Hello! I will tell you now, when I write, it sometimes goes a bit dark. I will put trigger warning up so you can skip it if you want. You have been warned. Sorry for the crappy title and summary - I have never been great at them. I won't include every character from the DG but if you really want a character in it that isn't, ask in the comments and I will try and fit them in. I will tell you now, I am very irregular at posting so sorry :) BTW, I'm not one of those people who put AU's here there and everywhere - I just thought I would explain a few things. Anyway, on with the story!
She was scared, well actually she was terrified and even that didn't describe how she was feeling either but she couldn't think of anything else at the time as there were just too many other things were racing round her mind at the time, like a roller coaster of thoughts that wouldn't end. This was only going to be another placement wasted on her and she knew what would happen: she would try to make conversation but everyone would be really mean which had happened for the last eight times but she hadn't figured out why. She was only 7 - why did she have to get moved around so much? All she wanted to do was find her brother!
She could run away - it would make life so good for everyone but not her but that didn't matter. She didn't want to run away though - bad things happen when people run away. Horrible things - people get hurt and taken away by nasty people and everyone would get sad. No. She had to stop thinking like this. Stop the roller coaster in her head.
That's how she had spent most of the 3 hour journey, trying to forget about everything.
She hoped it would be at least a little bit better than the last house, fully of mean children and mean adults - it felt like she was at home, with her mummy and daddy... it was horrible.
The best thing to do was to wait until she was 16 because then she could live all on her own - which was all she wanted. She wanted to find her brother and live with him but she was starting to lose hope - she had been split from him when she was 4 which was 3 whole years ago!
"We're here," her social worker said bringing her back to the present time - she wished she could be in Harry Potter or Narnia or some place far away from the real life world full of good and bad people. She wished she was somewhere where she had all the time in the world and play all day and not get told off by the bad people but only ever have to talk to the really good people who she knew would keep her safe. Somewhere where no matter how long she was gone, she would still make it back in time for tea. It was a shame she was stuck here in this world where it seemed there was only bad people with power over every action she did.
"Okay," she replied to her social worker. He put up with her but really she was just another kid he had to find placements for. She was about to open the car door but he stopped her.
"Can you try to be a little bit social with the other kids this time?"
"Fine," she replied, even though it was never happening. Even if she did try to talk the others would ignore her just like every other place.
"I don't want to be back here tomorrow moving you again. There are only so many care home-"
"Care house."
"Care house. There are only so many in the country," he said, starting to get annoyed.
"I know," she said, getting out of the car with her backpack which was only half full. She used to have a suitcase of things which she would unpack, only to be made to pack it all up again a month later. She would have had more stuff if it hadn't all been taken at Burnywood but it was and there was nothing she could do about it which was sad because the mean people took all her nice stuff from when she was living at home, apart from one thing, which was lucky.
It was this point where she started getting nervous. When she had to walk up to the door and say hello to the person in charge and walk past all the big scary people just to get to her room, which she usually had to share.
Her social worker knocked on the door, the seven year old standing behind, shaking, breathing heavily.
"You'll be fine, I promise."
"You said that last time, and the time before, and before that-"
"I get the point," he said as the door opened, a man with little to no hair and glasses standing there. There were about 14/15 kids behind him, all with beady eyes, staring at her. If looks could kill, she would have been gone in less than a second. She refused to think like that though.
"Hello Rob, long time no see," the man said, the two having a 'man hug' as she liked to call them. "And you must be Echo. Come in," the old man said. Rob and her walked in and followed the guy to what seemed to be the office.
"May-li, could you show Echo where her room is. I need to talk to Rob."
"Of course," a Chinese looking lady said. "Come with me."Echo followed her, having to face the embarrassment of walking past the others.
May-li took Echo up a flight of stairs, through a maze of corridors, all covered with pictures drawn by the kids, and into a room. It was quite small but at least it was hers - she didn't have to share with anyone, which she was extremely grateful for. She was sick of being hurt in her own bedroom, her own space.
"Is that all you have?"
"Yes Miss."
"You don't have to call me Miss. We're not a school. Call me May-li. I will take you shopping tomorrow. Would you like me to help you unpack?" she asked.
"No thank you."
"Okay. Me and Mike will be down stairs if you want if need anything. The bathroom is just down the hall."
"Thanks," Echo said as May-li left. She took out the three long sleeve shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans and some underwear, and put it all in the draws. She took out the one book she owned which was called Alice In Wonderland. All her other books got burned in the infamous Burneywood fire. She took her wash bag, realising she couldn't remember where the bathroom. She didn't want to ask though. What if Mike or May-li got mad? She decided, much to her dismay, to ask one of the other kids, if she could find them. As she walked through the confusing world of all the corridors, she bumped into a boy, quite tall and in a similar checked top to her.
"Sorry," She mumbled.
"Ryan. What's your name?" he said, bending down so that he was at eye level with Echo.
"My name's Echo." When she said that, she thought she saw a hint of sadness. Do you need any help?" he asked.
"Um, yeah. Um, where is the bathroom?" Echo asked.
"Follow me," Ryan said. It turns out the bathroom was only down the corridor from her room, which was pretty good.
"Um, thanks," Echo said.
"Don't worry. Oh, by the way, we're not all horrible. Watch out for Floss and Bailey, but everyone else are nice, well, sometimes Carmen and Tee can be a bit iffy, but that is just teenage girls being, well, teenage girls. It can be a bit crazy, but you'll like it."
"Thanks, for warning me," Echo said. Ryan left, leaving her to her thoughts. He reminded her of her brother. It must just be a coincidence that there was a boy called Ryan in the same care house. There were probably loads of people named Ryan, not that she had ever met any others.
She went back to her room and shoved her backback under her bed. There was one thing she hadn't unpacked, and it was going to stay unpacked, because the last thing she wanted was for it to get stolen. She had learned that the hard way before and didn't want the same to happen again.
Echo walked through the matrix of corridors (if felt like the first day of primary school all over again) and made her way down stairs.
As she entered the living room where everyone was and subconsciously pulled down her sleeves even more, even though the shirt was already 2 sizes too big unless the sleeves were rolled up a little. Otherwise they went past the ends of her fingers which she would always get told off for.
After all her stuff had been nicked at Burneywood, Rob brought her new stuff, not realising that he had got it all in size 7, not size 5. That's what he said anyway. Echo knew it was because he had forgotten though.
She went over to the sofa and perched on the end.
"Hi. I'm Toni."
"And I'm Billie." Echo turned her head to see two girls, whom she guessed were twins.
"Hi. I'm Echo," she replied, still tugging on her sleeves. She had a 10 minute conversation with them, the two throwing questions at her like tiny daggers. 'How long have you been in care?' 'Why are you in care?' Stuff like that. It was bittersweet however, when Mike came in.
"Echo, could you come with me," Mike said, standing at the door. She'd only been there...some time. What had she done to get sent to the office?
