Don't Leave Me -DISCONTINUED/READ NEWEST CHAPTER-

The Party

I never liked being alone. 

I had spent much of my life alone, in hospitals and in closets.

Closets were the worst. At least at the hospital nurses check on you but in a dark, locked closet, no one checks to make sure you're okay or hungry or cold or alone.

Yet here I am in the back of a closet in a bedroom. This is where I felt safe oddly enough. When I was in the closet, no one could hurt me, not even Pa.

"Andrew!" Carl's voice called. 

I gently unfold myself from the corner.

"...here." I reluctantly call.

Carl opens the closet door and looks down at me, his sheriff's hat casting a shadow over his face.

"I was gonna go meet some of the kids, would you like to come?" He questioned, outstretching his hand towards me.

Carl couldn't ever hurt me. Not unless he died. But Carl was strong. His dad was there to teach him. His dad would protect him.

"Okay."

Carl's hand engulfs my tiny one as he helps me stand and walks me downstairs and out the door.

We make our way to one of the white house's where Carl knocks on the door.

Jessie from last night answers and is surprised to see me. "Hello Carl. Hello Andrew." She politely greets. "Ron and his friends are upstairs. Andrew can play with Sam if he wants."

Carl thanks her and leads me up the stairs to a bedroom where there are three teenagers Carl's age.

"Hey. Do you wanna play some video games?" A boy named Ron questioned.

I tune out of their conversation, looking around the room instead. It was clean and had fresh sheets and posters plastered on the walls. There was a televison, gaming console and comic books.

I didn't like it here. It was too clean, too calm. I left under the lie that I was going to find the boy named Sam that Jessie was talking about.

I walk the streets in search of something to do when I spot a boy shooting hoops in the front yard of his house.

"Hey." He greets, spotting me watching him. "Wanna play?"

"I dunno how." I speak the truth.

"That's okay. I'll show you. I'm Justin by the way." He wipes a brown curl of hair from his face.

"I'm Andrew." I introduce myself.

"Cool. Here," Justin shows me how to play basket ball and we spend hours just bouncing the ball and throwing it into the net.

"I live with my Mom my Dad and my brother." Justin tells me as he passes me the ball. "My brothers name is Albert  it we call him Albie. He's two." Justin rambles.

The sun starts to set and my aching limbs begin to inhibit my ability to play.

"I should get home." I tell him.

"What about the party?" Justin questioned, tucking the ball under his arm.

"What party?" No one had told me about a party.

"The one to welcome you and your group." He explained.

"Oh. Well I should get going anyway." I shrug.

"Okay." Justin holds his hand out to me. "Here."

He guides me through some sort of handshake where we high five and fistbump.