Seeing in Color

Fifteen

//AUTHOR'S NOTE//

I am so so so so soooo happy with all the feedback from my story!  Thank you soooo much to all my wonderful fans!  I am sorry about that huge year-long gap between chapters, but I will be sure to publish more often.  Enjoy this next chapter and I can't wait to hear your thoughts.  Feel free to comment, vote, and share!  Love you guys!

~Yawarakai~

Will

I scrolled through the local news on my phone as I walked out to the car Sunday morning. I swiped past an ad for dog walking and a report about a pet fox that was hit by a car. I sighed and was about to turn my phone off when a headline caught my attention.

Beloved Waitress of Local Diner Shot and Killed During Robbery.

I shivered. A local shooting. Too many bad memories behind that door.

"Hey, Will, catch!" I heard Cecil yell as he threw something towards me across the driveway. I nearly dropped my phone in surprise, catching a set of keys.

I looked down at the sun and the Band-Aid charms ad frowned. "Why in the world do you have my car keys, Cecil?"

The brunet laughed and slid into the passenger seat of my car. "What you don't know doesn't hurt you."

"Not if it's my brother stealing my car." I climbed in and turned the car on, wincing at the sound of loud rap music.

"Brother, huh?" Cecil smiled and turned the music down. I shrugged and pulled out of the driveway, glancing next door at the Stoll house. Travis's motorcycle wasn't in the driveway, but Connor's lacrosse gear was in the front lawn.

"Wonder what those guys are up to," I murmured as I pulled up the address on my GPS. "Did you tell Lou Ellen that we're on our way?"

Cecil nodded and pulled out his phone. We drove out of our neighborhood and onto a quiet street. I was still getting used to the silence of this town, growing up in big cities and all. My eyes drifted off the road every now and then to look up at the trees shading the road. The wind picked up and blew my hair gently to the side. Cecil turned up the song on the radio, and for a moment, I was happy.

Now, I'm a decent guy. I can find something good in every situation. I'm an optimist at heart. But anyone who's been through what I've been through would understand the slow rise of sadness and loneliness in my heart. My heart became heavier with each move, being dragged across the country by Child Protective Services. I hated having to make new friends after leaving my previous ones. I hated having to get comfortable in a new house knowing that I'd be moving again. I avoided making friends with my foster family usually.

But this time was an exception. I started to enjoy my room, redecorating it, and putting up more on my walls than any other bedroom throughout the history of my fostering. I was becoming remarkably close to Cecil and my other foster siblings. Kayla came crying to my room in July, sobbing over the death of her favorite child actor, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Austin and I had long nights over his keyboard, writing a song for his little sister, half-way across the country. Even Katie felt like a sister to me, though she was shy and distant most of the time.

Sitting in my car, with my new brother beside me, listening to a spirited song and driving through a road covered in sunlight and trees, my heart lifted. I smiled for the first time. A real smile.

"What took you guys so long?" Lou Ellen flung open the front door of her house, greeting us with a death glare. There were bags under her eyes, and she wore a unicorn onesie, a cup of steaming coffee in her hand. "I've been up for ten minutes, thinking that you'd be here five minutes ago."