The day Aidan was released from the hospital had to be almost as insufferable as being trapped in the room with the mirror. Instead of being under the constant surveillance of Edgar's all-seeing eyes, he was now under the reproachful stares of almost a hundred merciless reporters.
The administrator kept his hand firmly gripped on Aidan's upper arm, while Zeke and Lacy followed behind. They had both been insistent on being there with him when they took him home.
He stepped outside into the bright sunlight and squinted his eyes against the glare. As his eyes adjusted, he came face to face with a horrible scene.
A swarm of dozens of stingy reporters were crowded around the bottom of the steps, microphones clutched in their sweaty hands, each one bearing the label of some cable network. A handful of cameras were scattered about the crowd, with casually dressed cameramen and women resting the equipment on their shoulders.
When he stepped outside they were still fixing their hair or rehearsing their questions, and trying to get the best camera angles. But as soon as they spotted him, they were on him like a pack of mosquitoes, a buzzing, mindless hoard of bloodsuckers.
"Can you tell us about what happened while you were in custody?" Someone called to him. A bodiless hand pressed a microphone in front of his face. Aidan blinked at it and stumbled back, but didn't answer because he could not remember the question, there was already another man squeezing through the crowd with a microphone and a cameraman at his side.
"Aidan Cameron! What is your relationship with Miss Mathers?"
"Wha…what do you mean?" Aidan mumbled softly as he continued being forced down the sidewalk to the Administrator's car.
"After being trapped together for so long under such circumstances, you must have developed something." the reporter continued, although Aidan didn't think he'd actually heard his answer.
"How do you…how does he know anything about the 'circumstances'?" Aidan wondered aloud, still walking numbly forward.
"Just keep moving," Zeke urged him from over his shoulder.
"Mr. Cameron! You are an orphan, correct?" Someone screamed. They started walking faster.
"Can you tell us about the fire that killed your parents?"
"Hey! You don't ask about an orphan's parents you bitch!" Lacy assaulted the woman calling out the blasphemous questions. The woman ignored the spunky redhead and tried to pursue Aidan down the walkway.
Lacy stepped in front of her and pressed her back into the mob, eventually causing her to trip and fall backwards into her cameraman, who in turn dropped the expensive piece of equipment and cracked it.
The reporters were sent into a frenzy again. Lacy didn't care if she was becoming a potential story; she continued defending her confused and dumbfounded friend from the eager journalists until they were safely seated in the Administrator's brown minivan.
Lacy was the last in and she slammed the door and sighed with relief as she reporters pressed themselves up against the windows of the car, still banging on the windows, even as they began to drive.
"So," She turned to the two boys with a bright smile on her face, "Aidan, I didn't know your last name was 'Cameron'."
Aidan stared at her, even as a young reporter threw himself in front of the van in a vain attempt to stop it.
"You know what," Zeke replied, also ignoring the now somewhat bruised man who had just rolled over the hood, "Neither did I."
For two weeks Saige remained in the hospital, with daily visits from her mother and Eric, who either stayed in a cheap motel or drove home and returned in the morning. Saige discovered that North Bay was only a few shorts hours from Hamilton, so the long two-day drive there with Edgar greatly confused her. When she mentioned this to her mother, she had a somewhat reasonable explanation: Edgar didn't know where the hell he was going. Saige accepted this easily. He had stopped every so often to look at a map.
Every day, Saige begged her mother to let her see Aidan, but it was all in vain. Her mother was adamant that she stay in bed to heal, and away from 'that boy', as she referred to him. The nurse, also, was no help.
If anything she was even more stubborn than her mother.
After the first week, while sulking in her bed and watching the news, she heard her name mentioned on the television.
"Aidan Cameron! What is your relationship with Miss Mathers?"
She looked up and saw Aidan, confused and disorientated, on the television screen, being attacked by a vicious, teeming mass of brown-clad, microphone-waving bodies.
Aidan muttered a response, but the reporter continued without really hearing him.
"Can you tell us about the fire that killed your parents?" A female reporter called over the noise.
It was at that point that a pretty redhead appeared from behind him and pushed the woman, and her cameraman, into the crowd, breaking the camera.
Is she his girlfriend…? Saige wondered. Aidan had never mentioned anything about being involved with someone. Then again, he never said much of anything about himself.
She watched, keeping her eyes glued to the screen until Aidan was long gone from it.
"So he's gone home…" She muttered to herself. She was blank for only a moment before she broke out sobbing. He collapsed her face into her hands and just let the tears flow. There was no one in the room with her, and everyone outside was too busy to deal with her, so it was okay. That, and that she couldn't possibly care anymore. She felt so empty, so alone and scared without Aidan there. He'd become so familiar to her, and he was the only one who could relate to what she was going through, because he'd gone through it all with her. Her shoulders shook violently and eventually she did attempt to hold back her tears a bit. But instead her lips curled back in the attempt, and her face turned red. She retreated to the safety of her pillow, burying her face in it and crying into it until she was so tired she started to drift off to sleep. She'd never, ever see Aidan again. Just like everyone else, he'd left her. Now she'd have to go through the process of healing all alone.
It was only a matter of days before life at the orphanage went back to normal, or almost normal. There was a flood of parents coming, all wanting to adopt the same child: Aidan. Aidan basked in the attention while they were there, but none seemed quite right, and he refused to go with any of them.
After hearing on the news that Aidan could have possibly raped Saige, Lacy's Aunt forbade her from going to visit the orphanage anymore. She was convinced that he was 'messed up' from his ordeal, that he 'wasn't right in the head' and was 'a danger to society'. As a result, Zeke was either angry with him, without real reason, or sulking in his room alone.
The administrator cleared out his office and made Aidan his own room, and left him free to decorate it himself. But after the first night he'd ever spent alone in five years, he was begging to be put back in the boys' room. He was so tired of being alone.
At night - and nearly all day - he thought about Saige. She was still in the hospital, he knew. He caught brief glimpses of her on TV sometimes, but her parents seemed to be doing a fair job of keeping the press away. It tore him up inside when he thought about her. He'd promised her he'd never leave her, and yet here he was, enjoying his new celebrity. He'd already left her. He'd tried several times to get the administrator to take him to the hospital, but he would just tell him that the press would eat him alive and that was the end of it.
It was on the first Friday afternoon after his return when Aidan finally decided to do something. He snuck upstairs carefully in the mid-afternoon, just as all the potential parents were supposed to be coming to meet him, and opened the door to the boys' room. Just as he expected, Zeke was there, moping on his bed and staring lustfully out the window.
"Hey Zeke," Aidan hissed at him, just above a whisper.
Zeke looked up and stared at him dispassionately. "What do you want?" He grumbled.
"I need some help sneaking out. I'm going to see Saige at the hospital."
Zeke glared at him. "You've got a line halfway around the block of parents wanting to adopt you, and you're going to ditch them all!" Zeke shot.
"They're all phonies anyway," Aidan rolled his eyes, "They just want to take in the poor boy who was kidnapped."
"You never cared about that before." Zeke grumbled.
Aidan furrowed his brow at his long-time friend. "What are you talking about, Zeke? You aren't making any sense." He walked up and stood next to Zeke's bed under the window.
Zeke snorted, "You've never cared before, what kind of people came in."
"What…?"
"Come on, Aidan! Admit it! You didn't care who came in here; you just wanted someone to take you away from here. Like you were just dying to leave Lacy and me."
Aidan was dumbfounded; where was all this coming from?
"Every time someone even looked at you, you were pleading with them to pick you! I saw it every time."
"Yeah? Well so what if I was?" Aidan snapped back, "I don't enjoy being an orphan, you know!"
"No one does! But it was like you didn't care. Every Friday you'd go up to the room and cry for an hour, like it was a big surprise they didn't pick you! Well guess what Aidan, they never picked me either, you don't see me whimpering like a little baby!"
Aidan glared at Zeke dangerously. "You're jealous."
"What?" Zeke hissed.
"You heard me, you're jealous. You'd never admit it, but you wanted a family just as badly as I did! And now I have all these people looking for me, and you have no one!" He was so busy yelling that he didn't see the tear escape from Zeke's red and swollen eye. "Well fuck you Zeke! If you don't want me to be happy then you never really were my friend." He turned and stormed off; he would sneak out to see Saige on his own, then.
"Aidan wait!" Zeke sighed, standing up and coming after him. Aidan paused in the doorway but did not turn around.
"All I meant was that…maybe you don't need these people to have a family."
"What are you talking about? You need parents to have a family. That's the way it works."
"What about me and Lacy?"
"What about you and Lacy?" He finally turned around. "Having friends is great, but I need something real."
Zeke sighed and shook his head, "Never mind…"
"What?" Aidan insisted.
"You just don't get it man…"
Aidan was beyond confused, "I really don't know what you mean…"
"Just drop it, okay?" Zeke cut him off. "Now…do you want to go see this chick or not?"
Aidan smirked, "That's why you're my best friend."
Sneaking out was almost as easy as it usually was. Zeke attacked the administrator and entertained the potential parents with an attempted magic trick gone wrong. He did this all the time, and the administrator no longer fell for it, but it got the parents.
He told them all he would turn an electric drill into a rabbit. While spinning the drill, he stuffed it into a hat and then pulled out an incredibly lifelike carcass of a white rabbit with a hole through its skull.
The administrator was furious and began chasing Zeke through the home, while a woman or two fainted in pure shock and horror.
Aidan chuckled a bit as he clambered over the tall fence and ran towards the hospital. 'Works every time.'
The hospital was in a chaotic state, as predicted, but Aidan finally managed to sneak through a little-used side entrance and took a service elevator up to the third floor. There he confronted the busiest clerk at the desk.
"I'm looking for Saige Mathers," He asked. The young woman was shuffling papers and talking with a phone cradled under her chin and didn't give a second thought to the name as she typed it into her computer. "331," She told him, before spinning around again and returning to her phone conversation. She had never even looked up.
Aidan thanked her and ran off, hoping he would be able to find the right room without any more assistance. He didn't want any member of the media seeing him.
He ran through multiple hallways before he found one that looked like it would lead to the right place.
But when he reached room #326, he saw a woman standing guard outside the door he wanted. He stopped dead for a moment, pondering whether or not to approach her. He could always wait until she left, but he couldn't be sure if someone else would take her place if she did.
Finally, the decision was made for him when she looked over in his direction. She stopped, stared at him for a moment, until Aidan finally walked over to her.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
"A-are you…Saige's mom?" He inquired. The woman nodded, "Who are you? From some school paper or something? Get lost! She doesn't need to be bothered."
"No…I'm not from any paper…my name is Aidan Cameron…I was…"
"Aidan….?" The woman's eyes widened. Aidan prayed that it was a good sign. "You're that boy who…"
Aidan nodded eagerly, "Yes we were kidnapped together, now can I please just go see her?"
"Are you crazy!?" She hissed, steeping forward. "You raped my little girl!" Tears were springing to her eyes. "If you ever come near her again I'll call the police!"
Aidan retreated back a bit. Even though she was shorter than him by at least two inches, Saige's mom was still pretty intimidating.
She prodded a delicate finger into his chest as she spoke in a low, menacing tone. "I know what you told the police, but you won't be fooling me. Get away from here. Saige doesn't want to see you!"
"But…"
"I mean it! After everything you've done to her, why should she? You just made her kidnapping even harder for her."
"But I promised…"
"NO!" She screamed, "NO, NO, AND NO!!! You WILL NOT go and see my daughter! Now get out of here before I'm forced to call security!"
Aidan frowned deeply, but slumped against the wall, defeated. "I just wanted to make sure she was okay…" He pleaded, one last time.
"She'll be better once you're out of her life forever!" She started shoving him back down the hallway.
"You'll tell her I came, won't you?" Aidan begged. She didn't listen, she just kept shoving. Finally, Aidan had no choice but to turn and go back the way he came. Deflated, miserable, and disappointed, he left the same way he came in and dragged his feet all the way back to the orphanage.
When he got back later that night, the administrator was in a rage, but Aidan ignored it. He slumped up to his room and turned on the TV. More bad news. The broadcaster was talking about his kidnapping, and evidence found in the cabin they had 'allegedly' been kept in. They showed the white room and the mirror, and Aidan shuddered at the thought of it. Then, the view returned to the hospital, where still dozens of reporters milled, waiting for some new information. The man on the screen told the viewers that Saige was to be released from the hospital in two days, and was improving wonderfully. Aidan figured that her parents would take he back to Hamilton. What would happen then? He would never, ever see her again.
"And as for the other victim of this kidnapping, Aidan Cameron, its more good news. The local orphan has received nearly a hundred offers for adoption in the past few days."
"Yes, something tells me that boy will be finding a home very soon." The co-host said with a big grin.
"Yes indeed, Cathy, now onto Matt Hayes with the weather…"
Aidan growled and slammed his fist against the 'off' button on the television. "More happy news indeed…" He snarled. He decided to skip TV for the night and switched off the lights. Zeke knocked at his door. "Aidan? How'd it go?"
"Couldn't get in…" Aidan seethed as Zeke opened the door. Zeke looked genuinely sorry. "I'm sorry man…"
"It's okay," Aidan sighed, even though it wasn't. "Thanks for your help though."
"No problem," Zeke winked, "I never get tired of that trick."
Aidan smiled weakly at him before he left, then he crawled under the sheets and put his head on his pillow. He closed his eyes, but he didn't sleep. His thoughts were plagued with visions of Saige, hating him forever.
