Helloooo everyone, and welcome to my second story on here. I just finished the first one (The Fantastic Quadastrophy Sleepover), and I just need to write more.
This story is a little inspired by the stories 'Britney Harper' and 'Foster Kid', but only in a few parts. It's an original story (at least I haven't seen it before), that I came up with while reading those two stories by two other amazing authors.
Note: This is an alternate universe story, meaning this could in no way actually happen in the series.
But now let's get on with the story!
It was the 24th of March in Boulder, Colorado. A normal Thursday to many. What would be special about it, except for a possible birthday or anniversary? Nothing, everyone thought. It was just a normal day, right?
Definitely not.
It was everything but a normal day.
The day started like any other day. Everyone in Boulder woke up, ate breakfast, and went to school or work. Including the twelve year old Harper quadruplets. Not thinking the day was special in any way, they had gone to Edgewood school, had normal, boring lessons, and hopped on the school bus home. None of them had any idea that in just a couple of minutes, their lives would change, drastically.
"Did you see Evanna in history class today?" Dawn leaned over Dicky, to talk to Ricky. They sat in the back of the bus, where there were four seats next to each other.
"Yeah, she fell asleep!"
They both laughed.
"What Evanna?", Dicky asked.
"Evanna Mendoza", Dawn replied.
Dicky nodded, understanding.
"Oh, her! She's the cute blonde right?"
Dawn frowned.
"I guess... maybe"
Dicky was still nodding to himself.
"Yeah, she's the one with green eyes" He stopped nodding. "She is cute! Right, Nicky?"
Nicky sat closest to the left window. He looked out, listening to music with ear buds.
"What?", he groaned.
"That girl Evanna Mendoza, she's cute right?"
Nicky shrugged.
"I don't know"
Dicky leaned over Dawn, and ripped Nicky's ear bud out.
"Do you know now?"
Nicky sighed loudly, and took his ear bud back.
"No! And I need these"
"For what?" Ricky leaned in to the conversation.
"I get carsick when I don't listen to music"
Nicky put his ear bud back, annoyed, and looked back out the window. Outside there he saw them coming up to their bus stop, and so he sat back up again, and took his ear buds out. .
"Guys, we're getting off"
The other three quickly looked out the window, and saw it too. The big, yellow bus pulled up to a bus stop next to some red houses. The quads started squeezing themselves past each other, trying to be the first one out. Constantly bumping kids with their different colored backpacks, they got off, one by one, in the order; Dawn, Dicky, Ricky, Nicky.
As the bus drove on, the kids who got off walked away in different directions. The quads crossed the street to the right, on their way home.
"Can you answer my question now?"
"Yes, Dicky. And, I still don't know"
Dicky threw his hands up, and tossed them down, rolling his eyes.
"You don't have any classes with her, do you?" Dawn seemed confused.
Nicky shook his head.
"That explains it", Ricky stated. "She's like the most extroverted, funny girl" He gasped "You're right, Dicky, she is pretty cute"
Ricky and Dicky laughed together for a few seconds.
"Excuse me, are you the Harper quadruplets?"
The quads all looked up from each other. About five meters away from them, a woman stood. She had brown, wavy hair, and she wore what looked like a grey business suit, but with a tight knee-long skirt instead of pants. Her legs were pretty long, and she was tall too. Probably around 6 foot. Looking at her, the quads assumed she was around 30 year old. She had a serious look on her face.
"Yes, we are", Dawn said, smiling. The woman sighed, and cleared her throat.
"Well, then... There's something you need to know"
She nodded towards a nearby bench, and they went over and sat down on it. She cleared her throat again.
"My name is Corinne Lewis, and I'm a social worker" She pulled out a card from her jacket. It was her profile card from her job. The quads looked at each other, confused. Ricky was the first to speak.
"What does that have to do with us?"
Corinne sighed again, and looked at them with clear sadness in her eyes.
"There's been a serious accident"
The kids' expressions went from confused to worried. Corinne continued.
"A fire broke out in your house earlier today"
Shock broke out on the quads' faces.
"We-we... we have to just... just get there" Dawn tried to form words, but they wouldn't come out right. The quads all stood up, but Corinne stopped them, so they sat back down again.
"There's no there to go. It burned down"
Tears started forming in their eyes. Even Corinne seemed to tear up seeing their miserable faces.
"But... but mom and dad were in there" Nicky felt a tear rolling down his cheek. Corinne just nodded, slowly. Ricky felt worry hastily building up inside him.
"Where are they?" He made eye contact with Corinne, who just teared up even more.
"Tell me you know where they are!"
The other quads caught up with what he was suspecting. Their suspicion was confirmed when Corinne said:
"I can't. There wasn't a single sign of them anywhere around the house"
A small amount of tears started falling out of the kids' eyes. Corinne wiped away a tear under her own eye, smearing her eyeliner.
"Police have checked throughout all of town, and a little outside. They weren't found anywhere"
The small amount quickly turned into waterfalls.
"Then what do we do!?", Dawn yelled. Corinne tried to calm them down a little.
"Until we found out what happened to your parents, you'll be staying with me. The police are pretty sure they'll find something by the end of the day"
The devastated quads walked into Corinne's bungalow. During the car ride there she had explained that she usually takes in kids who's parents can't be found. They'd stay with her for a day, and on an off occasion sleep there, then their parents would be found. She had managed to comfort them a little letting them know that Tom and Anne would probably be found, safe and sound by the end of the day.
She led them to her small, round table, where they sat down while she went and got them some cookies.
"How could this happen?" Dicky leaned his elbows on the table, letting his head rest on his hands. The others shrugged.
"How did a fire start?", Dawn asked.
"We were always so careful with lights, candles and those things" Nicky sobbed.
Corinne walked in with a cookie jar. She put it on the table, took the lid off, and crouched down between Nicky and Ricky.
"Shortbread with chocolate. They always work for cheering up"
She stood up, and turned around to walk out the room. Before she did however, she turned her head.
"I'm gonna contact the police and see if there's any new information"
She left them alone again. The quads each took a cookie, and bit into it. It tasted a bit bitter, and the shortbread was crumbly. Nicky concluded she wasn't a practised cook. Still the cookies actually did manage to cheer them up a little. They managed to find some good in the situation, and made up a solution they wished for.
Maybe things wouldn't turn out so horrible anyway...
Little did they know it would. It would be even more horrible than they could ever imagine.
Almost five hours later they still didn't have a clue what happened to Tom and Anne. Corinne had shown the quads to where they would probably be sleeping that night. It was a small room with four beds. The walls were covered with a floral patterned wallpaper, and the floor was creaky.
It was clear not many people used the room, and so it hadn't been much worked on.
The quads had each picked a bed to sleep in, and now just chilled in there. They were still trying to comprehend the day. The afternoon had started with them talking about a girl in history class, and now they were in a social worker's house, wondering where their parents were.
In the moment, they weren't talking much. They sat in their temporary beds, just thinking. They could hear Corinne talking to someone on the phone outside.
After a while, she opened the door to the little bedroom. She still held the phone to her ear.
"Okay... I'll tell them" She looked dogged as she hung up the phone and turned to the quads. "I have news about your parents, and house"
The quads were out of the beds in a second, hopefully waiting for Corinne to continue. Corinne took a deep breath.
"The police think the fire wasn't an accident. They think someone started it on purpose, and this same person has probably-" She stopped for a second as she choked on her tears. "They-... they think this same person has probably murdered your parents, and hid their bodies"
For a couple of seconds there was just silence. The quads were in complete shock. This was impossible.
"Then..", Dawn started. "Then what do we do?"
Her voice was slurred, as her throat was filled with sadness. Corinne took a deep breath again.
"You're going to have to go to a foster family"