Chapter Text
Ely lay quietly on the pile of blankets that served as his bed, staring across the room at the beat-up mattress that his big brother, Kian had slept on. Before he was killed by a speeding car.
The child could hear his mother moving around the apartment outside his room. He didn’t know what she was doing, and honestly didn’t care. She’d never cared about him or his brother.
She’d barely batted an eyelash when that policeman came to their door that night, a forlorn look on his face as he broke the news.
Ely wanted to hate her like Kian had, but he couldn’t find it in him. That was his ‘problem’. He could only ever see the good in people.
Even when their mother would abandon them for days at a time because she was off getting drunk with some man, or when she’d waste all the money they had on alcohol and whatever else, putting herself further into debt with yet another loan shark, Ely just couldn’t hate her.
It wasn’t like her constant money-wasting affected him a ton. For a while now, envelopes of money had been appearing on the windowsill, always with enough to get food, and maybe a new piece of clothing if needed. Ely didn’t know where they came from, but he wasn’t bothered with finding out. He knew he’d probably starve if it weren’t for this anonymous person’s money.
Hell, he was barely seven years old and completely fending for himself.
Sighing and pulling himself up off the blankets, Ely stood, grabbing a plush that Kian had given to him and left his room. The room that was honestly a large broom closet.
The child wandered out into the kitchen area of the apartment, hearing before seeing his mother loudly talking on the phone with someone in the other room. Per usual, her shirt was sagging off her shoulders and Ely could smell the alcohol on her from where he was.
“That’d free me from all of it? Really? Okay, when can you get him? Tonight- yeah tonight works.”
Ely’s mother put the phone back on the hook, now noticing her son was standing there. Ely could almost swear she looked disappointed. But that was soon masked by false excitement. She grasped his small shoulders. The child flinched back a bit at the heavy smell.
“We’re gonna have a visitor later, baby! Isn’t that exciting?” Ely just nodded, wishing he hadn’t left his room. His mother let go of his shoulders and went to her own room, leaving him alone.
The small blonde went and sat down in front of the small tv they somehow had, hugging the plush. The show that was on used to be Kian’s favorite. Ely got up and went back to the kitchen. He didn’t wanna think about his brother right now. He missed him too much.
A clock on the wall read 5:00 pm, but Ely had no idea if that was actually the right time, considering that many of the other electronics in the apartment were either broken or had long-dead batteries that his mother never bothered to change.
Pulling out a granola bar that he always kept in his pocket, Ely sat down at the table, having to put his hand up to keep his balance when the chair tipped a bit.
The boy ate slowly, just watching the clock tick and listening to his mom get on the phone again, no doubt talking to whatever boyfriend she had now. He could tell by the way she was yelling.
The yelling stopped after about an hour, so Ely took that as a sign his mother had gone back to her room. She’d probably be there for the rest of the night like she usually was after a “breakup”. So Ely went back to the living room, grabbing another granola bar to stick in his pocket.
He sat down in front of the tv again; the show playing had changed. He flipped over to be laying on his stomach, staring up at the screen, not exactly paying attention to what was playing.
Ely didn’t really like watching tv anymore, ever since he’d watched the news that one night just to see his big brother was dead. He got up for a minute to grab a pillow off the couch, going back to the floor in front of the television. The pillow was placed down and Ely lay face down on it, listening to the sound of the tv and the ac somewhere in the background.
He drifted off before too long.
The child awoke to the sound of someone banging on the door. Figuring his mom would come get it, he laid back down onto the pillow, trying to fall asleep again. But the banging continued and his mother never came out.
So Ely got up, grabbing his plush from where it’d fallen off the pillow, and moved to the door. He glanced back at the clock in the kitchen; it read 11:30. Seemed too late for someone to be knocking at the door, but whatever. The small blonde reached up to the door handle and unlocked it, pulling it open.
A tall, broad-shouldered man stood there in the doorway. Ely could see a few smaller ones behind him. “Who are you? Are you the visitor that my momma said we’d have?”
The man’s eyes glowed with malicious intent. “You could say that.” Ely shifted back slightly. “It’s a bit late for visitors.”
“Nonsense child. Come on now, your mother needs you to come with us.”
Ely stepped back fully this time. “I-I don’t want to go with you.” The man grasped his arm. “You don’t have a choice, kid.”
The child tried to struggle away, but couldn’t due to the fact he was too small as well as the other men who had gotten a hold on him.
The three men pulled the boy down the hall and out to the staircase leading down to the ground floor. Ely was still clutching his plush tight, thankful he hadn’t dropped it when he had been grabbed.
He obeyed when told to go down the stairs; he didn’t feel like getting pushed and possibly dying. He knew falling down stairs could kill people. A lot of things could. Like cars. And stairs.
They soon reached the bottom of the stairs, the biggest man guiding the child across the sidewalk towards a nondescript black van. Ely could swear he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look, he was just shoved forward.
Ely kept his head down, suddenly realizing he wasn’t wearing shoes or socks. His feet were cold. He then heard footsteps and shouting, looking up to see a cloaked man standing in front of him and the other men.
The cloaked man raised an arm holding a phone, pressing a few buttons on it. Several loud thumps sounded behind Ely, and he turned to see all of the men had all fallen to the ground.
Ely stared at them for a moment, clutching his plush close. He jumped at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. It was the cloaked man. The child couldn’t see the man’s face in the darkness, but didn’t object as he was picked up and brought to the van.
The man picked the passenger side lock with one hand, opening the door and setting Ely inside on the seat. The door was shut and Ely could see the man’s silhouette walking around to the other side. Setting his plush on the floor, Ely clicked his seatbelt as the driver’s door lock was picked and the man climbed in.
He tugged back his hood, revealing a head of messy, greying brown hair and a tired face that reminded Ely strangely of Kian. This man almost looked like an older Kian…
The child grabbed his plush once again and settled down in the seat, the man next to him producing a set of keys from his pocket and starting the van, pulling away from the apartment building. Ely mostly kept his eyes on the passing buildings, but looked over at the driver every so often. That resemblance still confused him.
But he was too tired and disoriented to think anything of it, so he put his head back against the seat and drifted into a light sleep, lulled by the quiet rev of the engine as they drove further and further away from his home.