-Oliver-
I sat on my bed, holding a pair of socks in my hands. I just stared at them. It was really quiet in the room, since the caretakers had taken the kids to play outside. To give me peace. Out of all the surreal moments I'd had lately, this was the oddest. The entire week had been the same.
I turned to look at my bag on the floor and finally put the pair of socks in it. There. All packed. Everything I owned was stuffed in two bags and one box.
After I closed them all, I stood up and turned to look around the room I'd lived in for years. All that time, I had dreamed of the day I'd leave for good and never come back. And this was it now. This time I wouldn't come back – I knew it. I had moved out several times, only to find myself back in this place, but this was actually it.
I was never coming back.
I stepped to the window and looked outside. The kids were having a lot of fun, and I felt bad for the caretakers since the yard was turning really muddy. I laughed a little as I watched them, but then turned my gaze up to the sky.
"I spent so many nights right here, watching the moon, wishing that someone would come take me home," I spoke quietly, and Cedric appeared next to me.
'I remember,' he spoke softly. 'I remember all those times someone gave you a home, but...'
"They always returned me," I whispered. "They all got fed up with me... Everyone said I was crazy..."
'That's because of me...' Cedric said in sadness.
"No! Don't you blame yourself for that," I told him sternly. "You and all the other spirits gave me company and comfort for so many years until..."
'Until that incident happened.'
"Yeah... But none of it was your fault," I said. "I didn't belong with any of them. I belong with my own kind."
'With Natalie and Mike,' he said, sounding more cheerful now. 'And I get to hang out with everyone instead of hiding inside you!'
I smiled at him. "Exactly. We get to be ourselves, with people who understand us. No more hiding."
A few moments later, I was ready. I picked up the box and took it outside the room before coming back for the bags. Mike was waiting for me by the stairs, and he hurried to help me with a smile on his face.
"You got everything?" he asked.
"Yeah, though I'm sure Natalie can grab the rest of the stuff I most likely forgot," I said with a smirk – my excitement started bubbling inside me once again.
"Yup," he said as we walked down the stairs. "They're in the office – go say hi while I take these to the car."
I wasn't sure who he meant by them, but I made my way to the end of the hallway without asking. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to come open it.
And when they did, I heard a loud "Surprise!" coming from the room, and stopped to stare at what looked like the entire staff of the orphanage in that small space. There was a cake and gifts on the desk.
"Congratulations, Oliver!"
"It's not my birthday," I chuckled awkwardly when I stepped in.
Natalie came to hug me tightly, and then led me to the desk. "We wanted to give you a small farewell party," she told me.
"Small?" I repeated. The entire staff really was there! "How did you get inside without making a sound?"
Natalie chuckled and tousled my hair. "Magic."
Some people chuckled at her words, but I was suspicious. I had the feeling she really did use magic.
"The kids will come back any minute now," Stella, the cook, spoke. "I have two more cakes in the kitchen for them, but this I made especially for you."
I thanked her, looking at the big cake that had a picture of a house and the text, Congratulations Oliver, on it.
I started getting really emotional.
This was actually it.
*****
Two hours later, when my gifts were packed in another bag, the cakes – except for mine – were long gone, the kids were getting tired, and the caretakers started making their leave, Ms. Washington walked to me.
"I'm so happy for you," she sniffed, and hugged me. "I'm going to miss our little sunshine..."
"I'm going to miss you guys too," I said truthfully.
"But you deserve this. You deserve everything good in the world," she said, clearly trying not to start crying. "You'll come visit us, right?"
"Of course," I nodded.
Another few of the caretakers came to say their goodbyes, but then Stella gasped loudly, and for a second there, I thought something was wrong, but she was smiling widely.
"Don't you think we're forgetting something?" she asked her coworkers.
"Really?"
"Come, Oliver," Stella said, and led me back to the office.
The rest of them followed us, and it sounded like they suddenly realized what Stella was talking about. Once we stepped into the office, Stella walked to the locked cabinets at the back and opened one of them. She leaned in and grabbed a big, old metallic cookie box from the back of it, and turned to show it to me.
"Here – this belongs to you," she said.
I took it from her slowly, feeling really confused. I put it down on a table and opened it.
"Uhm..." I uttered. It had a lot of money in it! A lot! Like three hundred at least! "I don't... This is too much," I said.
"We've had this box for ages," Stella explained. "We all put a few dollars in here every now and then for your weekly allowance. Natalie usually contributed the most. This is also how we paid for your braces and your birthday phone. It's yours."
"But... I... But... Too much..." I stammered, and they all laughed in amusement.
"It's yours, Oliver," Ms. Washington chuckled. "Just take it, you have earned every penny and way, way more."
"You guys already gave me a bunch of gifts," I tried to object, but no one listened to me.
"And you always helped us around the home," Ms. Washington reminded me. "Like I said, you literally earned every penny."
I just stared at the box. I suddenly realized how much I was going to miss them all, the kids, and this entire place. I always thought I didn't have a home, but to say the truth, I always did. It sucked that I only realized it now, when it was time for me to move on.
"Thank you, everyone," I turned to tell them. "I'm going to miss you all. And I hope I wasn't an ungrateful brat."
I heard laughter all around me, and many of them came to hug me with teary eyes.
"You are the sweetest kid, Oliver," Stella whispered in my ear. "The best. We all will miss you and cheer you on wherever your life may take you."
Loads of hugs and waterworks later, I finally sat down in the backseat of Mike's car. I was still wiping my face dry as I turned to give the orphanage one last glance. The kids and staff were outside, waving at me, smiling and crying at the same time.
I heard a lot of sniffing coming from the front seats. Both of them.
"This is it," Natalie said with a heavy voice, then cleared her throat. "We are finally going home."
I just started crying again, hugging the metallic box against my chest.
By the time we arrived home, we all had somewhat managed to calm down. Mike parked the car, but we all sat there in silence for a moment, watching the building in front of us.
"Welcome home, Oliver," Natalie spoke softly.
I smiled widely at the sight of it. Home. Actual, real, forever home.
"We'll take the bags inside," Mike turned to tell me. "Tell them there's cake and hot chocolate if they want to join us."
"Huh? Who?" I said, and then nearly died in embarrassment because I hadn't noticed my werewolves hiding in the woods just behind the corner!
They both laughed lightly when I jumped out of the car and started hurrying to the forest. I saw three pairs of ears and furry noses peeking behind the bushes, and they launched at me the second I was out of the view.
It was just a cloud of fur around me, and a lot of cheerful whining. And my face got wet again.
"Hey guys, hey, hey, hey. Yes, hi Tilly. Hi Arch. Hey, babe. Hi Tilly. Yes, hi, hi, hi... Hi Tilly. Who's stepping on me? Hi babe... Could you... Please... Just... Hello, hello, hello. Yes, I missed you too. Hi Arch. Okay, can we... just... You're standing on me again."
Finally, the wolves gave me room to get back up on my feet. In a heartbeat, they all had turned to humans, and even faster I was in a big group hug.
"I'm so happy for you, Ollie," Tilly spoke in my ear. "You deserve the best!"
"It's such a nice place too," Arch continued, standing behind me. "And we live much closer now!"
"Natalie and Mike better take good care of you, or I will come after them," Jaden said. "But I'm sure they know that."
"They actually invited you guys for cake and hot chocolate," I told them.
That idea was a huge hit. They followed me to the entrance of the building, chatting and being excited. I was suddenly feeling a bit nervous. I stopped in the middle of the hallway once we got in, taking in the few details. The gray floor and white walls, the brown doors, the names on them...
And there, at the back, was the door to my new home. It was partly open, and I could hear Natalie and Mike inside.
My friends waited for me in silence, probably knowing exactly how I felt. It took me a moment before I was able to continue walking, and with each step I took, my smile grew wider – and so did my nervousness.
"Hey guys! Come on in!" Natalie smiled at us when we reached the door.
I stopped again, my toes just next to the threshold. I was probably being silly, but I wanted to take in that moment and enjoy it to the fullest. My first official step into my home.
And I took it. I was at home.
For a moment, I just stood there. In my home. Would I ever get tired of getting all giddy over that word? I hoped not.
'This is so cool,' Cedric said when he appeared and immediately dashed to the other end of the apartment. 'Look how much space we have!'
Annabelle and Fredrick, Mike's guardian, appeared too, and the three spirits started making excited rounds around the house. It was fun to watch. They were like kids who'd been locked indoors for too long.
"We took your bags into your room already," Natalie told me, gesturing for me to follow her.
I felt even more nervous walking after her, through the entrance hall and past the kitchen. I hadn't seen my room fully furnished yet, so when I stepped through the door, I stopped to stare at it. There was a bed and a small couch I'd picked, but I completely ignored them when I saw my desk.
It was the desk from the shop in Jade's territory! The beautiful one that looked like a river!
I turned to stare at Natalie. "Where did you get that?" I asked in awe, painting at the desk.
"A little birdie let me know you had your eyes on it," Natalie chuckled, glancing at Jaden.
I turned my attention to my mate. "How? What? You didn't say anything!"
"I could feel how much you loved it," he told me, wrapping his arms around me. "Of course I told Nat about it."
I hugged him tightly, but secretly admiring the desk. It really was beautiful! I couldn't believe it was in my room. My room!
The idea overwhelmed me, but thankfully, I had Jaden's chest to hide my face with. I needed a moment, and I guess the rest knew that, since they left us two alone.
Jaden caressed my back slowly, holding me so tightly I wasn't sure if he was ever going to let go. His strength gave me strength, and I carefully peered past his shoulder to see the desk again. It took me a while to rip my eyes off it, and I turned to see my bed. It was big enough for two people. Or one human and three wolves. My bags and the box were on the floor next to it, and my gifts that I hadn't opened were on the bed.
"Everyone has done so much for me..." I whispered.
"Because you deserve it," he replied.
"You told her about the desk..." I murmured.
"Of course I did," he chuckled. "You're right – it's really pretty, so naturally, it belongs to you."
"Are we flirting?" I asked with a smirk.
"We never did that," he said. "Hi, I think you're pretty."
"I look like a mouse," I noted.
"A pretty mouse."
I had to laugh at his words. I looked up at him and pecked his lips. "I think you're handsome."
"Just handsome?"
"Don't try your luck," I chuckled.
He laughed as well and stopped to stare at me with a warm smile on his lips. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
"Well, maybe not just handsome," I finally said, but he didn't continue with the topic.
Instead, he hugged me again. "I'm happy that you're happy," he murmured.
"Thanks..." I whispered. "Should we go grab some cake?"
Jaden sniffed the air and nodded. "It smells good."
"It really does," I said.
I'd already had enough cake, but I could still have a small slice. We joined the rest in the kitchen, and everyone had wide smiles on their faces. It really was such a happy moment, and I was happy that the werewolves had decided to drop by – it wouldn't have been the same without them.
"The first night is probably going to be weird for us all," Mike spoke as we were sitting down at the long table by the windows.
"Mike and I decided to wait until Oliver was able to move in with us before bringing our bed here," Natalie explained. "We wanted to spend our first night here as a family."
The word, family, made me choke up a little – I was sure it would take a while before I'd get used to it.
"It's going to be odd to sleep in a silent room," I admitted. "I've always had roommates."
"Oh, don't worry – we'll be staying here a lot," Tilly said, hugging her mug of hot chocolate.
"Great," I smirked.
The spirits were still happily studying the house, and we all watched their enthusiasm in silence. I felt like joining them, to be fair. The apartment was spacious and very pretty. Natalie and Mike had clearly spent a small fortune on new furniture since I spotted only a few items from their old house.
"We could finally afford new stuff," Natalie explained in excitement when I brought it up. "Our old house was fully paid for, you see. Since Augustus bought it, we were able to pay off the rest of our debt and still have a little saved for later."
"Everything looks really nice," I nodded, glancing at the big, light-gray couch and the big TV on the opposite wall, then at the long dining table we were seated at. It was light gray too, made of natural wood. The rest of the stuff followed the same light-gray and silver theme.
"I hope you like what we did with your room," Natalie said carefully. "You can change stuff around, of course."
"I love it," I smiled, looking at my room over my shoulder. "So the couch can be turned into a bed?"
"Yup! All four of you have plenty of room to have sleepovers," Natalie said. "That was one of the reasons why we chose this apartment – the massive bedrooms. And it is close to Blue Moons as well."
"Here," Mike said, fishing a key out of his pocket and giving it to me. "This is yours."
I took it and stopped to stare at it. I'd never had a home key before...
"And we know how easy it'll be to sneak in through the windows, but we'd prefer you guys using the front door," Mike spoke, holding another key in his hand, offering it to Jaden.
Jaden stared at it for a brief second and then took it. "Why would we need to sneak in through the window?" he asked with a frown.
"Honey – we were teenagers once, too," Natalie chuckled.
I laughed lightly at her words. Jaden would definitely sneak through the window just to do it, even though he now had the key.
"I would not," he snorted quietly at me.
"Let me guess – he's going to do it?" Mike asked with a chuckle.
"Yup."
"Just... Don't wake us up then, okay?" Mike sighed.
"He will," I snickered.
"I think I'll invest in really good earplugs," Mike said in defeat.
"That's what you get for having teenagers around," Natalie told him with a smile, taking his hand in hers. "Just like we always wanted," she added gently, looking at me with shining eyes.
And I started crying again.