Original Work: Lady Slippers
Title: Lady Slippers
Rating: PG
A/N: I wanted to write something long about two of my OCs from a novel I'm trying to write, but it ended up just being a small back story of this particular AU. Kade is one of my OCs. Chris is my other, although he is not in this one. Long story short: Kade ultimately has trouble connecting with others when he gets older.
--
When Kade was eight, he met a girl. He can't recall her name now, but the way she made his heart pound in his fragile little chest and his eyes widen whenever she came near he surely does. She was beautiful and liked the same kind of juice he did, and really, wasn't that all that mattered? But no, it wasn't all just that. When he would sit next to her, he would sometimes get an urge to be closer, and would act on it. Kade would look all around him to make sure he wasn't being watched, made sure that everyone was occupied with their crayons, and would pick up his chair and scoot it nearer. He remembers how she wouldn't look at him, but she'd smile and try to bite it down without much success. Her curls would obscure it from view, but he would know that it was there, and that was what mattered. So, he would do it whenever possible, and not just during coloring time. In reading time, he'd pull his mat closer, making their shoulders touch as they pointed out their new favorite words, or perhaps ones that they didn't understand yet, and it was nice. He loved being able to see her giggle her rather toothless smile. She made him laugh, too, and he always enjoyed the bubble of happiness that rose in his stomach afterward. It just that easy, and he can't remember a time in his life that something like that came so effortlessly.
One day, he got her a flower. It wasn't just any flower, it was the best he'd ever made an effort to find, and this was comparing it to the sloppy bouquets of daisies he used to round up for his mum when they went to visit her. There was a field of clovers just on the outskirts of the playground, and that was where he went. He knew her favorite color was purple, so the starch white clover flowers that riddled the place were of no use to him. He was searching for something hidden amongst them that he had trampled over last year. Having no idea whether or not he would actually happen upon it again, he tried to keep that out of his mind. Instead, he spent three recesses scouring around roots and branches for it. At the end of it, his jeans and most of his shirt were absolutely ruined, and there was so much dirt caked on his hands that he could no longer feel whatever his hands landed on. Luckily, he had no use for his sense of touch today, because when he finally spotted what he was looking for, bright and purple and perfect, he could do nothing but let out a war cry that would be heard all over the playground.
Of course, this being the greatest endeavor of his young life, triumphant energy poured out of him so greatly that his eyes wet with it. Upon noticing it, however, his lower lip could do nothing but wobble pathetically as he ran to the front of the school. By the time he'd finally spotted her, he was practically bawling, but he felt no true sadness. Instead, he was so happy he could have burst with it.
Of course, he hadn't seen that she wasn't alone at the time, for his eyes were trained solely on her in her white dress, printed with yellow daisies. Two tall, stiffly clean figures stood at either side of her as one of their teachers clambered after them to the parking lot. She looked confused as they ushered her to what was apparently their car; a very sleek-looking vehicle that was completely black.
Of course, being a small child with nothing but love and friendliness in his intentions, had not expected nothing but the same in return. Which is what he got from her, but from her parents, he received scathing looks as he approached, dirty from snot and soil. As he offered her the purple Lady Slipper, dug up from the roots so as not to hurt it, like his mother told him, she smiled softly and sadly at him. She thanked him, got into her sleek black car, and he was shoved out of the way by her father.
As they drove away, his Lady Slipper knocked to the ground, he could do nothing but stare.
Kade doesn't understand what everyone already knows. He is small, young and impressionable, but not yet ready to comprehend what he is and what other people view him as. He can only see that the girl that he cares for so much has forgotten her flower, and left him with nothing but a sad smile. So, he waits. He waits for her to come back, so he can scoot his chair over to her and brush the waterfall of curls out of the way to see her smile. He waits so they can finish reading their new book together. Waits until he can make another pinkie promise with her. Waits and waits and waits, but she doesn't come back. She won't be coming back, and it takes him until her seat is taken by someone else for him to realize, because he knows what that means. He knows what an empty place means, knows it because their dinner table had had one for so long. And then not long after, when a white bed in a sterile room had become the dinner table, and had been abandoned just like the dinner table. His mother's place had been taken by someone else, and he never went to her white bed again.
Kade is very well aware of what an empty place means. He gives up on seeing her again.
Rating: PG
A/N: I wanted to write something long about two of my OCs from a novel I'm trying to write, but it ended up just being a small back story of this particular AU. Kade is one of my OCs. Chris is my other, although he is not in this one. Long story short: Kade ultimately has trouble connecting with others when he gets older.
--
When Kade was eight, he met a girl. He can't recall her name now, but the way she made his heart pound in his fragile little chest and his eyes widen whenever she came near he surely does. She was beautiful and liked the same kind of juice he did, and really, wasn't that all that mattered? But no, it wasn't all just that. When he would sit next to her, he would sometimes get an urge to be closer, and would act on it. Kade would look all around him to make sure he wasn't being watched, made sure that everyone was occupied with their crayons, and would pick up his chair and scoot it nearer. He remembers how she wouldn't look at him, but she'd smile and try to bite it down without much success. Her curls would obscure it from view, but he would know that it was there, and that was what mattered. So, he would do it whenever possible, and not just during coloring time. In reading time, he'd pull his mat closer, making their shoulders touch as they pointed out their new favorite words, or perhaps ones that they didn't understand yet, and it was nice. He loved being able to see her giggle her rather toothless smile. She made him laugh, too, and he always enjoyed the bubble of happiness that rose in his stomach afterward. It just that easy, and he can't remember a time in his life that something like that came so effortlessly.
One day, he got her a flower. It wasn't just any flower, it was the best he'd ever made an effort to find, and this was comparing it to the sloppy bouquets of daisies he used to round up for his mum when they went to visit her. There was a field of clovers just on the outskirts of the playground, and that was where he went. He knew her favorite color was purple, so the starch white clover flowers that riddled the place were of no use to him. He was searching for something hidden amongst them that he had trampled over last year. Having no idea whether or not he would actually happen upon it again, he tried to keep that out of his mind. Instead, he spent three recesses scouring around roots and branches for it. At the end of it, his jeans and most of his shirt were absolutely ruined, and there was so much dirt caked on his hands that he could no longer feel whatever his hands landed on. Luckily, he had no use for his sense of touch today, because when he finally spotted what he was looking for, bright and purple and perfect, he could do nothing but let out a war cry that would be heard all over the playground.
Of course, this being the greatest endeavor of his young life, triumphant energy poured out of him so greatly that his eyes wet with it. Upon noticing it, however, his lower lip could do nothing but wobble pathetically as he ran to the front of the school. By the time he'd finally spotted her, he was practically bawling, but he felt no true sadness. Instead, he was so happy he could have burst with it.
Of course, he hadn't seen that she wasn't alone at the time, for his eyes were trained solely on her in her white dress, printed with yellow daisies. Two tall, stiffly clean figures stood at either side of her as one of their teachers clambered after them to the parking lot. She looked confused as they ushered her to what was apparently their car; a very sleek-looking vehicle that was completely black.
Of course, being a small child with nothing but love and friendliness in his intentions, had not expected nothing but the same in return. Which is what he got from her, but from her parents, he received scathing looks as he approached, dirty from snot and soil. As he offered her the purple Lady Slipper, dug up from the roots so as not to hurt it, like his mother told him, she smiled softly and sadly at him. She thanked him, got into her sleek black car, and he was shoved out of the way by her father.
As they drove away, his Lady Slipper knocked to the ground, he could do nothing but stare.
Kade doesn't understand what everyone already knows. He is small, young and impressionable, but not yet ready to comprehend what he is and what other people view him as. He can only see that the girl that he cares for so much has forgotten her flower, and left him with nothing but a sad smile. So, he waits. He waits for her to come back, so he can scoot his chair over to her and brush the waterfall of curls out of the way to see her smile. He waits so they can finish reading their new book together. Waits until he can make another pinkie promise with her. Waits and waits and waits, but she doesn't come back. She won't be coming back, and it takes him until her seat is taken by someone else for him to realize, because he knows what that means. He knows what an empty place means, knows it because their dinner table had had one for so long. And then not long after, when a white bed in a sterile room had become the dinner table, and had been abandoned just like the dinner table. His mother's place had been taken by someone else, and he never went to her white bed again.
Kade is very well aware of what an empty place means. He gives up on seeing her again.