Chapter Text
Player groaned as he leaned back, his spine popping loudly as he stretched his arms up. Pushing off from his desk, he rolled his chair across the room and grabbed his backpack, digging through it for his stash of miscellaneous granola bars. After a few minutes his search proved futile and he tossed the bag aside before going to see if he could find anything to eat in the kitchen. He closed a hand around the cold handle and slowly turned the knob before pressing against the door.
It didn’t budge.
He frowned and pushed harder, shoving all one hundred pounds of body weight against the door, but it still didn’t move. He let out a groan and peeked through the crack between the door and the was and was able to see a little metal rod going across the small gap. Another night locked in he supposed as he threw himself back into his chair and rolled over to his desk. He ignored his stomach rumbling as he slid on his headphones and pulled up the files from the new V.I.L.E hard drive to try to decrypt to pass the night. He already knew it'd be too hard to sleep on an empty stomach, so he kept tapping away until a crackle in the comms alerted his to a friend on the other side.
“So player, got anything for me today?” Carmen yelled over what sounded like loud wind.
He could practically hear the grin over the call. “Yeah I found what looks like one of Bellums base set up in Osaka, Japan. Looks like you’re goin on another plane ride.”
“Sounds fun,” she shouted “when do I leave.”
“Tomorrow morning, but first I gotta ask. Where the hell are you I can barely hear you over that storm.”
“I’m just sightseeing, why? Are you worried.” she crooned.
He rolled his eyes. “As if.”
“Anyways, you might as well go and get some sleep, it’s gonna be a long day tomorrow.”
He felt a twist in his gut, and this time he knew it wasn’t hunger. “Yeah yeah mom. I’ll make sure to get my full eight hours and eat all four food groups too.”
“You better, kid.” she paused before continuing, “Night, player.”
He frowned as the sun began to filter through his blinds, glinting off his numerous monitors. “See ya later, Red.”
Player sighed as the call ended, pausing for a moment with twitching fingers, eyes darting to his bed before sighing and turning back to his computer to continue typing. Before he knew it there was stomping down the hallway and a click at his door before silence. He held his breath as he carefully pulled a cover over his computers and slid the files into their hiding place. Finally, the shadows under the crack of the door moved away and he let out a quiet sigh. He barely saw what he threw into his backpack before he grabbed his phone and peeked into the hall. Empty, thank fuck. He slipped out of his room and tiptoed down to the living room, slipping behind the couch where his mom was sprawled across with drool on her chin and the stink of booze on her breath. He wrinkled his nose before he slowly opened the front door and slipped out of the house. As soon as the door was shut behind him he turned and sprinted until the end of the block to wait for the school bus. He sat down and leaned against the pole marking the bus stop, pulling out his phone and searching up more about Osaka. He stayed that way for a few hours, occasionally shivering and eventually pulling his knees inside his hoodie.
Finally, the bus came and he rushed inside, welcoming the stifling warm air and the cushioned seats. He made his way to a random seat and scooted over to the window before pulling out a pair of earbuds and continuing the audiobook he had downloaded on Osaka and its surrounding area. The bus took a few more stops before a shadow fell over him and his bag was ripped out of his hands. Player froze for a second before he yanked out his earbuds and shoved them in his pocket and turning to face the people standing in the aisle.
“Hey look everyone, the fuckin nerd thinks he can sit in the big boy seat.” Chad snarled.
Player could feel his face flushing as Chad's gang laughed, along with a few people on the bus. He moved to stand when the bus started jerked forwards and the driver yelled for everyone to ‘sit the hell down or they’re gonna be late for school’ before muttering under his breath. Chad dropped down in the seat next to Player with a grin and started digging through Players bag before finally pulling out a plastic water bottle.
“I’m sure nothing in here is important.” he said as he opened the bottle and dumped it contents in the bag before shoving it back at him.
Player cringed before looking in the bag and staring down at the mass of soaking wet papers already tearing in it. Looks like another day of missing homework he supposed.
After a few minutes of being shoved and hit with spitballs the bus made its final stop and one of Players most dreaded places. They had reached his high school.
The day went on with Player sticking to the back of his classrooms, hiding his phone behind homework so he could continue researching the other bases he had discovered from the hard drive from last night. By third block he was so invested in studying the bio-warefare plant that was stationed in Italy that he didn’t notice the shadow fall over him as the class neared its end until a hand came down and plucked his phone out of his hand.
“History of the creation and symbolism of the ‘Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família’. Do you really believe this is more important than classwork.” questioned his math teacher
Player stuttered for a moment before shaking his head.
“Well then I suppose you wouldn’t mind coming in after school to finish today's, and yesterdays, homework.”
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut and nodded.
“Good. you can have this,” the teacher waved his phone around for emphasis, “ back after detention.”
He gnawed his lip as the teacher walked to the front of the class and started tying up the end of the lesson. He really needed his phone back in case Carmen called, but he wasn’t a super-thief like her or anything. Scrunching up his face, he considered his options, but eventually decided that it would probably be a lot worse if he was caught breaking into a teacher's desk.
The rest of the school day dragged on until he was shaking in his chair, unable to focus on the class, which wasn’t too unusual, and fiddling and dissecting his numerous pens, which also wasn’t too unusual to be honest. What was different was how he sprinted to the math classroom as soon as the bell rang, eager to finish the detention as quickly as possible.
After a while of mind-numbing math, he scrambled to the teachers desk and slammed the work down with a grin. The teacher paused before slowly raising his gaze to Player with a scowl. He slowly unlocked a drawer and pulled out a dark red phone before handing it over, to which it was snached out of his hands and shoved in a backpack pocket. He opened his mouth to lecture one last time, but Player was already sprinting into the hallway and headed for the exit doors until he slid around a corner and slammed face first into a 6’2 mass of muscle.
“Hey hey look who it is so late after school.”
Player looked up slowly until the maniacally grinning face of Chad himself came into view. He stumbled away to try to escape, but just backed into one of Chads lackys. His bag was ripped off his shoulders as he was shoved against a locker, and even as he threw his arms up to protect his face, the hits started raining down on him, knocking his arms aside and slamming him into the ground. At that point he wasn’t surprised when they started kicking him.
Eventually he was hauled to his feet by the scruff of his jacket, barely able to stand in his half-conscious state. It wasn’t long lived as freezing water was dumped over his head, shocking him back from the verge of sleep. He gasped ragged breaths as he was lifted off the floor and shoved into a locker, flinching as the door slammed shut in front of him. He could hear laughter echoing from the hallway as he peered through the slight cracks in the locker door and watched them tip his bag upside down over a trash can and shake its contents into the garbage. He curled in tighter on himself, closing his eyes until a familiar tune drifted through the hall.
Fuck.
That’s Carmen’s ringtone.
Before he could get out a word he heard the phone being answers and Carmens slightly muffled voice calling from down the hall.
“Hey Player, long time no talk. So we’ve arrived in Osaka but you haven’t sent where we’re staying yet-” she started quickly before being cut off.
“Sorry but uh,” Chad broke off into quiet laughter “‘Player’ can’t make it to the phone right now. Who is this?”
The line was silent for a moment.
“Where’s Player? Who are you?”
Player cursed quietly. She sounded mad. “Hey Red, sorry about this but can we do this later-”
A loud bang cut him off as something was slammed into the locker door.
“So, Red, huh. Whatcha callin for.” Chad said, leaning against the locker door.
“I am calling for Player.” Carmen replied stiffly. “Who you just cut off so if you would let me speak to him that would be just grand.”
Player felt a sweat break as Chad replied, nervous from the venom in his words.
“Talking to him would be an issue, but you’re allowed to listen to him.” Chad laughed as he handed a lackey the phone and dug a box out of his backpack. “Now this is gonna be fun.”
Player tensed nervously as the door crept open for a moment before slamming shut again. He look for a moment, confused at to what Chad had put in the locker, when his gaze landed on the group of tarantulas crawling up his leg.
“Now you better not hurt them. I spent a lotta money on those guys.” Chad cackled from the hall. “And if you struggle, you might scare them, and they might bite.”
It took Player a moment to process the spiders, thinking back to his horrible fear of the arachnids before the terror set in, then another to react. He let out a shriek, then a longer scream as he shoved himself against the back of the locker in a fruitless attempt to get away from the spiders. He continued screaming as they nimbly crawled over his legs and shoulders and two started climbing over his face and into his hair. He only clamped his mouth shut when he felt a hairy paw on his lip, but he still let out muffled screams. Tears were streaming down his face as the tarantulas crawled under his hoodie and around his neck, and he struggled to inhale as one made its way up the left side of his face. Distantly, he thought he could hear Carmen yelling, but he was too terrified for his mind to properly process the noise.
After a minute he heard quiet chatter in the hall, then the door was opened and Chad's grinning face came into view as he began to pluck his pets off Players frozen body. His smile twitched for a moment as he counted seven spiders in the box, but it soon returned worse than even as he unzipped the hoodie and plucked off the final one that had hidden itself away.
“As fun as that was I've gotta head out. Good luck getting home, nerd.”
Player didn't respond, and just stayed paralyzed, starting with wide eyes at Chad's face before watching him end the call with Carmen and tossing the phone in the garbage before walking away. He sat there for a couple minutes longer until his phone rang again, with the same tune as before. In that moment, it all hit him and he threw himself out of the locker to heave on the floor. Naturally, nothing came out but he still couldn't stop it. Finally after the ringtone had gone for the third time he managed to stumble to his feet and make his way over to the garbage can, finally answering the phone on its fourth run of the song.
“What the fuck just happened?” Carmen bellowed from the other line. “Who the hell was that?”
“Long time no talk to you too.” He wheezed out, leaning against the wall for support. “I'm gonna send you the hotel you're staying at when I get home, so hold on a few.”
“What? No we are not just skipping over whatever the hell just happened, okay? Who was that and what were they doing to you?”
Player rubbed his eyes, exhausted both emotionally and physically. “Listen I don't want to talk about this so if we can please get back to the mission-”
“Book me a flight to Niagara Falls. Now. I'm coming to get you and we are going to talk about this,” She was getting pissed. That never ended well.
“Hell no, you have a mission to finish right now,” he groaned into the mic as he pressed a finger against one of his numerous bruises “listen I'll call you back when I get home. Bye.” He quickly hung up the call and sighed, looking at his bag in the trash before pulling it out and hauling it over his shoulder. He'd just get more school supplies later. Slowly, he limped his way to the front of the school and out the door, making his way to the school bus stop before pausing and pulling out his phone to check the time.
Huh.
He missed the bus for the detention kids by fifteen minutes.
He stuffed the device back in his pocket and began his long journey home, cursing and swearing under his breath with every other step. By the time he finally made it home the sky was dark and a heavy mist had covered the streets, which more than set the mood to what he suspected his welcome home would be. Finally, he reached his front door and slowly cracked it open, peeking through before slowly slipping into the room. He let out a soft breath when he saw both his parents passed out on the couch with beers held tightly in their fists and empty bottles scattered across the floor. Wrinkling his nose from the stench, he slid into the hallway and crept into his room before slowly shutting the door behind him. He let his bag slide to the floor as he dropped into his chair and pushed himself over to what he liked to call the Control Station. Quickly he logged into his computer and opened up the comms with Carmen.
“Hey Red, I'm sending you the hotel receipt right now.” He paused. “Sorry to leave you waiting at the airport for so long.”
He heard a sharp inhale and flinched, preparing for her to start yelling at him.
“Listen, Player,” her voice came through softly, shocking him for a moment “we need to talk about what happened earlier-”
“No.” He cut her off, if a bit forcefully. “No we don't. It's not important. Just stop asking about it.” He grumbled, exasperated.
She let out a nervous laugh. “Player I'm not just going to let this go. What did they do to you?”
He groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Listen just- okay, we both take punches for the job, just in different ways. You do it your way and I do it mine.”
The call was silent for a moment, then the shouting started.
“Are you shitting me right now?” She screeched, making Player to flinch away from the speakers. “Don't you dare pull that card I take punches because I need to, and I actually hit them back, so you don't get to put us on the same level!”
Player scowled and dug his nails into his arms. “So what, are you saying I can't defend myself? I'm sorry that I wasn't raised as a super spy, but I just have to deal with this shit instead of running away like someone else here!”
He heard a sharp inhale and groaned, pressing his head against the desk.
“Shit- listen Carmen, I didn't mean it like that. Fuck I-”
“Honestly I should have seen this coming.”
He paused, lifting his head slightly off the desk.
“What.”
“I don't even know your name, so why on earth did I expect you to actually trust me with anything.” He heard a quiet sob, then her voice raised again. “After every-fucking-thing, after everytime I told you about me, you still won't tell me your name. God, I'm such an idiot.”
Player jerked back as he heard a crash from the other room then hurriedly turned back to his computer.
“Shit, okay, Carmen I need to go please-”
“No fuck you I deserve to know what's going on over there.” Her voice got higher as he scrambled for the end call button. He could hear footsteps getting louder until they stopped in front of his door and he slammed his hand on the mute button on his keyboard. He dragged the sheet over most of his monitors as his dad slammed the door open and walked around the bookshelf blocking him from Players view.
“You were home late.” He snarled.
Players mouth felt dry as he replied hoarsely.
“I had to stay late to finish some homework.”
He whimpered as his father towered over him, the smell of alcohol and cigarettes heavy in the air.
“You were supposed to make dinner, you ungrateful little shit.” His dad shouted, spittle landing on his face. He barely saw the hand coming before he was knocked off the chair and was lying on the ground with a pulsing welt already rising on his face. He let out a sharp cry as he was grabbed by his hair and thrown across the room, hitting the ground hard.
“Useless little fucker, doesn't even care about the roof over his head.”
Player gasped as something slammed into his ribs, then into his gut. He felt himself being hauled clean off the ground and slammed against the wall, eye height with his father.
“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.” He whimpered. “It won't happen again I swear.”
His father snarled again. “It better not, or there'll be hell to pay.”
He was dropped to the floor, gasping for breath as he heard his door slam shut and the bolt outside click into place. He hoped he wouldn't be forgotten about this time, since he forgot to refill his food stash again. Groaning, he pushed himself off the floor and stumbled over to his chair, collapsing in it for a minute to take a moment for himself. He slowly turned back to his computer, nose wrinkling as he plugged in his headphones and prayed Carmen had ended the call. A quick glance at her icon on the screen said he had no such luck, and he closed his eyes as he unmuted her.
“So… I'm guessing you heard all that huh.” His voice was unsteady as he nervously tapping his fingers against his desk. He bit his lip as the only reply he got was halted breathing, but when he tried to talk again he was cut off.
“How long.” She started, her voice barely a whisper. “How long has this been going on for.”
He paused the tapping for a moment before resuming. “As long as I can remember. It's gotten worse the older I get, but it's always kinda been this way.”
He heard a heavy sigh before she continued talking.
“Why… why didn't you tell me. About any of it.”
He frowned. “How do you tell your super thief spy friend that you can't even fight back against your own family when that's what they've been doing for most of their life?”
“It's different and you know it, but at the same time you do need to get out of that house. Report them to the police or something just get out of there.”
“And take my chances with the foster system? Thanks, but no, I'm happy having my own room and a bed to sleep in.” He rubbed his eyes again. “Listen, I'm gonna try and get some sleep. You should get to your hotel, it's a four star rating with breakfast included. I'll tell you more about the mission tomorrow.”
He hung up the call and pulled off his headphones with a groan before setting them down on the table and powering down his computers. He might as well try and get some sleep, even if it is on an empty stomach.
The next day he woke up to someone loudly rapping on the door, and his mom was screeching for him to find out who it was. Groaning, he slunk out of his room and walked past the living room to get to the front door. With a tired sigh he opened the door, then gasped in horror and tried to slam it shut, but a hand stopped him.
“It's about time we finally met in person.” Carmen, who for some godawful reason was at his doorstep, grinned down at him. “I had no idea how short you were. You must be what, four feet tall?”
He felt his face flushing. “Five two, actually.” He hissed. “What the hell are you doing here.”
“Funny you should ask that.” She smirked. “I'm just a guidance counselor coming to check in on one of the students I look after.”
“Hey!” A shrill voice cut through their conversation. “Who's at the fuckin’ door!”
Carmen took a deep breath, then pushed past Player and stepped in front of his parents to introduce herself.
“Nice to meet you both.” She said with what he could tell was a very forced smile. “I'm your son's guidance counselor, from school. I'm here to-”
“Oh what did the little fuck do this time.” His dad growled as he grabbed Player by the arm and shoved him against the wall. “How did you fuck up this time!”
Carmen cleared her throat.
“Actually, from what I've seen, he is being harassed badly at school, and I wanted to check in with his family to see if they knew what was happening, and if they were doing anything to help.”
“It was the shits’ fault for not being able to defend himself anyways.” His dad grumbled, crossing his arms.
Carmen already looked ready to explode, but she took another deep breath and forced her smile back.
“If you don't mind, I'm going to do a sweep through your house to make sure that your son is in a safe environment.” She said through gritted teeth.
His dad grumbled as he stormed over to the couch and sat down.
“Whatever ya need to do to leave.” He scowled.
She nodded and stepped in the kitchen with Player nervously trailing behind. She poked through a few empty cupboards with a frown, then opened the mostly empty fridge to reveal a long expired milk container and a few miscellaneous condiments. Raising an eyebrow at Player, she started looking through the kitchen for any actual food, not empty cereal boxes and soup cans. She paused when she heard a loud growl and turned to see Players face flushed red as he held his stomach tightly. She pursed her lips tightly as she looked at him before frowning and stepping out of the room.
She continued down the hall, scrunching her face at the quick scan of the unsanitary bathroom, but froze when she asked him to point out his room.
“Hey Player,” she started, “what the hell is this?” She pointed at the bolt lock on the outside of his door. He froze for a moment before he was roughly pushed aside.
“It's so I can have some personal time.” His father stated. “Do you know how fuckin’ exhausting it is to raise a kid? Sometimes you just need time to yourself, and he has more than enough books an’ shit in there to keep himself busy.”
Carmen ground her teeth as she stared at him, anger burning in her eyes. A snarl rose to his face as he shoved Player against a wall so he could take a step closer to her.
“I don't fuckin’ appreciate how you're lookin’ at me.” He growled.
Carmen held her ground. “I still need to check your room, sir.” She snarled, disgust dripping off every word.
“You go through my fuckin’ room and I'll call the damn police on you.”
She paused for a moment, glancing between Player, his father, and his father's room.
“Fine. But I'm going to take your son for dinner so we can discuss what I saw today.”
The father looked like he was going to protest when the shrill voice came from the living room again.
“Feel free to keep him as long as you want! It'll be nice to have a night without the kid.”
Carmen flashed the father her most venomous smile before grabbing Player by the arm and dragging him out the door. He looked back at his parents desperately as he stumbled over the threshold and down the steps before Carmen finally loosened her grip and put an arm around his shoulders, pulling to her car more gently now. His eyes flickered to her for a moment before shooting to the ground when he saw the pity plastered across her face. He slid into the passenger's seat and gnawed at his lip, nervously bouncing a leg and twisting the hem of his shirt in his hands. He saw her jump into the driver's seat and tap the wheel for a moment nervously before starting the car and pulling away. He cringed as he kept his gaze focused on the familiar streets, thinking about how Carmen was driving around in a car that cost more than any house here. He stared blankly until they pulled into a drive-thru Tim Hortons and Carman ordered some food to go, making him snap out of his daze and notice the blood trickling into his mouth from where he was tearing at his lips.
Carmen handed him the bag of food and continued driving, her lips in a tight line and her eyebrows scrunched together as she glared at the car ahead of her. They kept driving until they reached a parking lot near the falls, a place mostly shrouded with trees but still in sight of the beautiful waterfall. Carmen sighed and opened her door to get out with Player quickly following suit with the bag under one arm. He followed her over to a stone table and slid the bag over to her so she could pull out her food first. He kept his gaze down on the table, only breaking his silence to murmur a quiet thank you as Carmen slid his ham and cheddar sandwich across the table to him. He picked at the bread, nibbling away as he felt Carmen's gaze on him, but she kept silent as he continued ripping the break apart.
“So am I going to have to start then?” She said softly as she unwrapped her own sandwich. “Or do you want to.”
Players legs was practically vibrating as he nervously bounced it, biting at the half formed scabs on his lips.
“What's there to talk about.” he finally mumbled.
Carmen sighed and laid her food on the table.
“Everything. I want to talk about your school life, your home life, what you haven't told me because you've been too scared. I want to see who you are when you're not just at your desk, Player.”
He frowned at his sandwich.
“Carmen, when I'm not at my desk, I'm not anyone. I'm just an underachieving student from a shitty neighbourhood going to an even shittier school. I'm bullied, along with pretty much all the other lonely kids, and then I go home and get bullied some more. That's just life for me, it always has been.”
Silence fell over the pair, leaving the only remaining sound the quiet roar of the massive falls and the trees shivering in the slight breeze. Player kept his gaze down, closing his eyes when he heard Carmen sigh heavily and drop her head in her hands. He pulled a leg onto the seat and began tearing off flakes of the rubber sole in one hand as he held the new half-eaten sandwich in the other. By the time he finished, Carmen was still silent with her head in her hands, but as Player looked closer he noticed her shoulders shaking slightly. His eyes widened as he saw the tears landing on the table as her body trembled with the nearly silent sobs that had been hidden by the noise of the waterfalls. He opened his mouth before closing it again.
What was he even supposed to say now?
In a way he was spared from that train of thought when a hand slammed into the center of his back, knocking the air out of his lungs and making him cough violently a few times before he could get it back.
“Well shit look who it is out in the middle of the night? Did a sneak out from your psycho parents house, freak?” Chad laughed, hand moving to grip his shoulder painfully tight.
Players eyes widened as Carmen slowly raised her head, eyes staring into the distance as the dots for who the voices belonged to connected in her head. He opened his mouth to talk, but before he could get a word out he was ripped from his seat and thrown in the dirt, freezing when a shoe settled on his stomach. He looked to see one of Chad's goons grinning down at his with a glint in his eyes as he pressed the heel into Players stomach, making him whimper and try to push the leg off. Before he knew what was happening the shoe lifted off then slammed into his gut with enough force that he immediately tilted his head and vomited on the grass. He blinked mournfully at the barely digested food, barely noticing when the heel digging into his guts suddenly disappeared, only noticing something being off when he was hoisted to his knees and something was flicked against his throat. He was frozen for a moment, blinking confusedly before reality came crashing down and he tried to jerk away from the blade at his neck. A hand grabbed his hair and forced his head forwards as he whimpered and tried to squirm away.
“Back off, bitch, and this fuckhead might get out of this without a slit neck.” Player heard from behind him, air catching in his throat as the blade wobbled and he felt a few layers of skin break.
His gaze flicked up to where Carmen was frozen standing over the rest of Chad's goons, all of which were already seemingly unconscious. He flinched when he was hauled to his feet and pressed against Chad with a thick arm, the knife still resting at his throat. He closed his eyes when he say Carmen slip her hand into her jacket, and kept them closed as he heard a dull think and the body behind him fell away. He stayed standing there for a moment, before he began to wobble with tears streaming down his face.
Huh.
He didn't know he started crying.
He felt arms wrap around them and leaned into the unfamiliar, yet predicted scent of sweat and perfume. He let sobs rack his body as he fell to his knees, Carmen going down with him as she placed a hand on the top of his head and began stroking his hair to comfort him. He didn't know his long they were there, but they stood up once he began shivering from the freezing cold seeping through his hoodie and into his bones. Carmen helped guide him back to the car, making sure he was in and buckled before slipping into the driver's seat and loudly revving the engine. He curled his legs to his chest and leaned against the door, closing his eyes and pretending to fall asleep as they pulled out of the parking lot.
He stayed that way, occasionally peeking through his eyelashes to see where they were going. Buildings and trees whipped by until he closed his eyes again with a soft sigh.
“You know I know you’re awake, right?” Carmen began softly.
He chewed on his lip, denying her a reply as he kept his eyes closed.
“Listen, Player, that stuff I said over the call about trusting you… I’m sorry, what I said wasn’t fair.” She paused drumming her fingers against the wheel. “I won’t say I overreacted, but i went about the situation the wrong away.”
Player let out a horse laugh. “You really don't apologize much, do you.”
The drumming stopped. “What?”
“You sound like you’re reading off a script.” He rubbed the fabric of his hoodie pocket between his fingers. “Did you read up on how to apologize before you picked me up.”
A thick silence settled over the car as they continued to drive, suffocating any thoughts that tried to make their way into words. Finally, a motels neon sign lit up in the distance and Players chest tightened. As it neared Carmen jerked the car across the empty road and skidded into the parking lot before jerking to a halt across two parking spots and letting out a heavy breath. Player watched her climb out of the car, involuntary flinching when the door slammed shut and chewed at his nails as Carmen stepped away from the car, nervously eyeing her hands as she clenched and unclenched her fists before rounding the car and opening his door. She reached to help him get out, but pulled her hand away when he flinched away from her reach. Player focused his eyes on a tulip bush across the parking lot as he stepped out of the car and stuffed his hands in his pockets as she closed the door behind him.
She moved so she was standing beside past him and he felt a hand on his shoulder as she urged him towards one of the motel rooms and slid a key in his pocket.
“I need to get gas, but I’ll be back soon.” she said carefully.
He glanced up and saw her open her mouth again to say something, but then she just turned away with a sigh and stepped around him to get in the car. He fiddled with the key as she peeled out of the driveway and sped down the road until her taillights faded from view, then turned and pulled out the key to read the room number. His feet crunched on the gravel path as he made his way to the door and let himself in the room. It was a standard two bed crappy wallpaper room, with a wide brimmed red hat and a long red jacket thrown across one of the beds. Player threw himself down on the other bed and buried his head into the scratchy sheets, curling his small body into itself as he let out a dry sob before a few more but eventually, he drifted into sleep.