Children's book


When Cain was little he and his mother lived in a trashy apartment in the poorer areas of London. He would make friends with the rats that lived in the walls and he cried when his mother started putting down rat traps. He would cry even harder when his mother told him to empty them.

Growing up he didn't have very many friends. The kids at school didn't bully him, but he was often told "my mum doesn't want me to talk to you." He was often told that his mother was "famous" but he couldn't understand why that was a bad thing.

His mother worked all night and was seldom ever home, and when she was home she was sleeping. She didn't talk to him very much, except to ask him to bring her her pills and a glass of water from time to time. He was a quiet child to begin with, never running around the small apartment, never throwing tantrums. His mother often came home with headaches so he wasn't allowed to make very much noise, if he woke her up he would receive a lashing and she would go back to sleep when his crying quieted.

...

In June his school made a big event of father's day and everyone in the class would participate in making fathers day cards. When he told the teacher he didn't have a father he hated the way she had looked at him. Cain went home that day frustrated, why did everyone else have a father except him? Better yet what was a father anyways? Everyone talked about theirs in class saying "my daddy is the best daddy in the whole world!" But none of them actually said what that was- was a daddy the same as a father or were those different things?

He tried asking his mother about it. She was having one of her headaches and was in a bad mood but he persisted until she finally listened to him.

When she finally answered him, using more colorful language than a 5 year old should ever be subjected to, the most he understood was that his father didn't want him.

He cried harder that night then when he had to empty the mouse traps.

...

A few months later his mother brought a man home and announced that he now had a father. The man was tall, though not as tall as he dreamed his father would be. And he looked young, handsome even, less rugged than he imagined his father to be. He had short blonde hair that he constantly brushed from his face and light brown eyes.

The man introduced himself as Owen Jamieson.

Cain was not convinced that this man was his father.

He ate dinner with them on the cheap couch in their living room, though Cain usually slept on it. It was the first time that he had ever eaten dinner with his mother and there was something comforting about eating with two adults talking and laughing next to him. Owen had even asked him about his day at school.

His mother stopped working all night, coming home at 3 or 4 in the morning instead of 7 or 8. And although she was still sleeping when Cain left for school she was awake when he came back in the afternoon. Owen came over almost every other day and they all ate dinner together. One day, he even stayed the night and said goodnight to Cain before he went to sleep.

...

A week after that night Cain's mother announced that they were moving out.

Cain was confused. "Moving out" apparently meant that they were leaving their apartment and going to live with Owen. Cain had started to cry when she told him. He didn't want to leave, he liked their home and the rats in the walls and the way the ceiling dripped with water every time the toilet above them flushed. He stopped when she threatened to lash him. It was then that Cain decided he didn't like Owen very much.

...

Owen's house was huge, a thousand times larger than their small little apartment. How could one person live in a house this big, Cain wondered as he got lost once again. The kitchen was the size of their entire apartment with grand marble counters that Cain could barely reach. His own room was twice as big as the kitchen and although he had recently decided that he didn't like Owen, he couldn't help but be happy when he saw that Owen had decorated it for him.

When they moved Cain had to change schools since Owen lived in a different city. He didn't really mind that he had to leave his classmates behind but he had gotten used to being around them and generally ignored. He was nervous about how his new class would react to him.

Owen had noticed his hesitance to go to school and assured him that everything would be fine. He even offered to drive him and wish him extra luck.

Cain, excited over the idea of not taking the bus or walking to school when he missed it, had no choice but to take him up on his offer.

On the drive Cain asked Owen a few questions.

Did he have a job? The answer was yes.

What did he do? He was an executive of a major financing company.

What did that mean? A laugh.

Did he make a lot of money? He did.

Did he love Cain's mother? Very much so.

Was he going to marry her? A pause.

Owen sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He was told kids always asked questions that didn't want to be answered.

His answer was heavy, "I don't think she'd want that, scamp."

Cain was confused again.

...

Much to Cain's surprise, the kids at his new school greeted him with open arms and he had become good friends with Oliver, Westley, and Nicole within the week.

That day Cain was especially excited. Owen got off work early and offered to pick him up from school. Once again, Cain could not refuse.

As the school bell rung and his teacher announced that class was over for the day, he quickly packed his things and walked with his newly made friends. When he got outside he spotted Owen leaning against his car immediately. He waved goodbye to his friends and ran over. He greeted Owen happily but received nothing in response from the older man.

Owen's eyes were almost glazed over as he stared at the entrance to the building where child after child came pouring out.

Cain tried again to get his attention. Owen cleared his throat and forced a small laugh, greeting the young boy at last.

...

A few months had gone by and Cain was already beginning his first year of elementary school. It was also around this time that Owen sat Cain down and explained to him that his mother was pregnant and he was going to be a big brother soon.

Similar to when Owen was introduced to him, Cain was not convinced that he was going to be a brother. He wanted to ask his mother about it but Owen stopped him, saying that she was in a really bad mood.

And she stayed in a really bad mood.

...

While Cain had barely talked to his mother before, now he was lucky if he saw her once in a week. She had holed herself up in her room and Owen would take meals and water to her when she refused to come out. However, Cain would hear her leave for work sometimes in the middle of the night.

Cain woke up early one morning to yelling. It was the first time that it had ever been so loud in a place he lived and the first time he heard Owen angry. He got up from his bed and put his ear to the crack in his door so he could hear better. It sounded like they were around the front door.

"What do you mean you had no idea?! What did you think I was!?"

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?!"

"Are you that stupid?! Did you think it was just a coincidence?! What did you give me that necklace for, then?!"

"God, Erika, is that child even mine?!"

His mother started yelling profanities in Japanese and the slam of a door marked the end of the conversation.

...

She started staying out until 7 and 8 in the morning again.

...

Cain would wake up to yelling in the morning nearly every day. He would catch snippets here and there along the lines of "You're pregnant, Erika! Does that not matter to you!? You don't even need to be doing that! I'm more than able to take care of you!" But he generally tried to ignore their arguments to the best of his ability.

...

They stopped eating dinner together.

...

Although Cain didn't really understand what was happening - he somehow deduced that this Owen's fault. His mom had been working all night for as long as he could remember, what was wrong with it now? So, he stopped accepting rides from him and generally ignored Owen in general. The house became a war zone.

Once, Cain decided to bring his mother a bottle of water and a bag of chips since Owen was working late. It had been months since he had properly seen his mother besides glimpses of her face or her back every now and then. Her stomach had gotten huge. How had she gotten so fat, he asked. His mother had laughed, actually laughed, a sound Cain hadn't remembered ever hearing. She explained that his baby sister was growing in her belly and that soon he would get to see her. His mother had blanched a little and quickly placed Cain's hand on her stomach, he could feel something moving around in there and was shocked. His mother had said that the baby was kicking, a phenomenon that had been happening especially often these days.

...

As the 6th month of pregnancy came and passed his mother stopped working so late. And as the 8th month rolled around she stopped going out altogether and sometimes Cain could hear her mumbling angrily to herself about how "this damned baby was getting in the way of everything."

He stopped hearing loud arguments first thing in the morning and they began eating together again, albeit in relative silence. Owen, Cain insisted he wouldn't call him dad, would make small talk about the nursery they were building in the room next to Cain's and try to convince Erika to go to the doctor more often. His mother would eat three times as much as she usually did and Cain would pick at his food. He was excited to have a sister, someone he could talk to and have fun with that would be around everyday. He was so excited about it that sometimes he had trouble sleeping at night and other times, like now for example, he would push his food around instead of eating it because he wondered whether his little sister would like him or not.

...

It was early May when Cain was picked up from school early by Owen. He had never been picked up from school early before and he was wondering if Owen had forgotten what time school let out. Although when he looked at Owen's grinning face, he wasn't sure that was the case. He did, however, notice that they were not going home.

"Where are we going?" He had asked.

"To the hospital." Came the answer.

"Why?" Silence. Owen's grin had stretched wider.

A little while later Owen was walking into a hospital room, almost pushing Cain inside from behind. His mom was lying in a hospital bed holding a pink bundle of blankets. She looked tired. Her hair was a mess, she was sweaty, and her usually flawless makeup was nowhere to be seen. She looked over at the two entering. Cain walked over to her in confusion.

"What is that?" He asked, cautiously approaching. His mother smiled at him.

"Your baby sister." She had answered, turning the baby in her arms so that Cain could have a better look. She was adorable, little curls of golden hair covered her head and her steely grey eyes looked up at him in curiosity.

"Her name is Setsuka."


Firstly, thank you all so much for your support. This chapter would not have been possible if not for you guys! Also- addressing the confusion and multiple summary changes: I had written a chapter that put Setsuka and Cain in the (future) regular world of Skip Beat! and although I was happy with it I felt that my version of them was not quite ready to be there. They needed more depth. They needed to be understood at least by you guys. So I decided to keep this story as a backstory and write more of the Heel siblings past so that later, in another story, I don't have to explain the way they behave because you'll know why from reading this! So amidst that confusion I wanted to get this chapter out as quickly as possible so that I could explain but it ended up taking much longer than I thought.

But moving on! I wanted you guys to see how Cain was as a child and what he dealt with and little glimpses of how the Heel siblings mother is, although because I'm writing from a narrative perspective of a first grader I wanted to keep some things vague while giving you enough information to make educated guesses. Although when I return to the future (is this Back to the Future all of a sudden!?) I'll go into more depth.

Let me know what you thought! Also did anyone catch that hint about Owen!? Let me know in a review! Next chapter will (probably) be continuing from Setsu's dream in the prologue!