The Boy Who Made Flowers Sing

31 | Carson

Contrary to what Kennedy thought, Elena loved the support group and looked forward to it. The youngest and most intriguing person to Elena was a young boy only 13 years old. He went to many foster homes and the families always kicked him out due to his temper issues. Not having a family was terrifying to her. And both this little boy and Kennedy had to go through that. But Elena had a lovely mother and sister who were there to support her at all times. And though things were rough, she was loved. The support group made Elena realize that she needed to be a better friend and be more grateful for the things she had in her life. 

At the next session, Elena sat beside Carson,  the 13-year-old boy who looked awfully lonely.

"Hey," Elena said to him.

The boy wore a black hoodie and the hood covered up the upper half of his face as he slouched in his seat.

"Hi," He said plainly, surprised that Elena was talking to him.

He took his hood off and showed off a freckled face and dirty blonde hair. He had dark circles under his eyes and his right cheek held a fresh, red bruise. He looked blankly straight ahead of himself, away from Elena.

"Who did that to you?" Elena asked, pointing to his cheek.

The boy turned towards her, his eyes looking scared. "Do what?"

"The bruise," Elena said.

"Why does it matter to you?" He asked defensively.

"It looks bad. You need to ice it."

The boy sighed in frustration.

"You don't need to tell me who did it," Elena said. "Come on. There are ice packs in the other room."

The boy reluctantly stood up and found himself following Elena out of the room. Elena grabbed an ice pack from the small freezer and pressed it on his cheek. The boy didn't react and held a poker, bored face.

"Here," Elena said. "Hold this for five minutes. The swelling will go down."

The boy quietly nodded. Kennedy walked past them and then retraced her steps, stopping at the doorway.

"Hey Elena," She said, frowning at them between furrowed eyebrows. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Hey," Elena said. "You missed half the session today."

"I know," Kennedy smirked, looking at the boy. "Hey, Carson."

The boy nodded at her.

"Tom was too drunk to drive me. So, I was going to take the bus, but it showed up 30 fucking minutes later."

Carson laughed surprising Elena.

"You think this is fucking funny?" Kennedy raised her eyebrows jokingly.

"Kennedy!" Elena exclaimed. "Stop swearing in front of him."

"He doesn't care," Kennedy said, smiling at the boy. "Right Carson?"

"Yeah, I don't give a fuck," Carson said casually, holding the ice pack to his cheek.

Elena's eyes widened when she heard the quiet boy swear and stared at him in disbelief. Then, Elena and Kennedy looked at each other and burst out laughing. 

****

Now that Elena was off of drugs for some time, she started working again at a local retail store. Retail was never a pleasant job but Elena had to keep herself distracted. Amidst stacking cat food on a shelf, someone approached her from behind. 

"Excuse me," A female voice said. 

Elena turned around and smiled. 

"Oh! Hey Grace," Elena said to her classmate from school. 

"Elena! Nice to see you," She smiled, showing off pearly white teeth that belonged to a toothpaste commercial. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm working," Elena said, holding up her badge. "Just started a month ago."

Grace politely nodded. She was standing with her dad in the aisle. 

"Um, we're looking for rat poison," She chuckled. "We have mice in our garage."

"That'll be...Aisle 28," Elena recalled, smiling at them. 

Grace's father thanked her as he headed off in that direction. 

"I'll meet you at check out Grace," He smiled at her. 

She nodded. "So...Where have you been? I don't see you at school...At all."

Well, uh," Elena nervously chuckled. "Things haven't been so smooth."

"Even after rehab?" Grace asked.

"You knew I went to rehab?"

"Sorry, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to know. Everybody...Kinda knows."

"Right," Elena annoyingly said, remembering Kennedy's embarrassing announcement. "I've been clean for a while."

"That's great!" Grace exclaimed. "So, you're coming back to school?"

"I'll be homeschooled for some time to catch up," Elena said to her. "So how's school for you?"

"It's great! I got acceptance to Princeton University so I'll be going there next year. It was so hard to maintain a 4.0 GPA but I did it! I'm planning on becoming a lawyer."

"Wow! That's amazing. Congrats," Elena smiled, feeling small in front of her,

"Where are you going for college?"

"I...I haven't applied yet," Elena said. "Think I'll take a year off to work."

Grace nodded and gave her a small smile. "My scholarships and internship money are covering my college education so thank goodness I don't have to work. And my savings account will cover the rest. I do volunteer though at the senior home and I have piano and soccer practice to keep me busy. And of course, studying."

Elena nodded. "It's great that you keep yourself busy."

"I hope things get better for you, Elena. I can't believe Melissa and your dad are gone. Stay strong," Grace smiled.

"See you," Elena said, displeased with the fact that she brought up her dad and Melissa. 

Elena frowned. That interaction made her feel worse about herself. She had no goals and no education plans. She had no motivation to think about the future when she could barely survive in the present. And the only person responsible for her downfall was herself.  Sighing and shaking the negativity out of her head, Elena continued to stack the cans of cat food onto the shelf.