“Ashley did break up with that punk Hudson. I never liked that kid,” Rachel said, trying to lighten the mood. “I’ll come this weekend and we can talk it out.”
“No, don’t. I’m all talked out.”
“Well, who have you been talking to? Because it hasn’t been me.”
“I talk to the monsters beneath my bed,” she replied snarkily, mocking the song they’d talked about months ago.
“Well, when do you want me to come down?”
“I don’t know. I have to go, I got a new kid and it’s an emergency. We’ll talk later.”
“I love you, Em.”
“You too,” Emery answered, then threw her phone in her bag and took a cleansing breath before she climbed out of her car and began walking into the school. Every time she did this walk for a new kid, a glimmer of anticipation niggled at the back of her brain. Maybe this was one she could help. Maybe this was the one that would let her touch their heart and their mind. Maybe this was the one she could help. She just wanted to help in a way she wished someone would’ve helped her.
Emery walked directly into the front office and before she could tell the receptionist who she was, a female cop waved her over to a small conference room.
“In here,” the cop barked.
Emery looked in the small window and saw a young boy who was maybe nine with shaggy brown hair throwing everything he could get his hands on. He was wearing a superhero t-shirt that was two sizes too big and jeans about the same. “What’s going on?”
“Well, the teacher noticed significant bruising on both of his arms and brought him up here to see the Assistant Principal. I was called in to document the bruising and DFCS was notified per protocol.”
“Why is he tearing everything up, though?” Emery asked.
“Well, I think he’s deaf,” she replied. “I don’t think he understands what’s going on.”
“Oh, he’s deaf?” Emery commented. “I know sign language.”
“Great. When we were talking to DFCS over the phone the kid just went nuts and started tearing the Assistant Principal’s office apart. They got their behavioral specialist here in a few minutes and put him in this conference room. She’s trying to de-escalate him now.”
“I don’t think it’s working,” Emery deadpanned.
“I’m pretty sure it’s not.”
Emery opened the door and walked into the conference room, without a care for the fact this kid was throwing staplers and anything he could find. She signed, “Hi, I’m Emma.”
The boy stopped mid-throw and stared at her.
“Are you okay?” she asked with her hands.
He stood stock still and turned his head and gazed out the window.
“I’m here to help you,” she signed and spoke because he wasn’t looking at her.
He shook his head.
Okay…not deaf.
“Lucas, can you sit down and just talk to me for a few minutes and let everyone else get back to their jobs?” she asked out loud without signing.
He huffed, but moved to the chair, not saying a word.
The woman that had been in the room nodded at her. “Lucas, I’ll just be outside. Would you like something to drink?”
He nodded once.
Emery smiled at him and sat down next to him. “What would you like to drink?”
She laughed at his signed response. “I can’t get you a Sprite. How about water?”
He shook his head.
“Okay, so let’s talk,” she said, not signing since she knew he could hear and understand her. Maybe he couldn’t talk or wasn’t ready to talk yet. She could work with that.
He signed and asked her how old she was.
“Twenty-two.” The lie rolled off her tongue. “How about you?”
He signed that he was ten.
“I like your shirt,” Em said, pointing to his Flash t-shirt.
His smile broadened.
“Do you like superheroes?”
He nodded.
“Me too.”
The conversation paused while she thought about what to say next. Then he started signing. He told her that the fact someone would save a perfect stranger for no reason at all made him happy. Then he looked away from her and out the window, as if he’d said too much.
“So who’s your favorite?”
He took a minute and then signed. His signs came so quickly she had a hard time keeping up. He said that most superheroes came from horrific—that’s the word he used—circumstances. Superman’s parents were dead, Batman’s parents were dead, Hawkeye was abandoned by his parents, Thor’s father banned him from the planet, and Spider-Man was raised by his aunt and uncle. And they all became great. He liked the stories behind the superheroes, all of them, because they came from things that could have broken them, but they made themselves indestructible.