Opposites Attract

Hiding In The Shadows

He had retreated into his own head, living in his own mind, creating a fantasy world that was easier to live in than the real world around him. His mind was his most powerful weapon, he knew that by improving his mind he would improve his future, so he devoted himself to his studies. This did not endear him to the others.

He liked to sit and watch people, to see what made them tick. It was self preservation for him. He had become adept at sensing people’s moods and their intentions, knowing when to run and hide before the bad things happened, just as he was right at that moment.

The door had creaked open, the light from the hallways spilling inside and once again he had retreated into the shadows that were his only friends, holding his breath, waiting, watching, always on alert.

The two that stumbled in didn’t surprise him, but what they were doing did. They shared the bottle between them, giggling like teenage girls, not the boys that they actually were. Their voices as they whispered had a higher pitch than normal, their muffled laughter almost verging on hysterical.

They hadn’t spotted him, but then he hadn't expected them to, no one ever did unless he was walking past them, then they saw him alright.

Without stopping to debate the wiseness of his actions he shifted as slowly and quietly as he could and raised the phone in his hand, silently filming the action.

The two finished off the bottle quickly, gulping until they were breathless and looking like they were about to pass out.

“Shit,” one slurred, staring at the empty bottle in his hand. “We need to hide this.”

“Crap,” the other mumbled, echoing his sentiment. They were barely able to stand but the sudden fear on their faces was enough for him to know that they weren't just indulging in some underage drinking but something else too.

“Come on, let's get out of here before the final bell.”

“Right behind you!”

They stumbled out of the room and the door slammed shut behind them leaving him alone in his hiding place. He waited a few minutes to make sure they weren't coming back before he dared to play back the video. Perfect, he’d caught it all. He didn’t know why, but it seemed important and he wanted it.

He waited, he was good at waiting. It took four days before the answer made itself known. They were all assembled in the dining hall, kept behind after breakfast, where the master spoke to them.

“Someone believed they had the right to enter my office, my private space, and help themselves to my whiskey. My private item, something that they are not old enough for, nor entitled to. Someone thought they knew better, someone thought they were better than everyone else and could do as they pleased. They were wrong.”

Every child in the orphanage sat with their heads bowed, not daring to make eye contact and he did the same. Most did it out of fear, fear that they would be accused of this crime, but he did it out of fear that the knowledge he held on his phone would somehow shine out of his eyes and give him away. His heart was pounding with excitement, so hard that he was sure those around him could hear it and it would draw attention to him, yet no one did.

Tanner and Martin were two of the biggest bullies in the home and they didn’t care who knew it, they feared no one but the master in front of them. Master ruled them not with physical punishments which the state did not allow but with mental ones, extra work, the taking away of privileges, the fear of their permanent record and the fear that he would tell future foster and adoptive parents of their transgressions. No one wanted to risk the chance of getting out of the hell hole they were forced to call home.