I look at Scarlett who has the same amount of shock on her face as I'm feeling. She's not allowed to talk? I look back at Casey with wide eyes, not sure how to even respond to this. Luckily Scarlett steps back in, crouching next to me as she looks at Casey intently.

"What do you mean you're not allowed to talk sweetie?" She asks softly. Casey looks between the both of us, getting confused as well. "Don't walk inside with shoes on. Don't come home earlier than 4 pm. Don't make any sound when you enter the house. Get out when there are visitors. Don't eat more than once a day. Don't touch the remote and most importantly: Don't say a word." She sums up what I'm assuming are the rules.

I shake my head rapidly. "Those aren't rules Casey. We don't- I don't-" I mumble as my heart is beating out of my chest. Scarlett lays a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back a bit. "What your mother is trying to say, is that those rules don't apply in this house." She says calmly.

Casey furrows her eyebrows, thinking about it. "But what if I don't want to talk?" She asks almost inaudible, looking down at her lap. Scarlett opens her mouth but I beat her to it. "Then that's okay too." I reassure her. "Whatever makes you happy." I continue.

She looks up at me with a weak smile. "You make me happy." She smiles widely, wiping her tears away while breathing out heavily. "You make me happy too." I say genuinely. Her shoulders relax as her smile grows. "Can I hug you?" I ask carefully, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable.

She nods slowly, shovelling a bit closer. I pull her in and she lays her head on my chest. We sit there in comfortable silence for a few moments until she disrupts it. "Watching television makes me happy too." She mumbles making me laugh through my silent tears. I pull away a bit, cupping her cheeks as I smile at her "Well you can watch as much TV as you want." I smile.

Her eyes widen in enthusiasm and that's when I realise what I just said. "I mean, for a responsible amount of time of course." I chuckle as I pull her close again.

I look to the side to thank Scarlett, but she somehow already left without alerting me. That probably wasn't that hard since I was so occupied with Casey. "Mama you're squeezing too hard." She giggles.

My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I never imagined that you could love someone this much. I love my family dearly, but the feeling she gives me is beyond anything I've ever felt before.

"I have a present for you." I mumble, making her jolt up from my arms. "I wanted to safe it for tomorrow morning, but now is as good a time as any." I explain. She simply nods before standing up, eager to see her gift.

"Okay, I'll get it. You stay here?" I say as I stand up. She looks a bit confused at me and I can't blame her. That sentence didn't come out the way I wanted it to. Maybe I'm a bit nervous about the gift?

"I'll go get the present while you wait here." I clarify, making her sigh in relief and nodding. I walk to the guest room, taking out a box from under the bed. I can't help but smile when I made my way back to the bathroom.

Casey is looking at me with wide eyes, dancing on her feet. "I wanted to get you something special, but also something useful so I thought of something but I'm not sure if you'll like it. You don't have to wear it at all, please don't feel forced to. But if you want to, you can." I smile nervously before handing her the wrapped box with shaking hands.

She takes it in an instant and starts ripping off the papers. When she sees the logo on the box, her smile drops. She just traces her hand over it while she looks at me with wide eyes. I crouch down and place my hands over hers.

"As I said, you don't have to." I say softly. She nods slowly, carefully taking off the lid of the box. She gasps when she sees what's inside the box, making me chuckle. She obviously already knew when she saw the logo, so my best guess is that she can't believe it.

I look up to see Mama look at me with hopeful eyes. I carefully take it out, feeling bad that I destroyed the beautiful gift wrapping. A smile forms on my lips as my eyes go over the gift.

I can't believe she got me a uniform. My own uniform. Maybe this way people will be staring less at me at school? I chuckle at my own thought. No, when they see me in this they'll definitely stare even more.

But this time it won't bother me. I'll be able to wear my new shoes under them. And my coat! This is perfect. Now I can make fun of Daniel's uniform because his is older than mine.

I won't. But I can.

I almost forget to thank mom, but now that I remember to do it, I'm not sure how. I don't think any words are able to describe my gratitude and even if they did, I don't think I want to use them.

I got used to being the quiet one nobody really pays attention to. I get to observe everything and everyone without the expectations that a 'normal' person has to face. But if I'm being completely honest with myself, the main reason is fear. I'm scared that if I get too used to the rules here, I won't be able to follow the rules granny gave me when she comes to pick me up again.

I look up to see mama looking at me with a soft gaze. She has crouched down to my height and has a slight curl in the corner of her lips. Without thinking about it, I slowly reach for her face, tracing her jaw and cheekbones up to her eyebrows.

She doesn't move or say anything. She just sits there, smiling and letting me do whatever I'm doing. I'm not sure what I'm doing, but it feels nice. I feel safe and loved, at ease and seen. Rose was right. She pointed out from day two that I look like Lizzie's daughter.

Even though we don't look alike, I can see myself in her.

"So, you like it?" She asks unsurely as my hand rests on her temple. I nod, keeping my focus on her eyes. My favourite colour used to be blue. Not granny's curtains blue, but clear sky after a rainy night blue.

It's green now. It has been since she looked at me for the first time. It's weird how the universe works like this. First, it took the woman who gave birth to me, then my father. His eyes are blue as well, but a different kind of blue than my favourite colour. His blue was sad. I sometimes wonder if he is still sad or if maybe he is happy because he doesn't have to take care of me.

Granny always says it's my fault her son got taken away from her. So I thought that maybe I did something to make the universe dislike me. But I don't believe that anymore. If the universe truly dislikes me, why would it send me an angel?

I nod at her question, making her smile widely. "Dylan helped me find the right stores. There's also a small surprise inside of it." She says warmly, gently taking the sweater from my hands and pulling it inside out.

I gasp when I see another surprise. My name. It's nicely written inside of it. Casey Rogers.

It's mine, it really, really is mine.

I run up to her, accidentally taking her by surprise. She's barely able to prevent us both from hitting the floor. "I'm really glad you like it, but I mean it, Casey. You don't have to wear it if you don't want to." She states genuinely while holding me tight against her chest.

Needless to say, I walked to school with two of my favourite things the next morning. My uniform and Lizzie. Oh and my coat so that makes it three.

Almost forgot my drawing supplies, so that makes it four.

I also love chicken nuggets, so that would make it five. But I don't have chicken nuggets with me so that makes it four again. Wait how about Rose? She is also one of my favourite things. Oh and Scarlett, I like her a lot more after she sang for me. OH, THE MOVIE SING!

I eventually conclude that I have a lot of favourite things, so I'd like to take back what I said before and attempt again.

Needless to say, I walked to school with two things I'd never thought I would have. A uniform and a mother.