Two years ago, Maddie and Joseph's parents disappeared. Just like that. It was nothing mysterious. They said they were going to the store, and they never came back. They ditched Maddie and Joseph and simply ran away. Abandoned their kids.
That first night of their disappearance Maddie called the police. They did nothing except said they'd search for the parents if they were still missing after twenty-four hours. A few more days passed and there was no word from their parents.
Maddie locked the doors and barricaded them with furniture. She didn't go to school and didn't let Joseph go to school. She was only twelve, and she was scared.
That's when the cops showed up at the door. Maddie wouldn't answer because she knew what was going to happen if she did. And it happened anyway. The cops broke through the doors, guns raised, and took Maddie and Joseph literally and figuratively into the "system."
Because of their expansive age difference, and because they had no known direct relatives, they were separated and placed into different foster homes.
Maddie didn't know how Joseph was doing and she had no way of contacting him. To her, that was so not acceptable. It only took her two weeks of ditching school to track down Joseph's whereabouts. He was two cities away. Not far.
Maddie stole some money from her foster parents, took a bus, and broke Joseph out of his foster home. When he saw her, he gave her a big hug, started crying, and said, "Never leave me again." Maddie decided then that she would never. Their parents ditched them; she would never ditch Joseph. She would be his mother, sister, protector, provider, whatever she had to be.
Their first week alone was the hardest. They slept in an alley behind a trash can. It smelled and every night was cold and wet. The first three days they lived off the money Maddie had stolen from her foster parents. Then they ran out of money. Maddie had to start stealing from local marketplaces for food.
One day, someone caught her stealing. A civilian. She was afraid she was busted for good, but it turned out the guy was a vagabond, just like them. He said he used to steal, but then found the Colony. The Colony was a small group of homeless people who lived in the nearby woods in tents. He offered them a tent in the Colony.
Maddie let him take them to their secret place with every intention to see it and leave. But Joseph begged to stay. The place was brimming with food and clothes and a small tent for her and Joseph. They stayed several weeks, and the people in the Colony were quite helpful. They suggested Maddie try to find a job.
Maddie wondered what kind of job a twelve year old runaway could get. She had no skill set and she was too young for a work permit. One person in the Colony suggested she take freelance jobs, like fixing things.
What could she fix?
That week, while she was in the market, she saw a posting on the electronic cork board. Someone needed their kCube fixed. Processing problems, the note said. Maddie was a tiny bit familiar with that device. One of her friends from school had a kCube. Maddie took the job, accepting it over the phone.
When she showed up at the guy's door, he was shocked at her age. She tried to shrug it off and play cool. Surprisingly, it worked. He handed her the device and told her the problem. She said it would take her two days to fix. And she'd come back the next day.
He said he needed her to start working on it immediately. So she did. She pretended to fix it the first day, but really did nothing. That night, she went to the library and read the manual to the kCube. The next day, she showed up at the guy's house and fixed the device within the hour. It worked perfectly. He was amazed and paid her triple the amount she thought she'd receive.
With money in hand, she put a down deposit on an apartment. She had to use one of the adults from the Colony to sign for everything. Then her and Joseph moved into their very own apartment.
Maddie spent the first week of their paid month in the library, reading the manual to every popular gaming and business device. Then she spent the next week finding jobs. She found two and got paid enough to pay the next month's rent.
The next two years passed like a blur. She started making enough money to afford schoolbooks for Joseph. She knew he needed an education, but she couldn't send him to school. She didn't want the government taking him from her again. He had a few young friends in the Colony, and that was about all the socializing she'd permit.
Then one day, exactly one week ago, two men came to their apartment door. They were wearing suits. Maddie was scared, thought they were government. As it turned out, they had a job for her. They offered her three gold coins to simply take a note up to some guy in some office.
She was skeptical, but they showed her the coins. She tested them and confirmed they were genuine gold.
Three gold coins were unheard of in their county, let alone their state. With exorbitant inflation, the gold coins would put them ahead for at least two years, minimum. Maddie couldn't pass up the opportunity.
They only had two conditions. One--she couldn't read the note. It would be in a sealed envelope. Two--she had to take Joseph with her to the man's office. The second condition was odd, but Maddie didn't think much of it. They gave her the directions to the office and said to deliver the note the following morning.
The next morning was completely typical. Maddie gave Joseph the day off from his school work because they were going to celebrate their good fortune. Maddie donned the jeans, blouse, and leather jacket she was currently wearing. She took Joseph by the hand and they headed for the office.
The office turned out to be in a bank. They got stopped in the lobby by an annoying clerk who kept saying they needed an appointment. Maddie held up the unmarked sealed envelope and said, "It's urgent."
The clerk was indignant, but finally let them in. "Take the elevator to the second floor. Room 303," she said.
Maddie and Joseph rode the elevator to the second floor. Maddie came to the door with the big 303 on it. She knocked three times, waited, then three more times. Then laughed at herself.
"Come in," a voice said.