22Disclaimer: I do not own The O.C. or any of its characters. Everything belongs to FOX and Josh Schwartz.
It had been six months since Dawn had kicked out Ryan and now he found himself living in his third group home. And so far, this one was proving to be one of the worst ones. Ryan had thought the last home would have been hard to beat between the all the drinking, screaming, and crying that made him feel like he never left home; but he was wrong. This newest group home had a few more kids than the last one; most of them fairly young. Ryan was one of the older kids and that meant he took the brunt of the beatings; and the beatings happened nearly every day.
Ryan woke up with his head pounding on this particular Saturday morning; worse than usual. His eyes were barely open a crack and his eyes fell to the bruises on his arms. "Dick went nuts on you." Ryan's roommate, Kyle said when he noticed Ryan had woken up.
"It was my fault anyways." Ryan responded weakly as attempted to sit up. It took more of an effort than it should have.
"Well no shit." Kyle, muttered. "You know how he gets. He probably would have stopped sooner if you hadn't fought back."
"He had it coming." Ryan was aware that fighting back only made it worse. Their foster father seemed to get off on it. Though his body ached worse than it ever had, Ryan didn't regret it. He couldn't remember all the specifics of how the fight got started last night but he could remember him screaming and chasing Sylvie, one of the younger girls; she was only six years old. He stopped going after her once Ryan had tackled him. He beat on him until Ryan wasn't able to fight back anymore. Being one of the oldest, he had to protect the younger kids. And if no one else was going to do it, he would do it all over again.
There was a knock at their door. Ryan and Kyle both turned at the same time to the door, initially afraid of it being one of their foster parents. But they let out a soft sigh of relief, realizing that the knock was too soft for it to be them. The door opened slowly and Sylvie walked in, clutching her stuffed bunny that was falling apart at the seams.
"You okay?" Ryan asked her.
Sylvie nodded slowly. "Does it hurt a lot?"
It did. But Ryan figured she didn't need to know that. "I'll be okay." The only thing that mattered to him was that she wasn't the one that got hurt.
"I'm hungry." Sylvie whined.
Ryan chuckled slightly. Well, it didn't take long for her to forget about that and move onto a more pressing issue. And then not a moment later, Ryan's stomach growled. That proved that the six year old wasn't the only one that needed a meal. "Are they gone?" Ryan asked Sylvie, referring to their foster parents. She seemed to know that and nodded in response.
Ryan pushed himself up as Kyle stood and they followed behind Sylvie to the kitchen. "Not like you're going to get shit here." Kyle commented. He then took hold of one of the locks on the fridge. There were locks on the pantry and cabinets as well. The kids barely got a bite to eat and their foster parents made sure to keep their food out of reach by locking it all up. "How do you think we're gonna get in without the key?"
Ryan scratched his head for a moment and then turned to Sylvie, "Can I have that hair pin?" Ryan asked.
"This one?" Sylvie asked, pointing to the one holding a few pieces of her blonde hair back.
"Please?" Ryan asked nicely and once he was given permission, Ryan carefully took it out of her hair. He then attempted to pick the lock to the pantry. He managed to get the lock off. Ryan gave Kyle a look as he held the opened lock in his hand.
"No way!" Kyle said, not hesitating to move closer towards the now unlocked pantry. But he, as well as Ryan and Sylvie, were disappointed to find a bare pantry. "Should have known…those bastards!" Kyle swore. "Only those assholes would lock an empty pantry."
"Language." Ryan nudged. Not that he really cared but they tried to keep the swearing minimal in front of the younger kids.
"Like I friggin' care!" Kyle swore louder. "I'm hungry!"
"We're all hungry." Ryan corrected. It had been a few days since the last time the kids had anything to eat. Ryan knew it would have only been a matter of time before the others started to get agitated, more specifically Kyle. He already had problems with keeping his temper in check when he wasn't being deprived the food.
"There's nothing to eat?" Sylvie asked. Her lip started to quiver.
"I'll get some food." Ryan assured.
"How?!" Kyle yelled. "Where the hell are you going to get any food, Ryan?! We have no money!"
"Will you shut up for ten seconds?" Ryan responded and then went upstairs and attempted to use the hair pin to unlock their foster parent's bedroom. It proved to be more difficult than the lock on the pantry but he managed. Ryan knew that it was possible that their foster parents kept some money stashed in their room. He had seen them go up there for money before. He had also heard both of them yell at them before about missing money that her husband took. Ryan figured if he could find at least a few dollars, it could at least buy them a candy bar or something at the convenience store down the street. Ryan went through the drawers and he wasn't able to find a single penny. He found where they kept their money but it was completely empty.
"Did you find their money?" Kyle asked.
"Nothing." Ryan shook his head.
"Were they smart enough to take it with them?"
Ryan laughed. "You give them too much credit." He didn't believe that for a second. He knew these people were far from smart. "Those idiots probably spent it all."
"Great." Kyle groaned. "Well if you are such a genius, what are we gonna do now?"
Ryan sighed, trying to think if there was any other way. He felt just as hungry as the other kids and combined with the pain throughout his entire body, he knew he wouldn't be able to stand Kyle's voice much longer, much less stand on his two feet. He knew there might be only one way. "Come on, lets go." Ryan went to put on his shoes.
"Where are we going?" Kyle asked.
"To get some food." Ryan answered.
"With no money?" Kyle arched an eyebrow in confusion. He didn't seem to understand.
"Ever heard of the five finger discount?" Ryan knew that Kyle would understand what that meant. Though Ryan did not want to do it, he knew at this point they would all die of starvation if he didn't. They had to eat and this might be the only way.
Ryan walked down to the convenience store with Kyle and Sylvie following. Ryan hadn't wanted Sylvie to come along. That way Kyle could have helped and they wouldn't have to worry about the six year old while they tried to pull this off. But Sylvie was not an easy child to say 'no' to. Currently, the three of them were standing across the road from the convenience store. Ryan was going over the plan in his head and he was trying to figure out the best way to go about this.
"Are you sure about this Ry?" Kyle asked. He hadn't expected Ryan to suggest stealing.
"Do you have a better idea?" Ryan responded. He was open to ideas but he had thought about it. Unless they wanted to wait around and pray for their foster parents to bring them food, which Ryan doubted would happen, he knew this was the only way.
"Didn't think you were that type." Kyle shrugged. "I guess you learned from your brother, huh?"
"Do you want to eat or not?" Ryan snapped. He was starting to get agitated.
"Okay, don't bite my head off." Kyle rolled his eyes.
Ryan and Kyle crossed the street, staying back as they noticed Sylvie attempting to follow.
"What are we doing?" Sylvie asked. She didn't know why they were out here.
"We're gonna get food." Ryan answered. "But you're going to wait here for us. Don't go anywhere, okay?"
"But I wanna come…" Sylvie whined.
"No." Ryan said sternly. "You either stay here or go home."
Sylvie pouted, "I don't like you anymore." She crossed her arms as she went and sat on the grass.
Ryan sighed as Kyle gave him a look. "Don't worry, she'll change her mind once we eat."
Ryan and Kyle headed inside the store and then went to the third aisle in the back, passing the cashier at the front. Ryan glanced back in his direction to see if he was watching. The cashier had been eyeing them since they came in and Ryan knew they had to wait for the right opportunity.
"Hey, so what's the plan?" Kyle whispered. "Please tell me you've come up with a plan." Ryan didn't respond as he looked for something he could stuff into his pockets. He picked up a small pack of cookies and a small tin of pringles chips and then put it into the pocket of his hoodie. "Seriously dumbass? Nothing?"
"Shut it." Ryan shushed.
"I thought you would be smart enough to have a plan." Kyle shook his head. He had made enough mistakes to know that doing this blind was a big mistake. He knew Ryan was smart and he was surprised that Ryan hadn't thought this out. "I guess you really are as dumb as your brother." That hit a nerve and Ryan shoved Kyle in response.
"Hey!" Ryan and Kyle heard the cashier yell, likely hearing Ryan shove Kyle into another rack, knocking at least six bags of chips off the shelf. "What's going on?!" He attempted to go over there but then a phone started ringing in the back.
Ryan sighed in relief as the cashier headed in the back to answer the phone.
"This is our chance." Kyle nudged. "Run." Before rushing for the door, he grabbed a few more bags of chips and then bolted for the door. Ryan stood there frozen for a moment and then made a run for as he saw the cashier coming out of the back.
"HEY!" He heard the guy yell but Ryan kept running behind Kyle.
"We gotta go Sylvie!" Kyle said as he grabbed Sylvie by the arm and kept running, despite her protests of him hurting her arm and that she couldn't go any faster. "Ryan hurry!" Ryan was coming behind but hethen tripped slightly. He didn't fall, but the slip was enough where the cashier was able to run out there and grab him, stopping him from catching up.
Shit. Ryan knew this was bad once he saw Kyle and Sylvie look back as the cashier caught him but then continue running off. He froze as the cashier gave him a dirty look. "You think you can steal…" Ryan attempted to cut him off as he shakily reached into his hoodie pockets.
"I'm s-sorry…" He threw what he stole on the ground.
"Oh you will be." The cashier muttered. "The police are on their way and they will deal with you. Throw you in prison where trash like you belongs." Ryan shut his eyes, trembling as he could hear sirens coming. He knew he had screwed up but he didn't know what else he could have done. He was hungry though he wished now he could take it back now that he had gotten caught. Maybe Kyle was right about being like my brother; I did the same stupid things he did. Ryan felt scared about the prospect of getting a taste of what Trey had been experiencing. But he also realized, that even without his family, the Atwood curse seemed to follow him everywhere. His dad was arrested once and his brother was doing time. Maybe it was only a matter of time before I got to go there.
A/N: How is everyone doing with the quarantine? I would have had this up sooner but I had the worst writer's block with this chapter. But I finally got something. So, Ryan got arrested for stealing. What do you think will happen to him? The other foster kids Sylvie and Kyle are portrayed by Erica Tremblay and Finn Wolfhard.
Please don't forget to review.
