Who Would Need It Anyway?

As we began to all leave Korin's room with his parents, we turned all down into the hallway, where Mom, Dad, and I were locked in a conversation.

"What were you even doing taking Leon out there? It's dangerous, is it not?!" Mom yelled at Dad, naturally so. Both Dad and I completely understood where she was coming from. We didn't have a good answer to her question, because it truthfully boiled down to the fact that I was bored and curious, Something told me that she wouldn't like that answer very much.

"It's important for Leon to get some experience out in the world. He won't learn how to take care of himself behind these walls," Dad told Mom. This sounded like a conversation I shouldn't be a part of...

"Look, I know, I agree with you, but let's not take him out on those missions yet, to scout or whatever you were doing. If you were to run into danger, that immediately puts him in a position that's too easy to fall victim to. For now, let's do just around the base so he's close," Mom compromised with Dad. I was surprised to hear her willingness to help me adjust to the dangerous world outside.

"Deal, sound good, Leon?" Dad asked me. Of course, I nodded, wanting to stay as far out of conflict as possible. Both Mom and Dad turned into another classroom to go help out on the fence, and I was left inside to roam around on my own.

I did one lap around the entire school, checking all classrooms and checking up on all families around to see if everybody was doing okay.

"I'm telling you, I saw him!" Skylar said. From one of the middle rooms by the front of the school, Skylar, Leon, Cody, and Connie were all sitting around the table. Connie was leaning in her seat with her hands on the table, pushing her face near the center from across from where Niko was sitting. His arms were crossed, and he was dismissively nodding his head.

I opened the door, inviting myself in to see what was going on.

"You won't believe me?! Oh, hi Leon. Hey, tell your brother that I'm not a liar!" Connie readjusted herself in her chair and followed his pattern of crossed arms.

"I don't know what's going on though. What if you are a liar?" I asked her. I took a seat at the front of the table. It was in an oval shape with chairs all around, only one being at the peak of the oval. That was my seat.

"No, listen, I'm telling you guys that I saw Korin messing with our produce in the lunch room! He just goes in and counts what we have, and then leaves. He doesn't steal anything. Well, he usually doesn't, but last time, he stole an apple!" Connie yelled out.

"An apple? Of all things? We have venison in another one of our coolers, why would he just take an apple?" Niko asked again. He returned one of her points with a good question and stumped Connie. It took her a second to come to terms with it, but Cody added something next.

"Well, it's less suspicious if he takes something that small... but it's not like we're starving, I don't get it," He asked himself. Niko went back to nodding, conducting the conversation with his brief sighs.

He started tracing out a square on the wooden table while staring at me next.

"What do you think, Leon? You know Korin the most. He the type to steal?" Niko asked me. He stopped his square when I found myself lost in thought, trying to think of everything all at once.

It was true that I found Korin to be a pretty suspicious guy, even after all this time... but stealing? I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

"Before we blow this out of proportion. How do we know he hasn't been asking for it?" Niko asked Connie. Again, there he was thinking of everything in more than one way... it's so impressive how often he does that. I wanted that skill.

"Well... I never asked any adults, but why would he go at night to get it at all times? Why not earlier in the day?! It must be because he's doing something he's not supposed to!" Connie interjected once more. She wasn't slamming her hands on the table, but she was getting visibly more upset.

"Just because it doesn't make sense up front, doesn't mean it doesn't make sense at all. Think about something you've done that might seem shady. We could solve this entire conflict by just asking him what he was doing. That doesn't sound completely unreasonable, does it? Get real," Niko suggested once more.

"Actually, this might be worth looking into. This isn't a big enough problem to call upon the adults here, yet, so we can solve this to prove ourselves! Maybe we can seem more useful afterward, or solve the inter-personal conflicts here?" I offered to everybody. I got blank stares from all around the table, even Niko was astonished.

"There we go! That's a good idea. As long as we take it into our own hands and don't blow it up into some incomprehensible mess, I'll help in this investigation too. Does that sound like a fair idea, Connie?" Niko asked her. She thought about it for a moment, looking out the door behind me, then refocusing and agreeing.

"Yes! We can be like private investigators! So, our first plan of action is... um... is..." She paused, not knowing where exactly to start. It was completely reasonable because this is a tricky little issue we're dealing with.

"It's not that complicated at all, we'll start by all observing the same thing. Once we see him take an apple, we can go from there. Until we do, nobody is to do anything, understood?" Niko asked us. We all nodded, and he crossed his arms again while going back to nodding silently.

"Let's come together again around this time tonight, and see what we find. Until then, let's keep this on the down low and stay silent. Got it?" Niko asked everybody again. He got up out of his seat after we all agreed, and we split up to go our own ways.