As the van pulled up to the side of the road, Koby got out and opened the back door for everyone else. Getting out Lou looked at the apartment building in front of him. It looked much older than Lou thought possible without getting demolished. There was a large crack stretching from the roof to the floor, it was also really dirty.

“Is it even safe to live in?” Lou asked concerned.

“Oh yes, its up to code!” Miss Tamworth stated as she begun walking to the entrance.

Feeling a hand tightened against his, Lou saw it was the boy. Allowing the boy to led him, they begun making their way in. The inside wasn’t as bad as the outside, but it still wasn’t good. Passing a counter, they came to an elevator. The inside wasn’t big, but it was still able to fit them all in comfortably, maybe because Lou and the siblings were adults yet, so they were small. As the elevator begun to move, it crackled and wined. Making Lou feel worried that it might snap and kill them all. When the elevator finally stopped, it was on the fifth floor. The elevator’s doors opened to an open area that showed a large kitchen, living room and many doors. The room looked way better than everything before, but it didn’t make him feel better at all.

“So children this will be your new living quarters for the time being!” Miss Tamworth stated as she led them off the elevator and into the living space.

Once the elevator’s doors closed, she turned around to face them. In here hands were some papers, Lou wasn’t sure she was holding them before. Being given one Lou studied it closely, it was a schedule.

“For you children to live here, you must follow the schedule!” Miss Tamworth stated firmly. “If I hear that any of you skip school, there is going to be trouble!”

“Do we have our own rooms?” the girl asked, hiding behind Koby’s legs.

“Why yes!” Miss Tamworth stated cheerfully. “Go and pick a room, Lou will catch up in a bit!”

“Ok!” the girl stated as she took her brother’s hand and pulled him along.

Once the siblings were a good distance away, Lou felt both Koby and Miss Tamworth’s eyes on him.

“What’s up?” Lou asked, feeling concerned.

“It’s going to take a week before I can find someone to take care of you and the siblings. Can I trust you to look after them till then?”

“Sure!” Lou replied without a second thought.

“Good, their school is two blocks away so you can walk them there!”

Lou spent the next few minutes following Miss Tamworth around the place as she explained things. Food was already made and the laundry should be done every weekend no matter the weather.

When Lou was finally able to see the bedrooms, the siblings had already chosen theirs and the only one left was the much smaller room. Lou wasn’t happy about it but didn’t bother to complain since it was usable, and he didn’t think he would need a lot of space.

“Well good job children. Now you can choose what you would want in your bedrooms!” Miss Tamworth stated as she handed each of them a booklet.

“I’ll come back in a week to pick them up and see how you would place things before buying anything!”

“Ok” Lou replied.

“Oh look at the time. Koby and I must leave now!” Miss Tamworth stated while she looked at her watch. “By the way don’t allow anyone you don’t know in!”

Standing near the elevator, Lou waved as the doors closed before standing in utter silence.

“So what now?” the girl asked, breaking the silence.

“Want something for lunch?” Lou asked as he made his way to the kitchen. Opening the large freezer Lou took a better look at what was available, there was a lot. Each of the frozen meal had a name and a due date written on the cardboard cover. Moving to the side Lou allowed the siblings to look and choose something for themselves. Once they have chosen something, Lou grabbed a random meal before having them all placed onto the bench. Checking how long each of the meals would take to cook, Lou chose to do the girl’s one first and placed it into the microwave.

“While you guys wait for me to cook the food why not start working out what you want in your rooms since this is going to take a while!”

“Ok!” the siblings replied in union before they raced off to their new rooms. Seeing that the meal still needed to cook for a few more minutes Lou went and sat down on the couch with a sigh. He wasn’t sure how long he could handle anything more, especially without his parents nor his father’s butler who he could talk things over with. ‘Oh right my parents are dead’ Lou remembered. Before he could think dark thoughts, the microwave beeped that it was done. Lou met the girls at the microwave as she was holding out a microwave mitten.

“Here!” the girl said happily.

“Thank you!” Lou replied as he gently took the mitten and placed it on. Grabbing a tea towel, Lou opened the microwave and carefully took the meal out.

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“Do you want to use a bowl or this tray?”

“A bowl, please!”

As Lou placed the hot meal down, Lou turned around to see that the girl was already holding out a bowl.

“You are quick!” Lou stated as he took the bowl and placed it onto the table.

“Here!” the girl stated cheerfully as Lou turned around to see that the girl was holding a folk, a knife and tong.

“Thank you!” Lou said as he took the tong and begun carefully placing the food into the bowl.

Once everything was paced into the bowl, Lou took the folk and knife and placed them onto the bowl.

“Where do you want to eat?”

“In my room, please!”

“Ok!” Lou replied as he picked up the bowl and followed the girl.

Upon entering the room Lou was slightly surprised in how big the room was but placed his focus onto the food.

“Can you place it onto the table, please!”

“Ok” Lou said as he placed the food down before realising that he hadn’t asked what the girl wanted for a drink. “What do you want for a drink?”

“Orange juice, please!”

Leaving the room, Lou arrived at the fridge where he grabbed a carton of orange juice and poured some into a cup. Taking the cup to the girl’s room, Lou stopped at the door.

“I can carry it in!” the girl stated as she stood there.

“Ok!” Lou replied as he carefully placed the cup into the girl’s hands.

Once the girl took the drink, she closed the door. ‘That’s odd’ Lou thought as he made his way to the kitchen to make the other meals. Taking the one the boy had chosen, he placed it into the microwave.

Settling back onto the couch, Lou waited for the food to cook before realising that he should start on deciding on what he should place in his room. Deciding on the first thing being a computer, Lou tried to check it, but a pop up appeared stating that he would need to be in his room and place it where he wanted it. ‘Oh’ Lou thought to himself as he got up and begun making his way to his room. There should be enough time left before the food would be ready, so Lou got up and begun making his way to his room. On the way, he was surprised to see the girl standing in front of him with her food.

“What are you doing?” Lou asked, confused. “If you wanted to eat with your brother, I would of brought your food there!”

“Oh” the girl replied as she quickly made her way to her brother’s room.

Following the girl, Lou opened the door for her before making his way to his room. Entering the room, Lou headed to his desk where he pulled up the pad and then checked the computer. In front of him appeared a digitised version of the computer. Placing down the pad, Lou carefully placed the computer into the position he wanted before having to stop due to the microwave dinging. Moving quickly Lou left his room before stopping at the boy’s room. Knocking on the door, Lou waited before entering. He saw that the girl was sharing her food with her brother.

“What are you doing?” Lou asked confused. “His lunch is almost ready!”

When the siblings gave Lou a scared look, he scratched his head in confusion.

“By the way, do you want your food in a bowl like your sister and what do you want for a drink?”

“Can I have it in a bowl and the same drink as my sister?”

“Sure!” Lou said carefully as he made his way to the kitchen where he carefully placed the boy’s food into a bowl before making another cup of juice.

Carrying both of them to the boy’s room, Lou carefully pushed the boy’s room door open before entering. Carefully placing the food and drink down, Lou quickly left the room. Not wanting to worry the siblings, Lou closed the door. Going back to the kitchen for the third time, Lou placed his food into the microwave before returning to his room. Picking up the pad, Lou sat down on his bed as he worked out what he wanted. In the end Lou chose a small heater, four stuff toys, some art supplies, workbooks, and some other things Lou believed were necessary. Once Lou felt satisfied, he realised that his food should of already been cooked. Heading to the kitchen Lou saw that the food didn’t cook at all. Restarting the timer, nothing happened.

“Fuck” Lou stated to himself, realising that the microwave was broken, and he would have to cook the food another way until it could be fixed. Grabbing a tray Lou dumped his food onto it before placing it into the oven. Turning the oven on, Lou set the timer for 10 minutes before unplugging the microwave, he didn’t want to risk it starting a fire in the building. Hen Sitting down Lou realised that there was nothing to do except explore the area outside, but he didn’t want to do that today. ‘Wait when do the siblings go to school’ Lou realised that he didn’t ask.

Getting up Lou made his way to the boy’s room. Knocking on the door, Lou decided to wait util they tell him to come in, so he waited and waited, nothing happened. Opening the door slowly Lou begun to panic when he couldn’t see the siblings, quickly checking the other rooms they weren’t there either.

“Shit did they get out but when?” Lou asked no one out loud.

Looking for his phone, Lou realised that he didn’t have it. Going back to the boy’s room Lou opened the window and looked out. There was no where the siblings could climb, hang on nor land on if they decided to jump down.

“Shit shit shit!” Lou muttered to himself as the panic began to grow inside of him.

His chest suddenly begun to hurt extremely bad, Lou kneeled over and collapsed in the living room from shock and unable to breath. Lifting his head up slightly Lou reached out to the elevator door, hoping it would open and someone comes to help him before the darkness enwrapped him. Waking up with a gasp Lou begun to breath heavily, he was covered in sweat. Slowly looking around him as the world spined around, it appeared the room was dark so a few hours might have passed. ‘The kids!’ Lou remembered that they were still gone. Hearing the elevator ding and the doors open to show the kids standing in there. Around them was a bunch of bags and between them was a new microwave.

“Wha the actual fuck!” Lou yelled at them. “Don’t leave this place without informing me, we don’t even know if the area safe!”

“Sorry” the girl said looking down, trying to not cry.

Before Lou could apologise for yelling at them and explain things, he was grabbed tightly by the boy.

“You are going to be ok; you are going to be ok!” the boy muttered as he held tightly onto Lou, making it harder to breath.

“I’ll get help!” the girl exclaimed as the elevator’s doors closed.

“I’m going to be fine!” Lou managed to get out, trying to reassure the boy. It didn’t work.

“You are lying!” the boy screamed before bursting into tears.

Lou felt his eyelids grow heavy to a point he couldn’t prevent them from closing. Lou drifted off to sleep to the sound of the boy crying.