allaboutelephants22- dude, that is so freaky! MY last name is darby too. I used it in this story to represent the cold heartless bastards my parents are. Freaky...lol.
Soon enough the Darbys came around, wanting to pick up their 'son.'
"Now, don't mention your real parents. Just keep quiet about that. Have fun." Terri said to Chris. She gave him a kiss on the forehead, as if that would help matters.
"I really don't want too." Chris was sure to remind her. "I'm doubting any fun will be had there. I wanna meet my brother."
"I know, but good things come to those who wait." Terri assured him.
"I'm not good at waiting. You should know that." Chris said with a little smile. "I still don't get this whole magic thing." He said, trying to stall as much as possible.
"We will explain all that in one week." She led Chris out to the living room where the couple was standing there, waiting. All of the children had fled to their rooms in fear that they could hurt them.
"Is he ready?" Mr. Darby asked.
"Yeah, he's got everything he'll need." Terri informed them. "Have fun." She said one more time as she handed over the little boy to these people.
Chris walked reluctantly over to the couple. He had a backpack that he dragged along the floor that held all of his things. Nine years old and he had to make tough decisions. Why did he get a feeling that this wont turn out well?
"Come along now, Chris." Mr. Darby said. Someone must have told the two what the boys name was. "Pick up your bag, don't drag it." he barked. Chris lifted the book bag onto one of his shoulders and felt like barking right back 'Are you happy now?' but he decided that would be a bad idea. Instead, he just walked out the door with everyone's eyes on him.
He could tell that everyone in the orphanage was full of pity for him. Could things really be this terrible? Maybe these people weren't as mean as they seemed.
The three exited the orphanage to see a limo waiting. A man quickly scrambled out of the drivers seat and opened the door. Without even looking at him, the Darbys entered the back seat. Chris of course took time to see this. He had never seen anything like this, accept on TV. He found it very interesting.
"Come in the car Chris." Mrs. Darby called. Chris did as he was told and they drove off. Mr. Darby automatically started talking on his cell phone and Mrs. Darby started doing paper work of some kind.
'If this is the kind of business they want me to take up, then forget it.' They didn't try talking to him, or making him feel welcome or anything like that. It was almost as if Chris wasn't there and they weren't trying to adopt a child. 'This will be just loads of fun.' He continued to think, starring out the window.
It had to have taken a little more than half and hour to get to the house. That meant that these people had gone out of their way to find a child. Maybe that made them good people. Or maybe it meant that they had wanted Chris all along. Wait, this was stupid. He was just being paranoid! There was no way that they had wanted Chris this entire time. He was so busy thinking about this, he didn't notice the glance that the couple flashed at each other.
They pulled up to a gate that blocked off the house. After a moment, the gate opened and they drove up a path that couldn't really be called a driveway. It circled around a big fountain with water pouring out of statues and led up to a mansion. Chris stared in amazement. He had never seen anything like this! The house was beautiful with flower gardens and little trees in front of a house that was the biggest thing he had ever seen! Was this really where he would be staying?
"Come on, Chris. We have to get you inside and show you around." Mrs. Darby said. The door opened and they excited the car, once again not taking the time to even acknowledge the driver's presence.
The three entered giant wooden doors as the limo drove off. Chris looked around in awe when he saw the inside. Marble floors, painting, tapestries, everything that seemed like it would be for a rich person. It all seemed to glow it was so clean!
"Is this...really the house?" All of this was more than fascinating for a little orphan boy.
"Of course. What? Did you think that we just brought you to some stranger's house? I think the alarm system would have gone off by now." Mrs. Darby said with a sweet smile. That was something Chris had never seen before. He didn't think he would ever see it, but now that he saw this woman smiling, she seemed a lot nicer.
"I should show you your room, shouldn't I." Mrs. Darby said. She took Chris's hand in hers and led him up the stairs. They walked down a hallway and made a left turn and finally arrived at another wooden door. She opened it to reveal a room that seemed to be bigger than the orphanage. The walls were white with a bed in the corner, made and looking nice. There was no carpet, but there was a large rug in the middle of the room. There were two doors that lead out to a balcony and even another section to the room.
"This is my room?" asked Chris, amazed. This room could fit everyone in his old room easily.
"Of course. We can't have you being uncomfortable, can we?"
"Uuhh...I guess." When Mrs. Darby saw that Chris was only going to stare in wonder, she decided to go on with the tour.
"How about I show you the best part of the house." She said.
"You mean other than its size?"
"Well, actually," she took his hand and led him back through the hall. "Its size can sometimes be quite the bother."
"Don't you have maids or something?"
"Yes. But not very many. It's hard to find good help these days, Some steal, some slack off. That sort of thing. The ones we have are pretty good. They will love you." The two reached the stair well and began to walk down. At the bottom was a skinny young woman in a maid's outfit. He red hair was in a cute ponytail.
"Mrs. Darby, hello. Is this the child you were talking about?" she asked, motioning to Chris.
"Yes. Nicole, this is Chris. Chris, this is Nicole."
"Nice to meet you." Nicole said with a smile. "Oh he is so cute!" Chris gave a shy smile. He wasn't very accustomed to hearing strangers say how cute he was.
"I know. I can't wait until we have him full time." She led Chris a little way along and didn't seem to notice his stares at the chandlers hanging from the ceiling or at everything else that look very expensive, and very breakable.
They pasted by a big office building where Mr. Darby was still on his cell phone. Chris's curiosity took over and he had to stop and see what was being said.
"Yes, we have him. Lythia is-"he was cut off by the doors quickly slamming and Mrs. Darby turning to Chris.
"It's not nice to listen in on other peoples conversations, is it?" she asked.
"No." he responded weakly. Busted. Would she yell? Would she hit him? He prepared for impact.
"Good. Don't do it again. Come on." She took his hand to insure that he didn't wander and continued with the tour.
That was lucky. Mrs. Darby must not have been as mean as she seemed.
They soon arrived at a door. Nothing special about this door. Just a normal door. But when she opened it, there was a huge greenhouse, full of one to many plants. All of the flowers in bloom and the trees somehow survived in this environment, growing better than what Chris had ever seen.
"Do you like it?" Mrs. Darby asked, not needing to because she saw the look on his face. As a natural born Wiccan, Chris loved nature. He may not have known about his religion yet, but he had always loved plants and cared about nature.
"All of the flowers look perfect. There isn't a single one that isn't in bloom. How is that?"
"Lets just say, its magic." She said. "Todd didn't want a big garden like this, it coasts too much to keep so nice. But I finally talked him into it." she said with pride.
"Todd?" Chris asked, not recognizing the name.
"Oh, how foolish of me. We can't have you calling us 'Mrs. Darby and Mr. Darby' now can we? No. My name is Laura, and his is Todd."
"Oh. Plain and simple names like Chris." He pointed out.
"You could think of it like that. Oh, over in the middle there that's a cute little glass table that you can eat a relaxing breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Just sitting around, listening to the birds sing. It can calm anyone down." Mrs. Darby- Laura- seemed very proud of her garden.
She gave a tour of the garden and a tour of the rest of the house. It was all beautiful and she introduced him to everyone on staff. Chris was scared that he would forget one of the many names or that he would get them confused. But was really scary was that when he was introduced to the chef, he said that Chris look cute enough to eat. He would avoid that chef, and smell whatever he fed him before eating it.
By ten o'clock the tour was finally over and Chris's feet actually hurt form all of that walking. How would he ever live with all of this? He was sure he would get used to it. But he wouldn't have to. He would be moving in with his real parents soon enough. Not having to live with these mean people.
Chris was sent to bed and for a moment, he thought he was lost. At midnight, he still wasn't able to sleep. He was to busy thinking. When he heard rustling coming from outside, he flipped the light on and listened. He soon heard someone flop over to the other side of the balcony and walk around on it for a moment. The person then silently rasped on the window, causing Chris to start freaking out. Should he call for help? No, Mr. Darby wanted him to be strong. He had to prove his worth.
The boy silently climbed out of bed and very slowly made his way over to the window. His heart was beating very quickly, and with every step and every tap at the window, it got even faster. He tried to think back to when he had been more afraid, but his mind was one big blank. When Chris finally reached the window, he thought of running back and hiding under the covers. No, he would open the curtains, see that it was a tree branch and laugh at himself.
He reached out and flew the curtains open after a moment of hesitation. He gave out a small scream and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a person on his balcony. He was just about to turn around and run but the person stopped him by talking.
"No! No Chris. It's me. It's me, it's John." Chris turned and calmed down to see John's face come into view.
"God John! Scare me half to death!" He reached over and opened the window, allowing his friend to enter.
"You should have seen your face!" John exclaimed with a laugh.
"Haha. It's so funny." Chris said sarcastically, closing the window and walking over and back into bed.
"Damn! Big enough house? These people are loaded!"
"No, really?" Chris rolled his eyes. "So, how did you get here? How did you eve know which room was mine?"
"I snuck out. It's amazing how many women will pick you up if your hitch hiking. And I figured you would want a balcony." John explained, settling down at the edge of Chris's bed.
"Doesn't this place have security?"
"I've gotten into houses with more security then this. So, how are these people treating you?" John was obviously worried.
"Mr. Darby kinda scares me. I didn't see him all day. But Mrs. Darby, shes really nice. And you won't believe the food! Twice baked potatoes, steak, all that good shit!" Chris said, remembering that it had been the best dinner ever.
"Wow. Must have been nice."
"It was. There are a lot of people here, they are just all fifty years older than me." John laughed.
"Well, I'm glad to hear your having a good time." There was obviously something he wanted to say.
"Aw, does Johnny miss me?" Chris said in a baby tone, joking with his usually badass friend.
John threw a pillow at his head and the two laughed. "No, it's just... Ryan have me an idea. I thought that I would..ya know...adopt you when I got old enough." He said quietly.
Chris was silent for a moment, shocked. "Are you serious?"
"No, I'm joking. Of course I'm serious!" there was a silence. First there was this family that he thought he would hate and were now turning out to be nice, then his biological parents, and now John, the boy who had been like a father to him more than an older brother, wanted to adopt him. He was nine! How was Chris supposed to make this decision?
A/N: Sorry this takes so long. I've been really busy. Don't mind the spelling mistakes in this, I'm sure there are a lot. I don't have time to go over it. I have to be off right now.