There's A Place For Us

Chapter 10:Timothy

I kept going over the night Hugo and I spent together. Tumbling around in the snow and swinging on the swings. The walk to and from the apartment in the light of the moon and rising sun. I’d thought about telling him how I felt the whole time. School wasn’t on my mind, my future wasn’t, what job I would have, it would be who I spent it with. I’d thought about kissing him when I pinned him to the ground.

Seeing Aunt Sam at my apartment door ruined the end of it. I used to tell her everything but since I’d been sent away for university I hadn’t talked to her. I thought she might know what to do but I also knew she was my Mom’s friend and that she might warn me about what letting Hugo in could have done. He could have stolen things, he could have hurt me. I knew nothing about him. He could be lying about Seth, for sympathy, but he’d cried and stuttered his way through the recall, it’s hard to fake that much hurt. Why get sympathy if he wasn’t trying to get more time to steal things, so he could stay here longer? He’d left once already, he wouldn’t have run off if that were the case.

He ended up falling asleep on the couch, I picked him up gently and carried him into my bedroom. I held him momentarily in my arms, his head against my chest, his warmth bleeding through his clothes to me. I didn’t want to let him go. I laid him on the bed and covered him with the blanket before I woke him and we encountered an awkward situation. I walked out, distancing myself from him. I came back a few hours later but he was still sleeping. I sat on the bed beside him, I reached out with a nervous hand and touched his cheek.

“I wish he knew,” I mumbled quietly.

I wish he had read my diary as private as it was. Just tell him. Hugo didn’t need more on his plate though. My emotions wouldn’t help him. We were both wrecks already. I left the room, closing the door behind me and sat in front of it. I felt the door give away behind me and Hugo stood there in the doorway looking down at me. He knelt down.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked putting a hand on my shoulder.

I just looked at him, I couldn’t do it. I wanted to tell him. I wanted him. I felt tears slip down my face.

“Timothy? Hey, hey. Should I call someone?” he asks.

I start shaking. I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do school. He sat on the floor beside me and hugged me, his chin resting on my head. This was a mess, everything was a mess. I’d been so happy alone with him earlier and now I was crying. I wanted to report Seth to the police but I didn’t want Hugo to hate me for it even if it was the right thing to do.

“It’s okay,” he whispers.

He rubbed my shoulder. I felt his heartbeat next to mine again. That sign of life was peaceful and comforting. I wish I could keep it, have it forever, and lock it in a box. Listen to it on repeat and hold it next to my own.

Hugo reached up slowly and whipped away my tears but I kept crying. He hugged me tighter, he took my hands and held them.

“Shh,” he whispered.

“You need to go to the police, Hugo. You need to tell them what happened,” I whispered.

This isn’t about me. My feelings could come later as much as I wanted them, I didn’t need it, he needed to do this.

“Timothy, nobody is going to fight for me. I don’t have money for a lawyer. Very few people care and the ones that do are scared,” he replies.

“I’m not scared to help you. But the truth needs to come from you. You need to tell them,” I continue. “I’ll come with you if you want, but it’s your story to tell. It needs to come from you.”

He gripped my hand and hugged me close. He pulled back eventually.

“Okay, okay, let’s go,” he agreed.

We got up, put our coats on and left the apartment. We walked the four blocks to the police station holding hands. There again was nothing romantic about it, I was reassuring him that I was here with him, for him. We stepped into the police station and officers were bustling around. We stood still for a minute unsure of our choice before one of the female officers approached us.

“May I help you?” she asked.

“Umm…We’d like to report a s****l assault,” I said cautiously.

“Okay, just give me a minute, I have to get a room so we can talk more privately,” she replies quickly. “I’ll be right back.”

She took off and I felt Hugo shift uncomfortably beside me. I looked around and saw a few people staring, I guess we were a spectacle, two guys holding hands in a police station.

“This way,” the female officer called to us from a hall off to the side.

I led Hugo gently by the hand into the room away from prying eyes.

Another female officer joined us in the room. The first one was dark-skinned with light green eyes and the other was a redhead with green eyes. Hugo couldn’t stop looking at her, I think she made him uncomfortable, although I didn’t know why.

The dark-skinned officer set up a recording device.

“State your names and age for the record,” she started.

“Hugo Hades, sixteen,” Hugo spoke quietly.

“You’re a minor, do you have parents we can call?” the redhead asked.

Hugo looked away uncomfortably.

“He’s a foster kid,” I answered. “The r****t was one of his family’s adopted kids.”

The officers looked at each other in understanding.

“And who are you?” the dark-skinned officer asked.

“Timothy Winter, I met Hugo a couple of weeks ago. We’re friends, I guess. He told me about the incident, not specific details really. I told him we need to report the incident,” I explain.

“When did the incident happen?” the redhead asked.

“Two years ago,” Hugo whispered.

“Why did you wait so long to report the incident?” the redhead asked.

“I told my foster parents about what happened. They didn’t believe me. They kicked me out. I’ve been on the streets trying to survive till Timothy took me in,” he continued quietly. “Surviving was more important than action being taken on this.”

I could see the sympathy on the officers’ faces.

“Can you describe the incident?” they asked.

“It was night, I had been placed in the Hunt household as an emergency placement from my last home because it became overcrowded. Seth Hunt, their other foster kid and I slept across the hall from each other. I was in bed and the parents were asleep. I heard the door creek open and I felt someone climb onto the bed. I turned and saw Seth. I asked him what he was doing. He told me to shut up…” Hugo trailed off. “I…I…tried to push him off but he covered my mouth and held me down. I tried to scream and fight and…none of it worked.”

“Did he penetrate you?” they asked.

Hugo just nodded and tears started falling again.

“You need to say it,” the redhead explained looking away and then back.

“Yes,” he replied looking at the ground.

He gripped my hand tightly when he said it.

“What are the foster parents’ names?” the red asked.

“Maggie and Colton Hunt,” he stated.

“Wallace, can you go get their number? Hugo, do you have your social worker’s phone number?” the dark-skinned officer asked.

“I haven’t seen her in two years. It’s like she forgot about me. She didn’t check up on me after the emergency placement, nothing,” he exclaimed angered now.

“Okay, okay, Wallace find out who is supposed to be looking after Hugo, too,” she stated to the redhead.

The redhead left the room.

“So, you’d been living on the street since they kicked you out until you met Timothy?” she asked.

“Yes,” Hugo answered.

The answers seem to flow easier once Officer Wallace was gone. Hugo answered her questions and I listened, adding my input when he couldn’t.

“I think that’s all for now. You might need to come in to clarify some things but other than that and court, you won’t have to be in the same room as him unless you are comfortable, and we’ll find you a place to stay in the meantime,” she finishes.

“I want to stay with Timothy,” he stated clearly, yet quietly.

I didn’t love the idea of being separated from him but I knew he couldn’t stay with me. I didn’t have the means to support him.

The officer looked at me as if understanding, he trusted me and he’d become attached.

“You can stay with him for now, but it’s not a permanent solution. You need support and a home and parents, Hugo, okay?” she explained.

Hugo just nodded.

“Okay. Timothy, I’ll just take your phone number so we can get in contact with the two of you and you can go,” she replies handing me a pen and notepad. I gave them my number and Hugo and I stood as the officer opened the door for us. I put my arm around Hugo’s shoulder and he leaned his head on my chest again. The officer saw us outside the police station and we walked the four blocks back to my apartment in silence.

“Are you hungry?” I asked realizing we hadn’t eaten since yesterday if that even.

He leaned away from me. Creating some space between us before he spoke hesitantly.

“I…I like you,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What?” I asked wanting to hear it again.

“No, I’m not hungry,” he answered this time in a normal tone.

“Right,” I replied. “Come on.”