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 a fry.
Cailen was surprised by the question. He had thought Eden and William would have known all that already and shared it with her.
"Thirteen," Cailen answered quietly.
"Ha! I'm older than you!" she teased. "I'm fourteen."
Cailen chuckled and bit into a fry.
"What's your favourite colour?" she asked.
It was like meeting William again. She fired off question after question but at least most of them were questions William hadn't thought to ask.
"Red," Cailen answered.
"Do you like music?" she asked and Cailen didn't have an answer for her.
He never really had the chance to listen to music. The orphanage couldn't afford a radios and such and he was never really at any homes for too long to get the chance to listen to theirs.
"Um, I don't know. Never really listened to it." Cailen answered.
Her jaw dropped at this along with William's while Eden had that sympathetic look on her face again. Cailen felt a bit uncomfortable with everyone looking at him like that. He needed for them to move on.
"Will you show me some?" he asked.
"Yes!" Stella answered excitedly. "There's this boy band that I just love-"
"Stella, Cailen doesn't want to listen to your stupid boy band. Boy bands are for girls," William interrupted.
Cailen frowned at this. He always hated when someone said this was for girls and that was for boys. He thought anyone should be able to like whatever they wanted. Like when Ella said the word ‘pretty’ was for everyone.
"If I've never heard them, how would I know if I like them or not?" Cailen asked turning to William.
William seemed to think about this for a second, his younger mind not being able to come up with a good comeback.
"Ha! See? He does want to know about them," Stella said.
"Well, I will give them a shot, but I'll have to wait to listen to them," Cailen reasoned.
He didn't want to pick sides here. Eden chuckled at Cailen's diplomatic reasoning and watched as the three children interacted. Stella and William continued to ask Cailen many questions, even throwing in their own answers so Cailen would know something about them.
Cailen finished his meal, the hamburger tasting really yummy and the fries even better. The toy he got with his meal was a little dinosaur. It's arms moved up and down but other than that, it really wasn't that exciting.
It wasn't long after he finished that they were leaving the restaurant and heading to Cailen's new home, well... he supposed ‘temporary home’.
*****
When Eden pulled into the driveway of a rather large looking house, Cailen's mouth dropped open.
They lived here?
Cailen couldn't believe it. It must have been as big as the orphanage and the orphanage was built to house fifty kids and enough staff to keep it running.
The house was white and about three stories tall. There was a balcony on the second floor on the right and a big glass window on the left. Over the door was an archway and on the ground in front of the house was a garden of flowers.
It looked beautiful.
"Do you like it?" Stella asked, looking at Cailen's amazed face.
Cailen nodded, turning his head to look at her, a smile forming over his lips. Stella smiled back and hoped out of the SUV followed by William then himself.
Eden led everyone inside and this time, Cailen's jaw nearly hit the floor. If he thought the outside was amazing, he didn't have a word for the inside.
The door opened up into a big room with a staircase that led upstairs. On the left was another room that looked like a dining room. To the right was a room with a sofa and television and at the back behind the staircase was a sliding door that was currently closed.
"Would you like to see your room?" Eden asked from behind him.
Cailen turned to her in surprise. "My room? My own room?"
Whenever Cailen was out of the orphanage, he had to share a room with the other kids of the house or even just sleep on the couch while they cleared out a room for him, but he never made it that far.
Eden smiled down at him and nodded. She led him up the staircase and down the hall. She led him inside a room with a huge bed, a nice desk with a computer on it.
Cailen's never used a computer before outside of school. It had a closet for him and his own bathroom.
He couldn't believe it.
"Will this do?" Eden asked, looking down at him.
Will this do? Cailen nearly laughed.
"Yeah. Yeah, this will do," Cailen confirmed, setting his bag down by the closet.
Eden regarded the tattered looking bag and frowned.
"Tomorrow, William and Stella have school. You'll be starting on Monday but tomorrow, I think we'll need to take you shopping, is that okay?" Eden asked.
Cailen looked at her, completely confused.
"Shopping for what?"
"Clothes, silly. You'll need more than that," Eden replied pointing at this bag. "And school supplies and maybe a few extra things," she shrugged.
"Oh, you don't have to do that," Cailen said, because honestly he wasn't expecting to stay here that long.
He knew within a few days, probably before he even started school, they wouldn't want him here anymore.
"Don't be silly. We'll go tomorrow before Dean gets back," Eden said.
This sparked Cailen's interest, enough to forget about the clothes.
"Who's Dean?"
"Oh, he's my husband," Eden explained.
Again, this surprised Cailen. Usually when adopting a kid, both parents came to look at them.
"He had to go away on a last minute business trip but he didn't want to put this off any further. So he said for me to still go and look and if we found a child, we should bring them home. I'm sure he'll just adore you," Eden assured him but Cailen wasn't so convinced.
It was usually the father that started to hate him first.
"Cailen! Come look at my room!" they heard William call from down the hall.
Eden smiled at him, stepping out of the way so Cailen could slip past her and down the hall to look at William's room.
That night, Cailen climbed into his bed, the mattress nothing like the one at the orphanage. It was thick and soft and warm where as the one at the orphanage was hard and cold and you could feel the springs poking you in the back. The pillows smelled clean and the blanket was soft and cozy.
He easily fell asleep, and this time, there wasn't any tears from no one wanting him. There wasn't any trace of fear of the other people living in the new home he'd been sent to. There was no doubt in himself.
There wasn't any of that.
There was only a small hopeful smile on his face as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
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,
Cailen woke up in an emergency room.Or what he was guessing was the emergency room.He was lying in a bed that was a in room surrounded with white walls. Wherever he looked, or his eyes land on- because he can’t really move his head around to look properly at his surroundings- were color white.The walls, the ceiling, the curtain by the window- everything. He hurt everywhere and couldn't help but groan when he tried to move."Cailen?" A small worried voice came from his right.Cailen tried to turn his head towards William’s voice, but he groaned again when pain hit him. He took a deep breath and that even hurts too.He tried to calm down and tried again- more gently and carefully this time. He slowly turned his head to see William standing beside his bed, his curly hair in a disarray, green eyes red and puffy as if he had been crying."Hi, William," Cailen smiled weakly at him before something caught his attention at the corner of his eyes.He slowly turned his head to see Matthew