Chapter Two
Leonidas
Every few moments I skipped forward to keep from being tugged. Mrs. Shire could only walk so slowly to accommodate me, and since I got slower as we walked, my arm occasionally over-extended and I was tugged forward—never hard, but never comfortably, either.
I kept this up until she abruptly stopped and turned around, pouting. “How about... I teach you a little trick?”
“A t-trick?”
“Yep. It's for when you're scared.” She kneeled down and met my eyes with a soft smile. “It's an easy one, too. Wanna hear it?”
I nodded.
“Just take it one step at a time, okay? Don't think about anything other than your steps. Don't think about me or you, or about what's ahead. Just focus on your steps, hon--even if you have to look at your feet while you walk. It'll help take your mind off all the bad stuff.”
I tried to avoid her gaze, but she placed her hand on my arm and stroked it. I caught myself looking up at her, and found her eyes gazing back. They were deep green with a subtle brightness about them, like pond moss in the sunlight. They made me feel warm whenever I looked at them.
She was smiling.
“Will you do that for me, honey? Will you focus on your steps and get through this...? I promise with some time you're gonna feel a whole lot better. This is a really great place and I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure you get taken care of--but for now, for now, hon... you just have to trust me.” She stroked my arm again. Okay?”
Tears were beginning to sting my eyes.
“You're hearing me, right, Leo?”
“Uh huh.”
She smiled and patted me on the head. “Do it whenever you get scared, alright? It's a good trick.” She got back on her feet.
“...Mmhm.”
“You ready to keep going?”
“Mmhm.”
She took my hand in hers again and continued down the old, dusty hallway of the place she'd called West-End--the place that was supposed to be my new home.
As we walked, I watched Mrs. Shire from behind, admiring her tail as it swished back and forth and twitched lightly at the tip as if it had a mind of its own. It was long, short-furred, and black like the rest of her fur; with the exception of the asymmetrical traces of white on her front side, that rose up from below her blouse and stopped at her neck.
She was an older woman, possibly in her thirties, and she was a cat, just like me—the first one I'd seen since mom died. Our fur color was almost identical, though the white of my fur was solid around my neck and extended up the side of my face where it completely surrounded my right eye. Also, my tail had a slim, curling strip of white that extended from my lower back all the way to the tip, and ended in what my mom had called a 'snowball.'
Sometimes I wondered if Mrs. Shire and I were distant relatives. I knew that wasn't true, but it was nice to think about. If we had been related, then I wouldn't have needed to be 'processed by the State,' or have been sent to an orphanage to live with other unfamiliar kids. I could've just gone to stay with her, which I would have liked a lot.
Most of the 'social service' people who'd helped me had been nice, but Mrs. Shire had been the only one who'd made me feel better. Whenever she was there, things weren't as painful, and the future wasn't as scary to think about.
West-End, however, was scary, even with Mrs. Shire holding my hand. The walls were made of an old, worn plaster: aged yellow in the worst spots, with a two-tone shade of dirty white barely surviving in the others. In several areas, the plaster had broken away, revealing crumbling bricks below. Deeper in the hallway, pieces of wall had been chipped off, as if by hand, and there were some holes in the plaster, about the size of fists.
At the tops of the walls sat opposite facing windows packed closely together, reaching from one end of the hallway to the other. Light was abundant during the day, but there were only a few candles, and they were spaced a good distance apart. I wondered what it looked like at night.
Night. I tightened my grip on Mrs. Shire's hand.
With a quivering breath, I looked down at my feet in hopes her trick would help distract me from the bad thoughts. As my head lowered, I caught sight of an image in motion at the end of the hallway. A large figure trudged in our direction—a human boy, several years older than me and almost as tall as Mrs. Shire.
I nearly choked on my saliva in panic.
I tried to ignore him and focus on my feet, but it felt as if my mind had turned to sludge. My chest grew tighter with each step, and I could feel my tail beginning to press into my side with fear.
The moment I saw his feet from the corner of my eyes, my head started moving on its own, and by the time I realized what had happened, I was already looking straight at him. He was looking back at me with a heavily furled brow and squinted eyes, as if anger and confusion were fighting over control of his face.
My heart thumped against my chest and I tore my gaze away. A frigid chill ran through my body.
After managing a few more numb, breathless steps, I inhaled sharply, loudly enough so that Mrs. Shire could hear me. She turned around to face me, looking worried.
“You okay, honey?”
I nodded in return, but tears welled up in my eyes and gave me away. I was taking quick, shallow breaths, and my tail was coiled around my lower body like a snake.
“Aww, hon, c'mere.” She kneeled down again and pulled me into a hug. “I know it seems scary right now, but you'll get used to it, okay? You can be safe here.”
I sniffed.
“Just wait until you meet Headmaster Daughtry. He's a really nice guy and he's gonna take great care of you.”
She said it to cheer me up, but it only reminded me we would soon be separated.
“You know,” she pulled away from the hug and looked me in the eyes. “He used to be a governor. Your new guardian's gonna be a pretty amazing guy.”
“A... governor?”
“Yep. Do you know what a governor is?”
I shook my head.
“It means the people chose him to be responsible for making laws and deciding on what's right. And you know what's even more amazing than that? He decided to give it all up to take care of kids like you. I guess that's just the kind of guy he is.... Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it?”
I shook my head and sniffed again. “Is he nice?”
Her gaze softened and she smiled. “The nicest.”
“...Is he a cat, too?”
Her expression faltered for a moment. “No, he's human, but try not to worry too much about species, alright? That kind of thing doesn't matter all that much, and I know for a fact Daughtry is very much for Equality.”
I nodded.
“So do you feel a little better now?”
“...A little.”
“Okay, good. How about we go meet him, then? His office is right over there.”
She pointed to an old, wooden door a few steps in front of us, chipped away at the bottom from years of use, a square hole in the center where I imagined a window had once stood. Mrs. Shire reached out for the knob, and without turning it, pulled the door open and led me inside.
The room contained a low coffee table, an empty receptionist's desk, three chairs up against a wall, and three doors leading to what I imagined were other, smaller offices. The walls were the same old plaster as the hallway, but cleaner and a more consistent shade of white. Mrs. Shire let go of my hand and looked down at me.
“Okay, hon, just take a seat right over there while I go in and talk to Daughtry. I'll get the paperwork filled out and do all the boring stuff and then you can meet him, okay? I'll be out in a few minutes.” There was an extra silky edge still lingering in her voice.
I nodded and climbed up on the chair furthest to the left. I was too short to reach the ground, but I liked being able to swing my feet back and forth.
Mrs. Shire knocked on the only closed door other than the exit, and after being greeted by a faint “come in” from a male voice, she looked back to give me a reassuring smile. I mustered up a polite smile before she disappeared into the room.
“Daughtry....” It was a strange name, one I had never heard before, but one I had already begun to associate with good thoughts.
I stared at the closed door for several moments before turning away to face forward, toward the door we'd entered in. The broken-window hole was directly in front of me, and immediately beyond it, on the crumbling plaster wall, I could see a white patch where it looked as if graffiti had been scratched out with a sharp object.
I shuddered.
Who was I going to be living with?
The big kid from earlier had been so much... older. Was it possible there were others as old as him? Or maybe he was a counselor?
What concerned me even more than his age or his size was the expression he'd given me. Why had he looked so surprised? And, had it just been my imagination, or had he looked disgusted?
I had to live in this place, with people like him, surrounded by people who could love me or hate me, people whom I could love or hate in return. People I'd never met in my entire life.... It was nauseating to think about.
My entire body felt sore, and I kept shifting around on my chair, trying to find a position that would make the uneven, hardwood comfortable. I let out a low, woeful groan.
Looking back at the door to Daughtry's office, all I could think about was how much I wanted Mrs. Shire back by my side. I wanted to hear her say more magic words, like the ones she'd spoken in the hallway; the kind that made the pain melt away as if they were bringing me back to life. But I knew the sooner she came back, the sooner I would be forced to meet my new roommates, and worse yet, the sooner she'd leave me for good.
When she was gone, I would truly be alone. For the second time in my life.
Maybe there was a chance I wouldn't be staying here? Maybe Mrs. Shire would realize how obedient and kind I'd be as a foster son? Maybe she would adopt me-
-The click of the door opening interrupted my thoughts. I looked over and found Mrs. Shire exiting the room, smiling at me. I realized my hands were balled into tight fists, and I quickly relaxed them.
A man followed close behind. He was several inches taller than she was, and had greasy, dirty-blond hair that was lumped into numerous tangles and curls, all of them of varying thicknesses, with the lowest ones slicked back behind his ears. His tawny eyes were so soft and relaxed that next to Mrs. Shire's they looked almost dead. His white shirt was loose and flat, yet puffy around the arms, and there was a collar around his neck.
“Okay, Leo, you ready to meet your new guardian?” Mrs. Shire was smiling softly at me. She walked over and kneeled down. With the elevation from the chair, she was at eye level with me.
“This is Mr. Daughtry. Or, as you're gonna be calling him from now on: Headmaster Daughtry. This is the nice man I was telling you about earlier; the one who gave up on politics to take care of kids with no families—kids like you.”
Kids with no families.
Kids... like me....
“You may not know it now, but when you get older you'll understand what a big sacrifice that was for him to make.”
I looked over and caught him staring down at me with an expression that oozed power, both in the physical sense, and in another, harder to pinpoint sense.
In a split second, everything that I was had been handed over to this mysterious man of whom I had never spoken a word to, this man who had never spoken a word to me.
“I just want to share a few words before I leave, okay?” She must have seen the dread that appeared on my face, because in that instant, I saw her lips curl into a slight smile and her eyebrows purse into a taut look of pity. “I need you to listen closely, Leo--to every word. They might be really, really, important for you some day. Alright?”
I forced out a nod. Tears filled my eyes, and I struggled to hold them back.
“I won't lie to you, hon, you've been through a lot for your age--for any age--and the truth is, you've got a lot more left to experience. There are going to be some great days, but there will be some where you're not going to want to go on. Days where you're not going to want to take another step, even when you absolutely need to keep moving. You'll want to lie down, Leo, and you're not going to want to get up sometimes. But you remember, don't you, hon? You remember what I told you about walking?”
I nodded, and tears began running down my cheeks.
“What did I tell you about the steps?”
“Y-you said,” I sniffed, “you said t-to keep walking....”
“I did. To focus on your steps and keep walking. And that's exactly what you have to do. And do you know what you do when you can't walk any further? When you can't stare down at your feet for another second?”
She paused, as if expecting a response, but I remained silent.
“You look up, Leo. You have to look up. You have to look towards Gaol and to DELIVERANCE and ask for help. Naol loves playing tricks, especially on kids who are having a hard time. He going to be out there, trying to get you turn away from Gaol, to condemn you forever to YOI, and he'll come to you at your worst moments. He'll try to make you hate your life, and he'll try to trick you into thinking bad thoughts. It's evil, and whenever you feel like you can't take it anymore, or whenever you're so scared you can't stand it, you just gotta look up and ask for Gaol's help, okay? That's so important I can't stress it enough. Gaol is always going to be there, even if you can't see Him. He's always going to be with you. And He'll be there when you die, if you accept Him while you're alive.”
I sniffed again.
“All you need to know is that He works in mysterious ways, and we're all part of His plan. Okay? He's always with you. And when He is with you; Naol isn't. That's the only way to get through this. Never lose faith, hon, and never lose hope things will get better. Because they always will. It can just take a real long time.”
“...The last thing I want to tell you is that you can never stop walking, alright? Naol will try very hard to make you think there's a choice--but there isn't, hon. The only choice is forward. Don't even acknowledge anything else. Be humble and keep moving forward, and Naol will never get his hands on you. He'll never pull you down into YOI. That's all you have to do. Keep moving.... Will you do that for me, Leo?”
I nodded. “Mmhmm.”
“Alright.... Good boy.” She got to her feet and looked down at me with that same, soft smile. “I guess it's time for me to go now.”
“No...!”
“I have to, hon.”
“W-will I ever see you again?”
She paused. Her smile faded for a moment, but quickly returned, even stronger than before. “Sure. You'll see me again. But you gotta keep moving if you want that to happen.”
“I w-will! I promise! Just please come back to see me! Pl-please d-don't....!” I wiped the snot leaking from my nose onto my forearm. Hot tears were trailing down my cheeks even faster now.
“Don't worry, hon. You're gonna love it here.” She turned away and faced Headmaster Daughtry.
I looked over and saw him smiling at me with the utmost gentleness.
“Alright, he's all yours.”
“I'll be sure to take good care of him, Shire, you have nothing to worry about.” He smiled that same, gentle smile at her, though there was something more in his eyes now.
“Oh, I'm not worried. I know he'll be just fine here. Lucky for him there are people like you around.”
“You flatter me.” He smiled, this time with genuine pleasure.
“Anyway, I have to get back.... Believe it not, I have a consultation with Comisosa himself.”
“Comisosa? Am I permitted to ask what about?”
“Just reporting the numbers for Marge. He checks with us directly now and again, but I'm not sure why.”
“Comisosa has a complicated arrangement of priorities. I am sure he has his reasons for whatever it is he is doing. Regardless, give him my regards. I am sure he will be happy to hear from me.”
She chuckled. “I am sure he will.”
I held my breath as Mrs. Shire slipped out the room, extending one last smile and one last wave through the empty panel in the door. I wanted to call out to her, but I was at a loss for words. I could have begged her and tried to bargain with her in every way possible, but I already knew what the results would be. It was better to just spare myself the added shame and rejection.
I heard the clicking of shoes on tile.
Headmaster Daughtry kneeled down in front of me, just as Mrs. Shire had, except now, I had to look up to meet the eyes.
“Hey, buddy. I know Mrs. Shire already told you my name, but I was hoping we could get formally acquainted.” He extended his hand to me. “My name's Daughtry, but it's customary around here to address me as Headmaster Daughtry. What's your name?”
“Leonidas....” I shook his hand.
“Leonidas, huh? That's a cool name. I think it fits you really well.”
He paused for a moment, but continued on when I didn't respond.
He put his hand on my knee, covering the entire thing with his palm. “I can tell you're pretty worried about this, and that's totally normal, okay? But you're gonna have a whole family here of supportive brothers—that's what we call each other here, pretty cool, right?--and you're gonna be one 'em. One of us. So don't worry, alright? You're gonna love it here.”
Combined with the unexpected tone of friendliness, the hand on my leg quickly became a soothing presence. When he let me go and stood up, I almost missed the warmth.
“You ready to meet 'em?”
I looked into his eyes again, and suddenly, they didn't seem so dead.
