I know you." He blurted out as he stared intensely at Lune.

Lune raised an eyebrow but otherwise did not respond.

"We did help save you two." Bly chimed in.

"No, it's not that..." Rue frowned. "Do you recognise me?"

"As one of the guys we saved from the kidnappers, yes. Otherwise, no." Lune answered coolly. Even his friends noticed the chill in his voice.

Rue closed his eyes and tried to think. Suddenly it came to him. A memory from way, way back. "You shared a sandwich with me and my mum." He blushed a little as he realised how strange that sounded.

Lune looked up and his rigid demeanour was lost. "What?"

"I remember now. Granted I was a kid, but I remember you. You were hurt. Your cheek was bruised and you had marks from fingers on your wrist. You were limping a little too, I think. You wouldn't tell us what happened. In fact, you ignored my mum completely at first. But she wore you down." He smiled. It always made him happy to talk about his mum, even when it made him sad. "You never told us what happened, but when my mum was about to defend you, even without knowing who was harming you, you finally sat down and talked to us."

"She gave me half a sandwich." Lune mumbled. "That kid was you?"

Rue nodded.

"Wait, that means," his eyes widened and his lips quivered, "I never saw you two after that. I figured she got a job somewhere and you were rehoused. Or you moved. I never..."

Rue swallowed and turned away, though he nodded in response. "It happened later that same week," he whispered. "You left a mark on her though. She couldn't forget you. We had nothing, and she was still one step from taking you in. She really felt for you. Life hadn't been kind to her, but she never did lose her loving heart and passion for helping others. I admired that about her. She was a cool mum. It would have made her happy to see you like this. All grown up. To see that you made it."

Now it was Lune's turn to turn away. He felt he had to at least try to compose himself. He never would've expected Rue to be that kid. Life was funny like that. Maybe he was meant to save him. He had always wished he would meet them again so that he could show his gratitude to her somehow. Maybe this was the answer to his wish. An opportunity to show his gratitude to her by saving her son. If so, he hoped she could feel it, the strength of his gratitude and just how much her actions had meant to him. He would never forget the kindness she showed him that day.

"You know," Rue said to him, "she got so fired up after we met you. So protective, even though we'd never met you before. 'I wish he'd told me who hurt him. Who could hurt a sweet kid like that. Urgh! Maybe it was better he didn't. I'd be tempted to show them a thing or two. They better not hurt him again. And all I could do was give him half a sandwich. Half a sandwich? And I am supposed to be the adult. No wonder he didn't trust me. I wouldn't trust me. It was all I had with me, but still. He seemed so sad... If we see him again, Rue, let's cheer him up, okay?'" He giggled, remembering how they'd walked hand in hand, arms swinging between them. "She was the only one who could outtalk me."

Lune swung around, eyes decidedly misty, but he felt sure no one would dare mentioning it. "It was more than I had eaten in days. And she gave me a lot more than that. It didn't seem like you two had much either, and she still shared what she did have, with me, a stranger. She showed me kindness and care, like I'd never known and didn't even know existed before that moment. You were both so kind to me. That day changed my life. It gave me hope and it pushed me to keep going."