As they made it closer to where the dog was, Parisa closed her eyes, feeling for wall so she wouldn't trip over anything. If she couldn't see it then it couldn't see her. "S-Sam, can I ask you something?" She bumped into something, a small table. Thankfully nothing fell off it and onto the floor. Slowly, she made her way around the table, running her fingers over its smooth surface. Almost at the stairs now…
Ellie watched everything in confusion. She knew she had a small part in all the chaos but she still knew nothing about any of these people. She was a complete stranger here and didn't know how to react. But she was confused about how everyone seemed to keep leaving the mandatory Family Dinner. Was this normal? Aside from the dog incident.
Zane watched as the whole scene unfolded, all while sitting in his chair and taking bites of the food. It wasn't great but it was decent enough. He started bouncing his leg up and down, shaking the table with his stomps that were increasingly getting louder. He hummed slowly and started bouncing his leg to some 80s song.
Sam gently guided Parisa around the table and towards the stairs by her shoulders. She started to climb the stairs, resisting her usual urge to run up them two at a time. It was much faster that way. “Yeah, what’s up?”
"I-I know you're unc-comfortable, but would you m-mind staying with me?" She slowly opened her eyes as she began to climb the stairs, holding onto the banister. They made it to the landing. Where was Silas' room again?
"Why are you scared of that dog?" Shade's voice was a little more harsher than it should have been. He couldn't understand why something like a domestic animal would scare her, when she was perfectly fine hearing about things like murder and rape.
"Do you not remember what happened in second grade?" Gardenia clipped the back of Shade's head with her palm, a disappointed expression on her face. "Silas was attacked by a dog and it bit him."
"I'm not as ancient as you, I wasn't there for it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do with my time than watch a girl blubber over an animal." Shade hissed, leaving the conversation.
"Please stop arguing.." Parisa murmured, shaking her head slightly. It was her fault that they were having a go at each other, but she couldn't help it.
Blake looked around quickly before running up the stairs, Bram following. He opened his door and went to sit in the closet, like one does.
Sam forced herself to smile. "Who said I'm uncomfortable? And yeah, I'll stay with you." She guided Parisa into Silas's room and sat her down on his bed. She didn't look like she was feeling well. "Who's arguing?" Sam asked softly.
"You just look like you're uncomfortable, that's all. Silas says you have a bad history with men and I understand that and I don't want you feeling uncomfortable."
"Why did you say that????" Silas yelled, covering his face in embarrassment. He was sat next to Parisa, sighing heavily. It was a shame no one else could see him.
"No one is arguing now, it's fine…" It wasn't fine, but Sam didn't need to know about everyone else in Silas' head.
Sam's jaw tightened and her eye's narrowed. "Silas said what? How the hell does he know that?" Had he overheard her talking to Des one time? Her mind went back to the first time they had met. She had recoiled from Silas and she had heard Des talking to him later, in hushed voices. Maybe they had told him then.
"I don't know…" Parisa flinched away a little, shying away from Sam. "He told me not to tell you that I know but… I don't know what I was thinking I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, you were doing what you thought was right. We'll work on it." Silas patted her shoulder gently.
Sam softened. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and she relaxed her shoulders. She hadn't even realized they were tensed. "It's okay, you don't have to apologize. Sorry for getting so . . . weird about it. And it's honestly only when I'm physically touching someone." Sam would later chastise herself for opening up like that. She scooted away from Parisa, hoping that some distance would calm her down. "Are you okay?"
"Yes I'm okay, a lot better now I'm away from that animal." Parisa managed to smile, a genuine smile this time. "Thank you for being here with me, you're a nice friend."
"Do you want to switch back?" Silas was resting his head on Parisa's shoulder.
Parisa shrugged, turning to Sam shyly. "Silas wants to know if you'd be okay with him switching back."
Sam shrugged. "Whatever, I don't care. Do what you want." She narrowed her eyes in a playful manner so she wouldn't scare Parisa. "But he should know we are going to have some words." Silas wasn't getting out of this situation scot-free.
"Oh crud." Silas smiled weakly as he switched back in. Parisa wandered off into the dreamscape, she needed to sleep.
"Okay, no, Sam, please don't kill me," Silas began waving his hands as if to say he didn't do anything wrong. "I only wanted to warn her just so then she wouldn't feel like she had done anything wrong if you got uncomfortable around her."
Sam’s glare intensified with the return of Silas. “That’s fair but I’m still mad at you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and her glare softened a little. “How did you know?”
He thought for a moment, sighing in defeat when he finally opened his mouth to respond. "I noticed, when you first arrived, that you were always apprehensive around the guys who live here even though you had never met them before. At first I put it down to you not knowing them, but then as time went on I realised it was more than that." Silas wanted to place a hand on her shoulder, to let her know that she was safe with him, but thought that it might have scared her. "Eventually I asked Des what had happened, and they were more than reluctant to tell me. After convincing them that I only wanted to understand you better in order to be your friend, they gave me a brief answer. I don't know exactly what happened to you, but I know that you've had a more than disgusting encounter with people of the male species."
While Silas had been speaking San had turned her gaze from him to the floor. When he finished she exhaled slowly. “I mean yeah. Pretty much.” She pushed her short hair behind her ear and rested her hands in her lap. “I’m pretty comfortable around you. Like I’m fine sitting here next to you, it’s just the hugging that I’m not the biggest fan of,” she admitted. “It’s too close for me.” She became worried. “Did Parisa hear that? I don’t want her to feel bad.”
"No, Parisa has gone to sleep. She's had enough excitement for one day." Silas shook his head, then realised what he was wearing. "Damn it! I thought I'd hidden them well this time!" Everything was blurry until he removed the glasses from his face. He removed the jewelry, placing it back into the box it was taken from. "Can you keep ahold of this box for me?"
Sam grinned. “Not a fan of the jewelry? I thought it was a good look.” She took the box and held it in her lap. “Do you wanna go back down? You haven’t met the new kid yet. I think we scare her. She probably thinks we’re freaks.” She raised her eyebrows, as if this amused her.
A faint blush rose to Silas' face. "You thought it was a good look?" he shook his head before smiling. "Well I mean I can't speak for myself, but I know you are." He giggled teasingly, rubbing his hands together. If he was going to meet this new girl then he would need to dress in something more acceptable, and less revealing than a cropped hoodie. "I swear she may as well just wear leggings with the hoodie instead of the jeans."
"What? Nah I'm not the freak, I've just got like three different mental disorders. Totally normal." She snorted. "Yeah, those are some tight jeans." Sam leaned back and rested her hands behind her on Silas's bed. "Frankly, I'm surprised she put a shirt on you at all. Do you want me to leave while you change?"
"I mean I don't mind, I'm only going to change my top." As much as he didn't really like wearing super tight jeans, there was no point in changing them for only a couple of minutes. He could wait it out until he went to bed. "What should I wear? Pick anything if you want." he gestured to his wardrobe.
Sam raised her eyebrows as she stood up. "You want me choosing your clothes? Me? I determine what to wear based on how dirty it was when I found it on the floor. I'm not exactly fashionable." She stood in front of his wardrobe with her hands on her hips. "Here." She grabbed a black t-shirt with little multi-colored dots all over it and held it up to him. "Mmm. No, wait." She grabbed a blue shirt with sleeves that had a floral pattern on them, part of which was green leaves. "Here." She tossed it at him. "Green, like your eyes."
After the dog disaster, in which she wasn't allowed to pet the dog, which made her spiral down a weird thought train of violence, Cleo found herself back in her room. She was laying on the floor, using a sharpie to doodle designs between the scars on her skin. She would never tell anyone, but she was listening to the muffled conversation of Sam and Silas in the room next door, somewhat comforted by the sound. Cleo was happy that someone seemed to be having a okay night.
Ellie was a bit surprised by Chloe's sudden departure. The girl had been so pleasant earlier… She shrugged to herself trying not to think too much about what could have been perfectly normal in this crazy foster house. Though the one boy continuously bouncing his leg was getting annoying.