Teenage Baby

Chapter 30

Chapter 30:

The first thing that had to be done was disconnecting the baby monitor.

Aaron didn't even realize there was a baby monitor in the room until a day or two before he decided to escape:

He had just woken up that day and none of the captors had come yet, so he'd turned to Leo. Just as he'd been about to gently put out escaping in terms of an adventure, Leo had suddenly interrupted him.

"Say hi to Mommy, Aar," Leo had said as he'd extended his arm forward and pointed over Aaron's shoulder. Aaron had frowned uncertainly, his eyes slowly following Leo's index until he'd craned his neck back and peeked over his shoulder. There, his vision had suddenly fallen upon the baby monitor that stood on a shelf and stared right back at him menacingly, a small green light flashing as an indication that it was carefully consuming each word he'd been saying. "She can hear you if she's not sleeping, Aar."

Well shit, Aaron had thought.

So now he targeted the monitor with resentful eyes as he hopped out of the crib, exactly like he'd done the last time. He landed nimbly on the floor, then walked on his very tiptoes as he approached the small shelf the monitor sat on.

His hand reached out to the wire plugged in the back of it, and he held his breath so that echoes of pluming air wouldn't creak on the other side, carefully making a move to pull it out. But then he froze, his mind drowning in a flood of scenarios of an alarm, perhaps, blaring when he'd turn it off. He hesitated, hand trembling against the wire for a second.

Don't be stupid, Aaron thought. Nothing's gonna happen. He filled his lungs with a shaky breath and quickly pulled out the plug.

The green light turned off immediately, but nothing else happened. The air that he'd gathered in his lungs deflated through the relieved part of his lips, his chest slowly rising and dropping.

Aaron turned and skulked towards the closet then opened it, cringing as it creaked along. He pulled out a backpack and two jackets—one he quickly put on and the other he left for Leo. Then he dumped into the bag some small pillows and fluffy towels and quilts which were folded in the closet. There were two pairs of shoes for him and Leo next to the foot of the closet, and he took them and pushed them into the bag as well.

They were going to run a lot. They needed those.

As Aaron took in a small breath, he turned and looked at Leo sleeping peacefully in his crib. He dreaded having to wake him up because he was a little scared of his reaction. Aaron had established that Leo trusted him enough, but he hadn't had the chance to even bring up the situation tonight other than in a brief moment when he'd told him they were going on an adventure to find a treasure soon.

Aaron went back to his own crib, treading his arm through the bars as he brought the key and the injection out from the plushes and quickly pushed them into his pocket. As he looked at the long, sharp needle, he wished he wouldn't have to use it.

He walked to Leo to wake him up, reaching his hand to him and gently shaking his shoulder, only to receive a tiny shift in position as Leo subconsciously moved away from his hand.

When Aaron insisted a little more, Leo finally hummed, turning to look at him through the sleepy squint of his eyes. His brows came together in a frown as he took in through rapid blinks Aaron just beside him, and he tilted his head up for a glance at his crib. It was empty, he realized.

"Aar? Why aren't you in your bed? Daddy says we shouldn't get out alone, he'll be mad at you."

"Don't worry, he won't mind. We're going on an adventure, remember? Come on, wake up. We need to find a treasure."