Wolf in Sheep Clothing

Parent

As the young Tory burst through the entrance of the abandoned shelter, his shoulder was roughly grabbed by his mother's hand as she began dragging him across the creaking wooden floor.  But only after she had shut the entrance door of the shabby cabin so hard that the very foundation shook beneath their feet. 

Shock, confused and in pain he call out a nervous "mom?" to which she shushed him and continued to pull him across the narrow space.

The cabin didn't hold much of anything, an old dresser, and a cabinet behind what once was a kitchen island. Moth-eaten curtains hung above crooked windows and a stained carpet covered a random patch of floor.

Heart beaten against the bags he somehow still kept as his chest. Tory watched with wide eyes as his mother bent over, threw aside the carpet and dug her fingers into a narrow crack between the floorboards. The tips of her digits bleed as she used all her strength to break off two pieces of wood. 

Tory couldn't help but flinch both times as they gave away with a damp *CRACK*. 

 Wordlessly Veronica tossed aside the wood and reached for her child only to immediately push him through the small opening. The space was barely wide enough to let him through and so he scraped the side of his arms again the sharp edges as he descended to the messy grown beneath the floors. His landing startling the family of rats whose nest had cushion his fall.

The bags of goods he once held had fallen for his hold and their content lay hidden in the darkness around him. Tory didn't look for the biscuits and cakes, instead, he looked up to his mother who was peeking down at him from above.  His eyes pooled with unshed tears and filled with fear as he quietly sobbed. 

"Mom what-" He began only to be interrupted.

"Be a good boy Tory okay?" His mother pleaded, the fear in her eyes far greater than the one he felt. " Don't say a word, don't make a sound, no matter what" She urged in a quiet voice. The tone in which she spoke caused cold chills to run down Tory's back. His heart beat so hard in his chest, it hurt. He couldn't talk, he could only nod dumbly at his mother's request. 

But as she began moving away and her face disappeared from his sight he couldn't help but give a cry of protest. Standing to his feet as he shouted out a sobbing and fear filled:

"Mommy"

"TORY! SHUT UP" Veronica shouted as she quietly returned to the opening, her voice shaken with what he had then thought was anger, but later learned to be fear. Tory quietly down, bowing his head and throwing his hands over his mouth in fear that his sobs would be heard and further anger his mother. 

He didn't see her tear-filled eyes, but he heard her heart filled words as she promised:

 "I'll protect you, i'll protect you always so don't worry but you have to be quiet okay?" 

And just like that, she places the stained carpet above the hole and left him silently crying in the dark. 

.....

A figured  stood before a wooden barrier and raised their hand, delivering two solid knocks that were quickly joined by two more and then another two. When the occupant finally pulled open the door. The figure absently asked: 

" Are you bussy?" As he pushed himself passed the annoyed omicron and walked into to room.  Turning to follow the vampire's uninvited entrance. Tory silently shut the door, already knowing that Eddy wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. 

"I was" He responded to the rhetorical question. Crossing his arms over his chest, loosely as to not undo his freshly bandaged arm. Tory followed obediently after Eddy as the latter move closer to the bed.