August, Beds and Bars, Age 8 [5/25-26/2020]

"Mother, I am perfectly able to handle my son on my own." Aeneid's lips formed a hard line, staring the older woman down. "I do not need your money."

"Nonsense, dearie. I should be allowed to spend money on my grandson." She waved her off, flicking her wing as she did so, and turned to Virgil, who was sitting there quietly. "Virgil, sonny, you want a bed right? It'll be better than that old mattress on the floor."

"Is it soft?" Virgil asked, looking up at his Grandmother.

"Of course it's soft!" She laughed. That cementered the offer. No going back now. "I'll call in a favor and have someone bring a bed over now."

Virgil couldn't help but be excited at the aspect of having a bed. If it was half as good as his mother's bed, he would love it! He would often sneak onto her bed when she left him home alone. He stopped that though after he got caught asleep on it.

Virgil tensed up some, feeling a glare on his back. He looked over at his mother and ducked his head. Oh no.

"See! Look at him, he's excited!" Grandmother August pointed at him, glancing at her daughter.

"Yes, mother. I can see that. I am not blind."

"Oh, lighten up." The older woman rolled her eyes. "I swear, you are just like your father. Stubborn and no fun."

"I have fun." Aeneid claimed, shaking her wings out with a huff. "Just not around tiny children and old women."

Grandmother laughed. "Ah, what a sense of humor!" She pulled out her phone and started to text away, ignoring any more protest from her daughter. "Ah, look! I have an old friend in town who can come in and put it together while we catch up. It's been forever. I want to hear all about how you and your family are doing. Where is Maro, anyway?"

"He's at work. He often works late." Aeneid's tone had gotten bitter at the mention of her boyfriend's name.

"That man never takes a break. You've married a hard worker, I'm starting to notice."

She scoffed. "Hard worker. That's one way to put it."

The room fell quiet but that never had a chance to last long. "Aeneid, dear, where are your manners? Go fetch me something to eat."

Aeneid's jaw clenched. She had some choice words but she held her tongue. "What would you like, Mother?"

"Oh, surprise me."

"Virgil, go get the usual from the kitchen. You're old enough to make a platter of cheese and crackers with some grapes."

Virgil quickly got to his feet and made his way to the kitchen. He knew exactly what she wanted for this wasn't the first time she had him make her food. The snack was cheese and crackers with a helping of grapes on the side. It was her favorite thing to snack on, especially when she was exhausted after a busy work day. The least he could do was prepare her food since she was providing for him. He did have a place to stay. There were some kids at his school that lived out of cars! ...It may also help that he ate a few crackers, slices of cheese and grapes when he prepared it. He wasn't allowed to touch the food without permission or being handed it so it was sort of a special thing.

The cheese wasn't sliced up yet so he had to do that part himself. Since he had done it before, it wasn't too difficult to achieve. Normally, he would bring this all to her on a regular plate with less on it but since there was a guest over, he grabbed the slightly more fancy platter and filled it up.

Carefully, he lifted the platter by the handles off of the counter. He stepped cautiously toward the living room, not wanting to drop it or stumble. That would be bad, especially in front of Grandmother. Mother wouldn't be happy.

He set the platter down on the coffee table and went to sit back down at his spot on the floor. They continued their conversation as they munched on their food.

The green eyed woman altered her gaze to the small child. "Virgil, would you like some? You're so skinny; it's like you're never fed!" She laughed.

Aeneid didn't think it was as funny. "He gets as much food as he deserves."

"I'm just teasing." Grandmother August shook her head. "Wow, so hostile to your poor, dear mumsie." She pushed the platter closer to Virgil with her wing. "Take as much as you like, son."

You didn't have to tell him again. He reached forward for a grape and plopped it in his mouth.

Before anything else was said, there was a knock on the door. "Oh, he's here!" The older woman stood up and practically ran toward the door.

"Who's here-" She started to ask before falling quiet. She realized who it was and she simply huffed. "And you say I'm stubborn."

With the door now opened, you could see the tall man, probably in his fifties, standing there with a IKEA box and a roll of foam wrapped in plastic next to him. "Did someone order a kid's bed?" He asked with a grin. His voice was deep and only slightly raspy.

"Johnathan! Hey!" She pulled the younger man into a hug.

"Hey August! Long time no see!" He exclaimed as he broke out of the hug. "How long has it been?"

"Oh, shush. You're making me feel old." She swatted his arm.

"Sorry to tell you but we're getting old, Aug." This caused him to get swatted again. "Sorry, sorry! I just gotta get all my teasing in since you never visit me."

"My old limbs can't handle the travel as much as they used to." August sighed longfully.

"Are you going to stand in the doorway all day or is he going to make this bed you insist on?" She lowered her voice to a mumble, "so you can leave."

"Of course, of course, come right in." August gestured as she spoke before turning to her grandson. "Virgil, honey, why don't you show Mr. Johnathan to your room?"

Virgil nodded and got up to his feet. "Are those yours?" He asked curiously, spotting his tool belt.

"My tools?" He asked, following the young boy's gaze. "Yep! I don't think we'll need many of them but I brought them all just in case." Johnathan gave the young boy a friendly smile. He pulled the wrench out of his belt and handed it to Virgil. "You want to hold one?"

Virgil nodded, eagerly taking the tool. He stared at it in awe. What could it do? It was kind of heavy but he was strong! He could hold it! Virgil realized all eyes were on him and his face flushed red. "Thank you, mister."

"Don't mention it." The boy's excitement was cute. "Now why don't you show me to your room?"

Virgil nodded and turned heel, leading Johnathan to his bedroom. The older man got to work and Virgil watched him patiently and quietly, staying still most of the time.

"And... finished." Johnathan stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"It's wood." Virgil tilted his head, looking confused. Was that supposed to be soft wood?

"Well, yeah." Johnathan laughed, going to grab the foam roll covered in plastic wrap. "We need to put your mattress on as well as this mattress cover. That's what will make it soft."

"Oh." That made sense.

Johnathan took apart the sheets and blankets off the mattress and pulled it onto the bed. He used his pocket knife to cut the plastic wrap off of the foam mattress cover and it uncurled. "Take the other end and let's put it on the bed." He instructed.

Virgil grabbed the end of it and they brought it over to the mattress. They set it down on it before putting the sheets back on it. "Done?"

"Done." Johnathan nodded. He blinked, glancing around. "Where did you put my wrench?"

Virgil didn't respond but he turned and went to where he was sitting. He had set down the wrench when Johnathan asked for assistance. He brought it back to him and held it up.

Johnathan took the wrench and rubbed Virgil's brown hair. "Thanks, kid."

Virgil ducked his head, smiling slightly at his affection. Grandmother's friend was nice.

Johnathan's phone rang and he picked it up. "Yellow? Oh. Right, yeah. I just finished- right, right, I'm coming. Sorry. I'll be there soon." He hung up and turned heel.

Virgil went after him, closing the door to his bedroom on the way out.

"I finished the bed." He announced. "I got to go now."

August frowned. "Aw but John, can't you stay a little longer?"

"Sorry, ladies, but it's my time to leave." He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. "Wifey is waiting."

"Aw alright. Thank you for coming."

He tipped his head. "My pleasure."

Grandmother August didn't leave until an hour later. She was always hard to get rid of. Aeneid eventually got her to leave, though.

"Bye, mother." Aeneid forced a smile onto her face as an older woman left the apartment. As soon as she was down the hall, Aeneid closed the door and turned heel to face her son. Just by the look on her face, Virgil knew he messed up.

When Aeneid advanced on him, he scampered backwards. Once his back hit the wall, he slid down to the floor. He knew the drill by now. He had gotten her mad at him so it was her excuse to take out all her frustration on him, even if it wasn't all necessarily on him.

She slapped him across the face. "You're such a greedy child. You are making us a charity case!"

"S-sorry!"

"'Sorry' doesn't cut it!" She growled. "You are pathetic! You just had to act like you're actually worth something for a few hours but you can't even do that correctly!" She reached down and grabbed his arm. She roughly pulled him toward the direction of his room, not letting him even stand up.

Virgil tried to stand up but he couldn't manage to get to his feet for longer than a second before being pulled back down again. She was walking too fast for him to keep up so he was being pulled behind. His legs, knees especially, felt like they were being bruised due to how many times they hit the floor. He tried to pull away from her. "Mother, it hurts-" He whined, which was unlike him.

He wasn't usually this verbal. He often stayed in the background, allowing himself to be forgotten to avoid angering one of his parents. When you have lived with a situation such as this, you learn to tiptoe your way around to avoid problems... it didn't always work, unfortunately.

Aeneid held up by his arm so he was above the ground. Virgil cried out in pain as his arm was twisted. He kicked his legs, trying to break free from her grasp. She was close enough to his room at the point that she stepped forward and was able to reach the door rather quickly. As soon as the door opened, Virgil was shoved inside.

He stumbled in before falling face first onto the floor. He bit his lip to muffle the cries, not wanting to anger her further. He curled his wings close behind him, trying to bring comfort to himself.

"You will stay in here and you will be quiet until I believe you learned your lesson. Understood?"

Virgil turned to face her before ducking his head. He knew how this worked.

The door was soon slammed shut and locked from the outside, avoiding Virgil's escape. The only other way out of the room was through a window with bars on it. The neighborhood wasn't a very safe neighborhood. They lived in the ghetto where crime wasn't a rare occurrence. Many houses and apartments had bars on the windows to avoid robbery. With that, it also doubled to prevent people from getting out because who needs fire safety?

This wasn't a new thing, being locked in here. He would be stuck in here for days at a time, on and off throughout his childhood though the rules seemed to change. Sometimes he would be given food and water and other times, he wasn't given that privilege. Sometimes he was allowed to go to school and sometimes he wasn't. It all depended on circumstances that he wasn't quite sure about yet. Perhaps it was based on the parent's mood?

Virgil stumbled over to his new bed and flopped down on it. His body was hurting and the soft mattress felt like a hug wrapping around him. His mother, Aeneid, has always been stubborn. Her stubbornness was the reason Virgil was even born instead of... well, that's another story, isn't it?

Virgil was grateful for the bed, even if it seemed to be the reason he was locked in his room this time around. Being locked in his room wasn't too bad, especially when he was allowed to leave to go to school. If he was allowed at school, he got to see Ralli and eat! He hoped to go to school. He wouldn't know what would happen for a few more days seeing it was late Friday.

The days seemed to pass slowly. The most he heard from outside his door was the mumblings of the television. The only thing he had to keep track of time was the sun seen through his barred window. He would often stare out and watch people walk past or the cars drive by. If he were lucky, he would catch a game of neighborhood kids playing basketball in the street in front of his apartment.

He was assigned homework over the weekend and, luckily, his school bag was in his room. He wasn't a really good student. He would miss days at a time of class instruction and his parents never helped him with homework. He always felt behind. Virgil spent a solid hour and a half trying to figure out the worksheet before throwing his pencil across the room. Augh! This was useless.

His stomach growled and Virgil clinched the clothing covering his stomach. It had been at least a day, maybe two, since he had last eaten. His stomach hurt and his throat felt hoarse. He dug through his school bag, searching for something to eat. Nothing. He bit his lip. He would have to remember to save some of his school lunch to bring home. He's gone longer without eating before so he would survive.

He found a sort of smushed plastic water bottle at the bottom of the bag. Thank goodness. He downed the water, grateful for it. It was the bottle Ralli had given him a few days ago that he had forgotten about. The water wasn't really great at room temperature as warm water rarely was. It didn't help that the apartment was always kept on the warmer side of things as well. Both Virgil and his mother didn't really hold in body heat as well as other people so they ran on the colder side of things so it made sense they kept their apartment warmer to combat that.

Virgil was awoken by his mother early in the morning, the sun barely up. "Come on, you need to get ready for school."

He rubbed his eyes sleepily, mumbling. "School?"

"Yes, come on. I need to drop you off early or you're walking yourself there." Aeneid turned to grab an outfit. The outfit consisted of an oversized black weighted hoodie, a white shirt with purple and blue tie dye and jeans. "You can change in here or the bathroom, I don't care." She dropped the clothes in front of him. The hoodie clanked against the flooring as soon as it landed.

As soon as she left the room, Virgil unsnapped the hoodie he was currently wearing and then the shirt underneath, peeling them off his body. Changing here was fine. Changing here meant there wasn't a mirror. Even at his young age, he was insecure about his body. You could practically count his ribs which didn't exactly scream healthy. He was covered with bruises and scarrage from things he was starting to block out. It wasn't a pretty sight. He pulled on the shirt and the hoodie to avoid further examination. It was his fault, anyway. His parents didn't want him. They never asked to have children. He was just a waste of space and money. His stomach growled softly and he glanced at his school bag. He just had to wait for the lunch bell, then he could eat.

"Hurry up!" Aeneid called out from the other room, sounding annoyed it was taking him so long.

Virgil quickly finished and grabbed his school bag. She was going to drive him! He didn't have to walk today! Well, he could fly there but he struggled some to carry his school bag as he flew and he didn't get the opportunity to fly often other than gym class so he wasn't the strongest flyer.

He made his way out of the room. School wasn't too bad compared to the four walls of his room... besides, he got to see his friend so there was reason to be excited.

Stay quiet, behave and nothing bad will happen. He just had to remember that.