10. Go away! I'm too big. (Accidents)

“Go away! I’m too big. I might hurt you.” Alex shouted.

Tom winced, and jumped a little bit. He hadn’t realized how loud Alex could be when the eight year old was actually trying to be loud. Tom idly scratched at the skin just above the cast on his left arm.

“Alex,” Tom took a step forward. “It was an accident.” The eighteen year old approached the distraught boy slowly, but confidently. He couldn’t show any fear or it would destroy Alex, even though there might be just a hint of fear in the back of his mind.

Alex was leaning against a tree. At some point Alex had stripped an entire side of branches so that he could use it as a backrest. The boy was a mess. Snot and tears were flowing down his face. His knees were drawn up to his chest and he had wrapped his arms around his legs. He was curled up as tight as he could be.

“I hurt you.” Alex whispered. Tom was now standing next to the ball of pain that was Alex. The kid was hurting more than Tom was, and Tom was the one with a broken arm.

“Yes, you did.” Tom said. Alex flinched when Tom agreed with him. “But I’m the one who snuck up on you. It’s both of our faults.”

“You got hurt, because of me.”

Tom sighed. He reached forward and stuck his good hand in between Alex’s leg and his chest. Alex jerked away. Tom took another step forward and reached out again. This time Alex let him, and Tom pushed on Alex’s leg. Alex let Tom open him up just a little bit. Once there was enough space, Tom stepped up and inserted himself into the little slip of space that was in between Alex’s abdomen and legs.

Tom leaned back against Alex’s legs. This put his eyes right about level with the boy’s. Alex’s arms were still around his knees so Tom was literally surrounded by Alex. More importantly though, Tom had successfully invaded the giant little ball of fear that Alex had been in.

“Accidents happen Alex. When they do, the people involved just forgive each other, move on, and hopefully learn something from it. Do you understand?”

“So you forgive me?” Alex asked.

Tom roll his eyes. He leaned forward and wrapped his good arm around Alex’s neck. He then pulled himself up just a little bit so that he was hugging the boy.

“Of course I forgive you.”

Alex pulled his knees closer again and leaned into Tom’s hug. The boy was now basically curled up into a ball with Tom in the middle. Alex was being very careful though. Tom felt the pressure of the boy’s legs and abdomen all around him as he was slightly smushed, but his cast protected his broken arm.

“There’s a good boy.” Tom said. “Do you forgive me for sneaking up on you?”

“Uh huh.” The boy sobbed. Tom felt the kid’s tears start dampening his shirt and sling, but didn’t say anything.

“Good.”

“Can you be my sitter forever?” Alex asked. Since Tom was surrounded on all sides by the boy, he felt the way the kid’s body grew tenser as he waited for the answer.

Tom mentally sighed.

“We’ve talked about this before. You know I can’t be here forever.” Tom said.

“I know, but I really really want you to be.”

“I know you do, but I’ve got to go to college.”

“I hate college.”

“That’s only because you haven’t been there before.”

“I wish I could go with you.”

“I know.”

They fell into a friendly silence after that. Tom eventually wriggled and squirmed himself around so that his back up against Alex’s chest. Alex still hadn’t unfurled himself, so Tom was only barely able to look out over Alex’s knees into the forest.

“You’re not going to let me go anytime soon are you.” Tom said with a smile.

Alex smirked down at him. “Nope. You crawled in there, so now you have to stay there until I let you go.”

“Fair enough.” Tom settled in and made himself comfortable. “As long as its sometime before dinner.”

Alex’s stomach grumbled.

“That’s cheating.”

“Yup.”