9
When dinner was over Mason and Peter met at the door of the room and went inside. As Peter got ready for bed a bit later Mason noticed the wounds on Peter's legs, they hadn't been there when he had carried him back to the room during training and he became concerned. "What happened?" he asked remembering that he had been asked to look out for the boy and he felt a sudden surge of guilt."I tripped...I tripped over a tree root," Peter said quietly, he didn't want to lie so he told part of the truth.
"Why don't you look where you're going next time," Mason said grinning to take out any sting that might be in his words but Peter just looked down at his feet so he changed the subject. "Look kid we're going to be roommates for quite some time, I'd like to get to know you."
"There's nothing to know," Peter said sitting down on his bed and looking away from Mason.
"There has to be something, what school did you go to before you went here," Mason asked desperate for conversation, he didn't want to dwell on what had happened.
"Sunrise View Orphanage," Peter said.
"When did you end up there?" Mason said and then regretted it immediately, it was the same as asking when the other boy's parents had died and he didn't want to pry. It was obvious that Peter was very fragile and he didn't want to hurt him.
"I was nine, I was too young for here so they put me there when my folks died," Peter said staring into the distance. "Please don't ask anything else, I don't remember and it hurts to try, it hurts a lot and I just don't want to talk anymore I'm going to go to bed now," he said talking fast and by the time he had announced his intention to turn in for the night he was already curled up.
Mason stared at the boy curled up in the tight huddle, it was the longest the boy had spoken for and the first time he had spoken above a whisper but what really got him was the panic that was so obvious, if the boy wasn't lying about not remembering the events that had orphaned him they were almost certainly lurking just below the surface of his mind, it gave Mason the first indication that there was something very wrong with the boy, that he wasn't just shy but suffering from something locked up inside. Because he lay awake to think things over that night he saw what he had missed on the first and when Peter stood up he looked over at him and decided to follow knowing that he would worry if he didn't.
