The next morning was Saturday. And Saturday meant cartoons.
Pete awoke at 7:30 and rushed down the ladder of the bunk bed. He was about to race down and turn the TV on, when he noticed something strange.
Patrick was sleeping on his bottom bunk. But that wasn't the strange thing. The strange thing was the toy leg leaning up against the wood of the bed frame.
It looked funny, Pete decided. It had a plastic foot connected to a blue metal foot with a plastic cup at the top. He wondered why Patrick had a toy leg lying around. He knew Mom and Dad didn't like it when Pete brought toys out of the playroom, so decided to put it back where it should be.
Pete sped downstairs and saw Hillary already sitting in front of the TV, and forgetting about Patrick's toy leg, he sat down on his spot on the couch and joined her.
It was about 10am when Pete's Mom and Dad came downstairs after their traditional Saturday morning sleep in. After some coffee and contemplation, they came in and sat down beside their children.
"Is Patrick up yet?" His Mom asked mindlessly, still waking up.
Pete shook his head. "Nope. But I found this really weird thing beside his bed! Look!"
Pete watched both his parent's faces fall.
"What's wrong?"
"Dale, I'll, I'll speak to him. You go check on Patrick." Pete's Dad stammered.
Pete's Mom took the leg from Pete before dashing upstairs rather urgently.
"What's wrong?" Pete asked. "I thought we weren't allowed to take toys from the playroom, that's why I brought it down."
Pete's Dad ran a hand through his hair. "I know Peter. You thought you were doing the right thing. Except that isn't a toy, okay?"
Pete was puzzled. "What is it then?"
"It's Patrick's, okay? That's all you really need to know. He needs it to get around. You know how he limps a little when he walks?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, that's because he uses this thing."
"I don't understand...." Pete stated.
"Okay, well, um... have you heard of something called an amputee?"
Pete shook his head.
"Okay. So an amputee is someone who only has one leg, or part of one leg is missing. So what they do is they get a pretend leg made out of metal or plastic, and then they use that to walk around."
"So Patrick is an am-poo-tea?"
"Amputee, yes. But you can't tell him, okay? He doesn't like to talk about it. And he doesn't want anyone to know."
Pete nodded uncertainly and turned back to watch cartoons.
YOU ARE READING
Troubled Soul || Fall Out Boy
Fanfiction"So why doesn't he go to school?" Andy asked. "I think he's just too weird." Pete replied. Pete's parents have a new kid. A weird kid. A kid who always looks likes he's going to cry and walks funny. A foster kid. Pete doesn't like him. Not at all.
