Adopted by Superfruit *ANCIENTLY OLD*

Chapter Four: Anger

(Caroline's POV)

I didn't come out of the bathroom for an hour. Not because I was sad, but because I was angry. I tried to calm myself down before I could have an episode. To my luck, nothing happened.

Mitch and Scott were waiting for me on the couch when I finally left the bathroom. "Are you okay, Caroline?" Scott got up and wrapped his arm around me. "I will be if nobody ever calls me Care again. My dad called me that all the time when I was little." I sighed and looked down to my feet.

"Do you have any other nicknames we can call you instead?" Mitch spoke up. "My friend Connor usually calls me Carrie or Carol, so two things to choose from." I responded, sitting down on the couch. "Can we just sit here today? I feel like drawing right now."

They complied, and turned on the TV as I started to draw in my sketchbook. Spongebob was on in the background as I marked the paper with pencil marks. I was attempting to draw a realistic cat. I drew an outline to go off of, so hopefully, everything would go smoothly.

I glanced up at the TV occasionally to see what Scott and Mitch were laughing at, but most of the time, I would just focus on my drawing. I estimated that it had been two hours when I finally got my drawing done. It was a little tabby kitten headshot, and I was very proud of it.

"Do you have any scissors and duct tape? I want to put this on my wall." I held up my drawing for them to see. "You drew that?" Scott asked with an astonished expression on his face. "No, I used the printer that's on my lap." I sarcastically remarked.

"The scissors are in the drawer where the silverware is, and the duct tape is in the drawer next to the stove." I found the scissors and cut around my drawing. I took a small strip of duct tape and rolled it into a cylindrical shape with the sticky part sticking on the outside. I stuck it on the back of the paper before heading to my room.

I stuck it on the wall a few feet above my bed. I thought it would be the start of a pretty good art wall. "Are you going to cover your wall in drawings? Because that would be pretty cool." Scott's voice startled me. I held my hand to my chest. "You scared me," I breathed. "And yeah. I want my wall to be nothing but my drawings -- if that's okay with you."

"It will be if most of them are colorful." Scott smiled before coming up to hug me. I cringed away. "Ah-ah, no touching. Think of me as a famous painting: okay to look at, but not to touch." Scott laughed a bit, but I could tell he was a little hurt. "Someday, but not today."

"Okay."

~*~

In the middle of the night, I woke up due to the dryness of my mouth. I got up off the couch and rubbed my eyes. It was two in the morning. I decided to get a glass of water, then go back to bed. I was not about to go running off only four hours of sleep.

I flicked on the light switch in the kitchen, and rummaged through the cabinets to find the cups. I found a small one and put it under the filter on the faucet. I filled it about halfway before shutting off the water and taking a drink.

I remembered back at the orphanage how the other kids would make me get water for them in the middle of the night. That is, until I had a few episodes and they became afraid of me. How they mocked me for the reason I was left there caused the anger inside me to boil.

It spilled over, and I threw the glass at the wall opposite to me, screaming, "Son of a b*tch!" The glass shattered on impact with the wall. Just what I needed. An episode of anger in the middle of the night. I impulsively knocked a few more glasses on the floor before the anger drained from my body, giving me a blissful, euphoric feeling.

That relief quickly hardened to panic and guilt when I heard clumsy footsteps in the hallway. Scott's blonde hair was tangled, and his eyes were half closed. "What the heck did you do, Caroline?" He was most likely too tired to do anything to me at the moment.

"Congratulations for experiencing the aftermath of my first episode of anger. Would you like to kick me out now?" I quietly announced with a note of sarcasm in my voice. I could tell by the stare Scott was giving me that he wasn't amused. "I'll clean it up later, like I always have to." I mumbled, nudging bits of glass away from my feet.

"So am I going to wake up to a whole lot of this in the middle of the night?" Scott grumbled tiredly. "No. At least, I hope not. This is the first time I've had an episode in the middle of the night. They usually happen at school, or in the afternoon." I explained quietly, sinking even lower to the floor. "You know what? I can clean this up tomorrow when you have school. Just go to bed, okay?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" Scott nodded. "Uh, I can replace these though. I feel really bad after these things happen. I always do." I looked down to the floor. Scott kneeled down next to me. "Hey, you have nothing to feel bad about. You can't control these things." I smiled as tears started rolling down my cheeks.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that."