it’s the end of summer, all of the campers parents come and pick up their children, and max is just sitting at the end of the road, waiting. he’s there all day. the sun starts to set and he just brings his knees up to his chest.
david was watching him all day, in hope to see him off with his parents but they never showed up. he knew they weren’t but gosh darn it he could at least try to see the best out of this situation.
a few more minutes pass before the sun is gone and the stars start to appear. max is still by the road and david can’t help himself. he walks out of the cabin towards the small boy and picks him up.
max doesn’t even try to fight it since he’s tired. tired of being alone, tired of feeling like no one cares. for only being 10, he’s been through a lot. and he thinks that maybe it’s his fault. maybe he did something wrong to make his parents not care about him.
david puts him in his car and puts the seat belt on. gwen climbs in to the passenger seat and the trio drives away from the camp. max falls asleep in the back, clutching on to mr. honeynuts.
“his parents never showed up gwen, they don’t care.” a somber voice says from behind the wheel.
“i know david, but what can we do? we’re not his parents, let alone his legal guardians. he’s going to have to go back there eventually.” gwen replied, equally as sad.
“not if i can help it. i’m going to go try and find someone to help me, help us. we’re going to get max out of his terrible home.” david spoke a bit louder than before, the passion rising in his voice.
gwen stared ahead for a minute, just letting her thoughts consume her.
“well, if we do manage to get him away from his parents, who’s gonna take him in? where is he going to go?”
david stops at a stop sign and looks at gwen. he takes her hand in his and smiles softly. “we can take care of him, if you would want to that is, i mean,”
he trailed off, getting flustered in front of gwen. she gripped his hand tighter and nodded. a smile of her own appearing on her face.
the two made it back to david’s house and brought max inside. he was still sleeping when they put him in the spare bed.
they’ll take care of him. they’ll make him feel loved and cared about. they were willing to fight for him, because he deserves it. max deserves to be loved, and david and gwen were willing to be the ones to give him what he needs.