(Humphrey's Pov)
"How did it end up like this?" I thought to myself, as I sat at the table looking at my hands. Directly across from me sat Kate's mother, who seemingly never stopped staring at me. I timidly glanced to my right to look at Kate's father, who was just looking straight ahead into thin air. A steady silence filled the room, only being broken by my nervous movements.
"Humphrey.." Eve said, finally breaking the deafening silence. I jumped slightly as my head snapped back towards her away from Winston. Our eyes locked onto each other, causing me to quickly look down at the table. I wasn't sure why, but her eyes were intimidating and overbearing. She had the same beautiful golden eyes as Kate, most likely being where she gets it from, but Eves were more aggressive. She looked like she had the prey she had been stalking all night, cornered and helpless. I shivered at the thought of what that meant for me in the current position I was in. I glanced up and to no avail, she was still looking me straight in the eyes.
"Can we have a talk dear? I'd like to ask a few things, if of course, you're willing.." she said with a smile. The smile was nice and all, but it didn't go with the eyes she was currently using. Still I did relax a little as she spoke, feeling a warmth fill the room around us. It felt kind of familiar but I couldn't quite place it.
"I doubt i'll have anything useful to add to this conversation" I said quietly, "But i will answer them if i can ''. With that Winston sat up leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table to prop his body up, now looking interested in the conversation. I slid my hands down into the new hoodie that was brought to me earlier. It wasn't as soft as my favorite hoodie was, but I wasn't going to say anything. They were nice enough to give me fresh clothes, I should be grateful for that alone. Before I could trail my thoughts anymore, she continued.
"Alright then, How about we start off slow and easy" she said, closing her hands together. "How are you feeling now? Any discomfort? Pain?". I blinked a few times processing for a second. If this was what she considered a slow start, I was really going to struggle with this conversation.
"No mam, I'm fine. I feel a little better than before." I said, fumbling my hands in the pocket as I spoke. "Thank you for everything you've done for me and my little sister..". She just waved her hand through the air dismissively.
"Nonsense dear, I'm just glad you two are ok. I could never look away from someone in need" she said with a smile. But it quickly left her face as she noticed my expression. I didn't like that I had put them in that position in the first place. It didn't feel right that I forced my problems onto an unsuspecting, and happy family. I couldn't handle ruining my own life, so I just had to drag someone else into it didn't I. By this point I could feel my eyes beginning to water, which I quickly stopped by rubbing them. I only seemed to agitate them, but that's about it.
"I'm sorry that I-", I was cut off by a quick raise of the hand from Eve, who let out a small sigh as she brought it back down to the table. "Honey, I told you this wasn't your fault. We chose to help you and we do not regret it one bit. So please stop putting the weight of it all on yourself." I fell silent not responding to the statement. I didn't know how to respond to that, it wouldn't do me any good to argue about it. I felt like this was one of those times where no matter what I said no one would listen. It was a very familiar feeling that I had become accustomed to.
"You know the first time I met you, the first time I ever laid eyes on you, you were hurt. Blood on your face and faded traces of bruising along your face.." she spoke looking down at her hand, adjusting her ring and looking back at me. "Now Kate did tell me how you ended up a bloody mess, that i understand. However the bruising is a different story. That was previously inflicted at an earlier date. How did that happen to you?" my heart skipped a beat, shocked by her question. I wasnt her to ask something like that, causing me to fumble for an answer. Seeing me respond the way I did was all she needed to know she was on the right track to her answers.
"I had fallen down the stairs earlier that week" I said weakly as I remembered the beating James had given me that provided those bruises. As I started to think about all the fights me and him had gotten into, my breathing started to become uneven. I felt a hand on my shoulder, causing me to look over and see Winston's hand. I looked over to him, giving a small smile as he rubbed my shoulder. "You're okay bud, just calm down" he said sternly. His deep voice was soothing and melodic but still strong. I nodded and took a couple deep breaths to balance my breathing back out.
"Now dear, as old as i may be getting, im not stupid. I am a nurse after all and I'm more than aware that you did not get those bruises from falling down some stairs". Eve continued trying to bring us back to the topic at hand. I froze as she said it, not making an attempt to look over at her. I mean it did make sense that she would see through such a weak lie but I wasn't just going to roll over either.
"I mean it was a pretty long way down…" I said in the most weak and unconvincing tone ive probably ever heard. I'm so glad I wasn't ever in a theater class, because I would have definitely failed. I refused to look at Eve at this point, knowing if I did she'd just see right through me. Well I'm sure she already did but I used it as an excuse to not look at her. I'm sure my undying will to avoid eye contact was all the information she needed to know she was right.
"Did you get into a fight at school?" she asked inquisitively, as she watched me. "Or maybe an after school activity? No, then how about your sister. Maybe you guys had a fight?". I felt like a suspect in a crime as she circled around me with her questions honing in on her desired response. "Not that one either, huh?" she said, hiking her tone up a little. "Maybe…'the foster father' ?" she said. As if to tell the world she was right, my eyes widened. I didn't respond but I knew I didn't have to.
"Did he do that to you?" she continued to push the subject. I could feel my hands getting clammy as I was squeezing them in my pocket. "James took care of us" I said, almost choking on the words. I would barely call what he did as taking care of me. It was an understatement to say he provided the bare necessities. I know I was less than convincing, but it was all I could manage.
"That's not what I asked you dear. I asked if he did that to you?" she said, still managing a smooth, even tone. I knew she wouldn't leave it unless I gave in to her demands. "Only because I didn't do what I was supposed to do," I said in my meak tone, admitting defeat. I didn't have the energy to fight back anymore. I just wanted to sulk down into my blankets and drift to sleep. Eve glanced at Winston before looking back at me. I just slid back into the chair with a sullen look on my face. I wanted this conversation to be over. I didn't want to talk about stuff like this, much less with a random person's parents. I know they mean well, but I'm not obligated to share my life story with them.
Eve didn't say anything for a moment as she just sat, thinking about something. Winston, deciding to get something to drink, stood up and walked into the kitchen. I could see him in the reflection of the window that was behind Eve that looked into the yard. I could see him leaned over on the counter, looking at the floor. Eve, noticing the tension in the room decided to call a recess on the conversation.
"How about we come back to this in a little while. I'm going to make some food for lunch, we can talk after we have eaten." she said standing up and pushing the chair under the table. She made her way past me, rubbing my shoulder as she did. "Would you be a dear and fetch the girls for me Humphrey?". I didn't say anything as I quietly nodded and stood up making my way towards the stairs. I was just glad to be away from that uncomfortable conversation. I carefully began walking up the stairs, taking my time so as to not hurt myself as I made my way to the top.
I looked to the left, seeing an open door, showing a king mattress and some dark wood furniture. I assumed this was Eve and Winston's room. With that i turned right and walked down the hall to the first door. As I walked up to it I could hear giggling and laughter on the other side, it was Lilly and Stormy. I knocked softly and stepped back a little. The laughing stopped as I heard a small thump and multiple smaller ones coming towards the door, soon followed by the door opening slightly with Lilly's head popping out with a smile.
"Who is it?" I heard Stormy call from behind her as she popped her head out above Lilly's. "Hey bro whats up" she said, opening the door and hugging me. I returned the embrace as I lifted her off the ground, causing her to squeal. I'm not gonna lie, it hurt my side to do it, but her smile made it worth it. I set her back down softly and stepped back.
"Eve is making lunch and asked me to come get you guys" I said looking towards the stairs. Without a moment's hesitation Lilly yelled "Food!" and bolted for the stairs, Stormy right behind her. I smirked at the sight of the two fighting to be the first down the stairs, it was good to see Stormy having so much fun. She was never allowed to have others over to the house because James wouldn't allow it.
After a few moments, I shook my head and turned to continue down the hall passing the bathroom and coming up to another room. The door was already open as I looked inside to find it empty, other than a few boxes and a couple of pieces of furniture covered with blankets. "Guess it's a storage room" I mumbled to myself as I turned and made my way to the last room in the hall. This would have to be Kate's room, from the process of elimination. I raised my hand to knock and paused right as I was about to touch the door. What if she was busy or sleeping. I didn't really want to bother her, she had so much going on trying to help me. I'm sure she wanted time to herself at some point as well.
After a few moments of debate, I settled on going back down the stairs to the kitchen to join the others. As I made it to the bottom I was greeted by Winston who just smiled. "Where's Kate?" he said, looking behind me for the missing person. Eve had stopped chopping to look over at us, to see what was going on. "I didn't want to bother her if she was busy or asleep" I said with a small crack in my voice.
"Hey no fair, you did ask us if we were busy!" Stormy yelled while smiling with Lilly. I just smiled back at the two knowing there was nothing they would be doing that was important. "Hush you two" Eve said, walking over with her towel, cleaning her hands.
"She is almost guaranteed to be asleep deer. So no need to worry, just knock it will be fine. I promise" she said, showing me back towards the stairs. I carefully and slowly made my way back up the large flight of stairs, going down to the end of the hall again to be met with the same white door as before. I took a small deep breath and raised my hand knocking lightly a few times. After a few moments I heard some movement and then some footsteps. The door opened slowly to reveal a barely awake Kate.
"What mom?" she said bluntly as she rubbed her eye. I stood frozen at the door, wide eyed and shocked. "Uh…hey.. ..you're mom said to tell you that..uh..that lunch was being prepared" i said in a panicked voice. Kate stopped rubbing her eyes to look at me for a second, processing what I said. "Oh hey Humphrey, what are you still up and moving around for?" she said with a light yawn. I didn't reply as I looked away turning to face the stairs.
"I'm gonna go back down stairs and let them know you're up now" I said quickly walking back to the stairs getting to head down them. Right as I turned to go down them I glanced down the hallway one more time to the doorway where she was still standing. I quickly turned to continue down the stairs not wanting to stare any longer, cutting off the sight of Kate who stood in her doorway in nothing but her underwear. "Act normal, Act normal" I repeated to myself as I made my way to the bottom of the stairs and walked over to the table, swiftly taking a seat.
"Ah Humphrey dear, nice of you to join us again. Where's Kate?" she asked, looking around the room for her. The image I just saw flashed in my head, making me blush a little. Luckily my fur was a dark color and could hide it to an extent. Before I could say anything, our attention turned to the stairs as Kates came around the corner. "Ah there you are honey".
Kate didn't say anything as she walked over and sat down at the table. She looked over at me and our eyes met, causing both of us to blush and quickly look away. "Well this is awkward" i thought to myself as i now sat at the table uncomfortably for the second time that day.