Ryker
With a shopping bag in hand, I stepped onto the small porch. I gave Gale a moment to stand before asking how Emery was doing. I hated the fact that I wasn’t here this morning, but meeting up with Collin was just as important.
The less people who knew where Emery was, the better. Although, knowing Collin as well as I did, that man probably already knew.
While I was out, I grabbed something for the broken, lost boy inside the house. He needed something to keep him from just sitting there doing nothing, since he refused to use the TV.
“I advise you not to leave him be today,” Gale stated, standing just a bit out of the way from the door. “It’s been a hard day.”
All the more reason why I should be already on the other side of that door.
“But he did eat breakfast. All on his own.”
That was good to hear. I wasn’t sure if he’d eat anything without someone telling him to. At least something was working.
“He was sleeping,” Gale went on, her eyes bouncing from me to the door. After a moment, almost like she wasn’t willing to, she moved out of the way. I squinted at her, trying to figure out what she was hiding.
“I’ll see you later, Ryker.”
Something about the brush-off bothered me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Had Emery said something that made her upset? Or had she done something?
No longer stalling, I entered the house.
Like nearly all the other times, I found Emery on the couch. This time, he barely blinked. It was as though he wasn’t here in the present.
After setting the bag on the coffee table, I knelt in front of him. No response.
“Emery.” I called his name softly, waiting for him to jump.
Still nothing.
What the hell had he and Gale talked about? This was no way to leave someone after a session.
Making a mental note to talk to her later about this, I slowly raised my hand, placing it along his lower arm.
A blink.
“Emery, honey.”
Another blink.
Fuck!
No longer being careful, I sat on the couch and pulled him to my lap. Emery was lifeless, letting me maneuver him however I saw fit.
My heart cracked at his pain. This was more than I ever would have been able to guess.
With Emery wrapped in my arms, holding him as tight as I dared, I spoke to him in soft whispers.
“I’m here. No one can get to you. You’re safe.” I repeated the words randomly, hoping that alone would pull him out of wherever it was. One hand would rub along his arm or back with the spoken words.
I didn’t know what else to do.
Had I lost him forever?
I had thought he was doing better, but I guess not.
I sat there for maybe about ten minutes, fifteen at the most, with no response of any kind from Emery. As each second passed, I became more and more desperate.
