"Cailen, they're here," Ms. Willow said from Cailen's doorway.
Cailen sat on his bed, his small bag stuffed with his few articles of clothing sitting beside him. He raised his head when Ms. Willow spoke, suddenly feeling nervous. He nodded anyway and stood from his bed, grabbing the strap of his bag.
He shuffled past Ms. Willow and down the hall where he saw Eden, William and a girl standing, waiting for him. When William saw Cailen, his face brightened and he took off at a run towards him.
It startled Cailen, making him stop in his tracks.
"Cailen!" William shouted as he barreled into Cailen, throwing his arms around the older boy. "I missed you," William said squeezing Cailen tight.
Cailen was unsure of what to do. He hasn't received a hug in... Ever.
He's never been given a hug. He quite liked them, he decided.
He dropped his bag and awkwardly placed one arm on the younger boy's back. He saw Eden smiling at the two of them standing just a few feet away so he tried his best to return it.
Cailen's eyes drifted to the girl standing beside Eden. She looked around the same age as him, maybe a little older. She had the same green eyes as William and the same long dark hair as Eden. You could easily tell all three of them were related.
"Cailen, this is Stella. She couldn't come with us the other day but we told her all about you. She couldn't wait to meet you," Eden explained.
Stella smiled politely at Cailen with a small shy wave. Cailen smiled back. She reminded him of Ella. Not her looks, not really, but the blatant kindness on her face. You could tell she was a nice girl from one look.
"Hi," she said quietly.
"Hi," he smiled.
"Okay, guys, let's go," Eden said.
William let go of him, grabbing onto his mother's hand. Eden held out her other hand to Cailen but he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Obviously he was supposed to take it like William but he wasn't sure if he was ready for that.
Eden seemed to understand though and instead placed her hand on his back, pushing gently until he started walking, picking up his bag again.
"Goodbye, Cailen," Ms. Willow called after them.
Cailen turned slightly, raising his hand in a small wave but he couldn't help but think this wasn't goodbye forever.
She smiled then turned away, going into her office and leaving Cailen to be taken away by these people.
Cailen walked out into the parking lot with Eden, William and Stella.
There weren't too many cars parked there, a couple old beat up junkers that belonged to the orphanage but near the end was a big black SUV.
It was clean and shining in the sunlight, it looked new. It looked expensive. Cailen wondered who it belonged to and why they were at the orphanage until Eden, William and Stella started walking over to it.
Cailen stopped walking, taking in the fancy looking vehicle. How could they afford this?
"Are you coming, Cailen?" Eden asked, turning to look at him.
Cailen nodded and started moving his feet again, walking up to the SUV and waiting for Eden to unlock it. When she did, Cailen and William both climbed into the back seat, William expertly doing so as if he's done it a thousand times even though it should have been awkward for him to achieve given his height.
Cailen on the other hand threw his bag inside and climbed in, slipping and tumbling onto the seat. William giggled a little causing Cailen to blush and duck his head.
Stella climbed into the passenger seat with the same practice as William. The summer sun made the inside of the SUV really hot but he saw Eden turn on the air conditioning so he knew it would cool down in a little bit.
"You guys hungry? We could go out for dinner to celebrate Cailen joining our family," Eden asked.
Celebrate. Joining our family.
Most families he's been sent away with barely recognized the fact that he was supposed to be part of their family, never mind celebrated that fact.
It baffled Cailen for a minute but then he realized, he literally just left the orphanage. They didn't really know him yet.
When they got to know him they wouldn't be so happy about it anymore.
"Yeah! Where do you want to go Cailen?" William asked bouncing in his seat.
Cailen shrugged. He didn't know many restaurant. He's never been to one.
"Can we go to McDonald's? Please, mom?" William suggested when Cailen offered no help.
McDonald's, he's heard of.
"Is that alright with you, Cailen?" Eden asked looking at him in the rear view mirror.
Cailen nodded. He was curious about why this McDonald's place was so popular.
With that, Eden started up the vehicle, instructing for everyone to fasten their safety belts and then pulled out of the parking lot.
Away from the orphanage.
*****
Cailen watched as objects passed by the windows as Eden drove.
Cailen didn't get the chance to go in vehicles very often. When he did, they were short and usually in small cars that were so close to the ground he could only see the other cars driving beside them.
In the SUV though, they were well off the ground, high up enough so he could see over top of the other cars and see the buildings and trees that they passed.
Cailen kind of wanted to roll down the window and stick his head out but he wasn't sure if he was allowed to do that and he didn't want to upset Eden. She was nice.
So Cailen stayed seated, listening to the three others in the vehicle talk about what they were going to order. Cailen didn't know what he would get or if he was even allowed to get anything. He supposed it could be just them allowed to order something.
"Cailen, what would you like to eat?" Eden asked, glancing in the rearview mirror to look at him.
Cailen looked around at the expectant faces in the car. "Um, I don't know. I don't know what they have," he mumbled.
He saw William's jaw drop, Stella look to her mother in shock and Eden look at him in sympathy.
"You've never been to McDonald's?" William exclaimed.
Cailen shook his head, embarrassed.
"That's okay, Cailen, They mostly just have different types of burgers," Eden explained as she pulled into a parking lot.
Cailen looked out the window to see a big yellow 'M' and a building that he could see had a play structure inside. Cailen looked at it in wonder.
A restaurant with a play structure? He already loved this place.
The four of them climbed out of the SUV and walked into the building. There were families sitting at the tables, laughing and talking among themselves. There was a small line up at the counter and kids running around everywhere.
Eden pulled Cailen over to the menu so he could pick what he wanted to order. There were so many options but Eden had said if he got a happy meal, they gave you a toy and, honestly, who would pass that up?
"Mom! Can we go to the play structure?" William asked, pulling on his mother's shirt. Stella nodded along, waiting for an answer.
Eden chuckled and nodded and the two of them ran off towards the structure leaving Cailen with Eden.
Cailen frowned. Did they not want to play with him?
It didn't surprise him, other kids usually didn't.
"Are you not going to go with them?" Eden asked, looking down at Cailen.
Cailen shook his head. "I don't think they want to play with me," he mumbled.
Eden was about to say something when someone called his name.
"Cailen! Come on!" William yelled running back to them and grabbing Cailen by the arm.
Cailen was too shocked to do anything other than allow William to pull him along. Stella was waiting for them by the structure, her shoes already taken off and placed in the cubby holes. Once William and Cailen took their shoes off, Stella declared they were going to play tag and that William was it.
Stella grabbed Cailen's arm and pulled him into the structure. They climbed up a tower then crawled through a tube into a open area with a net surrounding them.
"Okay, you go that way," Stella said pointing to another tube. "I'll go through here," she said and dashed off towards another tower, leaving Cailen to stand there slightly baffled.
After a few seconds, Cailen turned on his heel and ran towards the tube Stella told him to go through.
The tube led to a slide and yet another tube, leaving Cailen unsure of where to go. He heard William call out to him so he decided quickly and threw himself down the slide putting him back at the bottom of the structure.
He looked up and saw William just crawling into a tube and smiled. He had successfully avoided being caught. There was a loud squeal and a giggle then William called out again.
"Stella's it!" he said and Cailen found himself giggling as he dashed towards the tower.
He climbed up, his heart jumping in his chest when he saw Stella there, waiting for him.
"Gotcha!" she giggled as she reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. "Cailen's it!"
Cailen laughed and watched as she ran away, darting through a tube and disappearing.
They played like that for a few minutes, chasing each other through the structure and calling out who was ‘it’ once they caught someone. At first, Cailen was a little shy to call out who was ‘it’, but as the game went on, he became more comfortable yelling out their names.
He was having fun, something he hasn't had in a long time.
He was laughing and running, his heart pumping fast in his chest.He was smiling from ear to ear and was almost disappointed when Eden called to them telling them that their food was ready. But then his stomach grumbled and he was actually happy it was time to eat.Stella and William ran off, grabbing their shoes and slipping them on and running towards their mother.Cailen took his time, letting himself catch his breath because he honestly can't remember the last time he's run around that much. Once he had his shoes back on, he made his way over to the table the three of them were sat at.He wasn't entirely sure if it was okay to sit with them. He knew he had come here with them and everything but it still felt weird just walking up and sitting down."Come on, Cailen," William said and pulled out the chair beside him for Cailen to sit in.Cailen smiled and took his seat across from Stella and waited patiently for Eden to hand out the food."How old are you?" Stella asked, biting into
As promised, Eden woke Cailen up the next morning and told him to get dressed to go shopping.Cailen was tempted to argue that she shouldn't waste the money on him. But figured it was futile, so instead, he crawled out of bed and sleepily shuffled his way into the bathroom, quickly doing his business and washing up, then meeting Eden downstairs by the door.Cailen had enough time last night before bed to look around. William had taken him on a tour of the house, showing him where the kitchen was and all six bathrooms. He showed him the basement which had a recreational room in it that had a pool table and also had another room with a couch and a television along with the laundry and one of the six bathrooms.Cailen had a pretty good memory so he pretty much remembered where everything was.Eden smiled at him as he put on his shoes, waiting patiently.Cailen was a little hungry since he just woke up and hadn't eaten yet but he didn't want to be a bother and ask for some breakfast. He s
Cailen made it to the first day of school, to his utter surprise.This family hadn't returned him yet but he still had his doubts. It was only the fourth day and they hadn't sent him to school yet.School and Cailen didn't mix well. He got bored easily and tended to entertain himself much to the teacher's dismay. Surely Eden would be called down to the school in no time and that would be the end of this.He hoped he could pay attention and not get bored though. He liked this family. They treated him nicely but he figures that's only because they don't know the real Cailen yet.Cailen was nervous when Eden dropped them off at school.He always got nervous when he started a new school because everyone would look at you, everyone wanted to know your story, who you are, where you’re from, why you moved, but Cailen didn't like his story.He hated telling people he was an orphan. They either gave him that sympathetic look that he hated or they avoided him like some kind of disease.Either w
The three boys split apart, looking behind them and shutting up once they saw a new person had entered the washroom.It was Asher, William's friend from lunch.He looked confused for a second, taking in his surroundings. He looked from the three startled boys to the scared looking boy that was fighting with himself on whether to look at the ground or at Asher."Come on," Billy spoke and soon, Cailen heard them shuffle out of the room.It was quiet for a moment. Cailen thought maybe Asher left with the rest of the boys because why would he want to stick around with him?He was nothing special. Just an orphan who nobody wanted.But soon he felt a small hand on his shoulder and then Asher was bending down a little and sticking his face under Cailen's so he could see him.Cailen turned away, ashamed of the tears evident in his eyes."Cailen, are you okay?" Asher asked, his voice soft.Cailen sniffled and brought his hand up to his eyes to wipe at them.Asher backed up a step as he did so,
"Cailen?" came a voice from somewhere in the washroom.He didn't look up, he didn't respond because he didn't want to be found.Not like this. Not crying in a corner surrounded by paper towel that had fallen from the holder he had stumbled into.Not with blood and snot dripping from his nose, not when he looked so gross and pathetic."Oh my gosh, Cailen!" they said more urgently and soon, there was a pair of hands on his shoulders, pulling him up right from where he was leaning against the wall into a sitting position."What happened? Are you okay?" Asher asked as he frantically moved the hair from Cailen's face to see where the blood was coming from.Cailen pulled away from him. He didn't want to be seen like this but he couldn't make the tears stop. He couldn't make them stop because he was a pathetic excuse for a boy.Only girls cry. That's what the boys had told him and Cailen knew they were right but he couldn't stop them."I'm gonna go get Eden," Asher said beginning to stand. T
It was after school one day when William and Cailen were playing in the living room that everything went down the toilet.They were just having fun, William had challenged Cailen to a handstand contest and said Cailen was too afraid to try it. So naturally, Cailen just had to prove him wrong.William had already done his, falling over on his first attempt but succeeding in staying up for about five seconds on his second try. William looked smug when he planted his feet on the ground, insisting that Cailen couldn't possibly do better and waiting impatiently for him to gather the courage to try.The thing was that he didn't want William to think he was boring and no fun.He wanted William to keep liking him and wanting to play with him because he liked playing with William. He knew it was stupid to get so attached when he'd probably be sent back at any moment but Cailen couldn't help himself.He just kind of enjoys being William’s big brother. He didn't know how because really, they did
"Send him back?" Eden asked, looking to her curly haired son. "What on earth..." she trailed off as she took in the pleading eyes of her son, the worried look of her daughter and the completely regretful and scared look on Cailen.She sighed again, wiping at Cailen's face one more time before setting the cloth down."Stella, William, go get Dean. Ask him to clean up the vase, please," Eden instructed.The children looked troubled, as if they weren't sure they should listen to their mother for fear of Cailen being sent back without their consent.It was probably better this way, Cailen thought, less embarrassing and all."But Mom-""Go," she said firmly, shutting William up and watching as Stella led him away to go get Dean.Eden turned back to Cailen. He had more tears running down his cheeks. His tears really had nothing to do with the pain in his wrist but the fear of being sent away.He hadn't realized just how attached he had gotten here. Not just to William but to Stella and Eden
"On Monday, you won't be going to school, love," Eden explained.She was sitting on the edge of Cailen's bed, brushing some hair out of his face while Dean stood beside the bed, looking down at him.It was hard not to jump to conclusions with what Eden had said. Cailen immediately thought they were returning him to the orphanage because, why else would he be not going to school?"We've got to go back to the orphanage and talk about the arrangements," Dean added, not doing anything to change Cailen's assumptions."We've got to fill out some paperwork and then head down to the adoption agency," Eden said with a smile.Cailen frowned at this. Adoption Agency?"Why?" Cailen asked, not following what they were telling him."Cailen, it'll be one month on Monday," Eden explained sweetly.Cailen was shocked. He's never made one month before or even anywhere near it. He'd nearly forgotten there was a second step to all this.He was so used to just being moved in and out of different families,