Will Sheffield had been incredibly relieved to find Hazel on social media once that took off. Not only could he see what she was up to, he could help her from a distance by being one of her patrons on Patreon.
He found her there when he was in high school. He chatted with her anonymously, using a rather ironic username.
He couldn't let her know who he was. Not yet. He was in too deep here.
If anyone knew Will had a weakness, they would both be screwed. He had to be extremely careful. If anything happened to her, he would lose his reason to live.
He still fully intended to keep all his promises to her. He just needed the money first. And to cleanly escape the smuggling ring without leaving any loose ends behind. That was easier said than done.
Dealing with people at school all day then doing it again as soon as he got "home" with idiots from the ring was exhausting. It pissed him off too. Talking to Hazel and seeing her posts was the only thing that kept him sane.
It was a mercy when he graduated from high school. College may be more work, but his class schedule was flexible. That helped.
Will had to get a real degree to get himself a good job once he was free of the ring. Vacations didn't come cheap. Neither did art supplies. He had promised her both.
It was really dragging on though. The more he messaged her, the more desperate he became to see her in person. He knew she was capable of speaking again. He had heard her voice on certain drawing videos she posted.
She never posted her face, which was smart. There were a lot of creeps out there. He would know.
Hazel's voice was absolutely adorable. Will was dying to see the facial expressions she made along with it. That time couldn't get here fast enough!
His first real indication that she felt the same way didn't come until his junior year of college. She was a senior in high school now and posted a colored pencil drawing of what was very obviously the two of them.
His heart raced. Did she miss him even half as much as he missed her?
Will couldn't resist asking Hazel about it, though he still didn't say who he was. He wanted to know what she thought of him after all these years.
'This might be my favorite work of yours yet. What was the inspiration?'
He asked and she delivered! 'This is a drawing of a precious memory from when I was a kid. The boy is my best friend. I lost track of him not long after this but he promised he would come back for me if we were ever separated. I'm waiting for him to come get me after I graduate so we can live our dreams together'
Will got a lot more information than he expected. He was glad Hazel remembered that promise, but what made her so convinced about that specific time?
He wasn't ready to go get her yet. He didn't have his degree and hadn't freed himself from the ring's clutches.
'After you graduate, huh? Why then?' he asked, needing to know how important it was to her and whether or not he had to speed up his plans somehow.
'He's three years older than me. It makes the most sense that he'd wait until my legal guardian can't do anything about it' Hazel replied before sending a second message. 'Sorry. Too much info. I never get to talk about him so I guess I went overboard since I can't wait to see him again'
She had absolutely nothing to apologize for! She may have just saved him an awful lot of trouble by telling him exactly what her expectations were. He had to meet them now that he knew what they were…though it would be difficult.
Will couldn't fathom Hazel's thought process before she explained it, but now he could. She must have been really desperate to escape her uncle all this time. It filled Will with rage.
He hadn't been able to do anything for her at all until she got social media accounts. She had been holding on all this time, waiting for him. Letting her down wasn't an option. It would be much harder to explain himself later if he did.
That was one thing he could never do. He needed a good cover story for where he had been all this time before going to get her. She couldn't know about him being a criminal, even if it was only done for her sake. He could never do anything that would make her afraid of him. He wouldn't survive that.
'Don't apologize. I'm always happy to listen about whatever is on your mind'
While that was true, Will was mostly grateful to know what Hazel wanted so he could make it happen. Though it would be tight on this deadline.
He would only have a few months. He needed this to be done before her graduation ceremony, so he could surprise her at it. That would be a great reunion, wouldn't it?
'Thanks Will. I appreciate it!'
Will racked his brain, trying to think of a plan. He would need money to take care of Hazel. She believed in him. He couldn't make her struggle.
The idea he ultimately came up with was completely reckless and would throw the rest of the ring under the bus, but who cared about them? He wasn't responsible for them. He was responsible for her, since he had saved her life twice.
He had taken over the ring when Alfonzo died less than a year ago. Will had been waiting to earn more money before leaving and staying sort of involved from a distance to keep a steady stream of income, but that wasn't an option now. He had to speed up his plans and cut them all off completely to move across the country.
No one here knew his old alias, Billy Gold, anymore. His Will Sheffield one was completely clean.