We'll Fly Home

Sean saw the boy come into the shop umpteen times over the next few weeks. He wanted to ask him about himself, just get to know the boy a little better, but he didn't want to pester him. He wasn't speaking to Sean, so Sean had no reason to speak to him. He never bought anything either, which just made the task of making conversation even harder.

Finally he plucked up the courage to approach the guy. He'd been in and out of the store so many times, so if he wanted to talk, he easily could've, but instead he just minded his own business and wandered round the room for a while. Sean knew he was working where he was for a reason though. That reason clearly wasn't Lucy, and the only other person he'd seen since he was assigned there was that one kid, so he'd have to talk to him at some point.

"Hey! Hey, you!" Sean shouted, unnecessarily, seeing as the kid was only a couple of aisles over, and the shop itself wasn't that large anyway. The boy paid no attention though. "You! ...Kid, midget, small person, thing!"

The boy turned around slowly, cocking his head to the side. "What did you just call me?"

Sean ducked behind the counter for a moment, scared that the boy was going to hit him or something. You never know, sometimes these kids could be violent. He didn't hit him though, and slowly he resurfaced.

"I don't know your name," he admitted.

The boy studied him closely, his hazel eyes scanning over every last detail of Sean's visage. It was slightly unnerving, but also slightly, care he say... flattering? Sean himself got distracted by the boy, and honestly, he didn't feel bad about it at all. He was beautiful, despite only being sixteen or so. It was only when the boy cleared his throat that he was snapped out of his trance.

"Ian," he said, then looked away, almost as if he wished he hadn't said anything at all.

Sean shook his head, confused. "What?"

"Ian," the boy repeated. "My name is Ian."

That made a lot more sense then, Sean thought. He actually felt pretty pleased with himself. Lucy told him that he was there every single day, but even she didn't know his name. Maybe she just didn't try hard enough. Maybe she didn't even try at all.

Sean smiled at him, and he noticed Ian's lips quirk upwards, if only just a little. It didn't look like he was used to common human decency, let alone someone being friendly, which really was sad. Everyone deserves to be shown some amount of kindness in their life, regardless of who they are or what they've done. That was what he was taught, and that was how he lived, and in his line of work, they took that motto very seriously.

"I'd introduce myself, but you can already tell, really..." Sean gestured to the name tag pinned to his chest. "Actually, no, I'll introduce myself anyway. I'm Sean." He held out his hand for Ian to shake, which he did without any hesitation whatsoever. It really did look like the key to befriending him would simply be kindness.

They sat chatting for a while, and after their brief introduction, Ian seemed happy to talk about anything. He spoke of his family, his friends, his school, and in short, his seemingly perfect life. But of course, sometimes the most tragic of lives look that way...

That's when he heard it.

It was like a faint buzzing to start with, like white noise, but it gradually built up to a whisper, and continued getting louder, as if someone was turning a knob and increasing the volume. He had to strain his ears at first, but as the sound got louder, he could hear voices, and from there, they only got clearer.

"He hasn't got long left," they rasped.

There was a sharp hissing noise, as if someone had cut the connection, before they continued. "Weeks... days... it's hard to tell."

Sean glanced at Ian nervously. Could he hear any of this? Normally they couldn't, but the dark haired boy looked frightened. He didn't appear to really know what was going on, but it was like he had a sense of foreboding.

"Protect him if at all possible, and if not, move on swiftly. His time will come eventually," they hissed, and Sean nodded, although only Ian was around to see him.

He would protect the boy at all costs.