14 Days of Academy Christmas

Owen

Day 9.

Sean and Owen's Christmas Part 2 by yobshabob

An hour after lights out, Sean and Owen snuck out of their room and into a dusty broom closet. "What do you think?"

Owen folded his arms across his chest and frowned at Sean. "I'm not sure. There's something strange about how they all clam up about it, but I can't get a read on the situation. You?"

Sean fiddled with the cleaning supplies on the shelf before answering. "I think there are a few possibilities. One, the caretaker is doing it, and maybe selling the gifts on the side for a profit."

Owen snorted and shook his head. "Not likely. He's ridiculously devout. 'Thou shalt not steal' and all."

"Right, but if he saw it as some kind of righteous punishment for the kids or something like that, he might justify it in his own mind."

Owen nodded and made a mental note of Sean's analysis. "You said there were a few. What else do you see?" For all of Sean's devil-may-care attitude, he was fastidious, and incredibly observant. It would make him an amazing doctor one day.

"Two, it's one of the kids." Sean frowned. "I don't want to think it's any of them, but knowing the kinds of lives they've had, it's not beyond the realm of possibility."

Owen unfolded his arms and adjusted his glasses. "I don't think it's any of them, at least not directly. The police did investigate, but didn't find anything."

"True, but like Jack said, this house is full of the forgotten boys. How much effort do you think the police really put into the investigation? They have enough on their hands on a regular basis, and chances are, they don't believe the boys anyway." Agitation took hold of Sean, and he paced the small space, kicking up dust in his wake. "I really don't want it to be them."

Seeing his friend's discomfort, Owen cleared his throat. "Sean, even if it is one of the boys, it doesn't make the assumptions okay. This is why we're in the Academy, right? These boys may think they're forgotten, but they're not. We're here, because someone noticed and saw that they needed help."

Sean's pacing stopped and he smiled at his friend. "You're right. We're here, and we're going to figure this out."

Owen pulled out a slim cell phone and sent off a quick update to Mr. Chochran. Peeking over his shoulder at the message, Sean saw the date click over and grinned. "Happy birthday, bro."

Owen stared at the display and felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like celebrating the day. Nodding, he closed the phone and hid it away before they snuck back to their beds. The memory of spending the day at the park with his mother flashed through his mind and the knot loosened just a little bit. "Thanks, Sean. Let's get back before we're caught."

***

Owen spent his first day as a teenager scrubbing bathrooms after stopping a fight between two of the younger boys. "No one is excused to use force in my home." The caretaker had been adamant that there were no rewards for heroic actions, and that because he physically separated the kids, Owen was a part of the fight. He put himself in it, regardless of his intentions. The fighters were on bathroom duty for the next two weeks, though, so he was getting off easy with just one day of the foul chore. As he scrubbed the downstairs bathroom in the entry hall, muffled voices rose up from the heater vent. He bent low to listen, scrubbing the floor as he strained to hear the raised voices.

"There's nothing you can do to stop me. If you get in my way, I'll make it public." Owen didn't recognize the speaker, so he flipped open his phone and recorded the conversation, hoping to identify him later. "Try keeping me out again, and I'll do more than just hurt them."