Caiden (The Greener Grass series)

CHAPTER TWO

“Come on Kaden. Say ‘mommy’!” Richard cooed, “It’ll make Karen so proud of me!” The small boy, no older than the age of two, blinked, addled up at his father. He gargled out some erratic sounds that made gibberish seem like a sophisticated language. This caused Richard to sigh and rub his temple.
“Are you even attempting to create a proper or accurate word?” He groused. Kaden, being an infant, tittered gleefully, unaware of the disappointed and judgmental eyes that his father projected down at him. Richard picked up the baby by the armpits and stared into its bright and hopeful eyes. He scowled and tried again.
“Kaden, say mom,” he said sternly. Once again Kaden blabbered out nonsense. Although, this time, the incoherent vocalizations sounded like the young child knew what was being asked of him.
“Now that you’re trying, say ‘mommy’,” Richard ordered. He hummed out noises that started to sound like the prompted name. As Kaden’s father pushed him to say the uncomplicated, the boy slipped into a sleep like daze. His vision inverted and instead of looking out into the world, he was looking into his mind. In a flash of purple and white rays of light, Kaden was again looking out at the universe. These weren’t the scenes his minute mind was used to though. The hues where still faded but everything was opposite of what his vision had picked up just a few seconds ago. He sat on a plush bed of dull colored grass that lay outside of a fairly plain house. The shingles color was the same at the paint that covered the rest of the building, and the other houses on the block didn’t vary much either. Kaden’s infantile eyes glanced around and viewed the whitewashed fences that caged the area each person owned to their own eyes. A shadow cast over the child and he looked up, curious at why the sun suddenly left. A tall man, no older than the age of thirty, smiled down at the baby. He reached down and picked up Kaden.
“Well how do you do little guy?” His kind brown eyes grinned down at him and his blue-grey hair was swooped neatly to the left. The males faded blue sweater vest over his off-white dress shirt showed that he wasn’t a vary fashion forward person either. “I’m Kaden, you seem lost. Why don’t you come inside with me?”
Suddenly Kaden was back in his own unhospitable house. Yet this time he was around the age of five and hunched over a desk, reading a lengthy book.
“Physics is the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy,” Kaden recited form the textbook. He picked up his pencil and jotted down the definition in red, spiral bound notebook. The homeschooled, self-taught boy pondered the slightly complex sentence and furrowed his eyebrows, causing his face to screw up. He re-read the sentence slower.
“Physics is the branch of science. Okay so it’s a branch of science. Concerned, well concern means relate to or to be about. So physics is the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy,” Kaden said pulling apart the sentence. As he continued to concentrate on his work, he felt himself go into a daze. Kaden’s vision inverted and instead of looking out into the world, he was looking into his mind. In a flash of purple and white rays of light, he was again looking out at the universe. Although, what he saw perplexed him.
“This cannot be correct at all,” Kaden said as he gaped at his surroundings. Instead of the sky being the bleached blue color he was used to, it revealed the appearance of a galaxy. Yet, nothing had order. The stars bounced effortlessly and bashed into each other. Supernovas and stellar collisions harmlessly lit up his young eyes.
“Unbelievable…” he gawked.
“Better believe it fella,” a feminine voice called out to him. Kaden spun around only to be faced with more blank space filled with comets and vast solar systems that looked as if they could fall apart at any second. A melodious giggle echoed in and out of his ears.
“Up here silly-billy,” the girlish voice once again sounded from above. Kaden looked up, his eyes were met with the sight of a girl with navy hair that was tugged through a hair tie. She had a rosy tint to her cheeks and nose that caused her skin to appear as if it glowed. The girl floated above Kaden with the rest of the stellar and interstellar objects.
“Wait, how? But this makes no sense,” Kaden stuttered out.
“It makes perfect sense, your just not piecing together the obvious,” said the girl, no older than Kaden. He crossed his arms.
“Does not! It defies all laws of physics,” Kaden argued.
“That’s exactly why it makes so much sense though,” she retorted, “obviously the objects that reside here have little to no gravitational pull. Thus resulting in be being able to float and all the supernovas not harming you.” Kaden’s eyes widen in awe as she pieced everything together for him.
“Who are you?” He asked curiously.
“I’m Cadlee,” she responded.
“Okay Cadlee, I’m Kaden,” he said in response. Cadlee drifted down and planted her feet in front of Kaden.
“So Kaden,” Cadlee began to ask, “Want to know what it’s like to fly?” she said with an excided smile and the extension of her hand.
Without warning, everything vanished and Kaden was sitting at a table. A computer lay, whirring in front of him as he scrolled through various search options. The screens light danced off the ten-year-olds brown orbs. His retinas scanned the URL of a selected page and after deciding it was the right sight, he clicked on it.
“The multiverse theory,” Kaden read softly to himself, “is the concept and hypothetical entity, made of parallel universes along with our universe.” He rested his elbow on the tabletop and his head in his hand as he chewed on his thumbnail, deep in thought. He pulled out a small leather book and flipped through the pages, trying to find a blank one. The sheets were filled with drawings of people you wouldn’t find in any government record and sketches of places you won’t see on any map. Once he found the blank sheet of paper, he recorded what the multiverse theory was, along with a few other notes. He quickly shut the book and closed his web page before he stood up and left his father’s office where the PC resided. He walked out into a rather long corridor that’s walls where a indescribable leaden color and its floors where covered in a dowdy red carpet. He soon reached his own room and his dry hands gripped the cold metal door knob before twisting it, opening the wooden door. Its hinges creaked, interrupting the silent hall’s quiet serenade. He stepped in and once again closed the door back. Kaden sat on his bed and stared into a full length mirror, pondering his adventures with friends the past nine years of his life. They all seemed so real, he knew that they were. He had logged all them in his journal and the multiverse theory had made so much sense to him. Yet, what confused him was that he never really remembered seeing himself. When he was he two, he remembered seeing a man that looked like an older version of his current self, but never had he seen a fully parallel version of himself. He continued to stare at his full body reflection in the mirror. As he let his mind run contemplating the subject, he felt himself go into a daze. His vision inverted and instead of looking out into the world, he was looking into his mind. In a flash of purple and white rays of light, he was again looking out at the universe. What Kaden saw astounded him. Color and hues that he had never seen or believed existed filled his mind. He stood in a field of bright yellow flowers with lime green stems that reached for the suns warmth. A soft breeze wrapped its comforting arms around Kaden and enveloped him the smell of the earth. Everything he saw seemed as if it was perfect. He tilted his head up to the sky and let his eyes roam over the colorful horizon, taking in the beauty of the sparkling star against the deep aqua color of the heavens.
“Good afternoon,” a sweet voice fell upon Kaden’s ears and he looked down from the sky. His own unexciting brown eyes met those that where a vibrant violet color.
“I’m Caiden, and you are?” the same sugary voice said. The owner of the voice had a peachy, almost pastel colored skin that worked well with his purple eyes. His hair was white with multi-colored tips and was charmingly messy. His small frame wore a short yellow shirt the ended about an inch below his abdomen and fluttered freely. His shoulders adorned green suspenders, whose metal clasps connected to his white shorts that fell a few inches above his knee. His beige shoes creased the grass he was standing on.
“I’m Kaden,” he said, pulling away from his thoughts.
“Pleasure to meet you Kaden,” the boy said, extending his small hand. Kaden shook his hands, his skin was soft and the boy in general reminded Kaden of a teddy bear.
“Hey, Kaden! Want to go exploring!?” Caiden asked excitedly. He smiled and nodded his head, allowing his new friend and parallel self to lead the way.
Kaden’s lips formed a soft smile as the fond memories flooded out of his head. Although the kind expression didn’t last for long, it soon faded back to his typical, emotionless poker face. As his consciousness was brought back to his body by reality and he realized he had zoned out for a few minutes, his attention slowly came back into what Dr. Marlow was saying to him.
“Don’t you agree Kirin?” The male in front of him asked.
“W-What?” Kaden responded, surprised by the sudden question.
“Don’t you agree? That you’ve been coming to see me for to many years now,” he clarified.
“Oh, yes of course,” Kaden agreed, “Far too long.”
“Then it’s settled, I’ll ask your parents for permission,” Dr. Marlow said with a successful grin.
“What exactly is settled Dr. Marlow?” He asked, still a bit confused.
“Why your use of medication of course, if they approve you’ll be put on the pills tomorrow.”