Kian's P.O.V.
Today I go to another foster home which I am not excited for. You'd think after being in and it of eighteen foster homes, I would be used to it. But it's all the same. Stay at one house for three months, six months, and longer or shorter periods of time. My social worker, Mrs. Hannah and I are currently taking a taxi to my new foster home which is the same routine we always do.
"Kian, I think you're really gonna like this family. They have sons around your age and they're very nice people." Mrs. Hannah told me.
I need and she said "Bust can you to,idea me that you're at least try to talk to them? They want to get to know you and it's hard to do that when you don't talk to them."
"I'll try." I replied.
Lots of the foster homes I was abused and was told to not talk, so after awhile, I just stopped talking. Sometimes it works it and sometimes it doesn't.
My mom was born in Ireland and moved here once she turned eighteen. She got dual citizenship for Ireland and Canada when she met my biological dad. She became pregnant with me and my biological dad didn't want anything to do with my mom and I. My mom went back to Ireland and I was born there. After spending a year there, she came back to Canada with me and it was just us. When I was three, my mom and I were in a car accident and she passed away before we got to the hospital. Children's Aid Society (CAS) took me because my mom's parents didn't want me. And that's how I got here.
We pulled up to a big house with a man and a woman standing outside of it.
We got out of the cab and walked over to the couple.
"Hi, I'm Autumn Harris and this is my husband Paul Harris." The lady introduced.
"Hi, I'm Mrs. Hannah, Kian's social worker. This is Kian." Mrs. Hannah said.
They waved and I waved back shyly.
"Kian, I have to talk to Mr. Harris and Mrs. Harris privately please." Mrs. Hannah told me.
I nodded and walked away from them.
"So, as you may have noticed, Kian doesn't talk that much, if at all. A lot of the foster homes he has been in have were abusive. He's had a rough life and he just needs somebody to show him what it means to be loved. He loves to listen to his music. He can hear you when he has his headphones on, so don't think he's ignoring you." I heard Mrs. Hannah tell them.
It's always the same thing she tells every foster home.
She talked to them more about me and then I hugged her goodbye.
She left in the cab and I guess I'm stuck here for the next few months until I'm placed into another foster home.
"So Kian, let me show you to your room." Autumn said.
I followed her upstairs and she stopped at the end of the hallway.
"Sorry it's so plain. Feel free to decorate it if you want." She told me.
"Paul and I have four sons around your age. We have Alister who is seventeen, Kenny who is sixteen, and then we have twin boys, Reed and Lawrence who are fourteen. Alister is adopted but the rest are biological. Speaking of the boys, they should be home from school soon. Would you like a snack?" Autumn told me.
I nodded and she said "Follow me."
We walked downstairs and to the kitchen.
She gave me some goldfish crackers and I ate them.
"Do you like video games?" She asked.
I nodded and she said "Well we have a game room if you want to play video games at anytime. Come upstairs, I'll show you."
I followed her upstairs and she showed me the game room. It had a pool table and a couch along with a flatscreen tv.
"I'll show you the boys' room before they get home." She said and showed me their rooms.
We walked back downstairs and I sat down on the couch. I went on my iPod that I bought myself last year. I turned on my music and started listening to Blink- 182. After twenty minutes, the front door opened and four boys walked in.
"Mom! We're home." One of them yelled.
"Shit. There's a kid in our living room." One said to the rest of them.
"Hey boys. How was school?" Autumn asked them walking into the living room.
"Good. Why is there a kid in our living room?" One answered.
"Oh, that's Kian. He's our new placement. Here, I'll introduce you guys." Autumn replied.
Autumn and the boys walked into the living room and over to me.
"Kian, I want to introduce you to my children. Can you take your headphones off please?" Autumn asked me.
I took my headphones off and looked at them.
"So boys, this is Kian. He's twelve. Kian, these are my sons. That's Alister, he's seventeen. This is Kenny, he's sixteen. And these are my twin boys; Lawrence and Reed. They're fourteen." Autumn told me.
A chorus of "Hey"s and "What's ups?"s ran thorough the living room and I just waved.
The phone started ringing and Autumn went to answer it.
"So Kian, do you like music?" Kenny asked me.
I nodded my head and he sat down beside me.
I felt a little uneasy and tensed up a bit.
"Ken, move over." Alister whispered to him.
Kenny moved away from me a little bit and I relaxed.
I had my sleeves rolled up on my sweater and Reed looked at my arm.
"What happened to your arm?" Reed asked.
I pulled my sleeve down quickly and looked at the ground.
"I didn't mean to upset you." Reed said.
I nodded and put my headphones back on.
"Are you a mute or something?" Kenny asked me.
Alister hit his arm and Kenny put his hands up in surrender.
"What? I was just asking!" Kenny replied.
Alister sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Well, are you?" Kenny asked me.
I shook my head no and turned my music back on.
She's out of her mind started playing and I closed my eyes.
"Mom, how come he doesn't talk?" Kenny asked Autumn.
"Kenneth Paul! He can hear you! I will explain to you boys later. Now go get out of your school clothes." Autumn scolded.
I heard them walk away and Autumn put her hand on my shoulder.
I tensed up and she took her hand off my shoulder.
I opened my eyes and looked at her.
"Did you like the boys?" She smiled.
I nodded and she said "Well, that's good."
She walked back to the kitchen and I went upstairs.
I shut my door and sat on my bed.
After two hours, Paul came into the room and over to me.
"So Kian, we were thinking that we have pizza for dinner. Do you like pizza?" Paul asked me.
I nodded and he asked me "Are you allergic to anything?"
I shook my head non and he said "Okay. It should be ready in half an hour."
He got up and walked out of my room.
I walked downstairs and into the kitchen.
"Hey Kian. Paul's outside making pizza in the pizza oven if you want to join him." Autumn told me.
I nodded and sat down on a chair.
"So Kian, do you like sports?" Autumn asked me.
I shook my head no and she told me "So tonight we have a meeting with Mrs. Hannah and you have counselling right?"
I nodded and she said "The one rule I have for when we have meals is no electronics. So I will need you to take your headphones off. You can wear them around your neck, but you just can't have them playing anything or wear them vet your ears."
I nodded and took my headphones off.
I put them around my neck and Paul came in with the pizza.
He put it on the serving plate on the table and Autumn called the boys downstairs.
Alister and Reed sat next to me and we started eating.
After dinner, I went to the living room and listened to my music. During dinner, nobody asked me any questions which I was happy about because I don't plan on talking to anybody anytime soon.
"Kian, come on buddy. We're going to see Mrs. Hannah." Paul told me.
I got up and put my shoes on.
"Bye boys. Be good while we're gone and don't break anything." Autumn called and we walked out the door.
We got into the car and drove to Mrs. Hannah's office where I go to counselling.
Once we got there, we went inside and I went to the counselling office.
"Hi Kian. Welcome back. Mrs. Allen will be able to see you in a few minutes." The reception told me.
I nodded and sat down in a waiting room chair.
Mrs. Allen is the counsellor who I see and she works in the same building as Mrs. Hannah.
Mrs. Allen came and took me to her office.
I sat down in the chair and she asked "So how are we today, Kian?"
I gave her a thumbs up and she said "I heard that you got put in another foster home today. Do you like it? Are they nice?"
I nodded my head and I could tell she was getting frustrated with me because I wasn't talking.
"Kian, I will be right back. I just have to go talk to Mrs. Hannah about something." Mrs. Allen told me.
I sat back knowing that she was going to get Mrs. Hannah and tell her that I wasn't talking.
Mrs. Hannah came into the room and said "Hi Kian."
I waved and she sat down on the chair next to me.
"Kian, you did really well this past month at counselling and you were talking to Mrs. Allen. She just wants to help you and the kind of hard to do when you won't talk to her. Everybody here just wants what's best for you. Can you promise me that you'll make an effort to talk to Mrs. Allen?" Mrs. Hannah told me.
I nodded and and she said "Okay. Thank you honey."
She got up and walked out of the room.
Mrs. Allen walked back into the room and sat down at her desk.
After an hour, my counselling session was done and I waited outside of Mrs. Hannah's office for Autumn and Paul to be done talking to her. They walked out of her office ten minutes later and we went home.
I went up to my room and listened to my music.
Autumn's P.O.V.
Paul called the boys down into the living room and we all sat down on the couch.
We usually like to tell them about the foster children that comes into our house so they know how to treat them.
"So boys, as you know Kian doesn't talk much. Most of the foster homes he had been in have been abusive. This is his nineteenth foster home and he just needs people to show him love. His mom met his dad in Canada after she moved her from Ireland. Once he found out that she was pregnant, his dad didn't want anything to do with them so his mom went back to Ireland and had Kian there. After one year, they came back to Canada and lived here. When Kian was three years old, he got in a car accident with his mom. She didn't make it to the hospital and they called Kian's grandparents in Ireland and they said that they did not want him. So he was put into the foster care system. He has a burn on his arm because one of the foster parents in his former foster home burned him really bad when he was younger. He doesn't talk because he was always told to be quiet in his other foster homes. He turned twelve last week and doesn't have a lot of belongings. He has run away from three foster homes and goes to a special school." Paul told them.
"What do you mean, special school?" Alister asked.
"At the moment, he is not going to regular school. He goes to a school for troubled kids. He doesn't perform well in regular school so that is why he goes to that school. He has had a few rage episodes and rage outbursts." I answered.
"Well did they test him for anything?" Kenny asked.
"Yep. Everything you can think of, he's been tested for. Every single test came back with negative results." Paul answered.
"He doesn't like being in crowds of people and prefers to be alone." Paul added.
"For the next few days, Kian won't be going to school just so he can adjust to our house. As you know through our experiences with other foster children, that usually doesn't happen. But we were given the opportunity and we took it. That being said, you boys still have to go to school." I explained.
They nodded and we talked more about Kian.
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