You're A Steal- Dyle

Chapter Fifteen

"When are you going home?" Charlie asks Kyle when they are given a short period of free time before bed in the evening. They sit outside on the grass, fiddling with it and throwing it at each other like children. Both of them feel exhausted- Charlie has been awake for the last three days, and he can feel himself growing even warier. Today, he has been told he needs to think about nice things so his nightmares aren't always terrifying. He laughed in the doctors face: you should know, he told her, you should know that that doesn't work. You've worked with enough patients to realise that doesn't work.

Kyle, on the other hand, went face to face with the voice in his head. It told him horrible things again- it told him to hit the doctor. He told the doctor and, after a flash of worry on his face, Kyle was told to fight against the voice and the urge. Kyle found this difficult.

"The day after tomorrow," the taller teenager tells the shorter, plucking out a handful of grass and sprinkling it on the boy. "I can't wait for it. When are you going?"

Charlie just shakes his head, a look of disappointment taking over his face. "Well... That's the thing." He says, his voice now very low in tone and enthusiasm. "I don't think I am."

"What do you mean?" Kyle questions, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He thought everybody was here just temporarily.

"Well, I was meant to leave three weeks ago," the boy confesses, his voice suddenly quiet and almost depressed. "My parents never came. They tried to call them, they wouldn't answer their phone. They're still trying to get in contact with them- I don't think they're ever coming back."

A pang of guilt, pity, and sympathy suddenly drowns Kyle. If he ever thought his parents were back, he takes back everything he's ever said about them. A sudden anxiety occurs: what if his own parents don't come back?

"I don't blame them, though. I could never focus in school, I failed my GCSE's, never even bothered with college or my a levels, and every time I did fall asleep, I'd wake them up when I had a nightmare. I wouldn't want me, either." Charlie sounds so defeated a hopeless that Kyle initially doesn't know what he can say to make the situation feel any better. He can't tell Kyle that his parents will come back one day because it's been a few weeks already. How could his parents be so heartless that they don't come back for their son? That's Kyle's worse nightmare.

"That's such a shitty situation," he results in saying, "I'm really sorry, Charlie. Can the centre do anything about it?"

"Apparently the police contacted my parents. They just said they don't want me there anymore. They've abandoned me, and besides, nobody really wants a sixteen -year-old foster kid. I can move out in three years. Who wants to look after a kid for just three years?"

The boy from the other day- Will- is back in the shop today. This time he's bought a few bottles of pop, and even offered Dan one, sparking up a friendly conversation.

"Why do you do this?" Dan laughs as the boy rests against the desk. He had felt pretty bored until he came back, and the two have had quite a laugh together.

"Do what?" Will echoes, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Stand here and talk to me," Dan doesn't mind Will talking to him. Actually, he's taken quite the liking to the guy. "You always buy loads of stuff and then just stand here, talk to me, and we both eat it. What's the deal?"

"Well, I know what it's like to be bored and lonely in a shop, and I'm also very bored right now so I figured I may as well keep you company, you know. Why, don't you like me being here? I can leave if you want me to," the man suggests, but Dan shakes his head.

"No! I didn't mean it like that. It's just that most people come in once and then I never see them again." The younger boy explains with a wave of his hand. "You can stay. I really don't mind. I just thought it was a little strange." 

"Wel, I mean, it is a little bit. But great things can happen from the strange." 

"I have no idea what you're talking about anymore." 

Kyle lies in his bed with his eyes closed, but he's not asleep. He's pushing away the voice and trying to think of something else in order to distract himself. Although it doesn't really seem to be working, Charlie is on his mind. He is just in disbelief that somebody would leave their child here like that- Hell, Charlie seems like an absolute star. He's been left here because of what happens inside of his brain- they're treating him like an animal. He hates the thought of leaving here whilst Charlie is still stuck.

Charlie, on the other hand, in his room a few doors away from Kyle, sits wide awake wondering why he has been left here like this. He doesn't understand why his parents wouldn't even give a proper explanation. Part of his mind is horrifically depressed at the idea he is just another unwanted child who's fucked up, but the other half is excited. He's excited because Kyle is going home soon, which means he will be happy and comfortable again. 

Charlie tries to forget that he will never see Kyle again after this. He really likes Kyle. He wishes he didn't have to leave...