Picking Up The Pieces
Summery: Caine has been taken in by Connie and Sam Temple. Now he is a normal kid with not-so-normal powers. It might not have been so bad if he were not partly insane and the darkness was not still lurking in his mind.
Other Comments: I have read all the way up to the new book Plague but this will be kind of after Hunger, so as not to give any spoilers to people. This was originally a oneshot (which you can find if you click on my name and go down titles "Fifteen Years Too Late") but a lot of people liked it so I decided to make it into a proper story.
Chapter One
"Hungry In The Dark!"
Sam had never meet the Darkness or Gaiaphage or whatever it was calling itself now. He had never truly meet it the way Lana, Drake and Caine had, or even Little Pete, though they were still unsure about him. But that phrase had been repeated so much to him these long two months that it almost felt as if he had meet it himself.
The voice was repeated a few times before Sam finally sat up and rubbed his eyes, wiping away the rest of the sleep. It had become his new alarm clock lately, despite waking him up almost two hours earlier than he wanted to actually be woken but it worked. Over the passed week or so his new roommate had began talking in his sleep, before it only happened every now and then but now it was an actual thing he did every single morning.
After talking to his mother about it, Sam was told to just bare with it for now. They all just hoped that it would stop after a while, somehow, like some of the other habits he had.
Standing up from his bed, Sam pulled on his thin brown slippers and, still rubbing his eyes, walked over to the twin bed beside of his.
The room has only been for one bed, but they had managed to move a few of his things around, move a few things to the main room and squeeze a bed in on the far side from the window, he would not be able to sleep if it was by the window. It was only slightly cramped but neither of the boys minded it, Sam was just glad that he didn't have to share his bed every night (which he sometimes had to do if the nightmares were bad) and the other boy was hardly ever in the room apart from when he was fast asleep.
"Time to wake up" Sam sighed, speaking mostly to himself at that point, he was very tempted to leave him, let him work his way through the nightmares and wake up by himself but the last time he had tried that, the boy in front of him, his brother, had thrown there bookcase right through the window and woken up a lot more people than just Sam and Connie Temple. It was hard trying to keep anyone from calling the police who were just itching to get a few freaks behind bars.
Sam stared down at him, he always had to find the best way to wake him. If the nightmare was not so bad he could shake him, otherwise he would have to call him, other times he would have to stand back and shine his light over his face to avoid any blows that could cripple him.
It did not seem too bad today. He was just talking loudly, almost as if he was awake, and his arms lay by his side while his head rolled from side to side. He was sweating and his brown hair was sticking to his face and neck, it had grown quite long now since he refused to let Connie cut his hair. He had it in his mind she was going to stab him in the back of the neck and he didn't actually think much more of Sam.
"Wakey wakey" Sam said loudly while reaching down.
He lay a gently hand on his shoulder and slowly shook him, he moved slowly so that if Caine did freak out then he would be able to pull back and jump away from him in time. For a moment nothing happened, so he shook him again, then the boys eyes slowly flickered open, the pupils small and filled with terror. After a moment they returned to normal.
"Sam..." he whispered, his voice was raw, almost as if he had not taken a drink in weeks. He spoke his name like he was shocked to find Sam was still there beside him. Like he expected Sam to have give up and left him.
"Morning. Come on, let's get something to eat" Sam smiled calmly.
"Was I having another nightmare?" the boy asked
"Not really" Sam lied and helped him sit up "Come on, let's eat, Caine"
G*O*N*E
When Connie woke she didn't waste any time making her way to the kitchen. Her two sons had been with her for more than two months now but she was still frightened that one day she would find Caine doing something awful to Sam. It was mean not to trust him but at least now she really did have her reasons for doubting him.
She had taken Caine in about one month after there children had been rescued from what they called "the FAYZ", she would not have taken him in at all but she found that Mr and Mrs Soren were afraid of him and planned to send him with a few other children to a laboratory to study him like a rat. It was guilt from giving him up in the first place and hearing what they went through in "the FAYZ" that led Connie to make a deal with Mr and Mrs Soren.
Caine would have nothing to do with them and they would give over legal custody without a fight. The people at the lab were not happy but there was nothing they could do to stop them.
Some children were not as lucky. Such as a young girl Sam knew as Dekka, who had made a run for it along with a boy called Bug, away from there parents in hopes of escaping the Lab there parents were just about to send them to, no one knew where they were and so everyone just prayed they were safe. But a Coates kid named Penny was trapped there along with the poor Orc boy and a few others she did not know. Two other girls Sam knew, Brianna and Taylor, were back home with there parents, often popping in casually to say hi and either running or "Bouncing" home to loving parents that missed them.
A few other children, such as a boy nick named Computer Jack, and Hunter, Atrid, Little Pete and some others that Connie could not remember were mostly at homes. All of them were accepted by there parents and in loving homes, even if there homes were no where near as homey as they were before.
In the kitchen she found Sam and Caine, both eating. Neither looked up as she entered. Sam did this naturally because he was so used to having her around but she noticed Caine, he tensed and forced himself not to look at her.
Caine was angry. He hated Connie for giving him up in the first place. He hated his real parents for trying to give him up to the Lab as well as Coates. He hated Sam for always being so nice to him after everything that happened between the two of them. He hated that he would need to go to a new school where the only two people that would actually likely to speak to him freely were Sam and Astrid. If he was lucky! He hated that he could only see his girlfriend, Diana, on the weekend when she was allowed out of Coates and even then, sometimes she would be too busy or he would be... Unwell.
Diana might have been in a Lab as well, but she had easily been able to lie, saying her own powers had vanished because she had not used them in so long and they had no way of testing to see if she was lying or not. Plus they had no idea if powers could disappear or not so they just had to trust her and move on. Even if her father would have willingly give her up.
"Morning boys" Connie said, she went to the toaster. Both boys were having cereal. Small bowls. They were gradually building there stomachs up again.
Some parents had been sick when they saw there children for the first time. They were so skinny, they had hardly any showers or baths, they wore old clothes, they were like tramps on the street only younger and sader. At first no one moved, but then Connie was running towards Sam, arms open. Astrid's parents followed and then a tidel wave of parents running to children.
A few parents, sadly, could not find there children, or could only find a few children, while there siblings were gone.
"Morning" Sam mumbled, he was staring down at the newspaper, he checked it every day for signs of Orc, Penny or Dekka and Bug. No sign yet, he was sure that was good. If they found Dekka or Bug then they would have splashed it over the front pages to calm people down, Penny and Orc were another matter altogether.
Caine was concentrating on his bowl with tense eyes.
"What are you up to today?" Connie asked as she made her own breakfast.
"Dunno" Sam mumbled "Might go see Quinn" for a while the boys found it hard to be friends since they had been apart for so long and each found there own people to befriend in FAYZ but as the time passed and they were getting back into old routines, they were getting together again, because brothers once more "Or some others" He meant Astrid but he didn't like the knowing smile his mum gave him or the jealous scowl Caine gave him.
Connie's eyes slipped to Caine who continued to eat slowly, he looked ready to be sick. There was bucket beside both him and Sam in case they did have some kind of accident.
"Caine, you wanna come?" Sam asked, sensing his mother wanted to know what he was doing but they both knew that she could not ask him.
"Not really but there's nothing better to do" Caine mumbled
"Alright then" Sam nodded
There was an awkward silence as the boys returned to eating and Connie sat down in front of them. Her eyes landed on Caine once more.
She wondered if she would have reacted like some of the other parents had?
When they were told the story a few parents acted out. Zil Sperry's parents still refused to believe his son would so much as make a gang, let alone collect others to help harm people, his older brother even acted out, attacking anyone that accused Zil or hurting a familiar member or starting a fire that killed. Shortly after the whole family became very anti-freak.
When Brianna had told her parents she had been slapped right across the face by her mother, she said things that scared them and they didn't want to hear it so they slapped her to shut her up. Then collapsed into hard tears and it was up to Brianna to comfort the two of them. It was stupid. They were free they shouldn't have to act like adults anymore...
When Penny told her parents they didn't say anything, but that might be part of the reason as to why they sent her away to the Lab instead of caring for her themselves.
Very few accepted the children's story, even after watching them do amazing things. Mostly because that would mean a few kids, especially Coates, would be murders and have killed other children there ages and younger. It would mean that there children had been tortured and that they were freaks and monsters. Or maybe it was just because it would mean believing in things they had grown up knowing were not real.
Connie wondered how she would have acted if she had not known about Sam and Caine since before "the FAYZ".
"Oh, I just remembered" Connie said, she was surprised she had forgotten "I got a call, last night just after you went to bed. They are thinking of reopening the school"
Sam looked up sharply, even Caine's eyes flashed at her before looking down again. Coates had reopened a week ago, none of the teachers there believed the stories (or pretended not to) and opened it as soon as possible. It was half empty but kids were slowly returning after there parents remembered what they did to get sent there.
However, Sam's school had remained closed. They were more compasionate, they may not believe the stories but they certainly believed the children had many loses. So they left it closed and let the children grieve.
Yesterday she got the call, saying they would reopen the school but understood if certain kids needed time. Parents would call in and tell them whether or not they would ne coming back after the weekend.
"Wow" Sam mumbled "Earlier than expected"
"You don't have to go in" Connie warned him
"No, I want to" Sam said "Better than sitting around all day."
"OK then" Connie nodded and her eyes turned, landing on Caine "Caine... Would you like to stay home or start at Sam's school?"
Caine did not answer. His eyes were staring at something outside. He had that expression again...
"Great" Sam sighed, he reached over and touched the back of his hand, shaking it. His voice softer than before as he spoke "Caine... Caine..."
His eyes slowly lowered and locked with Sam's but they were blank. He looked like a scared, lost and confused little boy. For a moment nothing happened, then Caine began to whimper. Just like that.
School was probably not the best place for a boy who was partly insane.
G*O*N*E
No one was sure when it had happened. Some point after Caine had been taken by the darkness to feed it, he sort of lost part of his mind. He had a split personality disorder.
Part of him was the same old Caine, he was evil and sick and wanted to be in charge of anyone who was weaker than he was and could charm people into believing whatever he wanted still... But the other was a lost child, afraid of so many things and always needing his older twin to cuddle him and keep him safe from whatever was out there.
Sometimes he changed because he saw something dead on the street. Like a bird, and he felt so bad for it that he just changed and started to ask Sam, like a child, why the bird had to die. He spoke almost as if he blamed himself and Sam had a small suspicion that maybe Caine felt guilty for some of the stuff he did and that he blamed himself for the bird because he was too ashamed to blame himself for the children.
Other times he changed because of the dark. He would wake at night and the lights would go off (they had to keep them on to keep him from screaming) or he would just see a tall, dark, frightening shadow. Then he would switch and start sobbing and crying. Trying to run and asking Sam to use his light to make the dark go away, clinging to his arm.
Or maybe, once, when he was surprised. Quinn once jumped up and slapped him around the head lightly, he was so shocked, he switched and rose his hand, eyes wide, throwing Quinn. Luckily he had thrown him to some rubbish bins that quickly softened his fall. He was a little shocked but he would live. Then Caine had ran home and hid in his room until Sam got back.
And finally, sometimes, he would just turn for no reason at all. Just like in the kitchen. He would be fine one moment and then he would just switch and he would be confused and want Sam to answer his questions but he didn't even know what questions he wanted to ask.
There was always a pattern. He always wanted his older twin. Never wanted Connie his mother, though once when Sam was sleeping around Quinn's and he switched he curled up in her bed just for the company. But the minute Sam was around he clung to him. Or how he would act much younger, frightened and he would forget who most people were. The only people he truly recognised was Connie (sometimes), Sam and Diana (all the time).
No one knew if Caine remembered what happened, he always acted like he didn't but often Sam saw a shadow in his eyes and the way he no longer flinched if Sam put his arm around him, instead he moved close when he thought Sam would not notice.
Everyone knew about it... Once Zil had taken advantage.
He and his older brother had spotted Sam and Caine shopping for some food, it was so sweet to see everything stocked up again. Zane had distracted Sam with a stupid question about what his mother was doing for work now she no longer went up to Coates, while Zil shoved Caine into one of the storage rooms. They locked the door and threw the key across the store. The lights were off and Caine freaked. In seconds he threw the door off and Sam had to take him home, promising to pay for any damages.
What pissed him off the most was that Zil was not punished. Connie reported him to the police but they said it was a harmless prank.
Sam would have give anything to go after Zil and burn his arms off. Let him pull pranks then! But resisted it and settled with Quinn and him pulling there own harmless prank. They didn't do much, just spray painted Zil's house with rude signs and pictures. Now there were camera's up around the house so they could no do it again, but it was still a perfect moment when they saw Mrs Sperry's face as she walked out the house to see there handy work.
Most people did nothing because they were afraid what Caine would do with his powers. Others seemed to do it just in hopes they could get him into trouble and sent away.
That was why Sam had to go everywhere with him now. He didn't always like it. He got his old life back but then he lost it as quickly, but then what could he do? Caine needed... It was as simple as that.