Algid (#TronnorAU)

Chapter 26: Andrew Graham Foundation

As the newcomer finished his talking with the receptionist, Alexis turned to Connor and whispered.

-"... Con... isn't that...?"—she asked, referring to the tall man—"Someone we know...?"

-"... I'm not sure..."—Connor answered—"You remember him?"

-"I think so... hadn't he... hadn't he been your roommate once, like five or six years ago...?"

-"You think...? But wait, that would mean he's... Oh! That's...!"

The tall man approached them, prompting everyone to stand up and greet him. Connor remembered now, recognizing the face of his former roommate all those years ago.

-"You must be Mrs. Helbig! Pleasure to meet you; I'm Richard Dillon, but please call me Ricky."

Ricky extended out his arm to shake Grace's hand with a wide, welcoming smile. The small lisp on his speech when pronouncing the "s" and the "t" was still as noticeable as Connor remembered. Grace shook his hand a little uneasily, like it was so usual of her.

-"Oh, please, it's Ms. Helbig."—Grace corrected—"This here is my son Mikey, and these are—"

-"Alexis and Connor!"—Ricky finished for her, then turning to the mentioned pair—"The world is a really tiny place. Been a while, huh?"

And what a small world it was, for both Connor and Alexis looked at each other in shock at the confirmation of Ricky's identity.

Needless to say, there was a proper introduction and explanation to Grace and Mikey, and about an hour later, Connor and Ricky had already sent them and Alexis back home and now the two of them headed towards the Foster Shelter building, where Connor learnt he would be helping Ricky out for his community service. It didn't take too long for Ricky to explain how he used to be Connor's roommate in a one of his previous foster homes some years back, and after that he gave them all a small summary of what his life had been since.

Ricky was already twenty years old, which meant he was already a full-grown adult in his full capacity and the system was no longer obligated to look out for him. The same could be said about Connor, who was eighteen, except for the fact that Grace had voluntarily offered her assistance in fostering him despite his age. After Connor and Alexis had left the foster home in which Ricky lived, he spent a couple of months in there as well. He was later moved to another couple of houses, and with the years he eventually started escaping the homes he was sent to. He said it was too much to handle with the terrible places he got sent to. Most foster parents do it for the cash, so it's not weird to find some really mean ones among them. One day, Ricky escaped the house of a man who treated his foster kids as inmates in a federal prison. Ricky said that he was an alcoholic, and that he kept making them steal booze for him. He got sick of it, and one day struck him in the face and ran away the second he saw the chance, stealing some money from his wallet in the process. Of course the man called the police and pressed charges. By then, Ricky had already made his way several miles from the house, but was caught in a convenience store as he was trying to shoplift some food. He was sent to juvie after that, at the age of sixteen.

-"I spent a whole year in that place-Not so far away from here, actually, in Tubula town."—Ricky explained to Connor as they crossed they approached the double-doored entrance to the hall of the building they were headed to—"But I did my homework in there; I behaved, I helped with the rehabilitation program... since I wasn't a junkie or anything they had especial treatment with me. But I was labeled as a violent case, so there's that... That's when I met Andrew."

Ricky stopped at the doors, and so did Connor with him. Ricky let out a sigh, turned to the green eyed lad and looked at him with a grin.

-"He's the owner of this place, isn't he?"—Connor asked—"Geez... he must have some nerve getting so many foster kids together..."