The new family hated Paxton.
Or at least this is what he first thought.
"Brace your plates and silverware." The older woman, Justine, told her daughter, Gia.
What were they saying? It frustrated him to think they were conversing about him, yet he knew nothing of what they spoke. He didn't understand the langauge nor did he understand anything they did. They took him in when everyone else passed by him, they fed him while others made him starve and practically forced him to eat the tiny creatures in the woods, raw. So what was so different about this family?
Why did they care for him?
These thoughts surrounded his mind as he waited to be freed from the confines of his small, dainty room. It seemed too small for the likes of him, but he couldn't complain, literally.
As soon as the door opened a creak, Paxton burst through, making the little one who opened it in the first place fall to the ground with a gasp. He checked behind him to see if he did any substantial damage to her, but when he saw that she was just startled, he returned his attention to the seductive food set in front of him on the dinner table.
He grabbed for the nearest thing first, the spaghetti bowl. As soon as he grabbed a handful, her voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Wait." She said simply. He paused slightly. "A little bit." He dropped some spaghetti back into the bowl, hand still hovering above it.
"Eat." He didn't need to be told twice. Though Paxton didn't understand the language, he knew shorter words were things he had to listen to, evidence of that was when he accidentally bit the girl for food. He learned short words like 'eat' and 'wait' were completely different. The way they sounded coming from the girl's mouth had different meanings too.
One meant he could satisfy his hunger, the other meant to stop or else he would hurt people like he did to her.
She intrigued him, the girl. He assumed she was around his age, if not, younger. His enhanced senses seemed to pick up that she was very ill. Her body was slowly failing her and wasn't letting her breathe properly, that much he could tell. Which was probably why she couldn't leave like the younger one could.
Paxton eyed the girl, waiting for more commands and she delivered throughout the whole meal, the rest of her family watching in awe as they finally got to eat a proper dinner. They wondered how Sarah had gotten to tame the beast inside him and why he was listening to her, but they weren't complaining as they filled their bellies with a wondrous dinner they had been missing out on these past few days.
After dinner, the girls went and washed up, leaving Paxton alone in his tiny quarters for the night. He didn't allow them to help him clean himself after what happened with the older woman a few days prior. He didn't really want to clean himself as he spent the majority of his life in the wilderness, the only bath being the occasional rainstorm.
Sarah came to Paxton's room to tell him this certainly was not okay. She had heard her mother's constant complaining about him getting dirty again and she wouldn't have it. She had fixed one problem only to start another series of problems. She knew Paxton probably hated baths, but she had to admit his smell was really starting to bug her as well.
She would have to do something, and soon.
"Paxton?" She called out as she knocked on his door. His head perked up as he sat on the floor, silently wishing she'd come inside and give him some form of attention.
She opened the door slowly and took a look at his disheveled appearance with a sigh. "What are we going to do with you?" She tsked and walked in, sitting down in front of him, staring him in the eye in a silent face-off.
