The Brothers Luxtenebris

Part 5: My trousers are ruined

"GIIDEEOOON!" Jamie screamed.

They had turned the town practically inside out looking for him, but there was no sign of him anywhere. No one wanted to admit it, but the chance of finding Gideon was becoming less and less likely.

Fabian had started crying. The possibility of him never seeing Gideon again, him being lost forever became very real, and hit him hard. They had started searching the area around the town, but still no evidence. Fabian collapsed from exhaustion and grief, and noticed a small flower- brown and wilted.

He dismissed the hope that Gideon had been responsible for the flower, wishing not to get his hopes up.

Near that, a rock- a sharp looking one- with red drops on it caught his eye. Fabian got closer. It was blood! His eyes followed the drops of blood, and a trail revealed itself. It was a crazy hope, a wish, a dream even, but it was all the hope he had.

"Jamie! I think I found something!"

******
"Where are your parents?" Gideon asked.

"They're away." she stated simply.

"And they left you all on your own? You cant be older than I am, and I'm never left by myself."

"How old are you?"

"Ten. You?"

"9 and 1/2. Why did you leave home?"

The sensitive question made Gideon slightly uneasy, and shifted uncomfortably.

Alice jumped when Gideon shifted. When he did it, he moved the blanket off his legs, exposing his bloody knee.

"Your knee!" she gasped.

The warmth and coziness of the home had distracted Gideon from his injured knee. That is, until Alice brought attention to it.

"Damn. My trousers are ruined." he groaned

She shot up from her seat and into another room, telling him to stay where he was.

She emerged with bandages and a clean pair of pants, and instructed him to take the ruined pair off, clean his wound, bandage it, and put the clean pair of pants on (all in the privacy of the next room over of course) and he did so.

He emerged from the next room over some time later with pants that were too big for him, but was grateful for the non-bloody aspect of them the previous pair lacked.

"Are those ok? They look kinda big on you." Alice said

"They're fine."

"Do you have someplace to sleep tonight?" she looked genuinely worried about him

Gideon paused for a moment

"Uh...no. I guess I dont."

"You can stay here if you like. There's a guest bed in the room down the hall."

"Would your parents allow it?"

"They wont be back for another two days."

Gideon was taken aback. What kind of parents would leave such a young child alone for so long?

"Where have they gone?"

"They've gone looking for a doctor of sorts."

"Is one of them ill?"

"No."

"Are you ill?"

"No."

Her eyes darted away slightly when she replied, and Gideon suspected a lie.

"It's late," she noted, obviously eager to change the subject, "We should bo
th get to bed."

Gideon wanted to know more about her and why she needed a doctor, but running for so long had sapped the energy from him. Once the stimulating conversation had died off, he had struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Alright. My bed's the one down the hall?"

"Yes. Ill be in the room across it if you need anything."

They both walked to their respective rooms, and shut the door.

Gideon sat down on the bed. It was very soft, and he sunk down into it without wanting to. After standing up with slight difficulty, he pulled his shoes off and slid underneath the covers. Within seconds, he was sound asleep.