The New King

A Date with Destiny

"I couldn't stop running," he said, hands trembling on the table and eyes locked to my own. He looked as if he was going to die in the next minute, which was understandable. The gun clipped to my belt and my partner's was enough to make anyone scared, but he was the only suspect, an eyewitness, in the crime and I was the one who had to ask the questions.

Me, being the replacement of another agent, was stunned into believing his story. He looked so young and innocent, even though he adorned a beanie and bracelets that read “Brothers Stick Together” with the ninja turtles on it and a band bracelet from Steam Powered Giraffe. Strange, but it was what he was into.

The smell of coffee in the room and my partner’s Old Spice cologne made the room feel like a busier version of my desk, but nothing to what this boy sitting at the oak and cedar table was used to.

“Who was chasing you?” my partner, Seeley Booth, asked as he crossed his fingers on the table and looked deeper into his expressions. The boy looked over to him and glanced one last time to me, then shrugged.

“I-I don’t know. It was dark, I was scared, and all I knew was that he was dead.”

“‘He’ as in Mr. Chambers?” Seeley asked. He nodded and looked over to my coffee cup, then to his hands in he’d dragged into his lap. “Mr. Pruitt, you’ll need to tell us everything you know about what happened or else we won’t be able to find whoever killed your friend-”

“Jackson, and yeah, I know. I’ve seen all the cop shows.” We put him in the conference room for a reason, to not make him nervous, but he still seemed shaky. I was starting to feel bad for this kid. It looked as if Agent Booth was, too. Look at us; Agent Aubrey and Agent Booth: FBI and wussies, coming to a murder-case near you. I can imagine that crawling up the screen in yellow text in an old Star-Wars fashion.

“I remember walking into the place with Jacky, not really expecting much but a clown mask and a bit of a strobe light, but realized it was much more.” I heard Dr. Bennan on the other side of the glass windows behind me thinking aloud to herself. “He said he was going to have me meet a new friend of his.. um… Lith or something like that, and he had the newest CoD game to play. But, then this guy came out in a black morphsuit with a knife or tool of some sort, and ran at us.”

“Morphsuit…?” Seeley asked.

“Oh,” I said, “It’s a full body suit that is like Spandex that forms to the body and makes you like a… Gumby sort of thing.” He nodded, getting a smell grin from the kid.

“Alright then, Decker,” Seeley started up again, “then what happened?”

“I got out of there quicker than he did. I ran for the woods and heard him scream. I’m now starting to think he was trying to get me killed.” I watched his bottom lip tremble and i slid a box of tissues over to him. He pushed it away, looking at Seeley with a face of strength.

“Where are your foster parents, Decker? We’ve tried to contact them-”

“Out of town, as far as I know. Shitty people.”

“Language,” I said. A strong word for that kinda kid was off putting. Especially a kid with a pastel purple tank top, black jeans, and short, red hair. It was obviously dyed, the way it shimmered, but it looked pretty normal with his pale complexion and large, black rimmed glasses.

“Alright then, Mr. Pruitt, I think we’re done here.”

“But,” he said, putting his palms onto the table, looking up sharply before Seeley could get out of his seat all the way, “where will I stay tonight?”

It was 6 in the afternoon and already this kid was homeless. Shitty foster parents was an understatement.

“Did they not leave you any keys or anything?” I asked. He shook his head.

“Mobile home, a camper kind of thing.” He sighed after he stated his fate, looking down to his hands after dragging them back into his lap. Seeley looked about and then looked at me, standing up all the way and grabbing the files from the table.

“I’ll find something for you,” I said. “Not a problem. Just hang out for a while, I can get you a book or something, and I’ll be back.” He nodded and Seeley and I walked out, already rushed with questions from Mrs. Booth, Dr. Bennan.

“He’s not a ‘he’, Booth,” she said as we walked, rushing up to follow us. “His jaw line structure and hip flammation suggests ‘he’ is actually a female,” she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. I stopped short to look back at her worried expression.

“This could have been an attempted murder of a transgender teenager,” she said, defeated. “A gay-crime of the sorts; something we should pay extra attention to.”

“Bones, I’ve got this under control. Go back to the lab, do the bones-thing you like to do, and I’ll figure out the facts,” he replied, giving her a quick kiss on the lips and walking away. Busy Booth is a dick-head, from what I’ve gathered.

“Booth, our victim is also a female.” This got him to stop. “Studies show that transgender young adults usually find comfort in transitioning in each other. Jackson Chambers is really Jackland Chambers. Angela did the data-base search and all the evidence shows it. Booth, that boy is alone now.”

“I know. Aubrey’s on it.” And with that, he was gone into the elevator. I waved at her, sliding in after him, watching the doors shut with a light “ping”. Seeley hit the first floor button and looked over at me. “You are on it, right?”

“I was going to ask Hodgens about letting him stay over at their place, knowing Angela is a very big supporter of that whole gay thing.”

“Don’t be rude. Just because he’s different doesn’t automatically make him ‘gay’, okay?” I nodded and thought it over. “Just find a place for him to stay the night and we’ll pick up the case tomorrow. I have a wife and daughter to get home to, if you’ll excuse me.” The doors opened and he walked out. I pressed the button to go to my office floor and the doors shut with another light “ping”.