A New Chance, A New Start (SWR)

Chapter 3: Family Dicussion

Kanan quietly made his way upstairs going straight down the hallway to the master bedroom. He entered to find everyone on his bed huddled into a circle leaving just enough room at the head of the bed for him to join. He sighed as he went over to their drawers and pulled out his own pjs. He went to the bathroom and came out a minute later in grey sweatpants with a white tank top, showing off his somewhat of abs.
He sat down in his designated spot and stared at the folder that was between them all, sitting innocently on the sheets. Kanan sighed and grabbed the tan folder. He looked at each of them before saying slowly, "I'm sure you all have figured out that Ezra is different. He is this family's first .... abuse case. So this folder may be graphic so if you don't want to see, leave and go to sleep."
When no one moved, Kanan sighed once again before placing it back on re bed and opened it for everyone to see.

The first thing they see if a paper listing Ezra's info. Kanan took it and read off.
"Ezra Bridger, age 13, placed into the foster system after watching his parents be... murdered. Escaped 2 times and was captured both times. Has been placed in... 6 abusive homes since he has been placed in the system. Oh my God. How can the system mess up that many times?" He looked up to see everyone with tears in their eyes, his own burning slightly. He looked back down to see a paper labeled 'Evidence'. He frowned as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"Oh no, there's pictures."
He unclipped them and slid the paper off making them all gasp.
The first picture was of a 7 year old Ezra who had a bust lip and bruised left cheek and jaw. He slid that one off to show an eight year old with a cut on the forehead, black eye, about 10 stitches across his chest, and his ribs were showing. He slid that one to show a closet with blood dripping down the walls, a cot placed in the middle. A sudden tear landed on the picture, Kanan looked up to see everyone crying even Zeb who he's only seen cry twice but the tear wasn't from the others, it was from him. Another tear rolled down his face and he didn't bother wiping it.

"No child should go through that." Hera said through her sobs. Kanan wrapped his arms around her and she turned to put her head into the crook of his neck.
Zeb wiped his tears and said softly, "It makes me wonder what he's hiding under his hoodie and jeans."
They nodded before Kanan said, "On the way here, I asked him if he had any questions for me and the first things he said were 'what are the punishments' and 'how much does he get to eat'. At that point I had to stop the car and he said to me, 'First abuse case?' as if it were normal."
They looked at him in shock and Sabine couldn't hold it back, "Normal? Beating another human being senseless is not normal."
Kanan sighed as he looked to her sadly, rubbing Hera's back, "To Ezra, being starved and beaten is. We can't blame him for that. But he needs a room, his own room. A real room."
They all nodded in thought, struggling as there had only been enough rooms for them, not even a guest room.
Several minutes pasted in hard thinking silence before Hera gasped as she came up with a plan. She sat up out of Kanan's grasp and said, "We can split the attic in half and use the side with the skylight as his room."
Everyone nodded in agreement. "It can take up to at least a week to make the room and decorate it. I can help with the heavy lifting to shorten it up to about 5-6 days."
Kanan nodded in agreement to Zeb's plan, adding, "I can take him shopping tomorrow and then we'll go from there."
Everyone nodded and the kids stood up and said their good nights to their parent figures. They exited the room the their own down the hallway.

Ezra moved around on the leather, already have taken off his hoodie, wearing his holely blue under shirt. He sighed as he couldn't get comfortable on the squishy surface, the sensation foreign or forgotten. He made up his mind to just move to the floor where he subconsciously put himself most of the time.
He wrapped the soft blanket around his skinny shoulders making it a cape before making his way over to the windows. Ezra looked out at the dark woods and looked up at the sky which was filled with twinkling wishes, at least that's what his mom used to say. He sighed as he sat down by the frozen glass before laying down, using his elbow as a pillow, always used to the luxury of somewhere soft to lay his head. He stared off out the windows, it unknowingly calming him down. He slowly drifted off to sleep on the wooden floors, not knowing what tomorrow brings.