He was known to the RCMP as Baby Nevada.
To his parents, he was Shaun. To the tall man with the thin beard, he was simply known as “Little Blue Eyes”. It was starting to become normal, for him to be called several names, all at once, in his head.
He couldn't be sure of the time, at any point of the day. Meals seemed to come randomly, from a little slot in the iron door. Aside from the solid, cold door, the entire nook was padded with couch cushions. Sometimes, Little Nevada Shaun would toss his naked Aladdin doll, and watch it bounce off the walls. He wouldn't know it, but by this time of 2010, his model of the Aladdin doll had long-since been a collector's item; added, he wouldn't know that this doll had been passed through many a Little-Eyed boy.
The padded room smelled like old popcorn, and burgers. He was always given A&W Teen burgers, without their wrappers; he still recognized them, by the taste. The burgers always looked massive, in his tiny hands. He wasn't sure where the popcorn smell came from. Sometimes, he'd get noodles-from-a-bag. Always cold. He didn't like the mushroom kind, but, he'd eat it.
Lighting came from a bulbous lamp. Bedding was a beanbag chair, and a soft blanket. The blanket was stained with burger-juice. It used to have a wolf on it; he could tell. It was too dim in the nook to tell if the beanbag was yellow, or grey. Though the ceiling was high, things didn't seem to echo much.
He'd dubbed thin-beard-man “Scruffy”. Little Nevada Shaun rarely actually saw Scruffy; most of the time, he'd just hear his voice. He wasn't sure where that was coming from. Little Nevada figured that if he followed the voice, next time, he'd find the source. If he'd been paying more attention, he would have spotted the small camera, with a piece of electrician's tape covering the red light. That was in the far corner.
Most of Little Nevada's day was spent sleeping, or playing with Aladdin; even in his dreams, Al would accompany him in his adventures. Sometimes, he'd dream of a faceless Mommy, reaching out for him. Sometimes he dreamed of the day he met Scruffy, and his big red car. Sometimes, he'd wake up to Scruffy telling him to stand up, or turn in a circle. The circle thing was hard, with the beanbag chair getting in his way. Once, Scruffy let out a small chuckle, when Little Nevada fell over. “What'd'ya think, Little Blue Eyes? D'ya think that Mr. Rob would like to kiss that better?” Little Nevada wasn't sure if Scruffy ever heard his replies. Not that he ever had anything particularly witty to say.
Every once in a while, Scruffy would predict that Little Nevada would be meeting a man; he never really said who, just that it'd be soon. Scruffy would hint that Nevada could end up far, far away – but, considering that Nevada didn't know where “here” was, “far, far away” could be anywhere. Nevada had no real expectations, but he hoped that Aladdin could come, and find some clothes. He'd like to get out of his manky pajamas, if possible. Staring at the cartoon dinosaurs gave him headaches now. The one thing he did wish for was for him to find Mommy, and be in the sun again. He missed the playground, outside of his preschool. Mommy liked to take him there, and swoop him around, up high. Sometimes, she'd wait for him, at the end of the slide.
He wondered if she had a new Shaun, to take to the playground.
