Big Brother Program

Chapter 11, Part 2; Traumatized

Dinner was done with for the day when I asked to leave for a bit. I took the train to school and attempted to hoist myself up on the wall that separates the streets from the school building. When I managed to get on top of it, I just sat there. The sun was going down soon and the sky looked almost sad. I put in my ear buds and stared forward. I sighed deeply, thinking to myself.

Why did Kane have to go and screw everything up? I mean, of course it wasn't exactly his intent... But he's still doing it nonetheless... He doesn't mean to make things miserable for me or to ruin my stability, he's just not good at handling himself, it seems. My phone falls asleep. I don't bother to wake it up. Almost as if it's perfect timing, I hear a small sobbing noise, as if from a little girl. I take out the headphones and look around. Was I hearing things?

I look close to where the train gets off, where a short girl in a white dress is standing with her back to me. Since no one else is around, she's likely the one crying... I should probably see what's wrong. After hopping down from the wall with a grunt, I walk over slowly to see what the problem was.

"H-hey, are you okay?" I ask her quietly, not sure how I handle this kind of situation.

She spun around and looked at me with large brown eyes. She looked extremely familiar, but I couldn't pin point where I had seen the child before. I doubted I knew her name, but I knew I had seen her somewhere before... The little girl just shook her head no quietly, her face stained with tears.

"What's wrong?" I question, kneeling down to her height. Man, now I know how Kane feels when he talks to me... She didn't answer. I wonder... Can she talk? She can make noises, obviously, based on her sobbing, but it wasn't really proof of whether she could talk or not... She began to scribble something on a little yellow notepad she had in her hand.

'I'm lost' it read in legible hand writing. It was surely the writing of an elementary school student, but I could definitely read what it said.

"Were you out here with someone?" I questioned further, in hopes of helping her. She began to write again.

'My brother.'

"Do you have his phone number or something?"

She flipped to the very back of the notepad and held it up to me. There were two phone numbers. The one had "Mom" written above it. The second said "Brother". I wonder if she had a father... Since she was out here with her brother, I should probably call him. I thanked the little girl and plugged the brother's number into my phone.

The sun was in the process of setting as I waited for someone to pick up. Before long, someone answered the phone.

"Who is this?"

"Um, I'm standing outside a school building with a little girl who said you were her brother?" I responded blandly.

"OH THANK GOD!" he said before sighing with relief. "I was so worried. Thank you for calling. Where is she exactly?"

"She's still here with me. We're standing outside of train station 37."

"I can't thank you enough. Tell her I'll be there."

He hung up before I could ask him if she could talk or not. She was either really nervous talking to strangers or flat out couldn't.

"So who is your brother?" I asked the pale child, sitting up against the wall. She sat down next to me and started writing. She was taking quite a bit this time.

'I don't know his name.'

There were a lot of erased or scribbled out names that I couldn't make out. How could she not know her own brother's name...? I guess it's possible, but still...