The Runaway

"You! What have you done to him?" Jill screamed in anguish, shaking Kaden who just stood in a daze.

He almost couldn't fathom what had just happened.

Was.. Was Bill dead? Needing to know, he looked to the ground where the man wasn't moving, a sea of blood staining the carpet.

It was a dreadful sight, the blood just gushing out of a big open wound. Bill's lifeless eyes looked back at him, and Kaden had a feeling of deja vu, as if he had seen eyes like that somewhere before.

And that's when it it him, it was in the nightmare he had seen it. Flashes of bloodshed and destruction flooded into his mind, everything that he had watched and forgotten came back to him.

Suddenly, the head from the nightmare that was covered in mud overlapped with Bill's. They had the same eyes, the very same.

One thing was definitely certain, those eyes didn't lie, Bill was dead.

Kaden felt out of breath, he didn't know what to make of the fact that he'd just murdered someone.

His eyes travelled to the foot of the stairs, where the other kids were all gathered, staring at him in shock. They all looked at him with expressions that were a mix of horror and fear, the younger kids especially so. His eyes found Aria's and he shuddered at the look she gave him. She was looking at him like he was a monster, an abomination.

He wanted to scream out and defend himself. He hadn't meant to kill anyone! It was just self defense!

What was he supposed to do now? He felt like he was being suffocated from all the stares in the room, it was like the walls themselves were caving in on him. He had to get out of here, he couldn't stomach staying any longer.

At some point Jill had stopped shaking him, and now she was on the floor next to her husband, tears fell from her eyes as she held him.

He looked back to the foot of the stairs. What should he do? He knew he had to leave, but he didn't want to leave them all behind here. It was his responsibility to take care of them, he was the oldest after all.

But he doubted anyone even wanted to come with him after what he had done. And there wasn't any way he could take care of them either. He didn't have money or a means of providing for himself, let alone them. Not to mention, he had no clue what would happen to him after this.

He shuddered as he realized he was now a murderer, someone who was supposed to be locked away in prison.

It was sad, but the truth was that they were better off staying here. The state would take care of them and make sure to find them all a new home. An investigation would no doubt be conducted, so it was doubtful Jill would ever get to foster kids again.

He ran over and put on his jacket. Nobody made any move to stop him or hold him back, even Jill was too distracted to notice that he was leaving.

The front door shut behind him as he left, on the outside, Kaden ran out onto the street.

It was cold and he didn't know where to go. The only place he had was the boxing gym, but if he went there it was only a matter of time until the police came and picked him up.

Instead he ran all the way to the nearby slums, where he found an alley that he could sit in and get some protection from the wind.

His teeth clattered and he felt like a nervous wreck. His entire body was shivering, not from the cold, but the mix of adrenaline and anxiety that he felt.

He wasn't a criminal, he didn't know what to do now. He already felt like it was a hopeless endeavor for him to avoid the police.

How long could he stay on the run? Maybe a week? Two tops? That was probably stretching it.

Would he end up going to prison? He didn't want that. He had finally felt hope that he could change his life and be someone for once. Someone who wasn't just an orphan kid that never went to school.

Why why why? Why was he cursed like this, just when everything was going well.

He burrowed his head in his arms and cried.

*****

He didn't know how long he had spent like that, when he heard a couple of footsteps coming closer.

Kaden looked up in shock, watching to see who was coming. This was a pretty secluded alley, and the path was a dead end, nobody should be coming through here.

His question was soon answered as a pair of officers rounded the corner and spotted him promptly.

How had they found him so easily? He thought about it and easily came to an obvious conclusion.

His phone… They had just tracked his phone.

He admonished himself for being so stupid. Somehow he hadn't even thought of something so simple. It was only becoming clearer and clearer that he wasn't made out to be a criminal.

"Kaden Whyte?" One of the officer's asked, his hand was gripping the gun in his holster, ready to draw if necessary.

Kaden just nodded in reply, he knew it was useless to try and run away here. Prison was still better than being shot and possibly bleeding out in a dirty alley.

"Kid you really shouldn't have run away like that, it was a lot of trouble to find you," The officer shook his head, "Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head."

Kaden followed the officer's command, and soon the man's partner walked over and put him into handcuffs.

The other officer walked over and they each grabbed him by one of his arms, hoisting him up. Soon they were leading him out of the alley and putting him in the back of their police car.

It was a quiet but quick ride to the station, nobody was interested in talking. When they arrived, Kaden found himself being pulled out of the police car and lead towards the entrance.

As soon as they walked into the police station, Kaden saw her.

She sat right there in the front room on one of the waiting chairs, looking at him.

Aria…

Why was she here? In fact, all of the foster kids were here for some reason. Had they been questioned? Were they in police custody until child services arrived?

He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what.

The officer's lead him to the front of a desk and then one of them left to go do something.

Meanwhile Aria had left her seat and walked up to him, he immediately began fearing the worst.

But then, she did something that shocked him. Instead of scolding him, hitting him, crying or any other thing that would've made sense to him… She just hugged him, and it was the warmest hug that he had ever felt.

Why? He was at a loss for words, didn't she think he was a monster? Hadn't she looked at him in horror and fear?

"I-I'm sorry," He stammered, tears welling up in his eyes.

She looked up at him with a quizzical expression, "Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault."

Huh? She didn't blame him? She didn't think he was a monster?

Suddenly he felt as if a giant weight had just been lifted off of his shoulders, and that he could stand a little taller once more.

It was a short lived moment as the other officer soon came back, and they dragged him off.

As he was being lead away, his head turned back and his eyes met with hers. He wanted to say something to her, but he couldn't find any words. In the end he settled for, "Thank you," whispering it before rounding a corner that made her disappear from his sight.

Was that the last time he would see her? He hoped not, but she had given him the strength to face the rest of this with his head held high. No matter what happened, he would stay strong.

He was lead into a grey room with a desk, two chairs and a single light fixture hanging over the table. On one of the walls was a window that was clearly one way only, and this wasn't the side that you could look through from.

An interrogation room huh.

"Sit." One of the officer's told him, and Kaden obediently sat down in the chair pointed out to him.

Both of the officer's left the room and he was now alone.

Was this a scare tactic? Something used to make him anxious?

It would probably have worked before, but now he felt a lot better about it all. The guilt had mostly disappeared, only a little of it was left.

He just kept telling himself that it wasn't his fault, Bill was the one who had come at him. All he did was defend himself.

As long as he kept telling himself this, it was enough to ease the anxiety and uncertainty that he felt.