Adjust

The one word Fletcher lived by during the beginning of his life. Adjust to life, people, surroundings, everything. The first time he had to do that was when he was six years old. His parents were part of the Valadez mafia and therefore he was born into the trade, bred for the role he was to inherit. However, no child should ever have to go through what he did. He remembered running to find his father. He had found a cool rock in the common yard, the one place he was allowed to go without supervision until he was 7. 

He lived in a large common compound with the other members of the mafia, his family had been given a small apartment near the common yard but he had never explored the rest of the compound or the other buildings. He had only wanted to show his father the rock he found and see if it was a good gift to give to his mother. 

As he ran into the apartment calling for his father, instead of being greeted with the warm welcome he expected he was greeted by a river of blood at his feet. The dark fresh blood led right to a mutilated corpse in the middle of the room. He stood there in horror as he watched his father looming over the victim, mercilessly plunging his knife into the corpse over and over again. Fletcher began to cry as he screamed for his mother alerting his father, no, the monster in the room of his presence. That monster was not his father, no matter how much it looked like him, or his father was this monster all along. 

Finally finding the strength to move, Fletcher tore himself from the room and ran from the beast in the room. He had no idea where he was going, all he knew was he needed to run. After what felt like hours of running he finally slowed and dried his tears. He was lost. He had never been to this part of the building, or in the building at all. He didn’t even remember opening any doors to get here. There were so many rooms in this part of the building. There was laughter coming from one of the rooms. Usually, everywhere he went it was silent. 

He opened the door a crack and peeked through. There were two kids around his age running around the room, playing with the training equipment as an adult-supervised from the corner. He was about to leave when the little girl saw him. Fletcher closed the door. Had she seen him for sure? He was about to walk away when the door slammed open. Fletcher froze as the little girl with copper hair, bright blue eyes, and a kind smile stared at him. The other kid, a little boy with light brown hair and almost white silver eyes showed up behind her. 

“Did you want to come and play with us?” asked the little girl as the boy smiled at him. 

Fletcher had never had anyone else to play with, he didn’t even know there were other kids here. He nodded his head as the little boy ran over and grabbed his arm. 

“I’m Leon, she’s Nova,” he said, dragging Fletcher into the room. 

“What’s your name?” Nova asked while Leon finally let go of him. 

“I’m Fletcher,” he said. He had always been shy around people, but for some reason this was different. 

They weren't scary like the adults pretending to be nice, they were nice. They played for a while until the man in the corner walked over to them. 

“Nova, Leon it's time for you to go,” he said as he checked his watch.

 Leon walked over to him, “Egil, can you take Fletcher home?” Nova asked him as she ran over to him. The man, Egil nodded as Leon and Nova ran out the door. 

“Bye Fletcher! See you tomorrow!” Nova and Leon called out behind them as he was left alone with Egil. Fletcher looked at the ground as Egil approached him, his shyness had returned. 

“What’s your last name bud?” Egil asked, stooping down to his height. Suddenly as it had come, his shyness vanished. No adult had ever gotten down on his level. Egil seemed like a kind person he could trust.

 “My last name is Fox,” he said as Egil took his hand. 

“Let’s get you to your dad,” he said standing up. He then remembered what led him here. 

"No no no no.” he cried out as Egil looked at him shocked. Tears were pooling in his eyes, he did not want to go back to his father. 

“Why not?” Egil asked him to try to calm him down. Fletcher tried to tell him what he had seen. He knew he probably sounded crazy but he couldn’t go back there knowing that monster might still be there. Egil gave him a weak smile. 

“Hey, it’s alright bud, your dad would never hurt you I promise.” somehow Egils' words that day convinced him to go back home.

 Fletcher sat on the couch, as his father and Egil talked for a bit. His father seemed nothing like the monster he had seen here earlier. However, he just wanted his mother. At the thought of his mother he patted the rock in his pocket, he could still give it to her. 

“I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow for training, kid,” Egil said, giving him a reassuring smile as he ruffled his hair and walked out of the apartment as his father walked over and sat down in front of him. 

“Listen, Fletcher, what you saw was correct but I am no monster. That thing I killed was, understand? That’s what Daddy does, he kills monsters, and sometimes you might see me killing them, you just have to adjust to the sight of it alright?” his father explained to him. 

Fletcher nodded, that seemed right. Maybe he had just been so quick to assume he had gotten it all wrong. At age six he had no clue what was going on, but he did adjust. It was easy though, he had Nova And Leon, they were his friends. Things were fine for him after the first time, he did have to adjust to seeing things every day. He could tell Nova had it worse, she never said a thing but he could see the bruises and the flicker of fear in her eyes when Egil would tell her she had to go train or go home. Leon followed her around like a lost dog, he could tell Leon liked her. Eventually, they all began to train together. Nova was better than them because she trained every free second of the day. 

Training together was fun until his mother died when he was eight. As with everything else, Fletcher adjusted to the situation. He was expected to train harder and be more successful, without his mother as the buffer between him and his father he had so many expectations on his shoulders. His new stepmom was horrendous, his father was no better. It was like he didn’t even love his mother in the first place and so easily replaced her with that horrid woman. Things were better after he adjusted, it was like they weren’t that bad. They all had to adjust as they grew up, did Leon ever have to adjust? He was the only one who seemed fine, innocent, he had so much hope. Hope things will be better for him and Nova. 

The final adjustment happened when he was ten. He should have trained harder that day, maybe things would have been different. He chose to train with Nova that day, the first mistake. The second was inviting his father to watch him. The final strike for him however was not listening to Egil. “

watch your opponent get in their head.” Egil shouted as they sparred in the ring. 

Fletcher hesitated, he had no idea how he was supposed to do that, but it was too late, Nova quickly grabbed his arm and flipped him over himself. The next thing he knew he was on his back with the wind knocked out of him. He tried to cough as tears pooled in his eyes. He couldn’t breathe, it was like he was suffocating.  A hand was held out to him. He took it as Egil helped him stand up. It was now a bit easier to breathe. However, he deeply wished that he had suffocated with what happened next.  

“You should have been able to block that or avoid it. What a pathetic kid”  his stepmom cackled as she turned her nose up at him with disgust.  

“I think this one has brain damage like his mother. Disgusting creature.'' The comment hit him hard. 

“How dare you! My mother was twice the woman you’ll ever be.” Fletcher gasped as he tried to breathe and more tears filled his eyes. 

The only thing keeping him from collapsing was Egil’s arm. His father walked up to him full of furry. 

“I never want to see you again. You're not my son, my son could have beaten a little girl. You pathetic creature. Egil, get this trespasser out.” his father growled as he stormed out with his stepmom. 

Fletcher collapsed to his knees in shock and put his head in his hands. He was going to be left on the streets, or even worse, killed for now no longer being a member. His father had disowned him, he had no family, no anything. Someone wrapped their arms around him. Fletcher’s eyes filled with tears as Nova cried with him on his shoulder. After she let go Fletcher stood up and walked over to Egil. he was ready to accept his fate, he had nothing else after all. 

“Egil you can’t just throw him out.” Nova cried out begging Egil, “Please take him somewhere safe, please for me.” Egil smiled weakly at her. After a minute Egil sighed. 

“I know a place that will take him with open caring arms,” he whispered to her as they embraced for a moment. 

“Take care of yourself.” She said hugging him then running off somewhere in the building. 

“Let's go, Fletcher,” Egil said, taking his hand. They walked out of the building and snuck behind and around all the windows where people would see them. 

“I’m sorry kid, we're gonna have to go on foot so we’re not followed, alright?’ Egil said as they walked past the garage full of cars. 

Fletcher just nodded, just adjust, was the only thing going through his head. They walked for almost an hour, he was tired and worn out, he just wanted to lay down and fall asleep. Finally, they reached a series of what looked like abandoned buildings, they were all lined up on both sides of a road. Egil led him into one of the smaller ones, the building wasn't abandoned at all. Inside everything was new and clean. The more he inspected it looked like a hospital. Egil sat him in a waiting chair by a desk, while he went up and talked to a lady at a desk. This place definitely was a hospital, well a secret one. 

Fletcher could smell the cleaning chemicals and the latex gloves. Fletcher waited in the chair as Egil kept talking to the lady at the desk, who glanced over at him with sympathy every few seconds. Then the woman pointed towards a set of double doors and Egil nodded his head and walked back behind the doors. The woman at the desk looked kind and sweet, she reminded him of his mother, oh how he missed his mother. Then Egil and a man walked out of the doors and He and Egil began to whisper both glancing over at him from time to time. What were they going to do to him? Then finally Egil smiled at the man and walked over to where Fletcher was sitting. 

“I have too leave now, but these people are gonna take care of you. Think you can be good for them Fletcher?” Egil said as the lady at the desk and the man smiled at them. 

“Yeah, I can,” Fletcher whispered as Egil ruffled his hair then left. The man walked over to him and crouched in front of him, just like Egil had done 4 years ago. 

“Fletcher, I'm Shawn Alvarez, and that's my wife Nelly. you're going to be staying with me and my family. Alright?” he said, standing up and offering his hand to him as the woman smiled at them. He nodded his head, as he took Shawn's hand. 

"Time to adjust," he thought as Shawn led him out of the building across the street. Fletcher shook the thought out of his head. 

“This is the last time, no more adjusting,” He thought as he let Shawn lead him to his new life.