At first, there had been a few futile attempts at conversation on Belinda's part, however in the end, though Adam never knew why she changed her mind and the remainder of the drive to River Lane was spent in strained silence, Kai was quiet most of the way, not a peaceful quiet but the kind of quiet where you want to cry but you're unsure what might happen if you do, Adam felt sorry for his brother as he watched him struggle to keep back the tears, he felt an unusual resentment growing inside him, he hadn't quite figured out who was feeling resentment for but he knew that if he had to stop it, hating people wasn't going to change anything, he was still stuck in a car with two people he didn't know, on his way to a place he'd seen, and a life he didn't want.
"Hey, kid? You up?" Adam woke with a start, he wasn't sure how long he had been sleeping but he knew it had to have been a while, the car was parked in front of a big house and through the drawn curtains Adam could see that some of the windows were lit up, there was a well-kept stone path leading up to the door, three cherry trees lined the path on either side separating each one was a shrub of roses, there were also rose shrubs lining the front of the house in both directions under six ground floor windows easily two metres long and one metre wide.
Staring at the house Adam wondered how big it was on the inside he also thought that there must be a huge back garden too, the only other house Adam could see was across the road from them, it was about the same size and more or less the same style without all the trees and shrubs, Adam noted that all the lights in that house were off.
"Hey Adam," a voice broke through his thoughts and Adam looked up to see a pair of big dark eyes staring back at him, "Are you alright?"
Adam nodded slowly looking down at the seat beside him but no longer there, before he had a chance to panic Robbie reached over and pointed in the direction of the house with the lights on, "They've already gone in," he said getting out of the car, he closed the door on the driver's side before going round to stand in front of Adam, "Come on then,"
Adam followed him up the path and into the house, they walked down a long hallway with a gold-trimmed red carpet, the ceiling was bright yellow and the walls were orange, brightness hurt his eyes and Adam thought it was a horrible choice of colouring, the hall was about 30 feet long, one on end to the right there was a long staircase, and opposite it was a door leading into the front room, they went in.
The room was big, it was just like the hall in colour but the lighting was brighter, Adam couldn't take it so he backed out, "Please can I have my brother, I want to go home now,"
Robbie looked shocked "Home? Didn't they tell you? Maybe you're still tired. Do you want to go to bed?"
Adam ignored the questions instead asking again, "Where's my brother?" he had hoped his voice would sound a lot firmer than it had and his lips were quivering, on top of that he really was tired and he didn't feel as though his legs would be able to support his weight much longer.
"I'll take you to him," Robbie said apparently amused by something, he put his arms around Adam's shoulders and led him into the front room.
Sighing Adam allowed himself to be guided through, with a quick glance around he noticed that Kai was not in there, he also noticed that they were walking through another door, this one led into a tiled kitchen, at the centre of which was a wooden dining table, Belinda sat at the table drinking something hot, and beside her was Kai, Adam had expected him to be crying but he wasn't although he looked like he might start any minute, he flashed what Adam thought might have been a smile, although it seemed lost on his face, and held out his arms for his brother, Adam broke away from Robbie's grip and went to pick him up, he wanted to ask about going home again but thought better of it, instead he just stood studying each of them in turn.
Robbie had short dark hair and big round dark eyes, and a face that never looked too far from a smile and even as Adam watched him his face cracked the biggest smile Adam had ever seen.
Belinda's hair was black and back in a chignon bun, she had a long side-swept fringe that contrasted with her honey brown eyes but, unlike Robbie, her lips were pressed together in a tight smile that seemed forced and Adam found himself wondering when was the last time she had allowed for a smile to grace itself on her face.
Adam thought they looked young, very young, closer to Landon's age than that of his parents and he wanted to know why they were bothering themselves with someone else's children when they could be having some of their own, he wanted to ask them this but he couldn't bring the question to pass his lips and in the end, Robbie was the one to break the silence.
"If you're tired I'll show you where you can sleep, and we'll leave the tour till tomorrow," Adam's jaw dropped as he momentarily forgot his uneasiness
"Were you going to give us a tour now?" he asked feeling genuinely amused "What time is it?"
"Early enough for us to send you back home!" Belinda said abruptly, Adam could tell she was furious but he couldn't help laughing,
"Go ahead," Belinda choked on her drink and when she looked up Adam felt sure he was in trouble,
"Alright, both of you!" Robbie interrupted before she could say anything, "Ok, I guess it is pretty late but in this house, there's no such thing as too late or even too early, so, what do you want to do?"
'Yep' Adam thought, 'definitely young', he pondered it for a moment, Robbie seemed nice, but he wasn't sure about Belinda, she reminded him of Caitlyn, and not in a good way,
"I'm tired," he said, at last, deciding that if he had to put up with Belinda then he preferred it be when he was wide awake and fully rested rather than half asleep as he was.
Robbie led them up a flight of red-carpeted stairs, the colours on the second floor were completely different to the floor below, the carpet as a warm lime green colour, the walls were a creamy peach and the ceiling an unusual grey-beige colour, and the lighting was softer too,
"This is where you'll be sleeping," Robbie said gesturing to a room with wooden floorboards and tan walls, the ceiling had been painted to look, Adam thought, like a solar system, the ceiling light was bright but Robbie switched it off turning instead to two lamps on either side of the room beside two beds made up neatly with cherry coloured comforters and matching pillows, the lampshades were decorated with animals and stars of different sizes which projected around the room when the lamps were turned on, "And this is for your brother," Robbie said opening the door opposite the room they had been standing in,
"Why is he in another room?" Adam asked peering around the corner, the layout was exactly like the one before except the solar system was on the walls instead, suddenly Adam had another question, "Why do they have two beds?"
"No reason," Belinda said from behind him making him jump, "We just did that for fun,"
Adam nodded, he had decided that for a household where it was never 'too late' or 'too early' the design was just right, it made absolutely no sense at all,
"Kai's not going in there, we don't need two rooms,"
"Ok," Robbie said backing them out and shutting the door "As you wish,"
Once he was alone in the room Adam looked around him, it wasn't that he thought it was atrocious, he just didn't think the colours mixed very well at all, and if he was honest, of all the colours he'd seen so far, tan was definitely his least favourite.
"Oh well," he said out loud although the only other person in the room was Kai and he was already sleeping, "At least I have my own bed now," he blew out a puff of air half exasperated, half-amused by the day's events, then shaking his head and chuckling quietly he dropped into the bed beside his brother allowing one more thought to cross his mind before he was finally dragged away to the innocuous world of his dreams 'My own bed,' he thought 'As if,'
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Adam was woken by a soft rhythmic tapping on his cheek, he opened his eyes slowly at first, taking in his surroundings, it wasn't that he didn't know where he was, but it took him a while to remember why he was there, 'Dear god,' he thought, rubbing his eyes as his body finally obtained the strength to sit up properly, 'Dear God give me the strength to get through this,'
Adam sighed and pushed himself off the bed, he looked around the room for his bag but Kai stopped him holding up two toothbrushes, Adam smiled,
"Thanks,"
It took a while for Adam to find the bathroom, and when he did he found it was almost impossible to get rid of Kai while he tried to shower and clean up but Adam managed to convince him to sit on the top step and wait, while he promised to do the same, in the end, Kai didn't move a step away from the bathroom door, Adam hoped that he would eventually relax enough to leave him alone, it wasn't that he didn't like having his little brother around, but he didn't want to feel stuck with him either.
Holding tightly onto his brother's hand, Adam went cautiously down the red stairs to the front room, it was 07:00 in the morning, early, even by his standards, so he wasn't surprised to find that the room was empty, he sat on one of the maroon velveteen sofas decorated with white cushions, his hands clasped lightly together, apart from a slight apprehension gnawing at his mind he felt oddly at ease despite the new environment, Kai tried a few times to climb into his lap but after some minor coaxing from Adam, he relented, however reluctantly, to sit beside him on the sofa.
"You're up early," Robbie said grinning widely
"Oh? What happened to 'never too late, never too early'?"
"Nothing. I didn't say it was too early, just early,"
Adam shrugged "Well… you're up too," Robbie just laughed and wandered back out of the room, from what he'd heard Robbie was a doctor, a surgeon, as Sally Turner had never failed to remind them because apparently that was supposed to add to his credibility, Belinda was a teacher but Adam thought she looked more like student herself, right on cue she walked in, her arms swinging at her sides, her hair was back in a high ponytail that hung to her shoulders and her fringe was pinned back out of her face,
"Hello boys," she said stopping to stand in front of them, "Are you hungry?" without waiting for an answer she called out of the door to Robbie, who was just leaving for work, "Do you want some breakfast?" there was a slight giggle in her voice that made Adam doubt she was being sincere, he took it as a confirmation when Robbie ignored the question pulling the front door shut behind him,
Belinda turned back to Adam, "Eating before a surgery always makes him sick, he can't stand the sight of blood,"
Kai frowned "Then how is he a doctor?"
"Surgeon," she corrected, then she left them to make the breakfast, Kai turned to Adam,
"They're weird… When are we going home?"
Adam sighed "I don't know tiny," Sharon had promised to come to find them but considering the distance they had driven that night, Adam wasn't so sure she could even if she wanted to, Sharon was smart and could do almost anything she put her mind to but in this circumstance, he didn't think it was possible,
Where would she even start looking?
'No!' he thought, 'She promised!'
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Breakfast seemed different without the boys, she didn't know why she could feel their absence, it wasn't like either of them would have done anything to break the silence, Kai was usually sluggish at breakfast and Adam hardly ever spoke, but they were a part of the family and their absence had been noticed not just by Sharon but by everyone at the table.
There wasn't much to eat but a piece of Carols homemade bread but Sharon found she couldn't eat any of it, at dinner the night before Sharon had thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse,
But it had gotten worse. Much worse.
Her father had just broken the news and felt sick to the core.
Suddenly she started feeling a lot less sorry for the boys, they were better off out of it, at the same time she wished he was back at home.
Adam was her support, he'd listened to her when she spoke and always provided a shoulder to cry on, even at 9 years old, Sharon felt that he was the only one in her family that actually got he, and now, with him gone, she felt alone.
"Oook…" Landon sighed "I really don't want to leave you in this situation but…"
"Yes, you do!" Caitlyn cut in before he could finish his sentence, "You love to leave us like this. You've always hatted us haven't you Landon?"
Landon just stared at him for a moment, he didn't look fazed at all, as if he had been expecting that, Sharon didn't blame him for wanting to leave, Caitlyn was ruthless, even to those members of her family, but she was particularly bad to Landon, and Sharon had no idea why Landon sighed heavily,
"Ok Caitlyn," and he left without another word.
Sharon breathed deeply, desperately trying to process the new information, her mother was expecting again, Kai was going to be an older brother and he didn't even know.
Her entire life Sharon had lived in a little bubble inside her head, she'd never cared that they were poor because they were together, they had a home, however small, and food, no matter how little, and they were well respected by the people around them, which might not have meant anything to anyone else but to her, it meant enough.
In her world their tiny 1-bedroom house was a mansion, the food they ate was cooked by the greatest chef in the world, and their friends and neighbours, all noblemen and women, dressed in the finest clothes and regarded them in the highest esteem, but in less than a minute that all came crashing down, she watched as her entire world crumbled to dust, beautiful whitewashed walls fell away to reveal the gloomy, dull ones beneath, slowly Sharon started to see things differently until all that was left of her false world was a slice of bread, whatever anyone else said, her mother's cooking would always be gourmet.
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