FAKE Ficlet: Outcast
Title: Outcast
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: Shortly after Vol. 3, Act 9.
Summary: Following his parents’ deaths, Ryo finds himself shunned by all the people he thought were his friends.
Word Count: 533
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 345: Amnesty at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 103: Contraband.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
It hadn’t taken long before the whole neighbourhood had heard about his parents’ brutal murder, but if Ryo had expected sympathy from those around him, he was destined to be disappointed.
People muttered to each other and pointed whenever they saw him. Neighbours he’d run errands for when he was younger, who’d paid him to cut their lawns, wash their cars, rake leaves, and shovel snow, now crossed the street to avoid him. Thanks to the police suspecting his parents of being drug smugglers, transporting contraband across international borders, Ryo was suddenly a pariah. No one wanted anything to do with him, as if he might somehow contaminate them.
It had been bad enough at the funeral for his father, the few so-called friends and family members who bothered to attend gossiping among themselves, calling him the child of common criminals, shooting looks at him as if they expected him to pick their pockets or steal their purses. By the time his mother’s body was finally released for burial, the only people at her funeral were himself, Aunt Elena, and Uncle Rick. Maybe that was better; he didn’t have to endure unkind comments and suspicious glances a second time.
Even Ryo’s friends were avoiding him. He’d called his best friend just to have someone to talk to only to be told by his friend’s father not to call anymore.
“My son’s a good boy, he doesn’t consort with the likes of you.”
Only a few weeks ago he’d been welcome at the houses of all his friends, but now, when he really needed company and support, there was none to be found. It almost came as a relief to put his parents’ belongings in storage, put the house up for sale, and move in with his aunt and uncle. Better to be somewhere no one knew him than to be watched with suspicion whenever he left the house.
The worst of it was knowing his parents were completely innocent, their names and his tarnished by the circumstances surrounding their deaths, all because a large amount of cocaine had been found in their car. Why hadn’t the people who’d killed them over it simply taken it with them? They must have been interrupted before they could get the trunk open. Not that it would have changed anything if the drugs had been gone; there would still have been traces, enough to arouse suspicion in the cops. No doubt Ryo would still have wound up shunned by everyone around him.
His aunt and uncle were the only people he knew who didn’t believe his parents had been criminals, the only people who believed in him and cared what happened to him. But for them, he might have decided to drop out of school without graduating, but they encouraged him not to give up, to think of his future.
They’d been right of course, and he’d thought about it long and hard, deciding he wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him fail. He’d enrol at the police academy, become a cop, and someday he’d learn the truth about why his parents had been killed. Then maybe they’d be able to rest in peace.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: Shortly after Vol. 3, Act 9.
Summary: Following his parents’ deaths, Ryo finds himself shunned by all the people he thought were his friends.
Word Count: 533
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 345: Amnesty at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 103: Contraband.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
It hadn’t taken long before the whole neighbourhood had heard about his parents’ brutal murder, but if Ryo had expected sympathy from those around him, he was destined to be disappointed.
People muttered to each other and pointed whenever they saw him. Neighbours he’d run errands for when he was younger, who’d paid him to cut their lawns, wash their cars, rake leaves, and shovel snow, now crossed the street to avoid him. Thanks to the police suspecting his parents of being drug smugglers, transporting contraband across international borders, Ryo was suddenly a pariah. No one wanted anything to do with him, as if he might somehow contaminate them.
It had been bad enough at the funeral for his father, the few so-called friends and family members who bothered to attend gossiping among themselves, calling him the child of common criminals, shooting looks at him as if they expected him to pick their pockets or steal their purses. By the time his mother’s body was finally released for burial, the only people at her funeral were himself, Aunt Elena, and Uncle Rick. Maybe that was better; he didn’t have to endure unkind comments and suspicious glances a second time.
Even Ryo’s friends were avoiding him. He’d called his best friend just to have someone to talk to only to be told by his friend’s father not to call anymore.
“My son’s a good boy, he doesn’t consort with the likes of you.”
Only a few weeks ago he’d been welcome at the houses of all his friends, but now, when he really needed company and support, there was none to be found. It almost came as a relief to put his parents’ belongings in storage, put the house up for sale, and move in with his aunt and uncle. Better to be somewhere no one knew him than to be watched with suspicion whenever he left the house.
The worst of it was knowing his parents were completely innocent, their names and his tarnished by the circumstances surrounding their deaths, all because a large amount of cocaine had been found in their car. Why hadn’t the people who’d killed them over it simply taken it with them? They must have been interrupted before they could get the trunk open. Not that it would have changed anything if the drugs had been gone; there would still have been traces, enough to arouse suspicion in the cops. No doubt Ryo would still have wound up shunned by everyone around him.
His aunt and uncle were the only people he knew who didn’t believe his parents had been criminals, the only people who believed in him and cared what happened to him. But for them, he might have decided to drop out of school without graduating, but they encouraged him not to give up, to think of his future.
They’d been right of course, and he’d thought about it long and hard, deciding he wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him fail. He’d enrol at the police academy, become a cop, and someday he’d learn the truth about why his parents had been killed. Then maybe they’d be able to rest in peace.
The End