A year ago
An old Toyota creeped up the gravel road, it's tires crunching across the stone and spitting out whatever fragments it could not crunch; throwing those fragments around. The hill was steep, a canopy of trees touching fingers overhead and blocking out the grey sky above. The beat up red car was the only thing that seemed out of place in nature, the rest a picture from a magazine on country living. Though it wasn't the country. The red-headed woman was slowly moving up the driveway to her old country home, gifted by her mother when she died. The place that would never see the sound of little feet on the rug, or never hear the sounds of children yelling.
Pulling over halfway up the driveway, Miss Knight looked around at the empty landscape. Minnesota seemed so lonely when you had no one to share it with. The documents lay in her passenger seat, the documents that confirmed the worst. She had too much fun in her years, and she was too far up in age now. The woman had no biological way of having children. Grabbing the documents with rough hands and a heavy heart, the thirty-five year old woman sighed and ripped the papers straight in half. It didn't help, but it was the only evidence of her infertility. Opening the door and slamming it shut, the woman left the car and took a long hike up to her house on the hill. Tears streamed down her face and curses laid straight for God were itching to escape her throat. But it didn't matter. Because she needed some alone time.
Reaching the tan colored porch, she threw her boots towards the side railing on the left and opened her door and stalked inside. Breathing heavily, she decided she needed to destroy. It wasn't healthy, but it was what she needed to do. Walking into the living room and smelling the laundry that she did this morning. It was a small consultation, not nearly enough to calm the woman's heavy heart. Looking around the pristine room, she decided that this was the first thing that had to be destroyed.
Tearing ugly paisley couch cushions out from the frame, Miss Knight threw them across the room, impressed that she managed to knock over a lamp while she did it. The woman pulled her wavy red hair up into a loose ponytail and began to throw her shoes, dirty plates, and old shirts across the living area. The woman's hands were shaking. But she never stopped. She was afraid that if she stopped she would just fall onto the couch and be. It was a hard feeling to describe but it was the feeling of not feeling all at once.
Finding the living room to be respectfully messy, she knew what needed to happen next. She needed to get rid of her past. So, running into the kitchen with the baseball bat she kept under her bed for protection, the woman got right to work. She put the bat against the drawer and laid out all of her wine glasses on the table, in lines of four by four. Grabbing the bat again, the woman smashed every last glass till it was a matter of shards across the floor. Next came all of the wine bottles she had (four in all and of varying flavors) and then every bottle of alcohol Miss Knight owned. The task made her feel so accomplished and free. Throwing the bat on the floor, she raised her hands in the air and smiled for the first time since she got the diagnoses. Another thought appeared. Running across the floor and dodging the glass that lay broken around the small kitchen, the woman made her way to the flip phone her friend had gotten her, opening it and dialing a number that was on the counter. They picked up after the second ring.
"Hello, I'd like to schedule an appointment. Do you have any openings?" Biting back vicious tears that threatened a second assault, Miss Knight set up an appointment for adoption, excited about this new chapter in her life.
Present time
Miss Knight was walking through the foster home, smiling at the children that ran past. There were several young kids in the recreation area, playing a game of what looked like tag. One girl giggled as she ran across the deep green grass, a peach bow falling out of her hair. Pausing as she reached what was probably the "base" the child looked up with her dark chocolate eyes and waved at the redhead. The woman waved back, paused for a second and then walked on, extremely excited for what she was about to find.
The house was darker than it should've been. Weird, but the woman didn't dwell on it too much. Instead she walked from the parlor into the living room, where four boys sat, the oldest telling a ghost story.
"And then, on this very night, they heard tip toeing around the upstairs. And in the next morning, the mom and dad were all covered in blooood!" The littlest two boys gasped and the oldest laughed because of this.
"That's so lame!" The boy who looked taller but still younger grabbed the flashlight and started his story. And the mom had made her choice right there. They were the five who caught her eye first. They were the five that had so much life to them that it was impossible not to look. The soon to be mother smiled and walked away, her boots making dull thuds on the floor. It was a quick decision, but an effective one. Instead of just herself living in the old house, she was going to have five children along with her!
And a week or so later, her car was filled with the kids, all laughing and talking to each other until the littlest one gasped and pointed ahead. They were coming up on the gravel road, and the outline of the house was becoming more visible through the trees. The children's chatter stopped short and they all stared in open mouthed awe.
"Is this our new home, miss?" he littlest one, the five year old girl, seemed to squeak in happiness with every word. The mom laughed and nodded.
"It's all of our homes from now on. And it has lots of room to run around in." The children's eyes lit up. They started chatting more as the house came into view, what the rooms looked like (the five year old called the blue room right away) and what stations she had on the television. And when the car was parked and the child lock doors opened, children raced into the house like a group going into battle.
"I call the really big room!' Kendall called as soon as he passed the threshold into the house. His Nike sneakers were thrown into the corner and his socked feet ran and slid across the creaking wood as fast as they could go. Miss Knight smiled after the eight year old boys, who followed him joyfully, yelling things like 'over my dead body' and 'not if I get there first'. There was one child left. The five year old, little Katie.
"Can you show me the Blue Room? Me and Lucy want to see it with you." Wondering who Lucy was, the woman nodded and clasped her hand gently around her new daughter's. Together, they walked up the stairs and towards all of the chatter of the boys. Heading towards the right instead of the left, they came into sight of a blue room, about the size of a child's, with stuffed animals on the white dresser and a twin bed against the farthest wall. The new mother let the kid's hand go and smiled as she ran and threw her bag on the bed.
"Do you like it?" The daughter held her stuffed bear tight and nodded rapidly at the mom's question.
"Lucy and I love it." The mom raised another eyebrow but said nothing. She probably needed to break up the fight between the boys. Sorting out their rooms was a bigger war than she thought it would be. Letting Katie play in her room alone, The mom walked out and towards her four sons.
"Alright, calm down, don't make me settle this. " She kept her tone light but sure. The boys were all on trying to wrestle each other for the room, the youngest wincing as he was thrown into the wall. The raven haired boy seemed to be trying to put the oldest in a headlock, but because he was about a head shorter, it was not an easy task. Kendall moved to the side and pushed his brother to the ground, Logan and him beginning to wrestle. James turned around, still holding his enemy to the wall.
"We're just playing, Miss Knight." The tan skinned boy, Carlos shoved James off and ran to punch him. Katie came out of her room and watched, biting her lip nervously. But it seemed like she was looking past the fight and at something else. Something in the back room, against the window. Looking quickly, Miss, Knight saw nothing of interest. There were punches being thrown anyway. Kendall threw Logan off of him and ran in between the boys top stop this game of rooms.
"Guys stop!" Under his breath, he whispered something that sounded a lot like 'Lucy wouldn't like it.' This sentence made the boys immediately freeze and look at each other with fear. The remaining three boys all stood up, dusted each other off, and grabbed their bags, each heading into a separate room. Kendall looked at Katie with his blue-green eyes and the girl walked back into her blue room, slamming the door tight.
"Who's this Lucy? You guys are talking a lot about her. Is she an imaginary friend?" The mother leaned on the banister of the stairs, watching as the young boy tensed up. You could feel how awkward it was for him. She considered taking back her statement and saying sorry, just in case something happened with this Lucy person, but the pale boy licked his lips and answered quickly, walking over and lacing his arm under her arm.
"Lucy is no one." Miss Knight raised her eyebrows. Kendall quickly re-thought out his answer. "Well, she's Katie's imaginary friend and the kid would freak if we told her she wasn't real. It's all the young kid has, mom. Here, let me help you with dinner, Miss Knight. It's a lovely home you have." And with that statement, the blond led his adoptive mother away from the banister and down the staircase, looking over at her cautiously to see if she noticed how his disposition changed suddenly. Apparently, she had, though the redhead pretended that nothing was wrong. Adoptive kids could be a little... edgy, the woman remembered reading, and needed to be allowed to have their space and grow into their new family.