Lovers at War - (A.R.)

Chapter 22

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Children of Yesterday

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6 Months Earlier:

FOLLOWING THE UNTIMELY death of my parents, we (Wesley and I) were plunged headfirst into a dark world that we had no idea how to cope with. It wasn't odd to find the front page of the New York Times with news of the latest criminal activity. It seemed to me that the world had just grown scarier ever since I no longer had parents looking after me. And now that I was eighteen, I felt more like the adoptive mother of Wesley. Caring for him, feeding him and trying my best not to let him feel our parents' absence.

Parents were so concerned with keeping their children out of danger whilst simultaneously worrying about their safety that they had taken to hiring private tutors which had increased the number of students that I received. Once I graduated early from secondary school, I specialized in teaching children to prepare them for their eventual enrolment at high school. But now, due to the reputation, I had built up for myself eager mothers that had temporarily pulled their kids outside of school and taken to hiring me too.

The boy that I had arrived early to tutor, one that had been in the eighth grade, pushed away from the table with a deep sigh. I watched with a fond smile as he rolled his neck, exaggerating the gesture.

"Come on now, Thomas," I said, packing up my things. "We're done for the day since you only had an hour-long session with me today."

"But I've still got my other tutor to see," he muttered with a frown, rising to his feet. "God knows why I have so many of them."

"Because you need your education . . . And because you need help with a few subjects."

"Well, they're nowhere near as pretty as you are." He grinned cheekily as I rolled my eyes. I really hoped from the bottom of my heart that Wesley wouldn't turn out like this in the future.

"Honestly," I muttered in exasperation, shaking my head when his mother knocked on the door.

Poking her head around the door, the older woman smiled at me. "Someone's here to see you? A Wesley Irving?"

Furrowing my brows, I'd wondered why Wesley may have arrived so early. His school day wasn't to end for another few hours.

"Oh . . . Thank you." Rising from my feet, I slang my bag over my shoulder and patted Thomas on the top of his head. "Make sure you do all your homework for me. We'll go through it together next week."

Thomas nodded with a grin before following after me as I walked out of the study. Making my way towards the main door, I listened half-heartedly as the thirteen-year-old began to chatter continually about everything that his friends had been up to these days. His voice trailed off as we reached the bottom of the stairs and I moved away from him to hurry to Wesley's side.

Staring down at him with a smile, it confused me as he didn't mirror it like usual. "You're early."

Wesley's frown widened as he looked down at his shoes. Although the boy was only seven, he definitely knew how to keep his emotions hidden. "No reason."

I crouched down to his eye level, murmuring his name again to look up. He didn't. "Wes . . ." I prodded gently. "Something up?"

Not even a moment later, and he was shaking. The tears in his eyes were falling faster than ever, and all I could do was watch. The boy wasn't even telling me anything. Did he get a bad grade? I always knew he struggled with math, but I'd made sure to spend time studying with him every week. Maybe he accidentally tripped and was too embarrassed to tell me? Or maybe, had he gotten into a fight at school? No. He was so young, that'd be virtually impossible -

Lifting up his chin with my hand, I noticed a deep red gash slid across his cheek. Furrowing my brows, I muttered out his name a little more firmly this time. "Where did you get that?"

"Uh . . ." He struggled to answer. "Just fell off my bike, so I -"

"That doesn't look like a bike accident," I said. When there was no response, I gently touched the wound only to hear a seething noise from him. "Are you going to tell me, or should I -"

"It was a bunch of kids, okay?" He met my eyes, his own bloodshot from emotion. Not being able to keep up with the intensity of the subject, he lowered his gaze once again. "T-They bother me at school. Tell me that I'm a no-good orphan w-who . . ."

I didn't let him finish. Pulling him closer, I embraced him in what I hoped was a comforting hug. Gosh, why did this need to happen to Wesley for all reasons? He was so young and innocent, what made the world think that he could just be toyed with? That too for a reason that he had no control over . . . I didn't believe it, I refused to believe it.

"Wesley," I said when he had calmed down a little and we were on our way home now. "I don't think that you should go to school."

"What?" he asked, mouth gaped open in surprise. "You can't do that! I love school so much, it makes me so happy -"

"Calm down, kiddo," I said, nudging him gently on the shoulder. "You're going to school. Just not . . . here."

"Then where? Nose Creek, maybe? Fred actually goes there and he said that it's really cool!"

Pausing in my steps, Wesley quickly mimicked and looked up at me with questioning eyes.

Oh, it was definitely not around here, that was for sure.