"Big Ma-!" He cried, but Max grabbed him by the shirt cutting him off and dragged him into another room.


    If Ms. Finch found out he was watching the news without her permission he''d be in big trouble, and so would the other children. He started to drag Luke away, but Ms. Finch had called to him.


    "By the way Max, go eat something. Breakfast is still being served, and I won''t have you complaining later." She said, her eyes still fixed to the TV which was now on commercial break.


    "Right." He said, "I''ll do just that." Max proceeded to haul Luke off to the dormitory which is where a few of the other children had ran off to, and sat him down on one of the beds.


    "You know you''re not allowed to watch the news right?" Max asked.


    As he looked around he saw the other kids running around telling every other child in the orphanage about what had happened on TV. Not only would the kids be upset because they''d no longer be allowed to go outside, but all the talk about murder, and violence would undoubtedly frighten them.


    "Yeah!" Luke said. "But lots of us scared cuz of firetrucks made a loud sound last night. Caleb said if we watch the news we might learn why the fire trucks come out."


    Max simply stared at Luke in disbelief for a moment, he seemed to forget that he was speaking to a child. Sensing Max''s apprehension Luke worriedly looked around for something that might help Max understand, ultimately he settled on himself. The boy pointed at his chest, and smiled with glee. "This one!" He said. Max looked down at Luke and saw that the pajamas he was wearing had a large firetruck on the front of them.


    "Ah, yes." Max said. "The firetrucks. Listen Luke, don''t worry about any of that stuff it has nothing to do with you. Yeah, you won''t be able to go outside for awhile, but that''s probably for the best."


    "We both know it''s going to take more than that to get his mind off of all that stuff."


    Max turned to his side and saw Caleb standing there with his hands in his pockets. He couldn''t meet Max''s gaze for some reason, and instead his eyes veered off to the side.


    "You''re just happy you aren''t going to be inside by yourself all day." Max said.


    "Hey, you be quiet!" Caleb said pointing at him. "I''m still mad at you for what you said!"


    "Be quiet? But you spoke to me first, you''re the one who inserted their self into a conversation between me and Luke here. Besides, I don''t care how you feel." Max said exasperated.


    Caleb scoffed at Max, and shook his head in disbelief. "When did you become such a jerk?"If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Was that what Max was? A jerk? All he ever did was be honest about how he felt. Sure, it didn''t always come out in the best way, but he never meant to hurt Caleb or anyone for that matter, and if he did was that really his fault?


    "Um, Big Max?" Luke said. He was standing on the bed now, but despite that he was still unbelievably short. The boy was staring down at his fingers playing with them, fidgeting nervously.


    At that moment the smell from the bathroom now filled the entire dormitory. "Hold on," Max said clenching his nose. "Caleb, what the hell is going on in the bathroom?"


    "Luke went Y2K." Caleb said plainly.


    "Did not!" Luke argued in protest.


    "What do you mean he went Y2K?" Max asked. "It smells like a grown ass man was in there, Luke is 5."


    Caleb simply shrugged his shoulders seemingly wanting to put the matter aside. Luke himself began to pout and object to whatever Luke had to say. "Anyway whatever you want Luke, this jerk won''t give it to you. He''s too selfish!" Caleb said.


    Max had looked around, and saw that all the children in the orphanage had gathered into the dormitory. Many of them were peaking out of the windows, and whispering quietly to each other. Some of the younger children were on the verge of tears, and some of the older ones held them close telling them everything would be okay.


    "Everyone''s afwaid." Luke had said. "Can you stay with us today and make sure nothing bad happens to us? Pwease Macs?"


    A handful of children had overheard Luke''s plea and were keen on listening to Max''s response.


    "You''re wasting your time Luke, he doesn''t care about us anymore, he probably never did."


    "That''s not true! He still has breakfast with us!"


    "He had breakfast with you! Idiot. He didn''t sit with any of us in the cafeteria, he hasn''t done that in over a year! Get over yourself!"


    Max shook his head in frustration, and placed a hand on both boys shoulders. "It''s fine, I''ll stay with everyone today, just stop arguing."


    The more Max thought about it the more he realized that if he were to go back upstairs and crawl into bed there would only be one thing on his mind, one person, and that was Gabby. His thoughts have been cloudy lately because of her, he wasn''t able to think straight. If he stayed downstairs, and spent time with the other kids then maybe, maybe it would help clear his mind.


    "W-What?" Caleb said taking a step back.


    Max clapped his hands together to get everyone''s attention. "Hey everyone let''s gather around, I want to play a game!"


    It had been years since he did this, but to his surprise all of the kids still listened to him for some reason. All of the children, even the ones that were silently sobbing gathered in a circle around Max.


    "Now, when was the last time we all played hide & seek?"


    Luke began to jump up and down on the bed excitedly. "Really? We''re gonna play hide & seek? You know I''m super good! No one ever catches me!"


    The boy tried to do a front flip, to another bed, but ended up plunging into the floor, "ouchie." He grumbled.


    "It''s true, whenever I''m it I can never find Luke, he''s really good at hiding." Caleb said, and numerous other kids seemed to nod along in agreement.


    "Or maybe you''re all just bad." Max said teasingly. "It''s been awhile since I''ve played but I don''t remember ever having a problem finding Luke."


    "Cuz my skills have improved trebebly!" He said.


    "It''s tremendously." Caleb said, enunciating each vowel. "Don''t use big words if you can''t even say them!"


    "I say what I want!" Luke said sticking his tongue out at Caleb.


    "Yeah, well we''ll see how things go. I''ll even give you all a handicap by counting to sixty instead of twenty this time." Max said. "So what, is everyone game?"


    All of the children looked much happier now than they did before, and without skipping a beat they all scattered like flies, running all over the orphanage in what Max thought was a miserable attempt at hiding. The only one who hadn''t left yet was Caleb.