Missing Boy

Chapter 8

The second night at the Sawyer's home, I knew I was gonna cry because of feeling overwhelmed. I knock on Marcus' closed bedroom door an hour after everyone went to their bedrooms.

"Come in!" he softly calls, and I quietly enter the room with a shy expression.

"Can I sleep in here? I do not want to be alone because my thoughts won't shut up," I sniffle, fighting back the tears that are pooled in my eyes.

"Come here, Add," Marcus softly replies, holding his left arm out straight from his body as he moves over toward the wall, making space for me on his full size mattress.

Shutting the door quietly, I rush over to the bed, climbing onto the mattress, under the covers, and snuggle into him on my side with my head resting on his shoulder. Mumbling my thanks on a soft sigh as we settle comfortably.

"Do you wanna talk about your thoughts?" he gently asks.

"I feel guilty," I murmur. "I feel bad that Mary took me because she could not have her own biological children. But I feel guilty that you, and our parents had to worry about me, and wonder if I was okay and where I was. I feel bad that granddad is alone and hurt, and I hate that I cannot sleep alone since I have been here, and bother you, so I can sleep."

"Okay, first off, it is okay that you cannot sleep alone since you have been here," Marcus murmurs. "This is all new for you. Concerning Mary, what she did was wrong because she had other options for having a child of her own instead of kidnapping you, or another child. We are healing now along with you because you are back home where you belong. Royce seems like a strong man, and with the Aid, he will be taken care of, and you talk with him all the time."

Sniffling, I softly ask the one question that has been on my mind; "How long will the guilty feelings last? I want to start my new normal?"

"I dunno, Addi, and I wish I did know," he whispers, and we both yawn at the end of his answer. "Night, Addi."

"Night, Marcus," I mumble, falling asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, I wake before Marcus, and silently and carefully slip from the bed to use the bathroom, and head back to my own room. I have decided to unpack the few boxes I have while no one else is awake. Halfway through the process, there is a soft knock on the closed door.

"Yeah?" I quietly call out, and the door opens with Martian walking inside the room.

"Morning," he greets me with a warm smile. "Would you like some help unpacking?"

"Um, sure, thanks," I murmur, feeling a little awkward, but thankful.

Martian comes into the room, and sits on the floor next to me with some space in between us with a smile as he grabs a box to start unloading the contents onto the floor, so we can place these away in the correct location.

"Can I ask you a question, Addison?" he carefully asks with a soft tone, and when I nod, he continues. "Do I make you uncomfortable? If I do, how can I make this better for you?"

Thickly swallowing as I stare wide eyed at him; "Um, yeah, you do, but it is because the only 'dad' person I was around was granddad. I dunno how to make this better."

Martian nods, and we continue this for several minutes in silence before I quietly ask; "Um, can I ask you a question?"

Martian nods, so I continue; "What was I like when I was here? Are there any pictures of me?"

"Yes, there are pictures of you, and these are in an album or two in the living room," he answers with a bright smile. "We can look through these after breakky if you would like, we can tell you stories about you then, too."

"Okay, thanks," I murmur with a small smile toward him.

"Not a problem, Addison," he replies with a kind smile.

Just then there is a gentle knock on the door, and I softly call out a 'come in!' Joyce and Marcus open the door, and enter the room with confused expressions.

"What are you two doing?" Joyce chuckles as they smile brightly at us as they sit across from us on the floor.

"Martian offered to help me unpack, and we have been talking a little," I reply with a warm smile, and a light pink blush.

"That is awesome," Marcus says with a slight nod of his head towards us, and Joyce hums in agreement.

"After breakky, we need to show Addison the pictures of him from when he was little," Martian says to Joyce with what I take as a happy tone.

"Wait, you say breakky instead of breakfast? I say that, too," I giggle with wide surprised eyes toward Martian.

"Yup, I do indeed," he nods. "All of us say that actually."

We have breakfast, and once everything is consumed, and the dirty dishes are placed into the dishwasher, the four of us head into the living room. Joyce and Martian each grab a scrapbook from the bookshelf to the right of the television before joining Marcus and I at the couch.

"Okay, this album has pictures of you from birth to age one," Joyce grins as she opens the book, and places the album onto my lap.

Intently studying the four pictures on the first page, there is baby me being held by a younger Joyce, baby me being held by a younger Martian, and 2-year-old Marcus sitting on Martian's lap in a hospital chair next to Joyce's hospital bed, and Marcus is holding me with Martian's help. The last picture on the page was baby me in the hospital bassinet. I did not notice I was crying until the tears plop onto the plastic covering the pictures.