Strange World
Title: Strange World
Prompt: Homesickness
Medium: Fic
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Summary: AU. Kris and his mom escape a religious cult and Kris has a difficult time adjusting to outside life.
“Come on. We have to hurry.”
The voice of his mother had roused him from bed in the middle of the night.
Not understanding, Kris did as he was asked, and it wasn’t until he was in a car and his mother was driving away that he really began to understand and wake up to what was happening.
“What do you mean, we’re leaving? Where?”
“I don’t know,” his mother answered tightly.
Kris was never one to argue with authority, but he never expected to be taken away from the only home he had ever known. He was used to life there. It felt common and understandable. It was the outside world that he had been taught to fear.
The outside world with its wicked people, with no possibility of salvation. Now, Kris knew he was beyond salvation, too. He glared at his mother, angry at her for taking him away. He had already told her what he knew for sure.
“This is wrong! It’s not what God would want!” he protested, as his mother took him farther and farther away.
“We have to go back!” he insisted, trying everything he could to get her to reconsider. But nothing had worked.
Now he was surrounded by forbidden things: television, the color red, books and music.
It was bad enough that they had left, but now they didn't even have a place to stay. The men handled the money, and that meant his mother didn't have any. They lived in a shelter, and for a long time, Kris didn't speak at all.
Then, there was school.
He was twelve, which meant, in his former life, that he didn't have to attend anymore. He went to work with the men from morning 'til evening. He had a purpose. Now, he was being made to attend outsider school.
He hated it, and he wanted to go home.
“You have to go to school, Kris. There are laws,” she tried to explain.
But there were no laws that applied to Kris. He was part of a chosen people. He could do whatever the prophet said and be totally protected by God.
But when he skipped school, he got discovered by police, and brought to school in handcuffs. He came home angry, slammed his door and plotted a million ways to get back to the home he left behind.
Call his father or someone back at the ranch to come pick him up. Hitch a ride. Run away. He entertained each one thoroughly, but in his heart he knew the truth.
He knew that none of them would work.
He was stuck here. His only way back was if his mother would bring him back, and if Kris knew one thing, he knew his mother.
She wasn’t changing her mind.
And it made him sick to think of all the things he was missing. The only way of life he knew was a memory, and he was stuck - a stranger in this strange world - unable to adapt.
He was at school, sitting alone on the steps, when a boy came up to him, looking equally miserable.
"I hate it here," said the boy.
"Me, too," Kris echoed.
"I'm Kris."
"I'm Adam."
Prompt: Homesickness
Medium: Fic
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Summary: AU. Kris and his mom escape a religious cult and Kris has a difficult time adjusting to outside life.
“Come on. We have to hurry.”
The voice of his mother had roused him from bed in the middle of the night.
Not understanding, Kris did as he was asked, and it wasn’t until he was in a car and his mother was driving away that he really began to understand and wake up to what was happening.
“What do you mean, we’re leaving? Where?”
“I don’t know,” his mother answered tightly.
Kris was never one to argue with authority, but he never expected to be taken away from the only home he had ever known. He was used to life there. It felt common and understandable. It was the outside world that he had been taught to fear.
The outside world with its wicked people, with no possibility of salvation. Now, Kris knew he was beyond salvation, too. He glared at his mother, angry at her for taking him away. He had already told her what he knew for sure.
“This is wrong! It’s not what God would want!” he protested, as his mother took him farther and farther away.
“We have to go back!” he insisted, trying everything he could to get her to reconsider. But nothing had worked.
Now he was surrounded by forbidden things: television, the color red, books and music.
It was bad enough that they had left, but now they didn't even have a place to stay. The men handled the money, and that meant his mother didn't have any. They lived in a shelter, and for a long time, Kris didn't speak at all.
Then, there was school.
He was twelve, which meant, in his former life, that he didn't have to attend anymore. He went to work with the men from morning 'til evening. He had a purpose. Now, he was being made to attend outsider school.
He hated it, and he wanted to go home.
“You have to go to school, Kris. There are laws,” she tried to explain.
But there were no laws that applied to Kris. He was part of a chosen people. He could do whatever the prophet said and be totally protected by God.
But when he skipped school, he got discovered by police, and brought to school in handcuffs. He came home angry, slammed his door and plotted a million ways to get back to the home he left behind.
Call his father or someone back at the ranch to come pick him up. Hitch a ride. Run away. He entertained each one thoroughly, but in his heart he knew the truth.
He knew that none of them would work.
He was stuck here. His only way back was if his mother would bring him back, and if Kris knew one thing, he knew his mother.
She wasn’t changing her mind.
And it made him sick to think of all the things he was missing. The only way of life he knew was a memory, and he was stuck - a stranger in this strange world - unable to adapt.
He was at school, sitting alone on the steps, when a boy came up to him, looking equally miserable.
"I hate it here," said the boy.
"Me, too," Kris echoed.
"I'm Kris."
"I'm Adam."