Our Boys

On The Streets Pt. 4

Saturday, 2:23 a.m.

Ethan woke up safe in his bedroom at the farmhouse. He rubbed his fists in his eyes, trying to rub away the sleepiness. Josh was in his bed with him, but Ethan didn't remember having a bad dream. His adoptive brother's leg jerked, drawing Ethan's attention as he yawned. It wasn't even light outside yet, so why did he wake up? Ethan heard a sniff.

"Josh, are you crying?" he asked. The boy didn't respond to him, except for his legs twitching. Ethan pushed off his covers and turned on the lamp by his bed. He looked at Josh's wet cheeks. Yep, he was definitely crying. "Josh, are you 'wake?"

Ethan touched the boy's leg but the he jerked away, only banging his leg into the wall by the bed.

"Josh?" Ethan frowned as he remembered how upset Josh had been before they went to bed. He had been screaming and kicking at Papa, and now he was crying and wouldn't wake up.

Subconsciously sucking his thumb as he padded out of the room, he stopped at his dads door but didn't knock on it. If he woke them up, it would be so he would feel better, not Josh, and that wouldn't be fair because Josh was the one who was really upset.

"Ethan?"

The youngster turned towards the voice and saw his dad standing in the hallway a few feet away, a glass of water in his hands.

"Are you all right?" Simon asked softly.

Ethan nodded, but Simon wasn't convinced. The giveaway tell was that Ethan was sucking his thumb. The boy had broken himself of the habit during daylight hours, but when he was feeling insecure he reverted to the comforting behavior.

Simon bent and scooped the small eight year old into his arms. "What's up?"

Ethan pulled his thumb out of his mouth. "Josh's crying," he said softly. "He got scared bad before bedtime, and now he's crying and won't wake up."

The door opened, revealing a sleepy JJ. He yawned and stretched, taking in the site before him. "Ethan? You alright?"

"Yeah," his boyfriend replied. "He said Josh is crying. You wanna take him?" Simon leaned Ethan towards JJ and his sleepy partner took the youngster, who immediately wrapped around JJ's neck.

"Babe, I should really talk to Josh," JJ said.

Ethan shook his head vigorously. "You scared him."

JJ rubbed Ethan's back. "I know, little guy. But I don't know how or why I scared him. Can you help me out?"

Ethan shook his head. "Something made him 'member."

"Remember what, Ethan?" JJ prompted.

"The bad man who hit him and took our money." Ethan looked at Simon and whispered: "He was the one who tooken Josh's shoes."

JJ and Simon exchanged glances. They understood the significance to Ethan of losing your shoes. The young boy tied losing his shoes to the fact that his mum was dreaming of angels.

A scream of fear from the boys room ended the discussion. Simon hurried down the hall, followed closely by JJ and Ethan.

"Ethan!" Josh called frantically, not seeing his best friend and brother.

"Josh, I'm here!" Ethan answered.

No one was prepared for Josh to launch himself off the bed, barreling into JJ. "Let him go! Don't hurt him! Let him go!" The child kicked and flailed with his fists with the single thought of freeing Ethan from his captor.

"Josh, stop!" called Simon as he wrapped his arms around him and sat down on the floor with the struggling boy.

"Don't hurt him. He didn't do nothing!" the boy sobbed.