The attic - Chapter 7

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The only thing Moira wanted to do was to get to her phone. She was not scared anymore, but she had no idea what to do with Vincent.  She had to report this to someone...but who? She pointed Vincent towards the kitchen and asked him to sit down.  

"How old are you Vincent?"

"I don't know...." Vincent sounded totally confused. 

"Do you want to tell me what happened to you?"

Vincent shook his head. He did not say a word....he just grabbed the sandwich she held out to him and began eating and swallowing without even chewing. 

"Don't eat so fast, you're going to choke. Slow down buddy." 

Moira took a seat opposite him at the table and drank her coffee while he ate his food. He literally downed the glass of milk she gave him and poured him some more milk when he had finished.  

After he finished his sandwich, he stood up and washed his plate. He placed it neatly on the drying rack and then sat down again at the table.  

"If you want me to help you, I need to know more about you..." Moira said, but Vincent seemed to pull away every time she asked him to talk to her.  

"Well, it is getting late. We need to get you cleaned up before we can go to bed. I'm going to run you a bath, and it seems like you need a good scrubbing." 

She walked to the bathroom and Vincent followed her obediently.  

She found an old t-shirt that would fit him and grabbed his clothes to put in the washing machine.  His clothes were dirty but it was not old fashioned and it made her wonder if he was lying to her. Perhaps he ran away from home but with everything that she saw tonight, she knew that it was not true. This boy went through some kind of trauma and she had to find out what it was.

Once she put his clothes in the washing machine, she texted Billy.  

"I really need your help. Can you come over please."

That sounded really lame but it was too late to change the message now.  She sounded as if she was trying to lure him here for some obscure reason without explaining. As if Billy would drop everything and just came to rescue her.  

She waited a few minutes and checked her phone for any messages, but Billy haven't even read her message yet.

Well, Vincent was only a boy, and even though it was a somewhat weird situation, there was nothing else that she could do at this time of night.  She could phone the police, but that seemed to frighten Vincent. 

"I will just have to figure it out in the morning." she thought to herself. 

She took out the clothes from the washing machine,and put them in the dryer.  She took a clean towel and knocked on the bathroom door.  She could hear the water splash so she knew that he was still inside, but he was as quiet as a mouse.  

"I'm leaving a clean towel in front of the door for you. I forgot to give you one earlier."

She tried her best to have some kind of conversation with him, but Vincent pointblank ignored her.

She sat drinking another cup of coffee at the kitchen table, when Vincent finally emerged from the bathroom. He had wrinkles all over and he seemed a bit more relaxed. She laughed when she saw him, but he still looked just as serious as before. 

Vincent took the wet towel and put it in the dryer and then folded his clean clothes neatly so that he can put it on the next day. She watched him do everything and thought that he was the most peculiar kid she had ever met. Vincent felt out of place. She offered him some cookies with milk and she watched him eat.  This time he ate slowly and she was able to get in a few words.  

"Do you like cookies?"

He nodded like a five year old.  

"Can you tell me something about yourself?  Do you know where your parents live? Is there anything that you can tell me so that I can help you find your parents?"

"My name is Vincent Lambert. I live in Massachusetts and I am in fifth grade."

Moira smiled at him.  "Now we're getting somewhere....."

She made a calculation in her head and realized that he was too old for the fifth grade, but at least she has some information.  

"It's getting late.  You need to get some sleep. Come on, let me show you where you can sleep."

Vincent followed her to the one spare room. He helped her make the bed and after she made sure that he was settled, she switched off the light, and shut the door behind her. 

She checked her phone again to see if there were any messages.  Nothing.  

She had to find some information on this boy and grabbed her phone to start googling. Perhaps there was some information or a Facebook page or something where she could get some more information.   

She typed in Vincent Lambert and clicked the search button.  

She clicked on images and scrolled down the list. Then suddenly, Vincent was staring right at her. He was much younger in the photo that she found, but it was definitely him.  She searched for the site, and she couldn't believe what she saw.  There was a missing person's alert from a few years before and it looked like the case had been closed.  There was however a number to dial and she immediately dialed the number.  It was a detective Santos, and he answered the phone on the third ring. 

"Good evening detective. I'm sorry to bother you so late in the evening. I found your number on the web-page, and I might have some information that might be useful to you....it's regarding a missing boy.  His name is Vincent Lambert and he is here with me."

"Listen lady..I don't have time for jokes. Vincent Lambert died four years ago."

-To be continued-

Chapter 1 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@giantbear/the-attic-chapter-1

Chapter 2 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@giantbear/the-attic-chapter-2

Chapter 3 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@giantbear/the-attic-chapter-3

Chapter 4 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@giantbear/the-attic-chapter-4

Chapter 5- https://steemit.com/fiction/@giantbear/the-attic-chapter-5

Chapter 6- https://steemit.com/fiction/@giantbear/the-attic-chapter-6