Lost and Found

It’s nine o’clock. I turn over in my bed and see the red numbers on the clock shining at me. The little bit of light that’s coming into the room is enough to see the outline of the body underneath the sheets on my sofa bed. I forgot about Michael for a second. When I saw him yesterday I just knew I had to help him. Now it’s worse than I thought. I hoped he was just going to be a runaway rebellious teenager. He’s been hurt though. Last night seeing those bruises on his body made me so angry. It also made me realise that I’m going to look out for him from now on. I wonder if his parents made those marks. Maybe something happened to his parents as a child and he was put into an orphanage; maybe he didn’t get on with the kids. Or did he simply just get into a fight? No I don’t think so... It’s definitely more serious than just a fight. Hopefully he’ll tell me today.
I leave Michael sleeping and go downstairs. My mum’s in the front room watching the TV and my dad must be at work. I pour myself a bowl of cereal when I get to the kitchen and then grab the orange juice carton from the fridge.
“Troy.” I put the orange juice carton back and walk into the front room to see what my mum wants. She’s sitting there in her pink fluffy dressing gown and matching slippers. She probably has her matching pyjamas underneath.
“You okay?” I sit next to my mum on the sofa; she’s watching some show about fashion.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I was just wondering... That boy Michael... Well it’s just, you said that you met him when you were out walking yesterday and he said that he doesn’t go to school. I just wondered... What’s the deal with him?” My mum looks hesitant as if I’m going to be mad at her. Truth was I could never be mad at my mum. She’s the sweetest woman ever.
“He was sleeping in the field... I just saw him sitting there in a sleeping bag. I walked over to him to see if he was okay... When I got closer to him I realised he was the same age as me and I just thought that if I was in his position I wouldn’t ask for help either. So I offered it to him instead.” I stare at the TV so I don’t have to see the reaction on my mum’s face. She’s not horrible and certainly wouldn’t feel differently towards someone because they’ve slept rough, but she wouldn’t approve of me “putting myself in danger”.

Mum turns the TV off, probably a ploy to make me look at her; it works. She doesn’t look angry or mad and she doesn’t look like she’s going to disapprove of my actions.
“He was sleeping in the field...” She gives a heavy sigh and looks at the ground briefly and then looks at me again. “Poor thing... I can’t imagine ever casting you out into the cold all by yourself... What sort of parents would do that?” Mum looks furious now. I know that she gets really wound up about stuff like this. She says that children are miracles and that they should be loved no matter what. She’s right.
“Abusers would do that... Or at least make him scared enough to run…” I look down instantly regretting what I said.
“What? Michael... Michael was abused? This is terrible... I’ll need to talk with Michael, see what he wants to do about the situation. I don’t want to push him into anything.” Mum puts a hand to her chest. She gets up off of the sofa and goes into the kitchen. I follow her.
“Mum just wait okay? I shouldn’t have said anything... I’m not even sure that it was his parents. He had a shower last night and he came back into the room with the towel around his waist, he had bruises on his upper body. When I tried to talk to him about it he said that he’ll explain everything to me today... Let’s just wait until we know the full story okay?” Mum pours the water from the kettle into a cup to make herself a coffee. Caffeine’s her answer to everything.
“Okay, you talk to him first.” She stirs her coffee. I give her a kiss on the forehead and go back upstairs.

Michael is making the sofa bed. He takes the sheets off and folds it so that’s it’s now just a sofa. I stand there for a minute considering him. Wondering what it must be like for him; living out in the cold for weeks, being beaten up for God knows how long. I clear my throat so he knows I’m there. Michael turns around. I can see it on his face. Wariness, caution. He knows that he’s going to have to explain everything. He knows that he’s going to have to tell me how he got those bruises, why he was sleeping rough. In a way I don’t want to pry. I don’t want to make him relive everything. Michael’s still looking at me, probably wondering whether to say something, probably wondering whether I’ve remembered the bruises that cover his body. How could I forget those dark patches on his skin, those purple patches that stand out and look so harsh on his pale, fragile body? The patches on his skin that show the type of life he’s lived. The patches on his skin that show he’s suffered. The patches on his skin that show he’s been in pain, more than once.

“Troy… What you saw last night… Can we just, forget it, maybe? It doesn’t even matter anymore anyway…” Michael puts his right hand on his left arm and rubs it slightly because of nerves, probably. Where he touches his arm is another bruise. I saw that one last night too. I wonder if the bruises still hurt him. I wonder whether he looks at them and starts to cry. All of these thoughts make me angry. Why would anyone do this to another human being, why would anyone do this kind of thing?
“Michael, I know it must be upsetting… You were sleeping in a field; you’re covered in bruises… Could you at least tell me who did it? Could you at least tell me who hurt you?” I feel my heart beating. I don’t want to hear the answer that I think I’m going to get.
“My parents…” There it is. The answer that I was dreading the moment I saw the bruises on Michael’s skin; on his body that has been made so fragile from weeks of sleeping rough, days of not eating and probably a life time of being hit. I breathe deeply, Michael sits on the sofa. He stares straight ahead at the wall. He looks stony faced. He’s not crying. He’s not moving. He just sits there staring. I sit down on the sofa facing Michael.
“I’m so sorry…” The words choke me. I barely form the sentence. My mouth is dry and I feel slightly sick. I can’t imagine what Michael is feeling. Or maybe he just doesn’t feel anything, maybe he just shuts off. No, he must be terrified and heartbroken at the fact that his own parents, the people who are meant to protect him would do something like this.

I go downstairs; Michael stays sitting on the sofa in my room, frozen. My mum is now dressed and she is cleaning the front room.
“It was his parents.” My mum stops and looks over at me.
“What?” She puts the duster on to the table and steps closer to me.
“It was his parents… The bruises.” Mum has a look of recognition on her face.
“So you were right… I can’t believe it… That’s awful. What’s Michael doing now?” Mum goes over to the sofa and sits down slowly.
“He’s just sitting there, staring at the wall. As soon as he told me that it was his parents he just went silent and frozen… Maybe you should come and talk to him.” I stay standing by the front room door. Mum looks at me and nods her head. She gets up and makes her way to my bedroom. When she reaches my door she knocks quietly. Michael doesn’t reply. She looks over her shoulder at me and then walks into my bedroom. I walk in after her. Michael is still sitting there. He hasn’t moved at all.
“Michael… Sweetheart… Troy just told me… Troy told me that your parents have been abusing you…” My mum stops. Her voice wavers and a few tears fall from her loving eyes to her soft cheeks that I would press my own cheek against as a child and find all the comfort I needed. I think of Michael; did he ever have that? Did Michael’s mother ever love him? Did she ever comfort him? Michael looks up when he realises that my mum is crying. He gets up and walks over to her. He puts his arms around her.
“Don’t cry, please… I’m okay now… I’m not with them anymore. They don’t know where I am. They won’t get me.” Michael lets my mum rest her head on his shoulders. He looks at me and shuts his eyes tight.

I step out of the room and go downstairs. I put the kettle on and make me and Michael a cup of tea with two sugars and I make my mum a coffee with two sugars. When I take them all upstairs on a tray mum and Michael haven’t moved. They’re still in the middle of my room, holding each other. I clear my throat. Michael opens his eyes; he rubs my mum’s back and pulls away from the hug. He smiles at me and I smile back whilst handing him his tea. He says thank you whilst mum picks her coffee up off of the tray. Michael and mum sit on the sofa and I sit on my bed.
“You can stay here… You can stay with us for as long as you need to… I’ll have to talk to Andy but I don’t think he’ll have a problem, you’re a good kid.” My mum takes a sip of her coffee. She shakes slightly as she does so. Michael is still holding on to his cup, He’s looking at my mum as if she has just given him the best birthday and Christmas present all at once. I guess for Michael, this is the best present.
“Thank you so much Tracey, it means so much to me for you to let me stay here… I know you’ll still have to talk to Andy but, the thought is enough. Thank you... Troy, would you mind if I stayed? This is your room; I don’t want to take up your space…” I could never kick Michael out on to the streets again. If he’s not here that’s where he’ll be. I’m never going to let that happen to him again.
“Of course it’s fine. Why would I mind? I’d be happy to have you living here.” I smile at Michael and he smiles back. The first genuine smile he’s probably given in a long time.

I give Michael his clothes that I put in the wash last night. He takes them into the bathroom and emerges a while later looking refreshed and happy. I take a shower next. The water is hot and relaxing. After getting changed I go and get me and Michael something to eat.
“Do you want to go shopping?” I ask after swallowing a mouthful of my cheese sandwich.
“I don’t have any money.” Michael finishes his sandwich and places the plate into the dishwasher.
“Mum… Can I have some money?” Mum appears from the front room.
“Depends what for.” She says, trying to act stern.
“Michael needs some clothes.” I look over at Michael and he looks down at the floor.
“Okay, I don’t have any cash though so I’ll have to transfer some money into your account for Michael. That okay?” Mum gets her phone from the side and sorts out the money. Michael looks up from the floor and smiles, he catches my eye and smiles even more. He mouths “thank you”. I wink at him and give my mum a kiss on the forehead.
“Thank you so much mum, you’re a star.”
“Yeah, thank you so much Tracey.” Michael gives mum a hug and she holds him tight. She laughs a little and then grabs her car keys.
“I’ll drop you off into town. I’ve got to go and see my friend Susan anyway so it’s close by.” We all head out the door.

When we get to town we go in the first clothes shop we find. Michael manages to find some band t-shirts that he likes. He also gets a pair of faded skinny jeans.
“We should probably get you some boxers or something.” I laugh looking at the t-shirts and jeans.
“Oh right yeah, that would be a good idea.” Michael laughs to and then goes to find some boxers that he likes. We go to the checkout and then find another shop.
“My Chemical Romance is a good band.” I say remembering one of the t-shirts that Michael picked up.
“Yeah, they broke up but they’re still good.” We go into a shoe shop and have a look around. I look at Michael’s converse on his feet. They’re a little battered and scuffed; there’s even a bit of a hole in one of them. His parents must have stopped him from buying new clothes and shoes when he needed them.
“You going to get some new converse?”
“You sure? I don’t want to spend too much.” Michael looks at the pair of converse on the shelf in front of us. They’re forty pounds.
“Michael, if you need them get them.” Michael looks down at the hole in his shoe. I take the pair of converse from the shelf. Luckily they’re the right size and we pay for them straight away. We go to another shop and buy two more pairs of jeans and then Michael insists that he doesn’t need any more clothes for now.
“Let’s go and get something to eat and then I’ll call my mum to come and get us.” We walk to the nearest food shop. We stand for a while looking at the menu deciding what we want to eat. I decide to get a burger and Michael gets the same. We get a table and sit.
“Thanks for everything Troy… I never expected anything like this to happen. I thought that I would be trapped in that house forever. I always thought that I had no chance of getting away from my parents. I’m just glad I’ve finally got away from them. I have you to thank for that.” Michael takes a bite of his burger and looks down.
“Why do you look down at the floor all the time? I’m not going to have a go at you for saying thank you. You’ve got nothing to be scared of.” I put down my burger and take a sip of my drink. Michael looks at me and smiles.
“Yeah, I know, I just feel stupid. No real home, no real parents… I just feel like I’m invading on your family.” Michael takes a sip of his drink.
“Not at all. You’re not invading on anything… As for you not having a home, I know for a fact my dad will say yes to letting you stay so you’ve got nothing to worry about… We’ll be your family now.” Michael just nods and finishes his food. I call my mum and she says that she’ll get us in twenty minutes.

“How was the shopping trip boys?” Mum says when Michael and me get into the car.
“Yeah, it was good. Michael got some cool stuff.”
“Yeah, thank you again Tracey. It was really nice of you to give me the money.” Mum looks round from the driver’s seat and gives Michael a big grin.
“No problem at all! Oh and by the way, Andy called from work… You can stay with us for as long as you want to Michael.” Mum turns around, looking in the rear-view mirror she smiles.
“Told you there was nothing to worry about.” I say to Michael.