Otis still wasn't entirely sure about this family. They certainly hadn't done anything to harm him. They had only helped him. They had nursed him back to health from the brink of death, and had nurtured him all along the way. They were extremely kind, which is what worried him. In his life, kindness had always come with a price.
He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. It had only been a few years since he had stopped trying to hide the fact that he was albino, letting his hair grow long like he had always wanted to. It was only slightly passed his shoulders, but it was progress to him. He was starting to claim his own body for himself. Sitting there, back against he wall and knees against his chest, arms hugging his legs tightly, he bitterly wondered how much of that was true...His body would never be entirely his. It had been taken from him at such a young age...
Mother Firefly knocked on the door frame, a mug in her hands. "Hey, sweetie. How're you doin' today?"
"I'm okay." He looked at her cautiously, ready to bolt if she moved the wrong way.
She sat next to him in the creaky wooden chair they had placed there when he had been so sick and she and Baby were taking shifts with him. "Here you go, baby. Some hot chocolate for you. Hopefully it won't make you sick..."
With the frequency he was now eating, he had trouble keeping food down often times. Mother Firefly's home cooking was often too rich or greasy for his stomach to handle.
He took a sip, relishing in the warmth that radiated through his body.
"You like hot chocolate?" He nodded in response. "You ever had it before?" He shook his head. "Oh, you poor thing. Didn't ever even have hot chocolate."
He set the mug on the bedside table beside them, and turned to curl into his ball again. She gently placed a hand on his face and he recoiled.
"Baby...where did you come from you're so scared...? What happened to you?"
Otis fell silent as his breathing increased. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. God, he wished she would just take her hand away. He fisted the sheets and closed his eyes as he began to tremble, willing his body to stop the chain reaction it was going on.
"Shhh, sweetie...You're okay." She stroked his hair, trying to soothe him.
He tried to force himself to take deep breaths to calm himself down.
"You gotta realize we're not gonna hurt you, sweetheart..." She finally stopped touching him.
She had taken care of him...Maybe she deserved to know a little bit..."I-I...Just...Touch...hasn't always been kind." He chuckled forlornly. "Actually, it never has."
"Sweetie, it always will be here. Whatever terrible place you came from isn't here. You'll never be back there again." She drew him close, pressing a kiss against his hair.
He stiffened. God, he wanted to her affection. That's all he had ever wanted from his parents growing up; he just wanted them to love him. He wanted to be like all the other kids he saw walking by on the sidewalk, holding their parents hands and laughing. Getting scooped up into a warm embrace and getting sweet kisses on the cheek. His heart had ached for it. But now, all he could do was flinch away because of the way he had been treated. They had even taken his future from him. He hated them with unrequited fury. He should have made them suffer like they had made him suffer for so long.
"Sweetie...Why don't you tell me a little bit about what happened so I can understand? I don't want to scare you anymore..."
He gulped, eyes darting around her face, looking for any signs of malice. "M...My parents abused me..."
"Yes, sweetie...I gathered that from you shoutin' in your sleep."
His face turned red and he looked away.
"Well, sweetie, that ain't nothin' to be ashamed about! Look what you made it through! Is that why you don't like bein' touched? You don't know how hard a hand is gonna fall on you?"
He only nodded.
"You gotta get used to us, Otis. We're affectionate people here." She smiled sweetly.
"You've been so kind to me..."
"Of course we have. Why wouldn't we be?"
He snorted. "My own parents were never this loving..."
"Well, I'm your mother now, Otis." She stated proudly. "And you're my son."
He couldn't help the smile growing across his face.
"We gotta get some weight on you, though. You're skin and bone, baby."
He looked warily at her. Eating was a touchy subject. He had always been told he was fat, ugly, and stupid, even when he was literally nothing but skin, bone, and tears. From a young age, his sense of self-perception had been seriously warped. He would have to be skinny like this for people to love him. Skinnier; even when he was this thin his mother refused to love him. He knew, really that he was sickly and unhealthily thin. But he would always have that in the back of his mind.
"We'll get you on the right track, sweetheart. You'll be okay."
"Th...Thank you. for everything you've done for me..."
"Oh, sweetie. You don't have to thank me for that."
"W...why did you help me?"
"Because everyone deserves a chance. Everyone deserves to be loved."