𝐇𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐬 || 𝐁𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝

«Chapter 2»

Adoption. The action or fact of legally taking another's child and bringing it up as one's own, or the fact of being adopted.

                           🖤🖤🖤

|| Alice ||
I looked out of my bedrooms window, parents playing with their children. People smiling, feeling safe, loved, trusted. It was family. Family. I always wanted to once have a family of my own, a child of my own. A girl or a boy, looking just like a mixture of me and their father. I always wanted to care about, someone who I could love, just like my mother loved me before she died. But not every dream comes true. Ever since I got raped, the closest I could get to having a child was adoption. „Al you ready?", I heard FP yell from downstairs. FP. We always had something going on. We never officially dated, but we always loved each other. I mean of course we did, he was my best friend ever since kindergarten. After our graduation we drifted apart, both going our own ways. He found a woman, got married, got a son. And me? Well I was raped and got infertile. Crazy how life works. Two best friends, as similar as two people could possibly be, one gets a kid and the other one gets unable to get kids. But ever since his wife left him and his son, we grew back together and our friendship was stronger than ever. We moved in together and started raising his son together. He is now six years old and although I was in his life ever since he was a baby, he doesn't call me mom, he just calls me Alice. I mean sure it's cute if someone calls you their mom, but he is FP's son and FP is my best friend and as much as I loved him, it would be strange to have a child together with your best friend. I loved him as much as if he was my son though. „Yeah I'm coming, just a second", I responded. I took my phone of the bedside table and went downstairs, where FP was sat on the couch.

„Hey, where's Jug?", I asked him, slightly concerned as I didn't see the beanie wearing boy anywhere in this house. And that was odd. He used to always be somewhere in the house, reading or making up stories. „I told him to go into the garden for a while, as he spends way too much time in this house, he's probably reading though", FP exclaimed. Well, what can I say, that was totally Jug. He was always the good, calm kid. He did whatever you told him to and always listened to us, but as much as you tried, you wouldn't get him away from reading in a million years. He always finds a way to read, which was slightly surprising as he was only six years old. „I'll go check on him and then we can go", I told him as I went out to check on the raven haired boy. And there I saw him, sitting on a bench and reading a book. I walked over to him and sat beside him. „Hey kid, watcha doing?", I asked him. He looked up from his book and then answered. „Readin", he just simply said and looked back down at his book. „Why don't you play with the other kids?", I questioned. To be honest, I was a little worried about him, every time FP or I asked him why he doesn't play with the other kids, he just simply answered something like ‚I don't want to' or ‚they don't like me anyway' and that was not what a six year old kid should think. He should make friends and have the time of his life, but instead he just sits there all alone reading books. And as much as I knew he loved reading books, I could see that it got to him to always be alone. „They won't let me", he answered in a slightly sad tone. „Have you asked?", I asked him. I actually knew he didn't ask them because he was way too shy, but I still had the hope that one day he'd jump over his own shadow and finally make some friends. „No, they think I'm weird and will say things like ‚why don't you just go back to reading your shitty books weirdo?', so that's exactly what I'm doing, sitting here, being weird and reading all these shitty books", he answered. Hearing that broke me. The kids harassed him ever since kindergarten, just because he was a little different and even though he didn't show it, it really got to him. At first he didn't think much about it, but soon it got too much for him. He was a little kid, being harassed by other kids like Archie Andrews. And although he knew that all the things they were saying weren't true, he started believing them and shutting himself down from everyone. He used to be this happy little boy, but then he even stopped talking. He only talked when he needed to or when someone asked him something. And seeing this happy little kid turn into this sad little boy, who even believed, that he was the ‚weird loner outsider' broke me. It broke me.
„Jug, you are not weird and those books aren't shitty. You know you can always talk to me or your dad", I answered sadly. He just nodded and went back to reading his book. „I need to go now buddy, but I'll send dad outside okay?", I said sighing, leaving a kiss on the beanie wearing boy's forehead. „Bye Alice", he answered as I went back in.

I walked through the back door, as I was met with FP. „You ready to go now?", he questioned. „I know I said you could come with me, but you need to go and talk with Jug. He thinks that he's weird and his books are shitty FP. All this harassment really gets to him", I answered the raven haired man's question. He nodded. „I'll check on him, but you sure you will be fine?", he asked me. I sure appreciated how much he cared about me, but Jug was way more important than I. „I'll be just fine FP, go and look after your son. See you later", I chuckled as I kissed his cheek and left. I got in my car, put the seat belt over me and made my way to the orphanage.