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Chapter 4 - Untying Ties
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2024-10-29 19:42:56"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.
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