Trapped in a circle

P1.1

When they found him, he was in shock, covered in blood and holding onto a piece of rag. He fainted some minutes later. And nobody knew who he was or where he came from.

No one came to visit him during his time in hospital. So finally, there was a choice. Either, someone from the force adopts him or he gets abandoned into orphanage. Because there were no known relatives. Kid didn't even have his prints in the system, but that wasn't even a surprise. He was still so young. And he didn't talk. All he did was reacting. Sometimes strange, but mostly still humanlike. But he needed special care. He had gone through some kind of traumatic experience and no one knew what it had been.

***

"I'm taking him in. Give me the papers, I'll sign them." declared Patch quite loudly.

"Are you joking? Hey! Somebody check if she's sober!"

They couldn't believe her.

"I'm not drunk. Now, give me the damn papers." she was going to get angry.

"Hey, chill." they tried to calm her down. "I hate to break this to you but they way you are right now, you will never make a good mom and right now we're talking about a child with special needs. Not some kind of puppy."

Wow, that was rude. She felt her anger boiling up. They hadn't taken those papers out, they didn't listen to her at all, so she looked them dead in the eye while talking.

"You don't know shit about me. But I know this child will just be left to rot away in some dark corner where he can't be a bother to anyone if I don't take him in. And I don't want him to have such future, so give me those papers and I'll stop being pain in your asses."

That did the trick. She had the papers in less than five minutes. Then, all she had to do after that, was picking up the child.

***

In truth she had had the repulse to somehow help him the second she met him. It was hard to explain but she knew there was a spot in her souls, asking her to tie herself with him and help him.

First, she tried to find out what had happened. Surprise, surprise, there were no leads. No body, no nothing. All they had in that case was that bloody rag and him. He who looked at everyone for only a second and then turned away, somehow seeming disappointed. He had no interest in people, especially in talking to them. But he liked numbers and math. 

All the walls in the room where he was staying in, were written full of formulas. And to her surprise, kid had answered the question, what his name is, by writing 

"I'm number Five."

That was the only question he had ever given answer and that only raised more of them. Who had given him a name like that and what was the meaning of it? What had that kid seen?

"Hey Five, how are you today?"

No answer. As usual, he was too focused on doing his math no one else could understand.

"You're coming live with me, do you want to take anything with you?"

That was stupid question, he had almost nothing. Well, if they hadn't torn it out of his hands while he was unconscious, he would have definitely taken that bloody rag with him. He screamed nd fought to get it back when he woke up later and realized it wasn't with him.

They couldn't give it back to him as it was a piece of evidence. With a blood of somebody but they didn't know who. Whatever the story was, that thing was important to Five.

He didn't talk at all, but it was clear that he heard when others talked to him. Proof being that he stood up and held out his marker, almost like trying to tell her

"This. I'm taking this with me."

So most of the time, he just choose to ignore people, when they tried to communicate with him. And he wasn't deaf as they thought because of that. She knew he wasn't deaf.

She had noticed how tense he became when he heard them talking about that rags fate. He had even turned towards them to hear better. To look at people, it was rare for him to do that. Because every time he did that, those people, they could swear they saw grief, guilt and devastation in his look what he looked them with.

So he avoided looking and they didn't  see his emotions, meaning they didn't try to find out what was wrong with him. Patch thought that kid had a look of a old man who had seen the world. She wanted to fix him.

But was there really something that needed fixing or was she just convincing herself that five hadn't been like that from the start?

"Okay, let's go then. We'll make a stop by the shop, so if you want or need anything, we will get it from there."

Five nodded so he understood. They started going. Boy seemed nervous about leaving. He hadn't been among all those masses for more than three months. He even grabbed Patch's arm for comfort. That gave lady hope. Hope that Five can still bond with her and open up. Tell her what really happened.

***

Mushrooms, butter, some carrots, paprika. That should have been enough to make dinner. Five put some marshmallows, peanut butter and bread to basket, from Patch assumed he likes sweet things. Nothing else seemed to catch kids eye. Almost like they didn't exist to him. Like he only recognized those ingredients.

But he didn't eat those things like Patch had thought he would. She had thought Five will eat the marshmallows and then spread peanut butter on bread, but kid put it all together. Made a marshmallowsandwich. Something unheard of. But it seemed delicious and he clearly thought so. Five looked almost happy. Usually he just seemed confused or burdened. Both emotions didn't suit him at all. He had a beautiful smile which was rarely ever seen. It would have been wonderful if someday Five could smile without worry or sadness in those eyes. Until then, Patch tried to help him as she could and in the meantime solve all the mystery surrounding Five.

***

AN: So it's a start. I will tell right now, this story has no happy ending. Why should it when I have jet to see mine or anyone elses? Five is a character with a tragic backstory and to wait for something happy to happen, is waiting for a miracle. The way he is now, it's not possible. But there are happy moments here, what he knows to treasure because he fully understands how fragile that emotion is.

 Oh, and I may have forgot to say this before, but this is only the fist part of the story. There will be more. Second starts at chapter 8.