The rain normally never stops at St. Aveline's Home for Children; it only stops in the summer.
The rain tapped softly and gently against the windowpanes like a rhythm. Only one boy listened to it. Cain Blair sat on the far side of the room, his knees tucked to his chest, watching the rain streaks run down the windows of the building. Near him, children argued over toys and cards, laughter and shouting seemed to be something common in this orphanage despite the circumstances.
Cain never pays attention to the laughter— or the shouting. Or the fighting when it happened. He learned around five, how to disappear in a room full of people. All it took was silence and a still face, mixed with not crying often, that's how you disappear.
He usually wore a soft smile—polite and liked to be barely noticeable, but anyone who looked closely— or cared to look long enough would notice how that soft smile never quite reached his eyes. But, it's not like anyone ever noticed. People didn't pay attention to boys who didn't cause trouble, and sometimes were weird. Cain was kind, well-behaved, and usually unusually calm. Adults liked him greatly. It made things easier for him, but that means— it's easier to be forgotten.
He wanted to be forgotten— but when his mind doesn't quiet down. Usually late winter nights, when nothing is truly listening. He wanted more. Like a mother or a father to play with him. But most times he likes being alone, sitting and reading in his bed.
He also likes that he doesn't get bothered, he didn't have friends, but he didn't want them either. Friends ask questions, they notice when you wake up stressed from a nightmare or maybe sometimes screaming— which he does quite often, they tend to note when your hands shake uncontrollably for no reason, or if something is weird and wrong with you. For example, the doors that mysteriously open when he focuses on them, or when he hears snakes hiss at them and he can understand and speak to them. Those types of things get noticed by friends, he would rather none of that be noticed.
Cain learned how to hide those things, he didn't want to be hated, or feared. So he chose to be left alone, even though he was only eleven. He understood. He understood that weirdness gets you feared, weirdness gets you bullied, weirdness gets you looked at like you're a freak.