*Knock knock* No answer *Knock knock* "Come on mam, theres noone here. Let's just go." The sulking barely adult said hopefully.
"No, we need to find a good place for the kids. Or would you rather I just left them with your father" The women may be in a wheelchair struggling to breath but she sure knew how to put her eldest daughter in her place.
The retort that had been on the young womens tongue was snapped back as the door to Elm Tree House was flung open by a flustered looking women not much older than herself. She smiled warmly at them, "Sorry its breakfast time there like a pack of hyenas" her smile dropped as she realised what she had just said.
The women in the wheelchair chuckled lightly at her reaction to her own comment.
"Don't worry about it, I have six children. Its like feeding time at the zoo when we are all around" this earned an eye roll and a "Thanks Mam" from the sulking adult.
This made the other two chuckle. "You must be Mrs Young then, and..." she left the question hanging waiting for a reply. She recieved a dirty look and a grumbled "Alex".
"Right then, I'm Tracy, lets get in out the cold and you can have a look around" she smiled warmly and seemed to be a bubbly kind of person. The type of person Alex would get along with if she didnt work here.
Alex pushed her mothers chair though the doorway, ignoring the offer of help from an overly friendly Tracy. Alex was secretly marveling at the magnitude of the building. Shame it was a dumping ground for the unwanted. She flinched at her own word as she realised that if her mother got her way then her three younger sibling's would be stuck in the place. She couldnt let this happen.
Tracy led them into the office before excusing herself to finish with breakfast and find the head care worker.
Mrs Young was watching her eldest daughter, waiting for the volcano to erupt. It was only a matter of time before it happened again. Alex didn't agree that the best place for the kids when she died would be in a place like Elm Tree. Alex had begged and pleaded with her mother to let her take the kids. Mrs Young wanted her children all to have the best chance. She couldn't leave a 19 year old with three children under the age of 14.
Alex could feel her eyes burning into the back of her skull but refused to meet them. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want her little brother and sisters to ever come here. She had heard stories about care homes. And the children in them. However that was when she was in primary, in secondary she had learnt different. Alex's best friend, Jay, was an ex care kid. She just didn't want her sibling's to have to face the cruelty of children.
One question was eating alex up inside though. A question for her mother? She turned and looked her mother without even trying to keep the hurt out of her eyes and asked;
"Why dont you trust me?"
Before Mrs Young could reassure her child of her reasons, Mike walked into the office ready to give the grand tour.