My Borrowed Son

Foolishness

Chapter Seventeen | Foolishness

Kers couldn't believe he had been so foolish!

Stupid!

Stupid!

Stupid!

Stupid!

He hadn't realized the kid was in the house and wanted a chance to check in on him and make sure he was alright. They were in the other room having dinner at one point, so he stepped away to go and retrieve some dinner leftovers and crumbs from the kitchen.

The television was on.

It was part of their pattern!

Dinner.

A bit of television.

Parker would go and get something called "homework" done, which was a rare occasion, and then he would go to bed.

Foolishness was what guided the Borrower to act.

The television was on and, like a fool, Kers assumed that Parker and his "mom" were watching a bit of the show together because she had stepped into the other room and turned on the television. Parker was usually never up this late doing homework, and so Kers had dared to venture out of the walls and up to the dollhouse that was called "Parker's Place."

It wasn't the first time he was going to go up to the dollhouse. When Parker first was given this place, Kers made sure he could get in and out in case he needed to rescue the Borrower boy. There would have been nothing worse if Parker was moved from the open and into a plexiglass cage where Kers couldn't get him out.

All was going smoothly after Kers borrowed his fill from the pantry. He walked through the darkness of the walls with ease to the old office room, picking the pieces of meat from his teeth, and approached the electrical outlet.

Only now when he pressed against the edge did he notice the electrical cover was a tad tight. It was a bit odd, but he hadn't been here on the ground floor in a while to check on the boy. Without a second thought, Kers removed a rusty drill bit he kept as a tool on his side and unscrewed the piece from behind, accidentally breaking part of the screw off as he tapped on the end to knock the contraption loose from the wall.

Everything came loose after a few good nudges with his shoulder and then, after a quick check, Kers slipped out of the walls and into the room. The dollhouse loomed up on the desk and made the Borrower shiver. Seeing it high above was giving him vertigo like a standard human room. It made Parker feel more human than Borrower.

Maybe, in a way, he was.

Parker was being raised by a human. Parker had human friends if Kers understood what he overheard during the day. The boy might not even have proper Borrower instincts for all Kers knew, which would but Parker in danger if Kers were to try and bring him safely into the walls to live as a true Borrower.

Too many decisions.

Too little time.

Had he made the right decision all those years ago when he didn't take Parker? Was it possibly too late for this boy to live a "normal" life meant for someone of his kind? He couldn't have taken the child at the time because he didn't have any supplies and it would have been dangerous for him and for Parker. Now that he could take Parker, he felt reluctant to.

What was the right decision?

Kers sighed and cautiously tiptoed across the floor toward the desk, unclipping the hook on his belt when spotted a line right by the edge of the table. It made the Borrower turn his head curiously and smile to himself.

He suspected this was not the work of Amanda, the "mom" of the house.

Maybe Parker's more Borrower than he knows.

Kers checked the line, noting its secure hold on the desk as well as the type of line that was chosen. Both were good quality, even by his standards. There was no fraying on the line. There were incremental knots in case of hand slippage. There was even a loop at the bottom to hoist up items.

If Kers didn't know better, he would have suspected that Parker's upbringing was entirely done by Borrowers. He decided to admire the child's work later, however, and set down the rope before preparing to ascend the line.

Taking a quick breath, Kers shimmied up the line and hoisted himself up onto the desk, pausing only once to catch his breath and readjust his foothold. The Borrower rolled onto his back and then back onto his front before darting toward the side of the house for cover.

Halfway there, Kers' blood ran cold and his instinct had him freezing like a statue. Completely motionless like a figurine on a shelf, Kers' eyes were drawn up to the Borrower child's window and he saw immediately that the lights were on.

No. What? Why?

He's supposed to be watching a movie with his "mom."

He's not supposed to be here on the desk in his dollhouse!

The feeling was tangible in the air, an anticipation for an inevitable drop. Kers was about to turn back toward the line, but he was seconds too late to move stealthily. The door at the far end of the room opened in slow motion. Kers felt his heart skipping every other beat. The light in the room flooded in, pouring itself into the shadows and illuminating the secrets of the room – including him!

Kers had to act fast, and there was no chance to be quiet about it. He spun around and dropped down Parker's secured line, hands flying down the line and barely catching the knots to slow his dissent. The fearful Borrower was sure he heard something pop as he hit the ground but swallowed his yelp of pain as he practically threw himself into the wall and pulled the electrical cover behind him.

Kers couldn't believe he had been so foolish!

Stupid!

Stupid!

Stupid!

Stupid!

It wasn't until he managed to hobble back to his place in the walls and stumble into his hammock that he realized that his rusty drill bit had fallen from his side pack.

Curses! I hope that kid didn't find that. It's only going to cause him more problems.

Kers stared up at the endless abyss above him that undoubtedly led to the human ceiling. The hammock swayed under him back and forth, daring to put him to sleep. The exhaustion from the adrenaline rush was enough to put him under, but Kers couldn't worry about that now.

He forced himself up and set an alarm for the next day to resume his watch over Parker and Amanda, the child's so-called "mom."

The pattern had changed, and Kers needed to know where the deviations were going to be if he was going to successfully keep an eye on the Borrower child.

If the kid found the drill bit, questions might ensue; and, if that happened, Parker might act rashly depending on Amanda's responses.

For the kid's sake, Kers hoped those questions wouldn't come. Parker seemed happy in his life. Regardless of how he should live, which was as a Borrower and not as a human child, it needed to be Parker's decision; and forcing it would possibly turn Parker away from a Borrower's life.

Though prepared at any moment to take the child under his wing, Kers resigned himself to remain passive.

He could only hope it was still the right decision and that his drill bit didn't interfere with things to come.