Chapter 6

They're all the same.

They're all the same.

What was I expecting?

Shadawn had locked the door instinctively as soon as he set foot in Hyaté's neat room, yet he made sure he did not close it with a loud bang.

He never liked it when he was loud.

Heart still thumping at a thundering pace, gasping for breath, he dug his crescent-shaped nails into his fleshy palms in an attempt to calm down. His rapid breath shuddered under the weight of the images that flashed within his mind.

Images he wanted to forget.

He hated noise. He hated loud noises. He hated that the world had so much noise.

He hated the existence of families as basic social institutions. Six letters that described the force that destroyed him. He wanted to be normal, like every character he saw on the television whenever he had the chance to watch one of those random shows that they showed at off-peak hours. The majority of the time he would imagine himself in the character's shoes. All of them always had a happy ending, a happy ending he craved, a happy ending that he knew was a far-fetched dream in the real world where nothing is ever fair. That's why he liked books. It was his catharsis.

Hyacynth's temper was not something that he had foreseen to be exposed to as soon as they met. The Hyacynth from his memories was far from the hot-tempered man he had met today. The hatred behind those midnight blue eyes as he conveyed across to him the absolute resentment he felt at his new presence in their lives and in their house.

He really did regret coming here. As much as lonesome life at the orphanage had been, he still felt a little less agitated and more at peace, even though it wasn't by much. Being sent to an orphanage even if it was for just a while, was a sign that weighed down on his unwanted existence.

"Shadawn?"

There was a light knock on the door carrying a muffled female voice.

"You there?"

He didn't feel like responding so he kept quiet, hoping she'll leave.

After a few more light knocks she sighed.

"I'm sorry about what happened down there Dawn. He was way out of line. Can you just open the door please? I've got your lunch"

He hadn't been called Dawn in almost a decade, as much as insignificant it would have sounded to most, the word of endearment stung his eyes.

"Okay, I'm just going to leave your food at the foot of the door okay? Please eat. I know you must be really tired and hungry."

Hynata informed him, and then after a couple of hesitant seconds he heard her footsteps receding.

Food was the last thing on his mind, however, he did unlock the door. As much as he wanted to stay away from them, he knew keeping Hyaté out of his room would be unfair. After all nothing except the contents of his tiny suitcase even belonged to him, and it never will.

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Shdawn was woken up from his far-from-peaceful slumber by the creaking of the door. He had curled up under the feather-soft blankets, covered from head to toe, as if covering all of himself up would keep all his problems at bay away from him. He didn't know how much time had flown by but the room was dark indicating it had to be at least past eight.

Foot steps approached him and he felt the side of his bed dent at the weight of someone sitting on it. He continued to keep up his façade of being deep in sleep.

He felt the said person shake his shoulder attempting to wake him up.

"Hey... wake up"

It was Hyaté.

As Shadawn made no indication of being awake, Hyaté continued shaking him awake.

Deciding to give in he made a noise of affirmation giving away that he had finally woken up.

"Well Good morning or should I say it's about good night"

he chuckled slightly moving away to give Shadawn space to swing his legs over to sit up. But Shadawn did not, he continued staying wrapped up within the thick warm blankets.

Comfortable silence prevailed as non of them spoke a word. Shadawn could hear his brother's soft breathing along with the tics of the clock. After a few minutes Hyaté broke the silence.

"You know, I really didn't like the way you spoke to mum. "

Shadawn didn't say anything, so he continued.

"Why do you hate her? At least that's what Hynata said. I quote 'His eyes held great resentment'"

Still no reply.

"As much as what you did was wrong, I do think what Hyacyth did was way out of line. I'm Sorry that your first day had to be like this."

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Fifteen minutes later Shadawn found himself seated between the twins looking down at his empty plate, trying to avoid Hyacynth's eyes who glared his way across from him. He had not had a bath the whole day and he really hoped he didn't stink that much.

"Shadawn why don't you start eating love"

Asithe nodded at Nikolai to pass him the dishes, who for the first time, frowned at Shadawn dislike evident on his face.

Great I made another enemy.

He thought to himself.

Mumbling out a thank you, Shadawn received the dish and took a spoon full of what he guessed to be some sort of fried rice. More dishes were passed his way and he really couldn't tell what they were. So many dishes being passed his way felt too out of the ordinary, they kept coming his way one after the other.

He gently broke his food apart and devoured the food as soon as possible, he was very hungry, placing his knife and fork together indicating he was done.

"You're done already?"

It was Nikolai's unnamed brother that spoke. His face pained with surprise as he looked between a nodding Shadawn and his empty plate.

The unnamed brother. He hadn't really had the time to actually look at him.

The man seemed to be a couple of years younger than Nikolai, probably in his early twenties.

"That was barely a meal! "

Hyaté exclaimed puzzled.

Hyacynth snickered taking the golden opportunity to embarrass him yet again.

"Too pampered for basic food your Royal Highness?"

"I'm full."

He shook his head, as usual with his trade mark emotionless expression and everyone was shocked that Shadawn spoke at all, including Hyacynth himself.

Hyacynth was on the verge of sprouting out yet another snarky remark when Cynthia spoke up for the first time throwing a pointed look at Hyacynth, surprising Shadawn that she decided to intertwine.

"Sweetie. Are you sure you aren't hungry?"

She spoke so gently Shadawn wanted to look up at her in the eye and give in to the warmth she offered. But he did not. Instead, he stood up from the table, mumbling an excuse under his breath that he doubted anyone heard, and walked out of the small dining room back to Hyaté's room. Through the corners of his eyes, he saw everyone look at each other uneasily obviously wondering how they were going to live with someone with such an attitude for the rest of the years to come. But Shadawn was not planning on staying that long. He would escape one way or another, and to escape he needed money. He knew he was far from being street smart and jobs would not hire him with open arms. But he would try. He gave himself three months to try, if it didn't work out he could always give into that voice.