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Chapter 10 - The Law Of Misfortune
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2024-10-29 19:42:56It 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 didn't have that much in common but that didn't seem to matter to William.
He still found ways to make Cailen laugh and include Cailen in almost everything he did. William didn't seem to mind that Cailen might be a little different from other boys and that put William at the top of every list Cailen could come up with.
So when William insisted it'd be fine and that Cailen was being a 'party pooper'. Cailen felt the need to prove William otherwise.
With his lips between his teeth, he contemplated how to do so without damaging anything around him or himself and figured it was best to do it by the side of the sofa where there was the least amount of things he could break.
It started off fine. He had pretty good balance so it was fairly easy to keep William's time when he was upside down and using his hands to stay up.
He would move a hand slightly to re-adjust himself when he'd lean too far one way and start to tip and it was going good.
William was cheering him on in disbelief and Stella had even come to see what all the noise was about, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at the boys even though she stuck around to see how long Cailen could last.
He was going on ten seconds when Cailen went to shift his hand but couldn't get it up far enough and ended up tripping on it, sending him toppling to the side and onto a table that held a vase- that also went toppling to the ground once he fell into the table.
Cailen felt a sharp pain in his wrist.
He heard Stella's gasp of shock and William shutting up once he realized what had happened and Cailen just knew that he had screwed everything up.
All his hard work to stay here with William, Stella, Eden and Dean had just been shattered along with the vase.
All the work he had done in school, paying attention and actually doing his homework, the lying to keep the bullies a secret, the keeping his room clean and the chores he agreed to do.
All of it, shattered in a matter of twelve seconds.
There was no way Cailen would be sticking around now.
Once Eden and Dean found out about the vase, he was done for. They'd pack him up and ship him out.
They'd have nothing to do with him because who wanted a kid that could do nothing but screw up?
And that's exactly what Cailen was. A screw up.
He screwed up all the time, no matter how hard he tried, something always happened.
Cailen could feel tears of frustration burning his eyes and blurring his vision, the shards of the vase blurring together as he stared at it.
He heard Stella asking if he was alright and grabbing at the arm that he was cradling to his chest because his wrist did hurt but he didn't care about that.
He didn't want to go back to the orphanage.
He hated it there.
He couldn't go back there. He'd choose to run away than go back there.
"Cailen, it's okay. You're going to be fine. I don't think it's broken," Stella assured, examining his wrist. "William, go get Mom," she instructed.
"No! She- she's going to be so mad!" Cailen exclaimed but William ignored him and took off up the stairs. "Stella, please, help me clean it up, please don't tell them. I don't want to go back there," Cailen begged, ignoring the throbbing coming from his wrist.
"What are you talking about? Cailen, you hurt your wrist. Mom has to look at it," she explained softly but he shook his head frantically.
"No, I'm fine. I- we have to clean-"
"What happened here?" someone exclaimed from behind them.
Cailen froze in his spot, recognizing the voice immediately only in a tone he had yet to hear.
Eden sounded angry, very angry and Cailen wished there was some way he could go back in time and stop William from challenging him. He wished he could glue the vase back together or anything.
Just something to stop all this.
He couldn't go back there.
He had worked so hard to be good for this family.
It wasn't fair.
"Mom, he hurt his wrist," Stella explained.
Eden was by his side in a second, kneeling down and gently taking his wrist in her hands.
"Cailen, I need you to bend your wrist for me, love. Can you do that?" she asked softly.
Cailen was confused. Why was she looking after him?
She should be scolding him for breaking her vase. She should be demanding how this happened and how Cailen planned to fix this. She should be telling him to clean it up and go pack.
Why wasn't she doing any of it?
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Eden. I- I didn't mean to-" Cailen started apologizing, only to be cut off.
"Cailen, bend your wrist. Does it hurt?" she asked, ignoring Cailen's attempt to apologize.
Probably because she already made up her mind about returning him and nothing he could say would change that. Cailen obeyed this time, moving his wrist around and wincing slightly but there was no excruciating pain.
"Not really," Cailen mumbled, his voice sounding indistinguishable from the saliva and snot on his lips making it difficult to talk.
"Okay, let's get you up," Eden said, standing up and helping Cailen to his feet.
She led him to the kitchen, instructing William and Stella to stay away from the glass and to follow them into the kitchen where Eden lifted Cailen up and placed him on the counter.
Cailen sat silently as he watched Eden go to the freezer and retrieve a bag of frozen peas, wrapping them in a hand towel and placing it gently on his wrist.
The cold enveloped his wrist, making the pain a dull ache after a few seconds. Eden then proceeded to get a cloth, wetting it and wiping at Cailen's face, ridding him of the snot and saliva.
"Eden, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Please, please don't-" Cailen began to apologize again when William stepped in.
"It was my fault Mom. Don't send him back. Please!" William begged.
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"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
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Cailen is startled from his sleep by a sudden weight crashing into him and then a wet nose sniffing at his face.He knows who it is instantly and groans, not caring if he wakes Asher up at this point.It's his dog, if Loki is waking Cailen up, then Asher can get woken up as well.Cailen brought his arms up, having to untangle himself from Asher's grasp in order to do so, and shielded his face from the intruding nose.It's not like this has never happened before, but it didn't happen often.Loki was usually pretty good at just sleeping at the foot of their bed, but recently, he's been cuddling up to Ezekiel in his so it was a bit strange.Either way, Loki was waking Cailen up so he started to sit up, just remembering to be gentle in case Asher's arm or leg was in the right position to get squished."Loki, down," Cailen mumbled, his tone firm.Cailen heard a groan come from behind him and knew Asher was now awake.
