butterfly// 5SOS

Epilogue

1 month later
Elijah

"May I come in?" Cameron squeaked, "I have a large sock that is full of presents,"

"That is your stocking," I chuckled, beckoning him over, "From Santa!"

"But I am on the naughty list, I get hurt instead,"

"No buddy,"

He crawled into my bed and gasped, pulling mine off the end of my bed.

"You got one too,"

"We all get one. Where is Payton?"

"She is with mummy and daddy, but I was a bit scared because I thought I got the wrong big sock,"

"Nope! We should go up and then you can open the presents,"

"Really?"

"Really,"

I took mine and grabbed his little hand, both of us heading upstairs. This would be my second Christmas with a family, only this time I knew I would have many more here. It was extremely comforting.

Life here was great.

We'd gone for a few days out before Christmas, and mum and dad had been home to spend everyday with us all. Drawing, decorating, dancing - we had done it all. It was the most fun I had ever experienced in my life.

"Merry Christmas!" dad said, seeing us on our way up, "Shall we see what santa brought?"

"Well I am a bit scared," Payton said, "But if Cameron does it then I will,"

"I will if Elijah does," he said, climbing between mum and dad.

"Well I definitely want to see,"

I sat at the end of the bed and took out a small present, opening it to find m&ms. Slowly, Cameron copied me, opening a dvd, then Payton opened a little hair brush.

Mum and dad both opened one of theirs, and then it was basically a free for all. I ended up with a pair of socks, a couple of fancy highlighters, an amazon gift voucher and some new toiletries.

"Elijah, look at this," Cameron said, passing me a lego kit, "For me!"

"For you, yeah. That's so cool,"

"Shall we go and see if santa ate our mince pieces?" mum said, tickling Cameron a little, "And drank the milk,"

"What if he didn't like it?" Payton said quietly, "Then we will be back on the naughty list!"

"No, darling, you won't be on the naughty list. Being in our house is special because you are always on the good list, even if you make some mistakes!"

Having a naughty and nice list when you'd come from a bad home was hard, and if I was that young and easily influenced, I would be terrified. I was grateful to have lost the magic young, but I hoped they got to keep theirs and have positive experiences.

"Is that because you and dad were always on the good list?"

"It's because we had a little chat with santa to tell him that all of the kids that come into our home are very brave, and we are super proud of them everyday! That is worthy of the good list forever,"

We went downstairs where the tree was twinkling , piles of presents all around. More than I had ever seen in my life.

I picked up the plate with crumbs on and showed the twins, which made them jump up and down then hug each other. Both mum and dad gave me a good morning hug, then we all sat down on the sofas.

"What do we do?"

"You have a pile each, so you need to find yours,"

Payton ran round and read her name on the big label, so I waited so that Cameron could do that too. However, he sat by mine, and looked up at dad with wide eyes.

"Not that one buddy, that says Elijah! Yours is the next one,"

"Oh, whoops,"

He shuffled back and then grabbed a present, hugging it to his chest.

"We do have visitors soon, so we need to start opening them. Just go for it," dad laughed.

It was a frenzy of present opening, wrapping paper going everywhere, until all our pile was unwrapped.

I got a new binder with a small football embroidered on the shoulder, which was extremely special to me. There were a couple of books to help me read more, some posters for my room, and some clothes.

But the biggest present of all was a new laptop.

"Thankyou," I said, hugging then both tightly, "So much," 

"We're so proud of you, and your work, so that's your reward,"

"I never imagined anything like this in my life,"

"Well there's a lot more fun to come,"

Suddenly, Payton burst out crying, and I let go of dad; of course, Cameron joined in, but I let him crawl onto my lap and hug me.

"What's happened sweetheart?"

"I am happy,"

"Well that is amazing," mum said, "It's good to be happy, isn't it?"

"You got me presents, and santa brought presents, and no one hit me,"

Her tiny fists rubbed her eyes, and she clung onto dad when he picked her up.

"Those are for me,"

"Yep, all of your toys are for you babygirl. Calum is coming over later! Luke, Sierra, Ashton and Kaykay too. I think they might have a little something for all of you too,"

"We get to stay here forever, don't we?"

"Definitely. No one is going to hurt either of you,"

"Is that true?" Cameron asked, looking at me.

And I had to push back the way my friends had hurt me, even though that was still something I was dealing with. I pushed back all the bad in the world that was still trying to chase me, because I knew that here was a safety net for all of us.

They listened to me, and they cared about my opinion, just as I had with Jasper. And Jasper was the one who reassured me.

"That's true,"

These past couple of months had been tough, but I would do it again in a split second. I knew this was home... for all of us.