Extended Family - A G/t Shorty

Ch. 2 Questions with no answers

At this point, I had a plethora of emotions swirling within me at this unusual situation and it's making me question our adoption even more, especially seeing the way Nate behaved after the phone call and literally driving away without so much as a goodbye.

What the hell is even happening?

"Where did Nate go, Mi-ya? Are we gonna be home alone?" Casey turned to ask me as I came back into the house hauling our remaining bags and just throwing them into the living room. I refrained from slamming the front door close when I turned around, making sure it was locked.

"I don't know where he went," I replied briskly, swallowing my frustration.

"Are we gonna be all alone here?"

I know it isn't fair, but I just threw him a harsh look, immediately making him wince. He clearly was in the room when I was on the phone with the Sheriff and saw how Nate pretty much ran out of the house. I get he wouldn't know the exact details of said phone call, but I hate when he turns to me for all the answers all the time. I'm just as lost as he was and I have no starting point on where or who to turn to. All I can really go by is what the Sheriff instructed us to do. I just hope that when he gets here, we can get more information about our parents and when they're actually gonna pick us up.

All we can really do is wait.

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Nighttime dominated the sky, and our only source of light came from whatever electrical source was provided by the house and the one streetlamp illuminating the street. Peering out from the living room window, pulling away the sheer curtain, we were surrounded by darkness since there weren't any neighboring homes or commercial areas nearby.

That idea was debunked however because I've seen a beat-up truck slowly passing through without the headlights on or the windows down, and it made this situation more daunting for me. I reasoned that Sheriff Rusty had one of his deputies pass by just to make sure we were okay, however, that was a huge assumption as he never mentioned that he'd send someone else.

I glanced over to Casey, just to check in on him and thank God that he was behaving as he was busy coloring away in his book on the floor with whatever remaining unbroken crayons he owned. I had to keep it in mind to save some money and get him a better set with more colors. The 24-pack that I got him from our last foster home, came down to eight crayons, most of them down to the wrapper. While we have our arguments as siblings do, my heart would sink when I'd catch him struggling to find the right color just to bring the black and white outlines to life however way he could. And when he couldn't find it, he tried to blend whatever color he could.

It still brought him joy once he was done, but I think his smile would stretch much wider if I could somehow give him access to all the colors of the rainbow and truly make his artwork shine.

Just so that his happiness can continue fueling mine.

"Whatcha coloring now, Casey?" I asked him, crouching down next to him and peeking at his coloring book.

"It's a park with lot-sa trees, but I don't have the green color to color the grass and trees," Casey replied glumly.

It didn't take too long for me to find a solution to his little dilemma as I went in and studied the blank canvas carefully.

"How about..." I went in to reach for orange and red, and handed it over to him, "You make it a park in the fall time. Trees change colors, y'know. Play around with these two and see how it looks."

It seemed my suggestion turned gears in his head and the look of realization brightened his smile. He then flattened the pages as best he could and began to fill the page with warm, earthy tones that lightened the living room more than the lamp on the table. His small fingers swept the white pages, paying attention to detail how firmly to press in certain areas or changing the positioning of his strokes.