Chapter 5 - New Home

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.