Second update of the day. hope you all enjoy :) also thanks to my english teacher for teaching my to always outline an essay... even if it's a fictional fanfiction character.
"Where are you going?" Will asks as Nico walks into the office with all of his work books.
"To watch and grade all of these essays. Most of the kids chose to read it online, only a few read them out loud today." Nico explains.
"Cool, call me if you need anything. I think Henry's in his room doing homework." Will says. Nico nods, and continues walking into the room.
The teacher sets his things down on the desk and pulls open his computer to hit play on the first video… 50/50… next video… 47/50… next video… 50/50… next video… 50/50… Henry's video…
"By now, I should hope that you know my name after a month of living with you, but I've learned to not keep my hopes up. Since only Mr. di Angelo, and probably Dr. Solace, are going to see this, I thought I owed it to you to make it a bit more personally informative. There's not much I can say about my family and definitely nothing positive I can say about the last six and a half years or the future for me, but I'll try my best.
"My name is Henry Alexander Carter and I was born on April 21, 2011 in Seattle, Washington to Jamie and Anthony Carter. My dad used to take me and my older brother Corbin to play basketball or fish or swim or bowl or anything he thought we would like. My favorite is when we would go fishing in the summer, then when Corbin and I got bored, we could jump off the boat and scare all the fish away before dad jumped in after us.
"Three weeks before my birthday though, my dad took us out fishing. It was cold and windy though and we weren't out very long because the waves started to create white caps and the storm began rolling in. My dad decided to head back but he was too focused on getting to the docks as fast as possible, that he didn't realize when Corbin stood up and fell overboard. I screamed at him to stop and he quickly turned around but Corbin was already dead. Dad told me to stay on the boat at all costs since the water was cold enough to induce hypothermia after a while and we couldn't swim with coats and jeans on.
"Dad jumped in with a rope around his waist that was tied to the boat so he would be able to get back with Corbin's body. My dad dove in and the rope started tugging, then there were bubbles, and he never came back up to the surface. We found out later that the rope was caught on a fallen tree under the water and my dad drowned after hitting his head. I stayed on the boat with no way to call for help for the rest of the night since we had no service and all the other boats got in faster than us. I slept in the rain, clutching my father's phone and the police showed up at 5:30 the next morning.
"Two weeks after the funeral for my dad and brother, it was the day before my birthday and I woke up to find my mom on the floor in a pool of her own blood and about five or six empty pill bottles in one hand and a knife in the other. I called the ambulance but it was too late and my mom was already gone. I was orphaned and taken by child protective services on April 20, 2017.
"The next day, CPS called my remaining family members that consisted of my dad's side of the family since my mom was an only child and her parents died earlier in my life. All of them refused to take me in since they'd disowned my father at a young age and did not approve of my mother so they hated and barely knew me and my brother.
"So, on my seventh birthday, I was informed that none of my family wanted me and on April 21, 2017, I was officially placed in the foster care system. I don't remember a lot of when I was younger and I, sadly, don't remember my parents all that well, but I can say that I lived a good six years with a loving family before losing them and being the only one to carry on the Carter name.
"On my fourteenth birthday I will have been in the foster care system for seven years, also known as half of my life. Since getting placed in my first home, I've been in eighteen different foster homes including the Solace-di Angelos, and eleven of them have been abusive. I have run away from these homes a total of 22 times, only two of them I regret. I've been to nine different schools in New York.
"There have been times when no one has wanted to take me or they are not able to take another kid, especially a teenager so I've been placed in group homes four times. I've been keeping track of every time I moved, ran away, or been rejected since I learned that statistics keep my hopes down. Foster care sucks, and if you've ever been a part of it, there is nothing that can convince you otherwise, no matter how many people you meet and talk to.
"Now that I'm an official teenager, my social worker Miss Lacy has begun to share things about me and my case with me instead of sugar coating everything. Before meeting and coming to the Solace-di Angelos, Miss Lacy informed me that when I turn fourteen and if I am still not adopted, which let's be honest, I'm not getting adopted, I will be moved to a group home and unless someone wants to take me, which also will not happen, I will be there for the next four years until I turn eighteen.
"On my eighteenth birthday, whether I am in a home or not, I will sign papers and be sent out onto the street with a trashbag of my clothes and no more support, nothing the Foster Care system can do for me anymore since I aged out and will be an official adult. After hearing and saying that, I don't expect you to feel bad for me or pity me or even look that closely into it, but I needed to fill this essay with something.
"Still, leaning heavily on the statistics, there is a very large probability that I will age out of foster care and end up homeless and unemployed very soon after leaving. After researching, I discovered that only 3% of all teenagers, ages thirteen to seventeen, in foster care end up getting adopted. I fall in that range and everyone knows that teenagers are moody and sarcastic and 'the worst human beings on the planet', which leads to absolutely no one wanting a teenager who is unrelated to them in their home.
"I do not want to go any further into any of this so I will end this essay by saying thank you. Thank you for giving me at least this past month that I've been with you to be in a real home before moving to the group home. Thank you for being kind enough to let me stay with you even after I tried running away. Thank you for at least pretending to care and acknowledging my existence in a normal way. Finally, thank you for putting up with me. I know it's hard, but I am trying to be better."
Nico sits at the desk with his mouth agape in disbelief at what he just heard. Tears come to his eyes when he looks closer at the screen to see small tears forming in Henry's eyes as he puts his paper down and stops his video.
"Will!" Nico calls as he brings his hand up to his face. Will comes quickly into the room and approaches him at the desk.
"Hey sweetie… what's wrong?" Will asks, once he sees his husband's glassy eyes.
"Here, watch this." Nico rewinds the video and hits play. "It's Henry's video."
Will sits silently next to Nico to watch the video. There's a couple parts where he looks over at Nico just to see if what he's hearing is real, and there's nothing Nico can do but nod. By the end, Will's chest had formed an extremely uncomfortable ache at his words and lack of hope and light.
"Oh my gods." Will looks to Nico with a shocked look, and tears spring to his eyes. "Oh my gods. What did I just watch?"
"That's what I thought. Did you hear what he said at the end, how he ended it?" Nico asks, wanting to know if Will hears what he heard.
"The part about being sorry and thanking us for 'putting up with him' and 'pretending to care'? Yeah, I heard it, and I wanted to cry." Will tears up once again. "And the part where he thinks his last hope is group homes for the next four years with no hope of ever being adopted or getting placed in a home before getting thrown out onto the streets at eighteen! This is awful! No kid should ever have to go through that."
"Come here," Nico pulls Will into a hug and they embrace each other tightly. "I know. I know, we need to do something about this."
— — —
"Hey, you've read Henry's files front to back like seven times," Nico starts. "Did it say when his last dentist and eye appointments were?"
"I'm not sure. I think it's been about a year since he's been to either. Probably about time for him to go back for a checkup." Will says. Nico nods his head.
"We should get on that. Do you remember if it said where he goes?" Nico asks.
"I only remember that it's in Rochester. Not a drive I feel like making, especially more than once." Will remarks. "We can try to get him in at the dentist Percy's kids go to. And I'm sure we can take him to the eye clinic we go to."
"Great. You can call and make those appointments, I have lessons to plan and videos to grade." Nico turns back to his computer.
"Thanks Hun." Will kisses Nico on the cheek and grabs his phone to head to the office. He logs in to the computer and pulls up the phone numbers of both places to schedule the appointments.
"Mabee Eye Clinic, this is Eileen." A receptionist answers politely.
"Hi Eileen, this is William Solace-di Angelo, I was wondering if I can schedule an appointment for a new patient, Henry Carter." Will asks, leaning back in the chair.
"A new patient, okay. How old is he, and has he had any previous eye exams on record?" Eileen types something into a computer on the other line.
"Henry is 13, and he has been to an optometrist before but I'm not sure where, other than somewhere in Rochester." Will states.
"It looks like we have an opening on October 21 at 2:30 if that works for you." She says.
"Perfect." Will agrees.
"Okay, so if it's alright with you, we'll run a full workup when we see him."
"That sounds great. We'll see you then." Will hangs up on the phone on that note and looks up the phone number of the dentist.
…
"Children's Dental Center, Hazel speaking." Another receptionist answers the phone.
"Hello Hazel, my name is William Solace-di Angelo and I was hoping to schedule an appointment for my son, he's going to be a new patient."
"Sure, we'll see what we can do. For a new patient file I'm going to need his date of birth, name, and your relation to him."
"Okay, his name is Henry Carter. Date of birth is 4/21/11, and I am his current guardian." Will states. Hazel types something into the computer.
"Looks like our next open date is November 3 at 11:45. Does that date work for you?" She asks, politely.
"Yes. That sounds perfect. We will see you then." Will says then hangs up the phone. The man gets up from his seat and walks back to the kitchen to see Nico. "Okay, calls have been made. Eye doctor is October 21st at 2:30. Dentist is on November 3rd at 11:45." The son of Apollo makes his way to the calendar on the front of the fridge and writes in the October appointment and sticks a sticky note with the November one next to it.
"Good. Have you told Henry?"
"Nope. Made the calls, came here, now I'm going to go tell him." Will sets the marker back on the counter and walks down the hall.
"Oh, hey." Will runs into the teenager in the hallway right outside his room.
"Agh!" Henry flinches back violently, startled.
"Hey, it's okay. Sorry I scared you. I was just coming to tell you that you have an eye appointment in two weeks on October 21st and a dentist appointment a week after that on November 3rd." Will informs him.
"O-okay." Henry says.
— — —
"Henry, let's go. We're gonna be late." Will hustles them out the door and to the car for Henry's eye appointment.
"Ready?" Nico asks, once they're in the car.
"Sure." Henry mumbles, knowing that he's going to have to do a lot of tests for different things. "Can you turn on some music or something? I don't like the quiet." Henry asks.
"Oh yeah, sorry." Will fumbles with the controls so he can turn on the radio. Nico moves his hand out of the way and turns on the music himself, seeing Will's struggle. Will shoots him a grateful smile and Henry continues to stare out the back window like he does almost every car ride.
"Okay, we're here." Will grabs the keys and locks the car once they're all out. "Hello, Henry Carter has an appointment at 2:30." Will walks forward to the reception desk while Henry and Nico take a seat in the waiting chairs.
"Ah yes, fill out this paperwork for us and we'll call him back once we're ready." A young woman hands Will a clipboard of papers. He goes to sit down with his family and begins to fill out the paperwork.
"Henry Carter." One of the ladies in the back calls his name. Henry sits up and follows her down the hallways after a reassuring smile from his foster parents. "You're thirteen right?" Henry nods. "And in eighth grade?"
"Mm-hm." He hums.
"Do you play any sports or are you more of a band and school guy?" She asks, then has him sit in a chair to take pictures of his eyes.
"I used to play basketball with my dad and brother but now I don't really do much. I might play this year but that's if my foster parents let me." Henry answers.
"I'm sure they will. You definitely look like a basketball kind of guy." She moves him to a different room and does the test with the hot air balloon and puff of air. "Okay, right this way." The lady tells him to sit in a room and wait for the doctor.
He sits in silence, playing with his fingers, until a tall man walks into the room.
"Henry, right? How're we doing today?" He sits on the rolling stool.
"Good." Henry generically answers.
"That's good. We're gonna jump right into it, try to get you out of here pretty quick since it's Saturday and if I was you, I wouldn't want to be here on a Saturday." Dr. Anderson says. "Are you having any trouble seeing things, close or far?"
"I don't think so… I mean, things are kinda blurry when they get further but I can still see them." Henry states.
"We'll check that out, see what's going on. Now, put your chin up here on this chin rest, and I'm going to flip these two lenses, you just have to tell me which one looks clearer.
…
"We're gonna dilate your eyes so we can do a full screening. I'm going to put some of these drops in your eyes then we'll let them sit for a while and I'll come back." Dr. Anderson holds Henry's eyes open and lets the drops fall into them.
— — —
"So, Henry's eyes look good. His eyes look healthy and great. He passed the color blind test very easily. The only thing I am concerned about is that he appears to be nearsighted, which is very common, so that's not the real concern. The real concern is how far along his prescription is and he said he's never worn glasses for very long which brings up some questions.
"His prescription right now is different in both eyes, his right eye is at a -1.75 and in his left eye it's a -2.50. Frankly, I'm not sure how he's been functioning in school and even in everyday life since that's quite hard to see, not impossible but difficult.
"What we're gonna want to do here is get him wearing glasses and seeing quickly. Today, he can try on and pick out a frame and we can get him his glasses within the next two weeks. If he decides he wants to switch to contacts for sports or convenience, we can do that pretty soon but we want him in glasses first." Dr. Anderson explains. "Any questions?"
"How concerning is this prescription?" Will wonders.
"Not very, if you have glasses or contacts or some means of seeing. The only thing I'm concerned with with this is that when I asked him if he had any of his own concerns, he told me it got harder to see if it got further away but he kind of brushed it off like it's normal for him. That leads me to think that maybe he's been neglected since things don't have to be very far away for them to be blurry with a prescription close to -2.00."
"He's been in the foster care system for almost seven years, it wouldn't surprise me if he's been neglected more than once." Nico says.
"That would explain it. That should be all I have for you. His eyes will be sensitive to light for at least a couple more hours since we had to dilate them quite a bit. Someone should have given him some sunglasses but if he doesn't have any, you can ask the receptionist and she'll give you a pair." Dr. Anderson stands up while Will and Nico follow suit. "You are free to go and have Henry try on some frames."
The three men shake hands and the foster parents find Henry in the waiting room with a pair of purple sunglasses.
"Hey Hen, ready to try on some frames?" Will asks, hinting at Henry to get up and follow them to a different room.
"I guess." He shoves his hands into his hoodie pockets and they make their way to the frames.
"Okay, what kind of frames do you want?" Nico asks the brood question.
"I don't know." The cheapest ones. He thinks.
"That's okay. Just try some that you think you might like, and we can go from there." Will tells him. Henry warily tries on around 7 different frames and lands on one that he loves: a dark blue frame that compliments his face shape, feels comfortable, and they're his favorite color. The only problem? They're expensive, and even though Nico and Will had tried so hard to keep him from seeing the prices, he'd seen it and immediately chose his second option which barely compared to the ones he liked the most.
"Nope."
"Henry,"
"I like these ones just fine." He remains stubborn with his decision to get the cheaper ones.
"We know that but we also know that you liked the other ones a lot more." Will says.
"You should get the ones you like more since you're going to have to wear them all day every day. You should be comfortable in them, and we can see all over your face that you are a lot more comfortable in the other ones." Nico points out.
"No. I've had worse, these ones are fine. I'm lucky I'm even getting glasses." Henry puts the other six frames back on the counter so they can clean them off and grabs the ones he'd chosen. "I'm good. I chose these ones. Let's go." Henry pushes, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.
"Okay." Nico says as he looks at Will. They have a silent agreement about something and proceed to talk to one of the opticians. "Henry, let's head to the car, Will's gonna want to talk for a while, he gets a little long winded." Nico sticks to the half-made plan, and he leads Henry to the car.
"Okay, now that they're gone." Will starts, interrupting his own sentence once his husband and son leave. "I need to change the kind of frames that we're ordering for Henry."
"Are you sure he's okay with that? He is the person that we're going to order them for, he needs to be okay with it." The optician says.
"Oh, he's okay with it. Um, he has a problem with even just seeing the prices of things and once he saw the price of these," Will pulls out the dark blue frames. "He freaked out and chose his second option. Of course we told him the price didn't matter, but he won't listen even though he likes these ones a lot better, and you can definitely tell."
"We can do that. Even though it sounds like you're aware of the price of these, they are going to be about $150 with his insurance that needs to be paid before he can get them." The man tells him.
"Of course. Can I pay that today or do I do it when we pick them up?" Will asks.
"You can pay today," He says. "If you just give me a minute to put this order in, I can get you a receipt and you can pay up front with the receptionist." Will nods, and the optician turns to a back office and comes back later with a receipt for the frames and lenses.
"Okay, order is put in and these frames have been ordered and should be here in two weeks, but we'll call you when they come in. I'll put these other ones away, but you are free to go."
"Thank you so much." Will takes the receipt and pays up front with the receptionist. He hides the piece of paper from Henry and shoves his wallet in his pocket. "Hey, sorry, I got caught up talking." He plays into Nico's reason.
— — —
"Henry! Your glasses came in, we need to go get them!" Will yells down the hallway from the kitchen. "Get ready and we'll leave in 5 minutes!"
"Okay." Henry shouts back.
"Nico, you coming?" Will asks as he shoves his shoes on.
"Yeah, hold on, lemme finish this note." Nico writes on a sticky note then shoves it into his bag.
"Henry! We're leaving!" Will calls and moves to the garage. Nico sits in the passenger seat and Henry meets them in the car a minute later. They make the short drive to the eye clinic, and all three of them run in to collect the glasses.
"Okay, Henry Carter, here are your glasses." The optician from two weeks ago rolls into the room on one of the rolling stools.
"Thank you." Henry quickly thanks.
"How about you try them on, and we can make the needed adjustments." He says. Henry nods and pulls the glasses out of the case. His face turns to pure confusion once he sees the dark blue frames.
"I- these aren't the frames I picked." He puts them back in the case and attempts to hand them back to the doctor.
"No, Henry, they're yours. He's right, we ordered these." Will assures him.
"No, I chose the other ones?" Henry starts to trail off in confusion.
"We know, but we also know you like these ones a lot better." Nico says. "Go on, try them on." He urges him. Henry does so, and he's overwhelmed by the detail of everything around him.
"Woah." Henry blinks furiously, trying to get used to it.
"What's woah?" Nico wonders.
"Um… I didn't realize you could actually see the details of stuff. I thought people were just making that stuff up." Henry admits. Will chuckles.
"No, people don't make that stuff up." The optician says. "It looks like these need to be molded a little bit tighter behind your ears, but other than that, are they comfortable?"
"Mm-hm." Henry mutters, a ball of guilt forming heavily in his chest.
"Good. Wait here while I mold these." He walks back to the back room he'd previously come out of.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Will asks.
"Nothing." Henry dismisses.
"Henry, it's okay, we wanted to get these for you, it's not a big deal." Nico assures him.
"It is a big deal. I didn't ask for these, I never should've tried them on, or even wanted them. You shouldn't have to spend money on me, that's not how this works." Henry hangs his head and waits for the man to come back with his glasses.
"Here we go. Do they feel good?" He asks once Henry slips them back on.
"Yes. Thank you." Henry thanks him once again.
"Of course. Since they feel okay, you should be good to go, and we'll see you in a couple months for another checkup."