Adopted by Phan

Chapter 110

Jay's P.O.V.

That night, the first night Phoenix was home, was the night I left. They didn't need me anymore.

Before I left I wrote notes, for Dan, for Phil, for Anais, for Officer Briny, for my friends at school and then I wrote one for little Phoenix, almost a page long, for him to read when he was older, so he could understand why his mother was no longer around.

It was almost 11 o'clock when I slipped down the stairs and out of the front door with my crutches in hand, prosthetic on and warm winter coat to block out the freezing wind. In my pocket I had my phone, a pair of gloves and a hat, a pair of earbuds and the bus card that I had found in the pocket of the girls coat that had first started off this adventure.

I had some things to do.

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I took the bus back to the little known side of town that had been my home for upwards of two years and stepped off the bus at the same park where Jax and I used to hang out, going at once to the tree. It looked exactly as I remembered it, even after a year of being away from it.

I placed one hand against the bark of the tree and looked up into branches, the only light from the streetlamp a few feet away. I placed my forehead against the bark and just closed my eyes, just thinking over everything that had happened while I had been away. So much had changed.

"I thought I told you to stay." I was expecting it, he was there at any hour of the day or night.

"I couldn't do it anymore." I turned to him. He looked exactly as I had last seen him, when I had crashed into him in the mall, but he was taller by at least an inch and had more freckles covering his tanned face, even though it was winter. He was 17 now, almost an adult. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry for anything Jay. I heard what happened, and I'm sorry." I furrowed my brow.

"How?"

"Officer Briny comes and checks in every now and again. He makes sure we're all okay and he's found permeant homes for quite a few of the younger ones." I smiled, I was glad that some of the younger ones had found homes away from the danger.

"I'm glad. Tell him I'm sorry, please?" He stepped forward and gave me a one armed hug.

"Of course." He looked me up and down, taking in my crutches and then his eyes fixed on my slightly crooked leg, which he couldn't really see underneath my track pants. "Was that part of what happened?"

I nodded.

"My father wasn't the nicest person." He nodded, getting the wasn't part. He knew my father was dead. He looked up at me very suddenly.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" I nodded.

"I can't stay here anymore." He smiled, cupping my cheek with his gloved hand. He knew I ment more than just leaving the area. "I just wanted to say goodbye."

He bowed his head, placing his hand underneath my chin and looking me right in the eyes.

"Goodbye then little one. Take care." He turned away from me and ran into the darkness, disappearing into the night within seconds and leaving me alone in the night just as suddenly as he had arrived.

I smiled to myself. I knew he wouldn't stop me, he had known what had happened and he knew I couldn't carry on any more. He had once been in my position after all, although he had managed to get out of it before it had gone too far.

Now that I had said goodbye to everyone I needed too I just wandered around the area a little, passing the house we had burgled a few days before I had met Dan and Phil. The lights were on behind the curtains and I quietly wondered if they had noticed the missing clothes and food when they got back from their holiday.

I wandered back to the park and down to the little river that people always walked by. I followed it down towards the main area of the city where it grew wider and more fierce, the road almost 20 feet above the riverbank and the occasional car rumbled by above me, lights flickering through the trees. None of them could see me.

It was almost 2am by the time I reached the bridge, the same one I had run to after the fire the killed Autumn, Mr Carsh and Mrs Carsh. The ruins of what used to be their house was barely a five minute walk away, although I doubted it was there anymore, after all it was premium land and people would have been vying to take it.

I smiled thinking about them, in the short time I had known them they had given me shelter, food and the love I craved so much. It was too bad that it ended so soon.

I placed my crutches, phone, earbuds, bus card and my hat and gloves on the side of the river bank, pulling out the piece of paper that had my name, age, birth date and address on it as well as the little note I had written for the world. It wasn't addressed to anyone in particular, after all I had already written notes for everyone else and they were on my desk at home.

I clambered up the side of the riverbank with a little bit of difficulty, the steep terrain making it hard to climb the slippery slope. For some reason I was oddly calm, despite what I knew was going to happen next. It was almost as if I knew what was coming was fate and there was nothing I could do to change it.

Before I clambered up onto the road I listened for a few seconds, making sure there was no cars coming. As it was 2am a car only passed every 5 minutes or so, but right then it was completely silent, not even the wind was stirring anymore, despite the fact that it had been battering me for hours on the walk there. It knew.

I swung my legs over the side of the bridge, perching myself on the concrete railing of the bridge and closing my eyes.

I smiled to myself, thinking about what had happened in my life. My family in New Zealand, my grandmother in London. All the time I had spent on the streets and the friends I had made and lost along the way. Meeting Dan and Phil, finally having a proper home where I felt loved and cherished, where I wasn't going to have to fight to survive.

Everything came flooding back and just like when I jumped from the balcony to escape the fire brigade all that time ago,

I

let

myself

fall.

And this time, there wasn't anything under me to catch me.