Walking down the hallway, we didn't go straight down the stairs like I thought we would. Instead, we turned right, then left, and his was the only door in that hallway. It wasn't even that far from my room. I could just yell his name, and he would be able to hear it. And if I was standing by Travis's door. I could just be talking to someone, and he could hear me.

After Cole opened the white door. I was very surprised at what I saw.

 

It wasn't completely trashed, nor was it completely empty. I've never seen a guy's room look like this before. There was more than just a bed in it.

"Wow. I like your room." I stated as I kept looking around. Trying to get a better feel of who Col truly was.

"Thanks." Cole smiled back at me. " The closets right here." He said as he opened another white door.

And again I was surprised. It was a walk in closet. Not a square walk in, but a walk in that could fit about 10 people in it without having them touch each other. All his clothes were color coded. Which told me that he liked order. His shoe's were lined up under his clothes, also color coded, and brand named order. He even had books! I love books! It helped pass the time when things went to shit. I saw jackets, hat's, even some jeans hanging up.

"Why would you hang your jeans up?" I asked pointing to the only pair.

"Well those are my nice pants. You know that I would wear to a wedding or a ball. And I don't want to get those wrinkled. So I hang them up." He said back with a shrug.

"Cool." I said as I started making my way back towards him, and out of the closet. But I stopped short when I saw my favorite book ever. "Is that the Throne of Glass!?" I asked pointing to one book in his big fucking collection."

"Yeah! Do you like to read?" He asked as he walked closer to me.

"Hell yeah I do. It helped pass the time when shit went down. I remember reading that book in a day. I wasn't allowed outside like the other kids. My foster father at the time was a dick head! he believed the girls were suppose to do the cleaning. So I had to clean and give him a beer whenever he needed it. But that day, I didn't want to clean, so I didn't get up at fucking 4am. And I got beat, then he ordered me to stay in the room the rest of the day. I found the book under the bed. And I decided to give it try. And I loved it! I read it over and over and over! I even brought it with me when I was shipped to another foster home. Which was much worse. But I ended up giving it to a girl, cause I knew that she would need it more than me. She had a very hard life then." I said shaking my head at the memory.

I felt so sorry for that girl. She was probably about 13 at the time. I looked back at Cole who was looking at me in shock, and had a look of pity in his eyes. But before he could tell me how sorry he was, I went on.

"I saw that same girl about a year or so later. And I went up to her and she remembered me." I smiled at the memory. " And she told me how she loved that book so much. But then she later apologized cause she had given it to a different girl who seemed to need it at the time. She told me how she had wrote her name, and mine in it. But since she didn't know my name. So she put 'Giver' at the top. And I moved to many other foster homes. And in everyone they talked about the 'Giver'. I didn't know that this book could have made that big of a difference. But it was such a big one, that it became terdition to pass that book onto someone else you thought who needed it." I looked back at Cole, and he was now smiling. Looking at me like I was some type of savoir. "It wasn't until I was in one of the last foster homes, about 4 years later after I had found the book, that I finally saw it again. In fact another guy gave it to me. Thinking I would need it. And right when I opened the book. I saw name after name after name. The book was completely filled with names that people started writing it sideways, or just righting their intials. Some names were written over. All but one. There was only one name that was boxed and didn't have anything written in the box.'Giver'. I couldn't even read the book cause of all the names. There was only three pages that didn't have a name written on it."

I smiled at Cole. His pity look was gone, and replaced with admiration?

"Here." He said as he grabbed the book off his shelve, and handed it to me. "You can keep it. And I also have the rest of the siers if you want to read them." He said pointing to some other books on the shelve. "And we can talk to my mom about getting some more books for foster kids." He said smiling at me.

I couldn't believe it! Did that really come from his mouth? I mean I guess I could believe it coming from Cole's mouth. But it's just surprising to know that someone actually thinks about us foster kids. I don't why, but it made me feel like I wasn't as alone in the world as I thought I was. It made me feel, and see that there are people out there that do care. And maybe there's more but they just don't know how to help. And then there's Cole. Someone who want's to help, and will find a way to help.

And to my surprise, I hugged him. The only other person I have ever hugged before they offered or anything was Pat. And that was only once. And I've only known Cole was like what...a week? Two weeks? If that. And I'm already hugging him. I mean sure he hugged me the first day. But this is the first time I'm hugging him back. And it feels good.

My hug must have taken him by surprise, cause he didn't hug me back right away. In fact, I started to pull away, but he stopped before I could get to far, and hugged me back tight. To which I felt safe. I didn't even start freaking out and having a panic attack.

"Thank you!" I said squeezing him back. " You don't know how much that means to me Cole." That warm feeling in my chest that I felt the first day here, reappered. And this time it felt much stronger. And that's when I knew that Cole wasn't going anywhere.

Unless I let him.