That evening Joey went home disappointed.
Sina was able to tell that he was underaged and she could easily sell his information and allow him to get sold off like information about when he was supposed to reach work.
Underground syndicates took children away to have them work as slaves and even though this was fought against, it started becoming a more dominant practice when children were left as orphans after parents die fighting on 9 skies.
The Sky military had tried their best to not let the parent die in vain and leave their children to get mistreated but they couldn't fight a war on both fronts and saving the planet was the more important thing.
The Sky military usually recruited these children into the Sky warriors and made them get preferential treatment in the army but this was only recently.
Joey needed to get into sky academy to be a sky warrior but Joey had no way of getting into the sky academy much less being a sky warrior.
Joey started thinking about his next move, he wanted to do what was best for Rayla because a 10-year-old couldn't spend their lives in the woods like this forever.
He finally walked toward the cave where they were staying and moved a marker on the ground at the entrance of the cave.
"Brother, your home!" Rayla seemed excited about Joey getting home early.
Joey realized the cave was different and organized it wasn't as uninhabitable as before, large leaves were placed around the fireplace and leave decorated the room and the fireplace was surrounded by stones, he could tell that Rayla worked hard on it.
"I like what you done with the place"
Joey complimented Rayla, he knew it wasn't easy for her to do all this with how weak she was.
"Well I have nothing to do so, this is all I can do" Rayla blushed.
Joey smiled and handed her her medicine and groceries he bought from the money he earned from his half day's work.
"Brother, you got a job?" Rayla never expected her brother to get a job this early.
"Let's celebrate!" Rayla was ecstatic about her brother good fortune.
Rayla was in a good mood and took the bags away from Joey and out them to roast as they laughed had their fill.
It was one of the first times since they were kicked out by their grandfather to be able to have this kind of alone time.
They were able to appreciate their time more because they realized that it wasn't all the time that they would be able to enjoy each other's company and almost forget of the predicament they were in and laugh at each other joke.
"Haha, brother people will call you stinky joe, If you keep forgetting to bathe before you leave" Rayla was laughing and making fun of her brother for not bathing.
"Jeez I get it I haven't had a bath in a long time I think we get it now," Joey said with a hint of annoyance, contagious laughter.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Rayla broke out into a fit of heavy cough that sounded like something a man could make.
"Rayla what whats wrong!?" the crudity of the coughs made Joey look around to see that she was on the ground coughing blood struggling to draw breath.
"Rayla, Rayla!"
Joey shook Rayla trying to wake her up and the sight of the blood on the floor made his heart stop.
"Rayla don't worry I'll take you to the hospital right away"
Joey held Rayla and ran through the woods as his life depended on it his breathing was all over the place and his legs were worn out as were his legs.
He got through the hole and went through holding Rayla in his chest.
"STOP RIGHT THERE MISCREANT!"
Joey ran through the hole and was instantly surrounded by a group of men 3-4 men in black suits standing over the hole waiting for them.
Joey dashed out of the hole in a flash and they failed to capture him like 7-year-old playing whack-a-mole. They ran after Joey jumping from building to building.
Joey prayed to the heavens that they didn't have superpowers like superspeed or pyrokinesis and ran straight to the hospital with his heart in a knot, he ran and until they eventually left him.
He didn't know why they were following him but he couldn't care less right now.
Busting through the doctors were on stand-by and quickly put Rayla on a gurney and ran her off into Operating Room, no matter how much joey tried to get any information on his sister he couldn't get anything.
That night Joey didn't get any rest until way after midnight.
At the crack of dawn, joey was nudged out of his sleep by a doctor with a pinboard.
"Is your name Joey?" the doctor held his glasses getting a good look at who he was talking to, he was a tall skinny old man with a tired look on his face, because of the night shift that they have just come from.
"Well Joey right now your sister is sleeping and it seems she has ingested copious amounts of sleep gas or anaesthesia if you may which is why she is asleep right now and we aren't sure when she will wake up and this has also seemed to leave her with damage to her lungs maybe she is allergic to something in the gas".
Joey listened to what the doctor had to say and couldn't help but scold himself for not being able to see that she was injured. No one inhaling that much sleeping gas would be able to walk away scot-free.
"Joey... do you by any chance have any parent's we would be able to talk to?" The doctor looked out above his glasses and into Joey's eyes.
Joey's worst fear had come to pass.
"No, Doctor".
The doctor has was slightly surprised but didn't lose his professionalism "Well Joey if you are willing, I can recommend you to an Orphanage-"
"No thanks, Just let me see my sister" Joey coldly said and quickly disregarded his 'kind' gesture
The doctor never gave up and tried to get out a few more words to convince joey "Joey you won't be able to refuse the government is required to"
"Enough! Just cure my sister! I will pay you whatever you need"
Joey knew the doctor was an old fox that just wanted to sell them off.
Doctor wages outside of the military was nothing and healthcare prices went up to fund Sky military doctors and a lot of doctors resorted to shady businesses.
This so call orphanage was a one-way ticket on hell train, Joey knew he couldn't trust the doctor to do the job they even sold information on patients.
"Aright Joey your sister is sleeping you can come back when visiting hours are open." The doctor said his piece and left.
As the doctor turned around and broke out into a sinister l smile as he set the glasses on properly his face.