Chapter 2

The halls were long, eerie. The carpet was a dusted red, the pattern of diamonds and swirls in the shape of snakes crawling along the entirety of it. The smell was not as lavender scented but rather a more stale smell, even if the bright smell lingered. Doors were placed on both sides, perfectly spaced and parallel to the opposite door. Adam couldn’t even count them all; how long did this hallway go for? There were no windows, and in the places of possible glassware were pictures of the family, well, Adam expected to be the family.

Giggles filled the halls, loud and high pitched. Three children, two girls and a boy, dashed down the halls from behind Adam, their small bodies running faster than rabbits.

“Mama! Mama!” the young boy said, running to a room not far from where Adam was standing. A woman emerged from the room, only her torso being seen. Her hand found the boy’s carob-colored hair, running her nails against his scalp which caused the boy to lean into the touch. “Junie jumped the water! The big one! The..uh..the gi-lantic one!”

A chuckle came from the woman. “Gigantic, Rune.” The boy just nodded at the word, as if saying that was the word he wanted to use. One of the girls bounced on her toes as the other just stood, her shoes and the bottom of her pants soaked. “You finally jumped the lake, June? Is that why you’re all wet?”

The blonde girl nodded vigorously and jumped on her feet with excitement; her shoes squished underneath her. “I jumped it! I jumped! And I only fell two times!”

The woman looked surprised, and although it was obviously an exaggerated expression to Adam, the kids seemed to get even more excited. She stepped out of the room, Adam catching an eye sight of her. She was gorgeous, red-almost orange hair fell down to her mid-back, her eyes kind, looking as if she’s never cried, her lips thin and bright. Her flaws were seen: pimple scars, slightly bigger front teeth, and darker eyebrows, but she pulled them off perfectly, embracing every single imperfection. Everything about her was beautiful, and it overwhelmed the orphan boy.

The woman’s eyes gently looked over to Adam, her sky blue eyes finally being fully visible to him. Her lips turned to a smile. Adam’s heart fluttered.

“Hi, hun. Are you okay? Are you the new adoptee? I heard we’re adopting a child, you’re quite tall for a child,” the woman rambled. The three children glanced up towards who the woman was talking to, the two girls hiding into the room the woman came from. Adam just stared at the woman.

“Uh..yeah, I’m seventeen. I got here like almost an hour ago, I’m Adam,” he said, extending a hand. Some sort of stain could be seen peeking out from the side of his sleeve, making Scarlett hesitate. Her soft skin touched his and blood rushed to Adam’s face. Her nails grazed his skin in such a way that the butterflies in his stomach duplicated. The scent of vanilla emanated from the gorgeous woman, she was just…stunning.

“Scarlett Eusford. This is Rune-. Rune, come on, don’t be shy,” said the woman. Her hand gestured for the boy to come out from behind the two girls he was hiding behind. Her sweet voice was so soft towards the children and even to Adam, even if he was almost an adult. The voices would make anyone feel calmer.

The young child, uncertain, stumbled his way towards his mother, grabbing her pant leg immediately when he came close enough to her. His large eyes stared up at Adam and his lip curled in such a way that he seemed disgusted. Adam wasn’t very clean, it was more than obvious. His clothes were raggedy and either too loose or too fitting, stains were seen on every piece of clothing, mud glued to the bottoms and sides of his shoes, his black hair looking more greasy than it should. Nothing about him said “washed”.

“Mama, why is he dirty? No shower?” the boy asked, his grip on his mom’s leg growing stronger. His blue eyes stared daggers into Adam, eyeing him as if he were a piece of trash. Scarlett gave a little gasp and knelt down to her child. A man’s voice, along with the two young girls’ voices echoed in the hallway.

“Rune, we don’t talk about people like that, it’s rude.”

“Mama, but he’s yucky.”

“We don’t judge people before we know them.”

Rune sighed. A sigh only a child would do when they know they are losing an argument but have no comeback. His foot kicked a bit, small dust particles being brought up from the carpet. Scarlett simply smiled, ruffled his hair, and stood back up.

“I’m so sorry about him, he’s still getting used to new people, doesn’t usually get out much,” she said. Adam scratched at the dry fabric with the unlabelled, red stain; even he didn’t know what it was, and he probably created the mess. The specks of unknown stuck under his fingernails, the jaggedness of them digging into his skin.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. I get it a lot. I mean, I didn’t really go outside either but when I did, people would be confused, yeah..” Adam replied, his stomach churning with anxiety. He remembers a time when he wasn’t even allowed outside, as it would create either too much attention, or not enough. After the fire, he looked like a normal orphan child, matching with the other kids and always had his head down. There were always two possibilities: they either recognized him and the boy was bombarded with questions, statements, apologies (although, Adam never knew what they were apologizing for), and even small gifts, or they didn’t recognize him at all and his caretaker would get frustrated that her orphanage wasn’t getting enough attention as she wanted. Adam, to her, was an advertisement.

A man, tall yet slouched, emerged from the room where apparently multiple people resided. His hand snaked around Scarlett’s waist and a sly smile found its way onto the woman’s face. Her head rested on his shoulder, even if she was almost a foot shorter, and her eyes showed nothing but love, desire. There was so much tension between the two that Adam swore he saw an actual electric connection between the two bodies.

The man looked at Adam, the blood leaving his body a bit. “James Bentley.”

Adam took a deep breath. He’d been mistaken for his father multiple times in his life, and everytime, they had the same reaction as the man.

“That was my dad. I’m Adam,” Adam said, his fingers wrapping around the fabric of his sweatshirt. With how clean the older man was, he didn’t think he would want a handshake from an orphan boy. The man just nodded, his breathing getting slightly caught in his throat.

“A very intelligent man. Very kind, I’ve heard,” he said, staring Adam up and down. “Icez Eusford. This is my wife, Scarlett, but knowing her, she’s probably already introduced herself.”

Scarlett giggled and looked up at her husband, her body relaxed against him as she allowed her mind to run wild with admiration and passion. Adam attempted to not show his confusion. Was Scarlett not a single mother? Icez wasn’t in the family picture, no blond hair to be seen amongst the black and brown. There was no sweater with the letter “I” sewn on it. Yet, Icez had the same last name as Aaron, meaning they must be related in some way. Even the children were in the picture, and they were barely toddlers.

“You look uncertain,” Icez interrupted Adam’s thoughts. His eyes glanced at the couple.

“I just didn’t know Scarlett was married,” he replied. Confusion spread to every part of his brain.

“Oh, yes, four years! Of course, that’s only marriage, we’ve known each other since middle school,” Scarlett chimed in, her smile never faltering, in fact, it grew as she talked about her relationship. “He was so nerdy, so awkward. Zits everywhere on his face. When I first saw him, I thought ‘that’s the man I’m going to marry!’ and I did.”

Icez blushed at the middle and high school description on him. With that description, Adam didn’t even think he saw pictures of Icez when he was younger. Were there any pictures of him? It’s not that Icez was ugly because he was quite the attractive man, definitely had a glow up from his previous years from his wife’s explanation, so what pictures could be displayed of him?

“Rune is our boy, aren’t you, bud?” Icez said, turning back towards the room where Rune had dashed into once more. His small head peaked out and went back in, barely making an entrance. “He’s not much of a talker. Pretty shy for his age, barely gets along with the other boys at school.”

Adam nodded. He knew what that was like. The caretaker of the orphanage taught all the children herself, Adam never understanding most of what she had said. Throughout that homemade school, he would sit alone, watching as other kids interacted with one another and have fun with their young lives that had begun with trauma. He was the outcast, he was the one that people believed was cursed. Some individuals even went so far as to start a rumor that he started the fire himself and killed his own family at the young age of four. He was shunned, pushed to the corner, and ignored by the young boys and girls he assumed would understand the situation he was shoved into the most. He didn’t grasp his position until he was much older, his late teens. Adam assumed it was normal, or he was in strong denial; he would watch other kids start brand new lives with friends and genuine adoration for their bravery. Adam wasn’t given that, at least not to the extent of the other children. He was given cameras, journalists, and questions about his opinion when the only opinion he should have been having was about his favorite sandwich.

“Are you looking for somewhere in particular?” Scarlett said. Her smile widened; she certainly loved to meet new people. “I know this place like the back of my hand!”

“You’ve gotten lost multiple times this week, my love.”

“Ice, this place is big, okay?” Scarlett defended herself, laughing a bit. Her hands grabbed the crook of Adam’s arm, her nails scraping at the crusty fabric. However, she didn’t care. She didn’t care about the muck that lied between the folds of his hoodie. It was something that stood out compared to everyone else Adam has met today…or even in his life.

_ _ _

The corridors seemed endless, as if the floorboards were generating with every step he took. There was no way you could turn and not find another void of the same walls and carpets (although, one of the carpets had a large stain and the color couldn’t be determined by neither Adam nor Scarlett). Steps upon steps, floors upon floors, the rooms just kept appearing, there was no end. One floor was strictly just different libraries. Another was bedrooms, there were thousands of rooms on the floors.

“Are you enjoying your first day here?” Scarlett said, leading him down yet another endless hallway of similarity. She didn’t look at him, her head turning at each door to make sure she didn’t miss an important room. Adam looked with her, but he really had no idea what they were looking for.

“Yeah, it’s okay..a little overwhelming,” he chuckled, his eyes feeling as if they were going cross eyed from the ceaseless pattern along the carpets and walls. His legs were cramping and the soles of his feet were feeling as if they were stepping on barbed wire. He had walked so many steps, so many floors, that there was nothing he wanted more than to rest; Scarlett looked perfectly fine, a small pep in her step as they traveled down. She must have been used to the pain because Adam didn’t know how long it was going to be until he melted into a pile of soreness.

They stopped walking, more Scarlett stopped them walking. Adam felt his knees go weak immediately and just wanted to fall over and lay onto the floor. But he refused to let himself look that vulnerable in front of a stunning woman.

“This is your room! I know, I know, it’s high up but I promise, you’ll get used to the steps,” Scarlett said, basically reading Adam’s mind. Her smile was contagious though, making the orphan just want to smile with her, no matter how much aching he was in.

“Thank you, Mrs. Eusford,” Adam stated, grinning back at her. Her kind eyes watched as he stumbled into his new found room. A room designed just for him. Maybe the family was going to like him, maybe he will belong. Maybe he will be able to have a home.