butterfly// 5SOS

2

Elijah

"May we come in?"

Mum and dad knocked on the door and I nodded, both of them sitting on the end of my bed.

"We are really proud of you for today. This isn't easy, and we know you've moved around lots before so you might find it hard to feel like you belong,"

Again, I nodded and dad put his hand on mine, gently rubbing circles on it.

"We brought you this, to give to us if you are ever scared about speaking to us. Everyone gets this note, and it's a reminder that we will support you in the conversation. If you bring it then we will both be mindful of our words, because we love you too much to argue,"

"How can you love me?"

"We love everyone who comes into this house no matter how long they stay, or who they are. You're our kid,"

"You probably don't want to love me,"

"Don't say that sweetheart," mum said, "Of course we do. We are genuinely excited to have you in our house,"

"Okay,"

"Perhaps you could tell us a bit more about your experiences so that we could understand, and help you. You shouldn't have to feel like you don't deserve love,"

"No,"

"Nothing?"

"No,"

"Okay, but we have to at some point, Katy. Perhaps in a day or two. We aren't the type of people who let these things fail. You can tell us absolutely anything,"

"Okay,"

"Have a good sleep, sweet dreams,"

They both kissed my cheek and then tucked me in, turning out my light. It was weird.

I'd never met people like this before.

Comfortable in Jasper's clothes, I drifted off to sleep, and generally it wasn't a problem for me. Often, I slept to escape people or thoughts, but here it didn't seem like I had any reason to do that.

In the morning, there was a knock at my door, and I groaned. Blinking my eyes open, I saw Jasper at the door.

"Good morning. Wanna play football?"

"Yes," I said quickly.

"I'll be in the garden,"

I yawned and sat up, pulling my beanie back down. It kept slipping up, and almost came off in my sleep.

I put on my jeans, then put a football shirt on and my shoes. Though I knew it was wrong, I snook into Jasper's room and put on his aftershave, then headed downstairs and went to the garden.

"Have you played much?"

"No,"

"Awh, why not?"

"No one would let me,"

"Well then it's a good job you're here. We can just kick it round,"

He put it down then passed it to me, so I kicked it back and ran to a different spot; once it was back to me, he did the same. We did this for quite a while, but then dad called us in to eat breakfast.

"You two looked like you were having fun," mum said, putting out eggs on toast for everyone, "How did you sleep?"

"Good," Lauren said, stabbing the egg with her fork, "Mummy, cut,"

"Please,"

"Please,"

"Good," I mumbled.

"Today, some people are going to be visiting us. Our friends and family want to meet you,"