little bird // r.keene

xxx. caged bird.

Wren had been waiting for Will for about 15 minutes now. He had never been late for her weekly visits ever. Not one. It had always been her. Wren played with her thumbs in her lap as other tables around her had other kids with their visitors, she looked around. All of them chatting, some laughing.

She got up from her chair and walked over to their window which looked down into the corridor and funnily enough it was just then she spotted Will walking down towards her.

His arm in a sling.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." She uttered to herself and sat back in her seat. Will trailed in, a guard following close behind him.

"So..." Wren said dryly.
"I can explain..." Will said abruptly, "And before you ask, it's not broken." He added and Wren leaned forward on her elbows.

"You do realise they are never going to let you out if you keep getting into fights right? The second you turn 18 they are just going to cart you off someplace worse..." Wren uttered to him, irritation lining her voice and Will knew it.

"It's alright, Wren. I won't be here when I turn 18. I'll be out and free as a bird with you." Will explained simply, as if it was funny but Wren couldn't think of anything that was further from entertaining.
"Yeah, not if you keep pulling this shit." She told him, her brows furrowed, "Who does this to you anyway? Who do you get into fights with?" She asked him and Will looked around the room.

"You see the guy sat by the door with the little old woman?" He asked and Wren looked over, a large boy, maybe not as tall as Will but he looked stronger. He was laughing at something the woman said, Wren guessed it was his mother. She had seen him before too, he had been in the room with Will when she was late for her visit the afternoon she got a lift from Sam.

"His name is Shawn. He's in for assault." Will told Wren and she ripped her eyes from Shawn and let them land back on Will.
"Great." She said sarcastically as she reached out to touch his bandage. She could see the small patches of purple skin seeping out from the white material. "Sure looks broken to me..." She said dryly.

"Sprained. I'll be fine in a week or two."
"Okay, okay. That's good." Wren found herself saying but none of this was good. Not really. "Why did you fight him in the first place?" She asked and Will's eyes immediately dropped, which Wren knew meant there was something he was trying to hide.

"Shawn gets off on picking on the new kids- making their lives miserable. I just told him to 'fuck off' is all. He hit me first-" Will explained by Wren reached out and touched his hand, he broke himself off.

"Will..." She said gently, "Do you want to get out before you turn 18?"

He didn't answer. Wren's heart sunk.

"Wren, Dad was never there and mom split after Rue died. I've got no-"
"Don't you dare say you have no one William Larson." She snapped at him, gripping his non bandaged hand. "You have The Bookshelf and Mr James and me. You do have a life out there waiting for you, a good one." Wren told him, her voice shaky but Will just covered her hand with his other one and looked into her eyes.

"It's different for you, Wren. They don't know you live alone. They won't just let me go off into the world without a second thought. When they find out mom and dad aren't in the picture they'll cart me off somewhere to live with strangers. I want to stay until I'm 18." Wren was biting her lip and shaking her head.

"Will, please. I need you to get out. Please don't get any more time added on." Will saw the tears burning in the front of her eyes and he saw how much this meant to her. This whole time he thought she was out there living her life and slowly forgetting about him.

Whilst she was actually just waiting for him.

Wren was waiting for him.

"I'll get Mr James to pretend to be your grandad or something. We'll make a plan but you have to promise me, you won't get any more time. Please, Will." Wren repeated, running her thumb in little circles over his skin.

"Okay." Will whispered and Wren felt her shoulders soften. "Okay, I won't. I have four months left. I promise I won't get anything added." He told her and Wren dipped her head, letting her eyes rest on the table. "Hey, little bird, look at me." She did. "But you can't just sit around waiting for me either, I won't let you." Wren smiled at that.

"Yeah, well there's nothing you can do about that. Now is there Billy?" She asked playfully, still holding his hand tenderly.

"You know how I hate it."
"I do, that's why I do it." She teased and he just smiled. "Oh, and I got something for you." Wren suddenly told him, it had completely slipped her mind.

"What is it this time?" He asked, last time she had brought him a copy of 'Little Women', he devoured it within four days and it was something he cherished.
"Here." She pulled it out from her bag and slid it across the white table towards him.

"Lord of the Flies, eh?" Will chuckled, smoothing the cover with his fingers. "Heard of it, never read it though."
"Well, today is your lucky day, Billy." She grinned and he shook his head laughing, setting the book back down on the table.

"Thanks little bird."
"Anything, darling. I'll bring you something new next week too, not sure what it's going to be yet but I've got time to figure it out." Wren thought out loud, causing him to laugh again.

"What happened?" He asked suddenly, causing Wren to furrow her eyebrows.
"What are you talking about?" She asked and Will reached for her hand again, she let him.

"Believe it or not, I do know you Wren. You're trying to forget about something, what is it?" He asked her and Wren shrugged thoughtlessly.
"When I come visit, I always rant to you about my life and you are a great listener but I just want to enjoy spending time with you and forget about them." She told him because it was true. Everything with Robby Hawk and Sam was eating away at her.

Hawk's betrayal. Sam's judgement, Robby's apology.

It was all fresh and raw and it hurt.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Will asked, giving her hand a light squeeze where they met in the middle of the table.

At that moment Shawn looked over as his mom got up to leave, Will had his back to him but he saw Wren's face. He knew she visited Will every week and from the look on her face- they meant a lot to each other. he would bare that in mind for the future.

"It would take hours to explain anyway." Wren told him playfully, shaking her head before smiling and looking back up at Will.

"I could listen to you for hours anytime, little bird." He told her and Wren couldn't wait for those four months to be over.