Encrypted Connection

Joey: Eight

"Hold him down"

"But he's out."

"He is. But I need to get that bullet out of him. He can't move while I'm doing that. You want him to wake up with me poking around in his wound?"

"....No".

"Then hold him down."

He heard Silvo's voice. Blaise's at some point. A woman's.

Then his mind wandered to visit ghosts of the past and he didn't know where was when and who was where anymore.

"He's a bit old", another voice. An old one from a past Joey didn't like to think about.

And as if his mind knew his body was in pain so it should hurt as well, it remained there, in that moment of a difficult past.

"Joey's 12 but he's smart and polite. He just...tends to speak before he thinks first.", the social worker said.

"There is discipline in my house. He'll learn better. Fine, I take both. That one and the other one. The quiet one.".

He remembered.

He remembered how his instinct kicked in, told him that if he left with that man, he'd never make it out whole or alive. The man was carrying that very particular stench: the one kids like him had learnt to recognize. He remembered how he looked at the other kid next to him and part of him didn't want to let that kid go alone. But Joey was smart, like the lady said. Smart enough to know he didn't have the size or the resources to play the hero.

So once the man exited the office, Joey lied and told the lady he'd hurt himself if she forced him to go with the man.

He knew the rules, he read them behind everybody's back to put all chances on his sides when it came to Foster homes. They couldn't place a kid who could potentially harm himself. He'd have to go to therapy, he'd be much likely seen as a freak or a damaged goods but he didn't care. If that man took him home, he'd be damaged good anyway. In ways he didn't even want to think about.

And it worked.

Sick to his stomach, shaking, he watched the man grab the other kid's wrist and drag him outside. He wanted to tell that kid he was sorry but sorry for what? This wasn't their fault.

They were just kids no one cared about. Those with a survival instinct and some brain could only win some time.

That day, Joey did.

When his life changed, when Barco took him in, Joey didn't forget where he came from. He hacked the system and tracked that kid down. He couldn't even say he was surprised to find out he was found dead in the street. Sex worker, 16 years old, beaten to death by some pimp or some violent patron maybe. Two days before, he had asked a patron for help in a hotel room, asking for some money to escape his life. The patron had felt so bad he went to the police and reported it despite the risks of being charged himself. The cops didn't investigate.

Hookers, male or female, tended to lie to earn some more money. Maybe they were right in general. Not in that case.

Joey never forgot it could have been him. He could have ended up just like that.

And no one would have cared.

Now? Now he was hurting. But his mind decided it was enough. It brought him back to a more comfortable moment. His body felt warm, delightfully numb.

He definitely liked this moment.

There was something heavy against his side. Heavy and warm and....breathing.

Not something he was used to.

Opening one eye carefully, he cringed when light assaulted him...and then suddenly he remembered something more important: he'd been shot at.

Tensing up, he tried to sit up, to get out, to bring himself to safety but pain and that weight by his side stopped him right there, causing him to groan in pain.

A large head perked up and a tongue just as big welcomed him back to consciousness.

"What the...", he scowled before grimacing again, his body refusing to go anywhere.

Laying back, he looked around, heart still racing.

No shooters. No danger.

Only...one big dog claiming most of the bed.

"Hey, Blue", he muttered. A long tail began to whip the sheet and his legs rather excitedly and he reached up to pat the head of the dog so she could calm down.

"I always thought Judge Judy would be the one to shoot me", he said out loud, looking toward the door. "Where is he anyway?".

Blue looked at him, decided she didn't like one bit not being the center of all attention and gave him her paw. Not quick enough to catch it or even understand he was being offered, the large paw landed across his stomach, sending pain through him and making him curse and groan again.

"Are you...trying to kill me?" he panted with a glare toward the beast.... Who tilted her head to the side before managing to roll on her back, all paws in the air, her head landing on Joey's shoulder and almost pushing him off the bed.

"Help?", he called out, worried the dog would fall...or he would fall...or both even!

"Ow, ow, ow....", he protested before sliding to the side lightly.

"You are the worst nurse ever. Ever!", he decided.

Blue didn't care. She nuzzled the side of his neck, huffed and closed her eyes.

All Joey could do was to blink and hold onto the big dog.

She meant it well, he knew that.

And she was keeping his mind off what just happened for the time being.

Something he couldn't really be mad about.

Turning his head toward the door as much as he could, he called out again.

"Where's the room service at? I need some pain medication here! And the dog whisperer. AND THE WIFI PASSWORD".

He cringed again, pain starting to like him a little too much.