Foster Care

Pike moves in with his foster mother, Elaine, in the quiet suburban town of Whiteridge. He meets Aidan and things don't really go to plan.

                The moving van finally drove away, leaving behind a cloud of smoke thick enough to choke on. Elaine stood with her hands on her hips, waving towards the retreating vehicle, a smile on her face. She blew out a sigh and tucked a stray strand of hair back into her bun " where the bobble looked like it was about to snap " and turned to face me. “Well, Pike. Let’s get your stuff inside!”

                It took a full hour to bring in every box before we sat down to a bowl of spaghetti. It was the only thing Elaine could make without burning " and even that was a stretch, I realised, as I pulled out a piece of blackened pasta. How is that even possible?  I thought to myself. There was a pitcher of homemade lemonade sitting in the middle of the table, although it sat untouched. Elaine was watching me nervously. “What?” I asked quietly.

                “Why are you so quiet?” She asked before shoving in another mouthful of food. “Most boys your age won’t shut up.” I pulled my arm off the table, narrowly avoiding a wad of Bolognese that landed where my arm had once been. Elaine ran a diner in the city centre and painted in her free time. The social workers were sceptical before sending me to live with her.

                I just shrugged a little. “Not got anything to say.” The food tasted a little charred but it was edible enough.

                “Did your parents say anything as you left?” I was starting to lose my appetite. “They didn’t say anything horrible, did they?” I shook my head before standing up. “Where are you going?”

                “Not hungry anymore,” I mumbled before walking down the hall to the guest room " my room for the time being. Elaine lived in a quaint bungalow on a quiet suburban street on the outskirts of Glasgow and takes the 45 minute drive into the city centre every day. I wondered if I would have to walk to school or whether she would drive me like some kind of suburban school mum.

                No. Not my mum. Not ever.

                The guest room was plain. The four walls were a pale yellow and the queen size bed in the middle of the room was covered with a lilac and white checked bedsheet. It was sickeningly cute. I wanted to tear off the wallpaper and rip apart the bedsheets. My stuff was placed in precarious piles outside the door and I carefully lifted in each box. There was three white chests of drawers placed around the room and no wardrobe, but even with all my clothes stuffed in, I still had space left over.

                I placed my picture frames around the room and covered each available surface until the room felt full. But even then, it still didn’t feel like home. Grabbing my phone from the bed where it was charging, I pulled on my jacket and walked towards the kitchen. Elaine was sitting on the kitchen counter sketching and barely looked up when I walked in. “I’m going for a walk.”

                “Alright, stay safe,” she called back, not even looking up from her sketchbook before I shut the door behind me.

                The Whiteridge Estate was almost a circle; if you kept veering to the right, you would end up back where you started in less than an hour. However, as I had completed a semicircle, I came across a partially hidden pathway into the cluster of trees.

                “This is the perfect start to a horror movie,” I muttered to myself as I walked down the ash pathway. The estate was quiet, although that wasn’t surprising since we were mainly surrounded by elderly women who spend their afternoons in the next town over playing bingo (Mrs Elderfield had enjoyed spilling her eventful evening over tea and gingerbread " against my will).

                Even the birds were silent as I made my way through the trees and thick underbrush, setting me on edge slightly. I pulled my jacket around me and sped up, eager to find the other side of the pathway.

                The snap of a twig somewhere behind me made me pause, spinning around. Someone was standing on the pathway not far behind me. A boy, maybe a year or two older than me. “Sorry, mate,” he said, holding his hands up as if to prove to me that he wasn’t dangerous. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

                I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded. “No, I know. Just wasn’t expecting anyone else here.” The way he was looking at me made me feel a little uneasy.

                He smiled slightly and let out a breathy laugh before holding out a hand to me. “I’m Aidan. And you might be?” I looked at his hand, wary of this stranger. I never heard him behind me until now. Had he maybe found another entrance or was he intentionally trying be quiet? Shaking my head slightly, I pushed the thoughts aside. He was just a kind person, nothing more.

                “I’m Pike,” I said as I shook his hand.

                “Pike? As in the fish?” I laughed slightly and nodded.

                “Yeah, my mum had a weird fish craving while she was pregnant with me.” He laughed and I felt a small smile grow on my face as I heard it; it was so full and loud, not fake or forced like most people did when I told them about my parents.

                “So you must be the kid staying with Elaine,” he said after he had stopped laughing. I paused for a second. People were talking about me? It made me slightly uncomfortable to know that I was source of gossip around the estate. He must have noticed the unease on my face because he added, “Not that you’re being talked about! I live a few houses down from Elaine and we noticed the moving vans.” I nodded slowly, accepting his excuse for now, but I still remained cautious. He had a weird aura to him, one that I would rather keep away from.

                “Well, it was nice meeting you, Aidan, but I really have to get going-“

                “You know,” he interrupted, taking a few steps towards me. “You remind me of my younger brother.” I took a step back. “He…passed away a few years ago, he was only thirteen.” I swallowed nervously.

                “I’m sorry for your loss but I really need-“

                “My parents never really seemed to care after that, they all but abandoned me. I’ve had to fend for myself for the last few years. Grew up too fast, I think.” He gave me a sad smile, although it seemed to hide some sort of malice behind it. I shivered slightly.

                “I’ll see you later, I guess,” I said and turned away, walking quickly down the path.

                “Be careful out here, Mr Pike!” he called to my retreating back. “It’s easy to get lost in the woods!”

 

***

 

I kept seeing Aidan almost every day after that; he would be in the next aisle at the supermarket, he would be browsing in the same shops. I seen him in the woods a few times after we first met, although I spotted him before he spotted me: cue me quickly turning and almost running in the other direction before he could realise that it was me.

The air was getting brisker as it moved from summer into autumn and I was already missing the warm summer breeze as I would sit and read in the backyard, void of responsibilities and worries.

One night, I snuck out to wander the forest again. Honestly, it’s even more terrifying at night but it’s peaceful enough that I can read without having to worry about being interrupted. That night, I had brought a few classics that I had brought from home. Mum always liked to read the classics, said that the language made her feel like she was living in another time. It made her feel free.

It made me feel free, sometimes, too.

I was sitting in the middle of a clearing, headphones on, when something tapped me on the shoulder. Dropping the book as though I was scorched, I spun around and kicked out, connecting with a shin.

“Ah, s**t!”

“Aidan?” I asked breathlessly, taking off my headphones and setting them on the ground. “What the hell were you thinking, sneaking up on me?!” He looked at me with a smirk on his face, although he winced when he stretched out his leg.

“How was I supposed to know that you would attack me like that?” A breathy laugh.

“How was I supposed to hear you coming?! I had headphones on!”

He smiled at me again " did he ever stop smiling? " and leant back on his arms. “I mean, I was relying on the element of surprise…but I can live without it.” A sudden flash of pain. Then darkness.

 

***

 

                “Maybe I hit him too hard, I was a bit rough.” A pause. “Well, he’s still breathing so that must be a good sign.” Another pause. “Right?” I couldn’t help let out a groan at the pain that fired through my skull with each breath, accidentally announcing that I was awake in the process. “Oh good, you’re alive!” The voice was familiar, annoyingly cheerful…

                “Aidan?” I asked, my voice rough, wincing a little. I slowly opened my eyes and allowed them to adjust to the lack of light around me before slowly turning my head to take in my surroundings. It looked like a cabin room. “Aidan, what is going on? My head hurts.” I raised my hand to touch my head but it was stopped partway to my head. I pulled again, this time hearing a metallic clank of chains and feeling the force of my pull reverberating through my wrist.

                Aidan laughed and sat directly in front of me. “Remember when I told you that you reminded me of my little brother?” I nodded. “His name was Lucas and he looked at me as if I created the Earth and sky itself. It made me feel like a god.”

                “Aidan, I really need to get home-“

                “Stop interrupting me!” He yelled, grabbing my wrists. We stared at each other for a few seconds, eyes wide, before he gently placed my wrists on the ground. “Sorry,” he muttered. “It’s just that everyone ignores me and I thought you would be different.” As he stared at the ground, I realised how different he seemed like this; vulnerable, scared almost.

                I spoke quietly, cautiously, as I said, “Aidan…you really need to take me back to Elaine’s. People will start to worry about us.”          

                He laughed, although it sounded forced. “Nobody cares about where I am. And if they find out that you’re with me, they’ll lose interest in you too.”

                “What are you talking about? The people here care about you too.”

                “No they don’t! You just don’t realise because everybody loves you!” He stared at me, his eyes wild and ablaze. He looked insane. “You help the neighbours, you don’t have wild parties, you read! Old people love that!” He ran a hand through his hair. “So I’m going to cut it out of you.”

                I paused. “I’m sorry, what?”

                He leaned closer until his nose was almost touching mine. “It’s something inside you that people love. So I’m going to cut it out of you.”

                “Aidan, come on,” I pleaded, holding up my hands in defence. “Y-You don’t understand, I don’t have a-anything in me to help you! People don’t like me either!” I attempted to smile to lighten the situation but it only seemed to make him angrier. I seen a flicker of metal in the moonlight coming in through the window.

                “I’m sorry, Pike,” he said softly.

                “A-Aidan, please!”

                “I always thought of you as a friend.”

 

***

                “Did you see Janice’s new haircut?” Denise asked.

                “Oh my god, it makes her look like Donald Trump,” Paula answered. Both women laughed as they casually walked past the pathway into the trees, the night slowly getting darker. “I can’t believe she won the bingo too.”

                “She’ll probably spend it on a new haircut.” The women snigger. All of a sudden, there was a distant noise from somewhere within the cluster of trees, causing both women to stop.

                “What was that?” Paula asked. Denise shook her head.

                “Probably some animal.”

                “But what if it was a person? What if they need help?” Paula looked concerned as she stared down the pathway. Denise simply pulled her friend’s arm.

                “Come on, no one is stupid enough to go in there.” They both turned and walked down the road. “Everyone knows that Aidan prowls about in there.”

Author's Note

This was written for graded assessment in my college course and has recently been graded and marked for resubmission I, however, like it the way it is and hope you do to!