Thirty-Seven (bxb)

Chapter Nine

Danny hesitantly re-entered his apartment, biting his tongue as he pondered over the missing person's paper in his pocket. He had questions, more questions than before. More questions than he thought he'd get answers to. The new questions were stemming from the missing person's paper he had stashed in his pocket.

Even though Danny didn't particularly like Vses, he didn't think the guy was a kidnapper. He didn't seem like the kind of guy. Maybe it was because he seemed to really care about the kid. Danny was confused, but the more he thought about it, the more he doubted the paper's credibility. The kid wasn't treating Vses like how a kidnapped person would usually. Some would have suspected something like Stockholm syndrome, but Danny didn't think that was the case either.

Danny just didn't know. He would have just asked if he didn't think this was potentially more than just a missing person case. Something was weird with Vses, non-human. The same could be said for the kid, just less obvious. After spending time with the kid, the small things stood out more and more. His face had hints of blue around his eyes and cheekbones. It was weird looking, but not a bad weird. If anything, it made the boy look a little exotic. It was clear that neither one of them fit into the mold of human, not entirely anyway.

Which made the credibility of the missing person's paper decrease in Danny's mind. How could you one-hundred percent trust a paper that was clearly leaving something out? As much as Danny wanted to believe that the paper was real and that if he called them that he'd be helping the kid return to his home, Danny doubts that was what would happen if he called that number. What kind of place doesn't teach kids to speak? Sure, it could be something medical, but with the way the kid was slowly starting to say words after watching a few days of television, Danny had a feeling that wasn't the case. He seemed to understand words, too, not the big or complex ones, but common words and phrases.

That didn't make Vses completely innocent, though. Even though the kid seemed to look up to Vses, it was clear that they didn't know each other very well. Which meant they hadn't been together for very long. But what did that mean? Why were the two of them together? Why did they demand to stay with Danny?

Danny had to stop before the flood of questions drove him crazy. The paper could wait. The kid didn't seem interested in leaving the apartment any time soon; neither did Vses. That would give Danny time to hopefully figure out what he could on his own. Danny wanted to leave Vses out of it for as long as he could. Danny didn't want to tempt fate by angering Vses with the news of the missing person paper.

Danny wasn't surprised to see the kid watching television when he walked by the small living room. The kid was staring at the screen with wide eyes, captivated with what he saw. Vses was sitting on the other side of the couch, just watching with the kid, a bored expression on his face.

"What is the point of this?" Vses asked out loud, clearly not expecting an answer. It was quite obvious he was asking about the show that the kid was watching. It didn't take very long for the kid to figure out how to turn the TV on and turn it to the cartoon channel.

"Some kids would argue that it's funny," Danny teased, startingly Vses. Vses looked over to see Danny standing there, a bag of books and coloring utensils in his hands. After the shock had faded away, a different look formed on Vses face. Danny wasn't sure what that look was, but it disappeared after a couple of seconds, the uninterested expression returning.

"I see nothing humorous about three small animated figures going to do some ignorant task that wasn't that big of an issue," Vses complains. This time the kid glanced over at him, glowering at Vses. Vses seemed shocked by the kids' expression. Danny couldn't help but laugh. Even though Danny was sure the kid didn't completely understand everything that Vses had said, he seemed to comprehend that Vses was blatantly making fun of the show. "Nevermind," Vses mumbled.