Trust- Boreo

Father

Boris didn't show up to school come Thursday.

Theo wouldn't know about Wednesday, the moment the traumatic beating he overheard was underway, he ran away before he became the next victim. And for the rest of the day and into Wednesday, he had practically gone on lockdown inside his own room.

The guilt consumed him. What had happened afterwards? Did Boris's father do permanent damage to his son? From the 5 minutes he overheard, he knew Boris wouldn't quite be himself.

What did the Ukrainian boy even do to deserve a beating like that?

So many questions, and no answers. Theo tried texting Boris, even though it could be risky since he had no idea the current state of the house, and for all he knew he could be texting Boris's father.

But Theo just saw that Boris had added his contact to Theo's janky old phone, and he went along with it.

But Boris didn't respond to any of Theo's text messages. Theo knew it wasn't because he was using some 50 dollar outdated and beat up 1st generation iPhone, it was tried and tested. Just in case, he even tried using the school WiFi to send his messages. Nothing. But the most worrying thing.... that little "read" message showed up.

Tuesday 11:30 PM
You:Boris, ru ok?
read 11:30 PM

Tuesday 11:35 PM
You: hey
read 2:00 AM

Wednesday 10:08 AM
You: im not leaving my house today, but let me know if you're still there
read 7:14 PM

Today at 1:27 PM
You: nothing's happening at school today meet me at the swings

Boris didn't show up to that playground, that swing set where Theo's dizzying first encounter with actual, hits you and gets you high, drugs had happened.

Ironic, it was at a playground where Theo first learned the existence of drugs, when his mother pulled him aside to gently nod at the direction of a suspicious looking man snooping around at the kids. She introduced to young Theo the idea of "stranger danger" and those toxic pills and powder he had to run and shout from.

And what had he done 2 nights prior?

Yep, hit up oxy with a barely known acquaintance at a playground, before ending up spending the night at his house.

But that wasn't the full truth, mainly because.... Boris was no stranger to begin with. That much was clear, whatever he had done back in the house to give Theo that chance to escape...

His mother's life lesson still held true, Theo ruled. At least the toxic pills and shots part.

He had decided to skip class in order to check on Boris's house. The rest of his schedule was dull anyways... he had nothing going on that was worth staying for anyways.

As Theo came back from school, he heard Xandra shout out to him. The two had an icy relationship, with her regarding him more as a strange roommate than a "son" of any type. Theo treated her the same.

"Why are you home from school so soon? Are you walking the dog?" Theo raised a brow, unable to recall the last time, if there even was a time, when Xandra was making sure she knew where Theo was going. Or if she even cared whether or not he made it home everyday.

"Yeah." He said quickly, looking around for their dog, Popper. "Going to walk him... it was a minimum day today." Theo was getting awfully good at lying.

A small little white Maltese that looked quite a bit skinner than it should was resting on a small, stained and used dog bed. Theo had managed to get the bed for cheap at a yard sale. The level of neglect the dog faced was shocking, and Theo thought the least he could do was use his pocket change for it.