Stolen

Chapter Two:

Finally making it home Sunday night, Leon was slightly disappointed. He had staked out Sora’s house all weekend, but the teenager had not even step foot outside the house. Not once had he even got a glimpse of the kid through any of the house windows. To Leon, this wasn’t normal teenager behavior, but then again, his definition of normal probably wasn’t correct. After all, he was getting paid to kidnap Sora and then hand him over to a pervert.

Leon had been hoping for some action, maybe follow the kid to a club or watch the kid do something interesting at least. But he only ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. Leon was frustrated and he was beginning to think taking on this job was a huge waste of time.

The only good thing about his boring weekend watching Sora’s house was the fact that he almost figured out how to get past the guards and security system. All he needed now was to figure out which room was the kid’s bedroom and he was almost ready. Maybe a few more days of stalking, to make sure that Sora would really never leave the house except to go to school.

So early Monday morning, he set out again to watch Sora from afar. He had to be a little more careful now that teenager had already bumped into him once (Leon was mentally kicking himself at the memory of letting his guard down). Leon was sure that if Sora saw him around more that the kid would get suspicious. At least it would make things a little more interesting for Leon, keep him on his toes, after the extremely dull weekend he had experienced.

Leon planned to wait a little ways down one of the streets Sora usually passed by on his way to school. Once Sora showed up, he continued to follow the boy at a safe distance behind him. Leon took a mental note of how Sora seemed to have lost the bounce in his step. He wondered if something had happened to Sora over the weekend that caused the dramatic change in his attitude, but it was unlikely because as far as Leon could tell, nothing had happened.

Once again, Leon took off as soon as the boy entered the building and Sora had disappeared from his sight. Hours later, after the students had been freed from school for the day, Leon stood inside a local magazine shop on Sora’s route. Pretending to be browsing the selection, he kept a watchful eye out for when the small teenager walked by.

It didn’t take long, as Leon predicted, for Sora to show up on the sidewalk just outside the store and he took the opportunity to actually look at the kid for the first time since he took the job; dread and worry were only two of the emotions that Leon noticed that were displayed on Sora’s soft features. Leon studied a much as he could in the short time from the way Sora’s brow was furrowed, as if the boy was in deep thought, to the way his bottom lip stuck out slightly in a small pout making the cut and bruise decorating his lip more noticeable.

Wait, when did he get that? Leon was about to do a double take, but it was too late; Sora had already passed the window and was free from his examination. Leon thought back to a few days ago when he had helped Sora get back on his feet during their brief encounter. He couldn’t be positive, but he was sure that the boy hadn’t been injured then. And Leon hadn’t been close enough to tell if the boy had already been sporting the split lip this morning.

Leon concluded that it hadn’t happened at school, judging by the way the wound looked like it was already a few days old. Now the question remained, was someone abusing the poor kid or was he just really that clumsy that he could have tripped and cut his lip on the corner of something?

The man had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn’t realized that Sora was continuously walking away from him. He breathed out a quiet curse, before leaving the building to pick up Sora’s trail.

Luckily the small burnet hadn’t gone too far ahead of Leon; it seems the kid was slowing his pace, as he trudged closer in the direction of his home. When Sora finally reached the gate to his uncle’s house, Leon noticed the teen hesitated before stepping onto the property, making his way inside the big building.

~*~

Over the next few day’s Leon had begun to notice more subtle injuries on Sora; finger shaped bruises on his arm and a slight limp in his step were the only ones Leon could see. He was sure that boy had more bruises or other marks on his body that were the result of Sora being smacked around.

Finally finding out where Sora’s bedroom was in the house, Leon had been taking extra care to figure out the last minute details of his plan on stealing the boy; he was almost ready. Leon now only needed to wait for a stormy night so he would be able to hide in the cover of rain and thunder.

It was another two days before the forecasts had called for a thunderstorm, and Leon was anxious to go in and grab the kid. He had just left his apartment building when it had begun to rain and his grip tightened over the small bag of supplies he was carrying as he crossed the street. It was still early in the evening, which meant Leon had to dodge cars and avoid drawing attention to himself as he took the familiar route to Sora’s house which was located just outside of downtown Traverse Town.

Hiding in plain sight outside the kid’s house, Leon waited patiently for the thunderstorm to roll in. Dressed in a pair of loose black jeans and matching hoodie, he was already soaked from the unusually warm rain. It didn’t matter to him that he was soaking wet, over the past few days he had somehow developed a soft spot for the kid he has been following around. Leon was more concerned about taking Sora away from his own personal hell. But he would just be taking Sora out of the frying pan only to place the boy gently into the fire.

At least he had finally figured out that Sora’s problem was at home. Leon didn’t know if it was the uncle or someone else in that big house that was hurting the kid, but he wanted it to stop. If he could at least stop Sora’s torture for a few days before handing the kid over to his shady client, then Leon wouldn’t feel as guilty.

The sound of thunder roaring in the sky pulled Leon from his thoughts. He glanced up at the sky before turning his attention to Sora’s bedroom window.

~*~

The door to Sora’s bedroom suddenly swung opened making the teen jump at the noise. In his spot at his desk, Sora turned in his chair to gaze up at the tall man leaning against his doorframe.

Seifer’s cold eyes swept over Sora’s body before he spoke. “It’s past ten o’clock,” he said in an uncaring tone. The sound of his voice sent shivers down Sora’s spine. “What are you still doing up?”

Sora turned back to the binder and textbook lying opened on his desk. He picked up his forgotten pen and looked over his shoulder to his uncle. “I haven’t finished my homework yet,” he answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

Seifer made a low growling noise in the back of his throat and Sora knew his uncle wasn’t happy. “Hurry and finish up then,” Seifer ordered. “I want you to actually be on time for school tomorrow.”

“Yes sir,” was Sora’s soft reply. When he heard the rustling of clothing and his bedroom door close, he turned his attention back to his writing. If only his uncle knew what Sora was actually up to, he’d probably have the small teen completely locked up.

Sora had brought the picture of his family to his desk while he continued writing his suicide note. The note was just a last minute thought of getting his hatred for his uncle down on paper; Sora didn’t think that it would make any difference Seifer. He couldn’t bring himself to cry anymore, not when he was about to join his family.

Leaving the piece of paper where he wrote it, he got up from his desk and took his family to turn off his bedroom light. Sora then made his way to his bed where he had hidden a razor underneath his pillow. He set his picture down gently down on his bedside table and pulled out the metal blade from its hiding space. Sora sighed, taking one last look at his family before he pulled the sharp object across his wrist.

~*~

AN: Er, kinda short chapter, but it had to be done this way. Hope it's not too disappointing. Feel free to kick my ass for the cliff-hanger ending. I know I'm evil but I'll try to get the next chapter done as soon as I can.