Together Till.

Thirteen

David sighed as he slammed the door of his house shut. He threw his duffle bag on to the couch and walked over to the fish tank that housed quite a lot of exotic looking fish. He sighed a bit as he smiled towards the fish.

"I hope Destiny's been taking care of you little guys." He whispered to them.

He heard a creak from the front door and he turned his head quickly. There was Destiny, the 13 year old that was taking care of his fish. She looked at David with wide eyes.

"You're back! Summer wasn't supposed to end till next week." She said.

"Something happened and the camp was closed early."

"Oh." She said as she walked in and closed the door, "I guess I'm done now?"

David nodded and went back to his duffle bag to retrieve his wallet. Destiny plopped down onto the loveseat across from him and smiled.

"I really like your fish, Mr.Wilde."

David smiled as he went through his wallet picking out a few tens, "Thank you. They were hard to find."

"My mom and me even cleaned out your fridge."

David smiled some more, "Thank you! I appreciate that greatly! I hate coming home to the smell of something spoiled." He handed her the money, "So hows your sister? Has she gotten better?"

Destiny smile faded a bit, "The doctor said that something in her lower spine broke so she'll be paralyzed from the waist-down. Mom's a little upset because we'll have to move and she's a little low on money."

David pet her hair and gave a small smile,"Hey don't worry. Just remember that if you or your mom needs anything you can just ask me."

Destiny nodded and spoke, "Mom's wanting to know if you would like to come over for dinner?"

"I'd love to!" David said.

Destiny got up and David followed her behind to her house. He liked Destiny's house, it had an older feel to it and it smelled like animal crackers. Destiny has an older sister, she has no dad, but lives with her mom and grandfather.

"Mom! I'm back with Mr.Wilde!" Destiny yelled out as she opened the door to her house.

A woman popped her head through a doorway as she smiled, "David! It's great to see you again!"

They hugged as Destiny walked away and the woman's face turned sad, "I saw on the news. I can't believe that psychopath tried to kill you!"

David rubbed the back of his neck and nodded, "Yeah."

"Well dinner is almost done so come on. You can help Destiny set the table."

David smiled and walked into the kitchen. An old man sat at the table, with an air tank sitting at his side. He looked at David and gave an almost toothless smile.

"Hey there. Hope you have room for my daughters cooking."

"Of course! Ms.Becker is the best cook in town."

A small laugh came from Ms.Becker as her face went red, "You and your complements!"

They laughed a bit as David helped Destiny grab the plates and set them out. Soon Ms.Becker filled the plates with food and sat down herself.

"Mom, can I say prayer this time?" Destiny asked.

"Of course, sweetie."

Once Destiny said prayer and they said their 'amens' they began eating. Sharing conversation between each other with David and Destiny listening to the grandfathers war stories with pure interest.

Once they finished eating David helped Ms.Becker clean up and do dishes. She turned on the mini-tv that sat on the counter and a news report was playing.

Ms.Becker sighed, "They've been playing the same news report on repeat ever since they've shown it."

"May I watch it?" David asked, "Y'know. Since I never got to see it."

Ms.Becker nodded and carried on with dishes while David watched it. A picture of himself popped up saying that police brought him in for questioning on harboring and helping a wanted fugitive. Saying that since him and Daniel looked alike that maybe they were related so that's why he helped Daniel out.

But of course they confirmed that they weren't related at all just coincidence that they looked similar. But they brought on the fact that Daniel was there before and that maybe they had a relationship. It made David's cheeks turn pink and cover his mouth.

Ms.Becker let out a small laugh, "I can't believe they would think of that. You're not even gay."

David looked at Ms.Becker a bit before turning his attention back to the tv. They carried on saying what Daniel did and how he was arrested and caught assaulting David and Max.

That made David perk up a bit and he turned to Ms.Becker, "Do you know what happened to the kids?"

Ms.Becker stopped and looked at David, "They said that the kids were returned home. They even did a news report on a little kid. He had black curly hair and wore a blue hoodie."

"What did they say about him?"

"They said that they were unable to get into contact with his parents and said that if they recognized him then call a certain number."

"What was the number?" David asked.

"It was the number for a orphanage, I think. I wrote it down on a piece of paper."

"May I have it?"

Ms.Becker nodded and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to David. He nodded and smiled, saying his goodbyes and ran for home.

When he got home he got on his computer and looked up the phone number, it was the number for an orphanage a little ways out of town. There were a few news articles on the newer kids there and he recognized two of them immediately.

Max and Harrison.

David stared at their photos for a long while before tearing up and crying. He failed to protect the kids. He felt like all of this was his fault and he balled his fists into his hair.

He let out a shaky sigh and got up. He decided that once he gets all of those things cleared from his name he'll go get Max and Harrison. He went over to a door and opened it looking into the room that actually used to be his when he was a kid. It was very nature themed and all of the furniture was handmade from logs.

It smelled similar to a forest and he loved it. He plopped down onto the old bed and a large puff of dust flew up around him. His parents gave the house to him when he was 19 and it served as a vacation home in this cute remote town.

"I guess I'll go ahead and make a bunk bed for them," David said as he looked around, "Get a few new books too, and another dresser."

He got up and went to his room, he looked at his phone and went through it a bit as he got undressed and headed for the bathroom. No new messages or calls from anyone or anything. He laid his phone down on the counter and got into the shower.

He looked down his body and saw the bruises on his sides and arms. The camp was a rough place for him and he always came back with scratches and bruises all over his body. He was usually sore but it was nice, well except for these few days.

Once he finished showering he got dressed for bed and before he got to lay down his phone started ringing. He ran and picked it up.

"Hello! David Wilde speaking! Who is this?" David said smiling a bit.

"David."