13.Thirteen

30. Thirty

Thirteen was spat out the tube onto a hill. He stood up and brushed himself off from all the dirt. Thirteen looked down at the small town that was beneath the hill. Something in his brain was triggered, it felt like a memory. "I remember this place", Thirteen said to himself. He walked down the hill carefully. He passed a telephone pole and saw a poster on it. Curious, Thirteen took a closer look. The poster was a missing child's poster. "Damn, this poster old", Thirteen said, examining the poster. "13th of May, 2011". Thirteen put the poster in his pocket and continued his way down the hill. It occurred to him, he didn't even know what date or even year it was. "Excuse me", Thirteen said, stopping an old man, "Do you know what year it is? Or even the date?". The man looked at his watch, "It is the 8th of June, 2019".  Thirteen thanked the man and continued his way into the town. He took out the poster once again, "This poster is 6 years old. Hope that kid got found", he said.

Thirteen wandered around the town, not sure what to do. He wasn't sure if this even was his home. The boy on the poster looked so familiar though, he had to ask someone about it. He saw a mother and child playing in a park and approached them. "Excuse me", Thirteen began, "I found this poster. The boy on it looks so familiar, could you help me identifying him?". The mother looked shocked, "One-second honey", she said and took out her phone. "Hello? Yes, I think I've just found that missing little boy. I'll meet you there? Okay, thank you". The woman put her phone down and took Thirteen by his hand. "Come with me honey, I'm taking you somewhere safe". The woman's voice was calming. She took him to the police station, the police didn't even believe her. "I swear, this is him", the woman said, putting her daughter down for a second. "What's your name?", the woman asked, crouching down to Thirteen's level. "I don't remember, these people named me Thirteen", Thirteen answered. "Can you take out that poster again for me, please", she asked. "This is crazy Lucy, we found a boy's body 3 years ago", the cop said, stepping from behind the reception desk. Thirteen took the poster out and gave it to Lucy.  Lucy showed it to the cop, who looked shocked. He ran back behind his desk and called his supervisor. "You're not gonna believe this but a woman's just brought in the missing boy, Ben Mather's".

Lot's of phone calls were made, Thirteen was put in a waiting area made for little kids if their parents were in. It reminded Thirteen of the shack Maximus and Azrail had first set up, he didn't touch anything. The minutes felt like hours, finally, the cop that was at the reception came in for him. "Hello Ben, I'm Michael, can you come with me for just one second". Thirteen agreed and followed Michael into a room. Michael sat behind a computer and told Thirteen to sit in front of it. "Now", Michael began. "Ben, do you know your birthday?". "No I don't", Thirteen answered. "It is the 2nd of September, 2004. Making you 7 when you disappeared". "Are you going to send me back to my mom?", Thirteen asked. "Your mother died unfortunately 2 years ago, car accident", Michael said. "So what's going to happen to me?", Thirteen asked. "You have no living relatives I can see from your files, so probably next week will send you to East Brick Orphanage in Saints Row, Brooklyn", Michael explained. Thirteen slumped down in his chair, disappointed what he had come back to. "Ben, you are 15. Tell me, where have you been for the past 7 years?", Michael asked. "You're not going to believe me if I tell you", Thirteen said. "I will, I promise, just tell me where you've been". "Okay", Thirteen said and started telling the officer everything.