Guardian

chapter nine

I woke up again to the sound of Kellin groaning. I looked up weakly to see his dad grabbing him by the hair and tossing him down the front steps.

"And don't come back!" his father yelled after him as he landed with a thud on the cement. Quickly, I picked myself up and sprinted after Kellin and watched helplessly as he stood up shakily. From the way he was limping I could tell that his leg was still paining him after last night. I wondered briefly if he could remember anything I'd done last night. The thought didn't bother me much- what could he do even if he did remember?

I followed Kellin around for the rest of the day, mostly because I didn't know what else to do but also because I wanted to make sure he was okay. He wandered around aimlessly for a while, until I began to recognize the path he was taking. He was headed towards the beach. But... why would he go there? There was nowhere to stay, and definitely no food, warmth or shelter. I frowned. How could I get him to go somewhere else? Surely someone could let him stay with them for a while.

He walked onto the dock (the same one I had jumped off of) and sat down, staring off into the distance. He seemed completely dazed as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket (had he always smoked?) before he must have realized he had nothing to light it with. It dangled in his mouth like a forgotten toy since Kellin didn't seem to have any intention of moving it. The only upside to this change in events was that he had nothing to hurt himself with as far as I could see. He sat there for the rest of the day, barely moving and hardly even blinking the whole time. In fact, he was so completely lost in thought that instead of laying down and getting comfortable to sleep, he kind of just passed out, falling over and hitting his head with a thump. This was not good.

Sunday passed slowly and uneventfully. The few people who did come by the lake just ignored him- who cared about the weird kid staring at the water? But when the sun started to set and Kellin still hadn't moved, even to get food, I knew I needed to do something.

By noon on Monday, Kellin was completely soaked from head to toe. I had been raining all day- but at least he had moved from the lake to the alley behind the liquor store in the hopes of getting some shelter. There was no way in hell I was going to let him stay out here though. I knew of at least one person who would take him in. Since I didn't know where Austin lived, I decided Kellin would have to stay out of trouble for a little while by himself. I appeared in the middle of the school just as Austin was putting away his books before lunch. I smiled a little to myself- perfect timing. I searched hastily through an absent teachers desk for a piece of scrap paper and a pen and took it over to Austin's locker. I felt like a little kid playing a spy as I checked to make sure that no kids would see a floating pen and paper. Not quite sure of what to say, I opted for a short and to the point note:

Austin-

Please meet me behind the liquor store as soon as you can. It's urgent.

By the time I had reappeared next to Kellin, he had fallen asleep with his head on some flattened cardboard boxes, despite the fact that he had practically just woken up. I sighed with a little contentment at the sight of his chest rising and falling rhythmically. At least he found happiness somewhere.

However, it was short lived. As I watched, Kellin's peaceful sleeping turned into tossing and turning. His soft breathing turned erratic and his face contorted into a frown. I could barely make out his whimpers.

"No... please don't... I'll change... I'm sorry," he mumbled, still fast asleep.

"Oh Kells," I sat down beside him and pulled him onto my lap, my leg acting as a pillow. I rubbed his arm gently while cooing: "It's going to be okay... I won't let him hurt you." I held him tightly until his breathing returned to normal and his body relaxed. And even after that I sat with him a while, just because it felt nice to have him in my arms.

By the time school had ended, Austin (bless his soul) was practically sprinting to get to the back of the liquor store. Not long after Austin had arrived and Kellin tried to explain that it wasn't him who left the note, his malnourishment betrayed him and he collapsed into Austin's arms. I felt extremely grateful towards him once again, as he carried Kellin back to his house as if he weighed about ten pounds.

"I really appreciate this. You didn't have to," said Kellin quietly after explaining his situation back at Austin's house. My plan had worked and Kellin was no longer homeless. Although Kellin seemed quite embarrassed with the whole situation.

"It's no problem," Austin said, shooting him a wide smile. "And I'm sorry about kissing you-"

Kellin cut him off immediately. "It's fine, really. Don't worry about it. Never happened."

Yeah, it's fine, I thought, but you better not try it again.

"There's, um, just one more thing I was hoping you might be able to help me out with," Kellin said, sounding a bit flustered. "But, um... Do you have a ouija board?"