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 Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:10 pm
The phone had hardly rung at all by the time Michael picked it up, and Devyn had suspected that he must have been waiting to hear if something was wrong after what the necklace might have been doing earlier.
“I met his father,” he said as he walked him. His brisk stride did little to quell his anger and he was certain that even if he had jogged home he wouldn’t have been able to work off any of this.
“I don’t like him. He’s going to hurt Chad. He didn’t even care if he hurt him in front of me. And he had the audacity to threaten me. I didn’t hit him.”
There was a distinct way he said it that left no mistake, Devyn wanted to hit him. A lot.
“I don’t trust that Chad isn’t in trouble now. They’re driving somewhere. Home, maybe. Chad was scared. I told him I’d protect him.”
Agitation that he wasn’t able to, because of some trivial Earth law thing that he didn't care about at all. “I followed the rules and he’s still going to get hurt. What do I do now?”
What would Michael let him do?
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:24 pm
Michael had been waiting. He’d felt the changes in the necklace. He’d felt the way it shifted to something sad and heartbreaking, to something more fierce. He’d been in the process of deciding if he wanted to head out the door to find Devyn when he called.
“Did Chad send you any messages or pings yet?” he asked, because maybe he was able to use his pen to at least let Devyn know where he was. He doubted it, since Devyn would have probably led with that. Michael was gritting his teeth, trying desperately to think of something that they could do without putting Chad into more danger.
At this point, he didn’t really care if he had to be arrested to get Chad out of a bad situation. Especially with the way Devyn described his father.
“We could get Child Protective Services involved. Especially if he was hurting Chad right in front of you,” Michael said, clearly angry with how little they could legally do on their own.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:42 pm
“No, nothing yet. But they only just left. I called you as soon as they were out of sight. But I’m keeping an eye on it.”
He picked up the partially eaten snack, the sipped drinks, and tried not to be mad. It didn’t work. He felt more anger when he saw the carefully crafted bracelet that Chad had made as a thank you. For helping him.
He didn’t feel like he’d helped at all.
“We can call them, I don’t care. I mean, yes. If that’ll help, whatever it takes. But I’m frustrated that there isn’t a system in place to do something before it gets this bad.”
He wasn’t mad at Michael. He hoped he knew this, he was just upset in general. He was walking briskly back to the house already. “He’s a police officer.” They hadn’t had those on Alastor, they had guards. Civil protectors. He understood that the role was supposed to be honorable, and he hated Chad’s father even more for failing to live up to the expectations of his position.
“Is there some special protocol for them? Is there something more you have to do when you need to take action against one of them?”
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:53 pm
Michael knew Devyn wasn’t mad at him. Just as he hoped Devyn knew that Michael wasn’t mad at him. Especially when he growled, “What?? He’s a cop?”
He didn’t know that, or if he did it didn’t process in his head.
“I don’t know. There should be. I have a friend who’s a cop. Jeremy. We sometimes meet up for a drink,” he explained, since he hadn’t had a chance to bring Devyn around many of his other friends. Not that Michael had many friends, but he considered Jeremy one.
“I can give him a call, see what we can do. See if we can get Chad out of that house. s**t, what am I going to tell Elliot?” Oh, but maybe he would have to worry about that later when Devyn got home and not over the phone. It was so easy to just say how he was feeling around Devyn that things like that slipped out.
“I can’t imagine we’re the only ones who have noticed anything. Surely his teachers or other friends…” Did Chad have any other friends other than Elliot? He seemed pretty shy.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:07 pm
“I don’t think he has other friends. I don’t know. We didn’t get to talk much. He says it’s exhausting to always smile. So I think he just puts on a good front most of the time. He didn’t argue with his father, just went along with it. But Chad was getting hurt and wasn’t fighting it. He was supposed to go back to Elliot’s for dinner. He’s got a dentist appointment right now. And Chad was saying that it means a lot that we’re nice to him, but he only talked about us, and Elliot, and Elliot’s father. He’s always got excuses, doesn’t he? You said we couldn't do anything unless he said anything and I don’t think he was planning on saying anything.”
Michael’s house was nearly in sight; Devyn didn’t remember the walk back from the park and it hadn’t felt like it was going this fast.
But, he wasn’t really focused.
And, he was mad.
“Whatever you have to do, I want it done. I don’t know what our options are but I don’t know how long I can wait for someone else to just get him some help. I’ll try, Michael. But it’s not in my nature to just sit around if there’s something I can do.”
He just didn’t want to drag Michael down with him if he went down his own path.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:17 pm
“I know I said that, but there has to be something that can be done. Especially if he’s in danger right now. Especially if we know he’s not going to say anything.”
It wasn’t fair. This was a child. Elliot’s friend. A scared, too skinny kid that they’d found hiding in some bushes. He seemed to be a bit skittish around Michael, but Michael didn’t take it personally. As long as he was comfortable enough with the Reids and Devyn, that was all that mattered.
“Depending on what we can or can’t figure out, I’ll join you if it comes down to it,” he admitted. “I don’t like this, and standing around talking isn’t going to help. You almost home? I’m going to call Jeremy to see if he’s available to talk. Maybe he’ll have better resources or suggestions. Especially if it’s another cop we’re dealing with.”
Michael paused for a moment, not really wanting to change the subject, but he was also concerned about Devyn.
“You okay? I mean… before his dad showed up, the necklace…”
Michael didn’t have to read minds to know that Devyn was probably thinking about, or even talking about, Percy.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:38 pm
“What?” Devyn asked, not particularly eloquent. It was almost as if he’d forgotten where he was or what they were talking about. The mood lasted for all of a second before everything seemed to click into place and he breathed a little sigh of relief. Because, of course Percy would ground him.
Of course Michael would ground him.
“I’m okay, yeah. We were talking about Percy. About his paintings. About art. And then I made him cry.” If he hadn't, maybe his father wouldn't have noticed. They could have just talked. He could have gone back to Elliot’s house for dinner, could have been around people who cared about him. Wouldn’t have been dragged home. Wouldn’t be scared or hurting.
“I’m almost home,” he said; he was halfway down the road and it would take him a matter of seconds to finish the rest of the journey at this rate. “If you want to call your friend, if you think he can help, go ahead. I’ll be in soon. I’m fine. I just want to make sure that Chad is, too.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:46 pm
Michael didn’t comment on Devyn making Chad cry since Chad seemed to be the sensitive type already. For all he knew, it was something else and Devyn just thought it was his fault. He couldn’t imagine Devyn doing anything to purposefully make a kid cry. Not like Michael.
“Alright, I’ll see you soon. Look both ways before crossing the street,” he reminded him, although it was probably unnecessary to do so. Still, people drove with little care for anyone else who might be in their way.
He would have said more, but Devyn was right that their priority should be Chad’s wellbeing.
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