“Looking back, I’m thinking he had some sort of medical issue going on with his weight… Anyway, they were arguing about me… I hadn’t realized at the time that one of the reasons the teens were so smug, despite being in the same situation as us…was because the foster parents listened to them when they said a kid wasn’t a good fit. The one teen wanted to send me away, and Tommy was foolishly fighting for me.”
Harlow’s eyessnapped open with irritation as someone started yelling about something inside the house.
Not one day since coming here had it been quiet.
“You can’t do that!”
Wait… Tommy? Tommy doesn’t yell… Frowning, Harlow hopped off the picnic table he’d been sleeping on and started for the door.
“Either you shut up or you're next!”
On realizing it was Joshua the kid was arguing with, Harlow hurried inside. Eyeing the two from a distance, he hung back out of view out of caution.
A little over three feet tall, Tommy was a small child with short trimmed brown hair. Overly thin, his large brown eyes seeming to dominate his face. With messy dirty blond hair, Joshua, on the other hand, was nearing six foot and starting to pack on muscle. Which meant…the teen more than towered over the kid.
“He didn’t do anything wrong!” Tommy cried, looking near tears. “You can’t, Joshua, you can’t!”
“He’s a freak! I’m beginning to think you’re one too!”
Ah…they were talking about him.Shocker…he thought with an eye roll.
“He isn’t… He’s different, he just doesn’t like talking. And so what?! What’s wrong with that?!”
“Oh, but he loves talking to you, doesn’t he, Tommy?!”
“W-what? No… Harlow hasn’t said anything to me! He doesn’t even say anything at school.”
“Don’t lie! I see you two freaks together all time!”
“Stop calling him that!”
“Make me!” Joshua shoved Tommy, the threat clear in his voice, even as the smaller kid stumbled back a little.
Tommy glared. “I won’t let you get him sent away! I’ll tell them you are lying because you are mad he doesn’t talk to you!”
“You won’t tell them shit!” the teen snapped. “Like they’d believe you anyway.”
“I’ve been here a year! They will!”
“You. Won’t. Tell. Them. Shit!” Joshua snarled, punctuating each word with a shove. The teen’s last hit sent the kid tumbling back hard.
As Harlow watched Tommy’s head bounce off the corner of the coffee table, the kid falling limply to the floor as blood seeped from him, his hands clenched and he found himself walking out into the open, while this odd sensation fluttered through him. It was warm… No, not warm, hot. His insides felt on fire.
“You… He tripped!” Joshua snapped on spotting him.
As his eyes narrowed on the teen, his thoughts twisted. In his head, it wasn’t Tommy on the floor bleeding, but Joshua. And the Joshua in his mind wasn’t breathing, and standing over him, the one who had put him there, was Harlow.
The image… He wanted it to be real… He preferred it to what was currently happening. Taking a deep breath in and out as his hand began to shake, it was then he realized what he was feeling. Anger… He was angry. Why…?
His gaze flicked down to Tommy… Still the kid hadn’t moved… His hands clenched tighter. This angered him… Why did it anger him?
“Are you deaf as well as mute?! I said it was his own fault. Go be useful and grab a rag or something while I call 911!”
Glancing back up at Joshua, the feelings inside him boiled over. “You wanted me to talk, right?” he rasped, his voice coming out soft and hoarse from lack of use. “I’ll talk then. Wouldn’t want you to never hear the voice of the person who killed you.” He growled the last part, lunging as he swung at the teen. Joshua’s eyes went wide, the kid shouting out as he toppled over.
On top of him, Harlow kept swinging, the image of the kid dead on the ground firmly in his mind as what he wanted to become real.
Foxx frowned when Harlow's voice trailed off. He looked over impatiently, waiting for the man to finish the story, and found him staring off, his gaze distant. He glanced to Wes, glaring when he noted the human didn’t seem intent on pushing Harlow to say more at the fucking moment. Actually, Wes looked like he was set to wait until the dhampir was ready to go on.
