My Schizophrenic Lover (Under Slight Construction)

Chapter Seven

Chapter 7 - Family

                                          

The next day I found myself sitting in an uncomfortable, small, white room lined withblue chairs and horrible paintings on the walls. My stomach churned like a sea at storm, I felt that I could vomit at any given moment. The top of a head was all I could see behind the front desk’s raised counter, I wasn’t ever greeted by her or nothing, she was just clicking away at her computer.

I kept my eye on hall of offices and every time the tan wooden doors would swing open my heart would skip a beat, mentally praying to myself that I wouldn’t be the one approached. I didn't want to know what they were going to say to me, where they were going to send me, how they were going to react. I was terrified, I already knew that I would be in some deep shit for running away yesterday and that they were probably going to sit me right back down in that backseat and send me away.

But sooner or later they would call out my name, and it would be time for me to go back, whether I was ready for it or not. Sure, I had been through the whole relocation thing so many times that I had lost count. But every time felt just like the first time. And this time I was even more nervous than usual.

The woman I was familiar with from yesterday’s encounter stepped into the lobby and glanced at me from behind my file. "Kaden, would you please come with me?" I could tell in her voice that she was not extremely happy to see me this morning.

Standing to my feet without a word, I followed her down the stuffy white hallway. We returned to the same room as yesterday and took our seats.  “How are you today, Kaden?" she asked. Placing my hands in my hoodie pocket I began popping my knuckles, a nervous habit I had picked up from years before.

"I'm fine," I lied giving her a small nod.

"That's good,” with this she leaned forward onto the desk pausing and then laying back in her chair. “So, I take it you're not too sold on the whole West Ridge thing, huh?" she looked at me from behind her glasses and then at my file.

Part of me was kicking myself for not just being honest with her yesterday, I knew it would have saved so many people a lot of trouble. "No... Not really," I admitted, looking down at the floor to avoid her eye contact and the shame.

"Well, we just want to help you, and I personally believe that if you're not happy you can't be helped. That’s just commonsense if you ask me.” She seemed pretty real, but I didn’t know whether to trust her or not. Maybe she was just trying to warm me up to a different idea that would be worst than the last. “So, we’ve done everything we can to find you a home here in Richfieldto stay at if you would like that more.” I nodded and she continued to explain. “They have a son your age and a son just a few years older and a little girl, she is about five I believe, and she is adopted."

Those last few words made my finger tingle. They had an adopted a little girl, that meant that they were open to the idea of adoption. Maybe they would come around to the idea of adopting me someday. But I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high just yet, remaining calm and keeping my smile tucked away I nodded.

“Would you be willing to try it out? If you’re still unhappy we can find you a group home or another family in a nearby town.” She stood up making her way around the desk and over to me. Kneeling down she took my hand in hers and looked at me sincerely. “I believe in second chances. No one in this entire office thinks I should be helping you out like this, they think you should be sent to the nearest group home and pushed through the system. But I hate to see kids that are hurting like this, I really do. Please Kaden, please, don’t let me regret this.”