Masen was sitting in her room, reading some crime fiction novel when she heard a noise outside of her room. This wasn’t surprising as she lived in a children’s home so there was noise all over the house all the time. However she did not get noise right outside here door all too often. Her room was on the top floor at the end of the corridor. She was the only child in the house not to have to share a bedroom but there were 2 beds in the room and Masen had noticed that the staff had made up the second bed this morning while she was out. Seems like I’m getting a roommate at last… She thought.
She was a little mift of having to share a room as she had gotten used to having the room to herself, with her own bathroom but she resigned to knowing that soon she would have to share it all with another person.
Suddenly the door to her room opened and a care worker, called Kathleen, came inside.
“Ah, Masen. We would like to introduce you to your new room mate Keira.” A girl, around Masen’s age, came into the room scowling at Kathleen. “Keira, this is the room you will share with Masen,” Kathleen pointed over at Masen, who looked up and nodded before continuing with her reading. “She will show you where to put your belongings and tell you how things go around here okay?” She looked over at Masen who nodded her head slightly, still reading. Kathleen sighed as the other care worker Connor, brought in a suitcase and a duffel bag, containing Keira’s belongings.
Keira scowled at the care workers as they left the room, then she went to go lie on her bed. The two of them sat in silence before Keira opened her mouth to talk.
“Masen is a weird name for a girl.” She said raising her head slightly and staring at Masen.
“It is the name I wish to be called.” Masen said from behind her book before lifting her head up and raising an eyebrow. “Is this a problem?” Keira thought of a snarky reply but as she looked at Masen she decided not to go through with it.
“No, not a problem.” Keira sighed as she lay down again. “What’s your surname?” Masen was quiet for a moment before replying.
“I don’t have one. It’s just Masen, nothing else. You?” Masen asked, putting her book down and facing Keira. Keira made a face.
“Keira Scordato, I mean come on.” Keira snorted. Masen gave her a half smile.
“How about I stick to calling you Keira?” She asked. Keira gave her a small smile and a nod. Masen nodded back. “So do you want to talk about why you’re here, or do you want to just skip to the ‘how you survive in this place’ talk?” Keira sat up on her bed and looked at Masen. She felt safer in her presence than she had been in her whole life.
“I don’t want to talk about it just now, maybe later?” She said. Masen smiled and nodded before pointing her head towards the door.
“Let me give you a tour of the place.” Keira smiled and the two of them got up and took a walk around the house. Masen showed Keira around the place, telling her what each room was and where to go when. Eventually they were about to head back upstairs when Kathleen called to them.
“Masen, bring Keira to the living area so she can meet the other children.” Masen nodded as she and Keira headed back there. When they got there, 10 children were spread across the room. Kathleen cleared her throat, getting their attention. “Right everyone, we have a new person coming to live with us,” She moved out of in front of Keira. “This is Keira, I would like you to introduce yourselves one by one.” Then Kathleen nodded at Masen before walking out of the room. Everyone was silent before Masen spoke up.
“Right guys, you know the drill. Go do your thing, I’ll tell Keira who you are.” And with that the other children split from the room. Masen nodded at Keira, then towards the stairs. The two girls headed back to their room.
“So what was with that Masen?” Keira asked. Masen let out a small laugh.
“The kids are all younger than you, so they find you intimidating. Also, you are not the first older person we’ve had come here.” Masen sighed. “Usually they are bullies and end up bullying the younger children before moving to either a halfway house, or a different home.” Keira snorted.
“Well, I can tell you I don’t bully people. Bullying is for people who want to try to prove that they are tough.” Keira rolled her eyes. “It’s pathetic.” Out of the corner of her eye, Keira could see Masen’s face light up.
“Good.” Was all she said. Masen then went on to tell Keira about all the different children. By the time they got back to their room, Masen was on to explaining her relationship with the kids. “Basically the care workers here may seem to care at first but in all honestly, they may as well not be here.” Masen sighed. “I do all the work they should be doing to be honest. I get the younger ones to help out where they can, with cleaning and tidying up but I do most of the shopping, cooking and household maintenance.” Masen shook her head. “All the care workers do is sit on their lazy ass’s and do nothing.” Masen cocked her head. “Except maybe play the occasional video game.” Keira chuckled and sat back down on her bed while Masen sat back at her desk.
“So basically you’re the Mum of the house?” She asked. Masen grinned.
“Well some of the kids have come to calling me ‘Momma Masen’ soooo…” Keira started laughing causing Masen to laugh. After a couple of minutes the two of them calmed down. “So yeah, welcome to this crazy place, hope you enjoy your stay.” Masen grinned. Keira grinned back.
“You know I was not looking forward to living here, but now I think I might enjoy this.” Keira grinned and got up. “Mind if I grab a shower?” Masen nodded.
“Sure, I’ll be here if you need me.” Keira nodded back and grabbed her bathroom gear and went into the en-suite. Masen smiled and picked up her book to continue reading. This is going to be interesting… She thought.
Sirens were blaring behind her as Masen ran around the corner and hid behind a dumpster. Police cars went flying past and after a couple of minutes everything was quiet. Masen sighed in relief and pain as she removed the hand from her right shoulder. During the robbery she had gotten shot by one of the guards. Usually she was good at avoiding bullets, dancing around them so they would just fly within an inch of their intended target. However, a young boy had cried out his sister’s name, distracting Masen allowing one of the guards to hit her.
Masen shook her head and sucked in her breath as she put her hand on her shoulder. The young boy had called out to his older sister who was on the other side of the room. “Keira!” He had shouted, a name that continued to make Masen freeze up whenever she heard it. The same name of her lover who had gone MIA a few years ago. She and Masen were the best team, the two of them were able to pull off heists with more ease than a gang of about 20 people. They were on the FBI’s top hit list. But then one day....
Masen could feel tears falling down her face. She shook her head again and pulled up the hood of her jacket before using her free hand to grab her phone. When she got it out, much to her dismay, it was dead. Masen growled and threw her phone at a wall before collapsing to the ground against a wall. She was in the middle of an alley, with no way to contact her allies. She had gone off to get some more money for the gang but had decided to do it herself. She was often reluctant to allow others to join her in the heists she does, as they were some of the more risky heists the gang does. 90% of the time, she gets found out and she has people accompany her so she tries to reduce the risk of shit going down. However there is 10% of the time she can get away, unfortunately it didn’t work out too well for her this time.
“I can’t call them, or get in contact with anyone unless I want to risk being caught…” Masen muttered to herself. Tears started to flow from her eyes as she threw her head back against the wall and laughed humorlessly. “I’m gonna die in a fucking back street alley, brilliant!” Masen closed her eyes. I’m so sorry Keira, so fucking sorry… Masen started to feel light headed from the blood loss when she heard someone clear their throat. Masen quickly jumped up and snatched her gun from her gun holster on her thigh, and pointed it in the direction of where the sound came from. However, this movement caused the world to spin. Masen put her hand to her head and nearly collapsed but was caught by someone before she hit the ground.
“Okay you are not doing too good are you?” The voice said. Masen groaned and looked up to where the voice came from. A figure was kneeling next to her smiling grimly as they looked at her shoulder. “You really need to get to a hospital…” Masen’s eyes widened and she grabbed for her back up gun on her belt, on her back, and pointed it at the figures head. The figure’s eyes went wide and they put their hands up. “Woah, calm down, I’m only trying to help you my dear.” Masen narrowed her eyes.
“I go to a hospital, it will be about 2 seconds before the FBI come and arrest me” Masen said. “So no, I’m not going to a hospital” During this, Masen’s hood fell off her head and the figures eyes widened as they recognised who they were speaking to.
“Masen… One of the leaders of the Iolaea gang right?” They asked. MAsen’s eyes widened and went to pull up their hood once more but when she tried she just gasped in pain as her arm started to bleed more. The figure looked at her and sighed. “Look, I’m- I was a doctor, let me help you. My apartment isn’t far from here.” Masen looked into the figures eyes.
“What’s your name?” Was all she asked, still pointing her gun at them.
“Call me Wisdom. Trust me, my name is not a good one.” Was all they said, grimacing at the mention of names. Masen just stared at Wisdom for a couple of minutes and nodded. Then Masen’s eyes rolled back into her head and she promptly passed out.
Wisdom had carried Masen back to their apartment discretely and laid her out on their bed. They grabbed their med supplies and started to work on fixing up her shoulder. After a few minutes they had managed to remove the bullet in Masen’s shoulder and sewed up the wound. Fortunately they still had med supplies from their clinic and from when their daughter was still around. They hooked up a makeshift IV for Masen and left her to rest.
They walked into their living space they looked around. It was covered in stuff from their old clinic before they were revoked their medical license. Wisdom glared at nothing in particular as they remember being served with the papers from a snobby ass lawyer who had a great big smirk on their face. All because some ass created a fake story about me with forged evidence to support it… Wisdom scowled but their face softened when they looked over at the photo of their daughter. They went over and picked up the photo and smiled. They found their daughter living on the streets and took them in when the she was about 5. When she turned 16, they found out she had cancer and only had less than a year to live. Wisdom was devastated by the news and vowed to make it the best year for their daughter ever. They went around the world and did everything she wanted to do. Eventually they went back home and about 2 days Wisdom’s daughter passed away in their sleep. They had a small funeral and buried her at the local graveyard.
A groaning sound came from the bedroom, causing Wisdom to shake their head out of reminiscing. They turned around and were shocked to see Masen stood there, gun in hand. Somehow she looked different, as if she was a different person. Her eyes were darker and her stature was completely opposite to what it was before.
“Who the fuck are you?” She growled. Wisdom’s eyes widened and they put their hands in the air. Masen shot a bullet to the wall beside Wisdom’s head causing them to jump slightly. “I said who the fuck are you?” Wisdom swallowed loudly.
“It’s Wisdom, remember Masen? I found you after you’d been shot…” Masen snorted
“I don’t know you.” She growled. “Why the fuck am I here? Why have I got blood over me? What the fuck did yo-” Masen froze then collapsed again. Luckily Wisdom had been creeping towards Masen during her rant, so was able to catch her and put her in the bed again. They fixed up her arm from where she had pulled out the IV. Wisdom was frowning with concern and after a few minutes Masen’s eyes opened up again and she shot up. Wisdom step back with their hands in the air.
“Hey don’t panic, it’s just me.” They said. Masen looked over at them with a confused look.
“Huh? Oh, hey Wisdom.” She said in a calm tone. Wisdom just stared at her with wide eyes. “What is it?” She asked warily.
“Do you remember what just happened?” They asked. Masen frowned.
“Last thing I remember is you catching me as I collapsed in the alley way.” Masen looked at her arm then smiled up at Wisdom. “Thanks for fixing me up by the way.” Wisdom was dumbfounded by what just happened. They shook their head and looked at Masen directly.
“Can I perform some tests? I will explain to you why.” Masen just cocked her head to the side but nodded. Wisdom then explained what happened as they went about performing the tests they could with the equipment they had.
The two of them were driving towards the Iolaea hide out in silence. Wisdom offered a lift to Masen after they had done the tests and Masen agreed. Masen was staring at out the window while Wisdom gave her occasional glances over at her.
“How long?” Masen whispered. Wisdom just sighed.
“Without the proper equipment, I can’t tell you.” Masen nodded and continued to look out at the scenery passing by. “I’m sorry…” Wisdom whispered. Masen wiped a tear from her eye.
“It’s fine, not your fault…” She said. They sat in silence once again. Eventually they were at the hideout and Masen undid her seat belt and was about to get out before stopping. She looked over at Wisdom and smiled. “Come with me.” She said. Wisdom stared at Masen for a few moments before replying.
“What? Why?” They asked. Masen gave them a half smile.
“We could do with a doctor in our group, especially now.” She said, frowning. Wisdom sighed.
“I don’t know…” They trailed off. Masen sat back in the car and looked Wisdom directly in the eye.
“Look, I am one of the leaders of the gang. What I say goes and you are the kind of person I like. We have more injuries than members half the time so you can help. Besides, what else are you going to do?” Masen smiled a small smile. Wisdom just looked over at Masen and they sat in silence for a few moments. Wisdom thought about what they would do once they left Masen here, and nothing came to mind. They could no longer “legally” practice medicine so they had no way to bring in an income. They had no family of friends they cared about. In fact, what Masen was offering was probably the best thing that could happen to them at this point. They had made their decision. They looked at Masen and smirked.
“Where do you want me to park?” Masen grinned widely and Wisdom was caught comparing Masen to their daughter. They shook their head and grinned back.
“Straight up, then first left. Park there then we walk.”
“Masen! Where the hell have you been? We’ve been trying to contact you for hours! And who the fuck is that?” Aleks started as soon as the two had walked into the building. Everyone turned to look at Masen and the new body. Masen cleared her throat and gave the gang her best “mom” glare.
“This is Wisdom. They’re a doctor and they’re gonna stay, got it?” Masen raised an eyebrow. “Understood?” Everyone nodded their head but Aleks.
“Mase-” Masen threw a knife in Aleks’ direction and it hit the middle of dartboard behind him.
“I said understood?” Aleks’ just looked at Masen, then Wisdom, then back to Masen and nodded before walking out the door. Masen smirked and turned to Wisdom. “Welcome to the gang.” Wisdom nodded their head and turned to smile at the others.
“Hello.” They said, and started talking to the others about things while Masen sneaked out to see Aleks outside. He was sat on the roof of the house looking up into the sky, eyes closed. Masen sighed and climbed up to him. As she sat down, Aleks spoke out.
“It’s not like you to bring people in with no warning…” He remarked. Masen swallowed and looked across the skyline. It was a couple of minutes before she spoke.
“I know, unfortunately it is a necessity now…” She whispered wiping away the tear that fell from her left eye. Aleks frowned and looked over at Masen.
“What do you mean “a necessity”...?” He asked warily. Masen cleared her throat before answering.
“I went on a small job by myself,” She started. Aleks opened his mouth to reply but Masen quickly covered it with her hand and glared at him. “Let me finish before you start alright?” Aleks glared at Masen but nodded. Masen removed her hand and continued to speak as she looked over the skyline. “It was going well but I got distracted for a singular moment and got shot in the shoulder.” Masen rolled her left shoulder subconsciously and hissed in pain. Aleks frowned.
“Mase-” He started but immediately shut up as Masen gave him her famous “Mom” glare.
“What did I say?” Aleks bowed his head down.
“Sorry Masen…” Masen nodded her head before continuing.
“Anyway, I managed to get away but I ended up in a back alley. I was bleeding quite heavily and my shit phone was dead.” Masen frowned. “Wisdom found me, offered to patch me up. I refused but I passed out and they took me back to their apartment. They removed the bullet, fixed up the injury and allowed me to rest.” Masen sighed. “Then this is where things get weird.” Aleks rose an eyebrow.
“What do you mean “weird”?” He asked. Masen pulled her legs up against her and hugged them.
“Well, the next thing I remember is waking up but according to Wisdom, I had right old go at him.” Masen laughed humorlessly. “I don’t do that.” Aleks saw some tears fall from Masen’s eyes but stayed silent, listening to her tale. “So they did some basic tests, and found out I, well, I have some kind of brain cancer…” Masen whispered, burying her head in her legs, crying silently. Aleks was just frozen, he couldn’t believe what Masen had just said.
“No…” Was all he managed to say. The two of them sat in silence before Aleks banged his fist against the roof. “NO!” Masen, looked up with tear stained cheeks and grabbed Aleks; fist before he could punch the roof again.
“Aleks, please, we don’t need the others to come up here.” She said in a hoarse voice. Aleks shook his head.
“Mom…” He said. Masen’s eyes widened before grinning widely. Aleks was confused for a couple of moments before he realised what he just said and groaned. “God not again…” Masen laughed and thought back to the first time Aleks had called her “Mom”.
Masen and Aleks were the only ones at the house that day, the other were off on a heist and had asked Masen to stay behind and help Aleks clean out the guns. Masen was reluctant at first but had eventually agreed. She had just gotten a couple of coffee’s for them and was heading into the workshop where Aleks was hard at work. Just as she entered, Aleks pointed behind him and spoke up.
“Hey Mom, can you pass those wires over there?” Masen froze as she put Aleks’ coffee down next to him. After a couple of moments she grinned widely and stood behind him, waiting for him to realise what he just said. After a few seconds, Aleks froze.
“Oh no…” He whispered and slowly turned to Masen. “Errrr, Mase, I, errr…” He tried to think of something to say but Masen just shook her head.
“I think you were missing a word out there my dear.” She said, cocking her head to the side, with a wide grin. Aleks slouched forward slightly, frowning.
“Please…” He said. Masen let out a laugh and went over to where Aleks had pointed. She grabbed the wires and passed then to Aleks. He took them, a slight blush on his cheeks, He cleared his throat. “Erm, yes, thank you.” He looked to the side. “So about that..” Masen rolled her eyes and spoke up.
“Carry on with the gun cleaning, we have stuff to do later.” She said. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, like a mother would her child, and smiled before walking out of the workshop. Aleks was sat there, with a bright red face. He didn’t move for a couple of minutes before shaking it off, continuing with his work, with a blush still present on his cheeks.
For the rest of that week Masen was on cloud nine and Aleks would blush whenever Masen would grin at him.
“Remember the first time you called me “Mom”?” Masen asked grinning slightly. Aleks groaned and rolled his eyes.
“Do we really have to talk about one of the most embarrassing moments ever?” He asked. Masen laughed and stood up.
“I was reminiscing my dear.” She smiled and offered a hand to him. “Now, come and help cook some dinner. Everyone is probably starving by now.” She grinned wickedly. “Plus, a Mom should teach their son how to cook, should they not?” Aleks’ eyes widened and a blush appeared on his cheeks.
“Maassen…” He groaned causing Masen to laugh again as she pulled him up. She started to climb down the roof but looked up at Aleks before jumping down fully.
“Everything will be fine. Don’t worry.” Aleks nodded and Masen jumped down and into the house. Aleks just looked over the skyline and sighed before climbing down himself.
