Hyunwoo was skipping happily ahead of his mother when he heard it.  It was small, but he was sure he heard a sniff.  He stopped just past the alleyway opening and waited to hear it again.  Definitely small, definitely a sniff, some movement followed it all.  He grew excited.

                “Mommy, I think there is a puppy!”  Hyunwoo took off down the alley ignoring his mother’s yell of fright.  A child of seven (seven and a half if you asked Hyunwoo), Hyunwoo never worried about strangers, in their small town everyone knew everyone and seeing puppies was always a must.

                It wasn’t a puppy though.  An excited Hyunwoo came upon a very small boy.  The boy was trying to fit himself into the small space between the alley wall and a dumpster.  His clothes were nonexistent, torn all over.  Hyunwoo didn’t even think the shirt was a shirt anymore.  He was covered in red, his hair was clumped in multiple places and his hands were held in front of him at odd angles.

                “Mommy!”  Hyunwoo yelled, startling the young boy who quickly pressed himself further against the walls.  “No, no, it’s okay, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to yell.  Don’t be scared.”  Hyunwoo tried to smile, but it was hard, the boy looked very hurt and scared.  “I won’t hurt you.  Mommy is gonna help us, okay?”  Hyunwoo reached a hand out like would to any dog he met on the street, keeping his fingers together, palm open and up and moving at extreme slowness, when he was close enough to be in the boy’s arm reach he froze and waited.  His mother always told him to be patient, ‘wait and good things will come Hyunwoo.’  That’s what she always told him whenever he met a new animal.

                The boy’s shaking stopped as he stared at Hyunwoo’s hand.  Eyes wide as he waited and watched.  Slowly, very slowly the boy inched one of his small very thin and battered legs forward.  When the tip of Hyunwoo’s finger grazed his skin, the boy slammed back into the dumpster, eyes closed, shaking starting again, his misshapen hands pulled up in front of his face.  Hyunwoo stayed still, he could hear his mother call, but he didn’t want to startle the boy again by answering. So he sat and waited, hand out, waiting for the young boy to have trust in him.

                Terrified eyes peeked at him from behind unnaturally bent fingers, brows scrunching in confusion as Hyunwoo continued to sit very still.  Hyunwoo smiled again as the boy’s leg made another attempt at reaching out.  This time staying close enough that Hyunwoo could feel how cold the boy’s bare leg was.

                There was a soft crunching noise as his mother made his way down the alley, and that startled the boy into a smalls panic.  It all happened very fast as the boy let out a tiny hoarse whine as he crawled into Hyunwoo’s lap.  Hyunwoo’s arms came up to lightly rap around the small boy.  “It’s okay, it’s just mommy.  Mommy is going to help us, okay?  Mommy won’t hurt you either.  I promise, it will be ok.”

                “Hyunwoo are you okay?  You can’t…”  His mother trailed off as she spotted her son holding a very obviously hurt child.

                “Mommy he’s hurt.”  Hyunwoo looked at his mother with so much sadness.  “He needs help.”

                “Ok, alright.  I’ll take him, we’ll get him to the car.”  She went to reach for the boy but the tiny body shrank away, curling himself further into Hyunwoo’s lap.

                “Mommy, patience!  Patience!  He’s scared.”  Hyunwoo said, holding one hand up to stop his mother from advancing forward again.

                “Sorry sweetheart.  Do you think you can get him to walk?  We need to bring him to see a doctor.”  Hyunwoo nodded and started to whisper lowly to the boy.

                “We are going to help you, okay?  Mommy is going to help us.  Can you walk?”  Hyunwoo leaned back, carefully looking down at the boy.  “I can’t carry you, only mommy’s can carry kids, I’m not strong enough yet.”  The boy shook more, looking up at Hyunwoo with tear filled eyes.  “No, no, don’t cry, it will be okay.  We just need to get you to the car.  But it’s okay, if you aren’t ready I can wait.  I’m really patient.  Mommy always said I was good at waiting.”  Hyunwoo smiled and looked over at his mother who was talking quickly on the phone.  “Mommy and I are gonna bring you to Doctor Hoon.  He’s nice, he fixes all my oos when I fall during sports.  Doctor Hoon helps us a lot; he’s over for dinner all the time.  I think he and mommy are in love.”  Hyunwoo snickered and he felt the boy relax a little in his arms.  “Doctor Hoon is really nice though, he will let me stay with you the whole time I promise.  You won’t be alone ever, okay?” There was a small hesitant nod against his shoulder followed by a small sniff.  They both moved slowly into a standing position, the boy wincing as his knees knocked together in a shiver. 

                The once white shirt was torn all over, red marring holes before fading to pink.  Hyunwoo took of his jacket in thought, “this will keep you warm okay?  You look like you need it right now.”  He carefully wrapped the jacket around the boy’s shoulders, doing his best to ignore all the cuts that seemed to just appear on him.  He tied the sleeves in front, hoping to keep the jacket on the slim shoulders, but he didn’t think the small odd angle hands could fit into the sleeves.   “I will be next to you the whole time, okay?  We just need to go get some band aids from Doctor Hoon.”  They took a few steps forward but as the noise of the busy street filtered down the alleyway the boy shook more.  “It’s okay.  If you need a break just let me know.” 

                Hyunwoo’s mother hung up the phone and gave her son a small smile as he walked carefully next to the injured boy, keeping both arms spread around them so nothing would touch him.

                “Doctor Hoon will meet us at the office Hyunwoo.”  She looked at the small boy and gave a smile to the frightened eyes, “Let’s go get some help okay?”  The boy slowly nodded, eyes looking towards the ground as he took another slow step forward.   It was on his next shuffling step that he made a tiny whimper and collapsed to the ground.

~`~

 

                Hyunwoo sat in a white room.  Hand pressed carefully against the one area Doctor Hoon had allowed him to touch.  He promised he would stay, though Doctor Hoon said he would have to take him away a bit, Hyunwoo stayed with him as long as he was allowed.

                The boy was no longer covered in red; his clumped hair was now soft and clean with a bandage around it.  There were contraptions everywhere; long pins that looked like they hurt were sticking out of each finger of the boy’s hands, and around his arm too.  His legs were lifted into what Doctor Hoon had described as slings and there were hard casts.  Hyunwoo knew what those were, he had one once when he fell out of a tree.

                “I honestly don’t know how this child is even alive.  There are multiple contusions, scars, knife marks from both straight and serrated edges, multiple broken bones.  His hands look like they have been smashed, healed, purposely dislocated and allowed to stay that way, there were multiple pinched nerves from when they were relocated.”

                “Was he ually assaulted at all?”

                “From what we could see, no.  However, what state of mind he is in once we wake him up we can only assume the worst.  I think going forward we will treat it like a ual assault case on a minor.  That means we must do things slowly.  It’s good that he seemed to trust Hyunwoo enough from your description of things.  That means we might be able to find out what happened.”

                “And the police haven’t found anything?”

                “Nothing yet, no reports of missing kids in the area or any runaways.  They are expanding, but it’s too soon to tell.”  Hyunwoo stared at them before looking back at the small boy again.

                “How old did you say he was?”

                “Five, maybe, there is too much damage to actually tell, he could be older.  You said he seemed pretty understanding of words like doctor and car.”

                “Yes, but it was mostly Hyunwoo that was talking to him.”

                “At least he may know certain things, wherever he was kept at least allowed that luxury.”

                “How do you think he escaped?”

                “I can’t be sure, but from his broken ankle it should have been near impossible for him.  He must have been in so much pain.  I’m surprised he let Hyunwoo touch him at all.”  Hyunwoo turned back to the boy, pressing his fingers to the warm patch of skin.  He was listening to his mother’s sniffs in the corner of the white room.  Dr. Hoon’s hand running up and down her arm.  Hyunwoo rolled his eyes and hid a smile, this was a serious time after all, but he liked the loving look in the doctor’s eyes as he spoke to his mother.  “As for now we are going to keep him asleep and hope that when he next wakes it will be calm.  I may have to ask for you to bring Hyunwoo back then.  It would be good for him to see someone he may trust.”

                “You’ll let us know if anything happens?”

                “Of course I will.”

 

~`~

                A week later and Hyunwoo was bouncing up and down the long-term hallways much to the nurse’s amusement.  Dr. Hoon had called earlier and said that they were going to try waking the boy that day.  All week Hyunwoo had been excited to see the boy again, he drew pictures in class when they had free time and when his mother would bring him back to the hospital later in the day for a visit he would hang them in the boy’s room, hoping that it would make him happy when he wakes up.

                “He’s been healing wonderfully, better than we can hope,” Dr. Hoon smiled at them as Hyunwoo bounded into the room and to his usual seat beside the bed.  “Hyunwoo I need you to pay attention so I want you to repeat what I’m saying when I’m done okay?”  Hyunwoo nodded, pleased that there were less band aids on the boy this time, he could rub the arm instead of pressing his fingers to skin.  “Okay, we are going to take him off his sleeping medication, he will wake up and be very confused and very scared.  I want you to make sure he knows he’s safe.  Just talk to him, let him know everything is going to be ok, but he needs to understand he cannot move.  Now Hyunwoo, he may not remember you at all, but we are going to let you talk first, if you feel uncomfortable at all let us know.  Can you tell me what I said?” 

                Hyunwoo smiled over his shoulder at the Doctor who was standing with his mother, rubbing her back slowly.  “He is going to wake up, and he will be very scared and confused.  I need to make sure he doesn’t move because his boo boos wont heal if he does.  But I get to talk to him first, and he may not remember me, but I’m not worried cause I know he will.  I just know it.”  Hyunwoo rubbed the arm again, excited. 

                “Holly I understand if you would like to stay with him.”

                “I think I’ll wait outside until you tell me it’s alright.  Poor thing will already be surrounded by you and staff.  I don’t want to scare him by being here as well.”  Hyunwoo’s mother smiled and came up behind her son, pressing a quick kiss to his temple.  “I’ll be outside love if you need me.”

                “Okay mommy.”  Hyunwoo thought for a second before he reached out for his mother.  “Mommy, can you give me a good luck kiss?  I think I might need one.”  Right away he felt lips pressed to his forehead, his mother’s good luck kiss that he got before every game.

                “Good luck my dear.”

 

                Hyunwoo practically shook with excitement, pulling up the chair as close as possible so he could be sure that the boy would see him first when he woke.  The nurses were buzzing about, injecting things into tubes that would supposedly help the boy to wake up. 

                “Alright Hyunwoo, we are going to stand back, it might take a few minutes, but if we tell you to move I need to you step away okay?”  Dr. Hoon said patting the boy on the back.

                “Yes Hoonie.”  Hyunwoo moved himself closer to the boy.

                The boy’s eyes danced beneath his eyelids for a few moments.  Hyunwoo for a moment held his breath as the dancing became scrunching.  Brown eyes blinked up at him, dazed.

                “Hi!”  Hyunwoo smiled.  The brown eyes glanced at him before widening.  “Oh no, don’t be scared.  My name is Hyunwoo.  We met before.  I told you we were gonna bring you to the Doctor so he can fix your boo boos.”  Hyunwoo smiled again, “I know it doesn’t feel like you’re all better, I’m sure you’re still hurting.  But Dr. Hoon said you are healing well.  But you can’t move.”  Hyunwoo bit his lip as the brown eyes stayed on him.  “I know that’s kind of scary to hear, but you are in a lot of things.  But they are all supposed to help you.  But if you move it could hurt more.  But any way.  I wanna say I’m sorry.  I broke a promise.”  The eyes stared at him wide, “I promise I would stay with you the whole time, but Hoon said I wasn’t allowed in the room with you for a while.  So, I waited in the hall.  But he promised me you would be ok.”  Hyunwoo watched the brown eyes slowly fill with water.  “Oh no, don’t cry.  You’ll be ok, I promise you.  Mommy said that when you’re all better you can come home with us.  Then you won’t have to be alone ever again.  But you can’t cry.  I’m only allowed to touch your arm right now, so you can’t cry until I can hug you all better, okay?”  The eyes blinked slowly, tears falling.  “Oh no, please don’t cry.  It’s going to be okay.  I promise.  We’re gonna take good care of you.  Can I touch your face?  If the tears dry, it will be uncomfortable.  Just blink once for yes.”  Hyunwoo waited.  The eyes stared at him never moving off his face.  “It’s okay, I’m patient, I’ll wait for you.”

                There was a slow blink before the brown eyes were back on him and Hyunwoo smiled wide.  “Okay, I’m going to touch you okay?  I’ll be careful not to hurt you.”  He was very careful to wipe his thumbs across the boy’s cheeks, gathering loose tears as he went.  “Dr. Hoon will make everything all better, I promise.  He’s gonna talk to you now okay?”  Hyunwoo looked up at the doctor who had been standing at the foot of the bed with his clipboard.  “Hoonie I think he will be ok.  But he’s still scared, you have to be careful.”

                Hoon only smiled at him before looking over the young boy slowly.  “Hello son, my name is Hoon and I will be your doctor.  Can you hear me fine?  Blink once for yes.”  The boy never took his eyes off Hyunwoo, but more tears had started to fall as he slowly blinked.  “Good.  Now I want you to know that we can’t have you moving, you may upset your injuries.  But I need you to answer my questions ok?”  Hyunwoo frowned as he wiped away more tears falling from the boy’s eyes as he slowly blinked again.  “Awesome, you are doing amazing son.  Now we will keep this pattern, once for yes, twice for no alright?”

                He blinked again.

                “You are doing wonderfully.  Now, do you remember your name?”  The boy blinked, eyes still staring at Hyunwoo.  “Great.  Do you remember what happened to you?”  The boy blinked again.  “Do remember who did this to you?”  More tears fell as the boy stared at Hyunwoo.

                “Oh no, please don’t cry.  It’s okay.  You’re doing great.”  Hyunwoo hovered over the boy, wiping at his tears again.  “Hoon!”  Hyunwoo looked back at the doctor who was smiling sadly.

                “It’s ok Hyunwoo, I won’t ask him again.”  The doctor wrote something down on his clipboard and continued the questioning.  Hyunwoo smiled.  The little boy would be ok.  He was sure of it.  He looked down at fear filled eyes once more before giving the boy a bright smile.

                “It’s okay.  It will all be ok.”  Hyunwoo whispered to him.