LET'S START AT THE BEGINNING
Chapter 1
It was a night like so many others; covered in blankets, a very tiny form was restless, rolling around in her bed. A dream, a nightmare, that she had constantly was reoccurring again. Her mother was sick and wasn't getting any better. The man she called Daddy had no time or use for her as he had always made a point of letting her know she was worthless and nothing or stupid. The poor girl couldn't understand how her baby brother, who was 6 months old, was just adored and loved upon. He was always left wanting for nothing and loved unconditionally. The little girl was lucky to get a grunt thrown in her direction to show any kind of acknowledgment of her existence.
Her mother had always tried her best to play go-between between the little girl and her father; however, over the last six months she has grown too weak, too sick to intervene. Cancer is a horrible thing and as her mother slowly slipped away losing her fight. Her father focused on the baby and continued to ignore her. Ignore her until he needed something done. Her father expected this small little thing to be able to step up and start doing more housework. She would do her best; but, she was only 8 going on 9 but she was such a small little waif that she was the size of a 6 or small 7 year old. His expectations of her were not reasonable and certainly not fair. When she was unable to physically complete the task at hand, her father would always punished harshly. The further her mother deteriorated the punishments increased in not only in frequency but verocity.
It was a dreary, cold morning when her mommy left by way of an ambulance. It had happened many times; but, this time, she never returned. By end of the week the little girl was dressed from head to toe in black and attending her mother's funeral. Her father was dealing with the baby and was constantly ignoring the little girl. He berated her for any little thing, and was quick to punish her for anything he considered wrong; and when it came to her, it was practically everything. The night of the funeral was the first time he admitted how much he hated her. He hated her eyes, he hated her hair, he hated her look, and finally he hated how much she looked like her mother. Looking at her only brought pain to his heart over the loss of his wife. He continued to tell her that he was never her father and if she didn't straighten up he would get rid of her because he had no use for her. She cried herself to sleep that night, not only from the loss of her mother; but, the loss of hope she held onto for the love she thought she could someday gain from the man she called daddy.
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A month has passed since the death of her mother. The young girl continued to do everything she could to make him happy and yet, no matter what she did, he found fault. She grew hungrier each day due to the lack of food she was given as he couldn't stand to look at her. He was often grounding her to her room; if he wasn't doing that, he was letting his hands voice his displeasure all over her small body.
"I want nothing more to do with you. You're going away. Your family doesn't want you. I don't want you, Nobody wants you." Stated her father.
The little girl wakes up screaming drenched in sweat calling out for her mommy. The door opens up wide and in comes her mother running in, scoops her up and cuddles her. Her mother gently wipes away the tears that are falling down the young girl's face with her thumb.
"Ooh baby girl, what's the matter, did you have another bad dream?"
"Yes mommy..the same one with the mean daddy"
"Oooh I'm so sorry baby girl thats awful"
Her mother continues to soothe the little girl and sings her a lullaby. Somewhere in the distance a car radio is blaring, The next thing she knows she is in that car with the radio still blaring. She attempts to turn it down with no effect. She turns the car off and yet the radio is still going. It's playing one of her favourite songs from wicked, "popular." she's tired and wants to sleep.
"Why wont the stupid thing turn off?" she thinks to herself.
She hits all the knobs and nothing, but suddenly a loud bang is heard and a bright light is accosting her eyes.
"Get your ass up! They will be here soon!"
She opens her eyes and looks around at her bare bleak room. Everything comes flooding back. All of her life in a few garbage bags. A small photo album with a few photos of herself, her baby brother and mother and the blanket her mother handmade when she was only a baby herself. It's all she has left of her mother. She quickly realized that her nightmare wasn't a dream; but, it was indeed, reality.
She gets up, puts on a pair of carter's blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a unicorn on it. She plasters on a fake smile and gets ready for her new chapter. Many thoughts start running through her head. "Foster homes couldn't be all that bad right?" Her dad, actually, Leo told her it was for kids who were "incorrigible" When she asked what it meant he called her a worthless stupid idiot and then explained it was for kids that were bad. He accented it with a back hand that gave her a fat lip and sent her flying into a wall. She was determined to prove she wasn't bad and was worthy. Maybe going there she could become what he wanted. He would be proud of her for being brave and strong and show how good she was so she could come back home. No matter how cruel he was, she was determined to win his love.
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An hour later, a blonde haired lady showed up at their front door. The small girl had made herself some cereal and made a point of putting all the dishes in the dishwasher to make Leo happy.
"Hello, I'm Amelia. I will be taking you to the group home"
"Yes ma'am, thank you. I'm Rachel"
"Can you hurry this along I have places to be, here is all her crap." Leo says as he is throwing the bags at Amelia.
"Oh yes of course sir. I just wanted to introduce myself and meet Rachel." The woman turned from Leo to Rachel.
"I see you are a little over 8 and a half."
Amelia takes in a few mental notes. She sees how pale and thin the young girl is. She sees the flinching whenever people move too quickly or especially when Leo speaks.
Rachel nods her head yes. Amelia gives the girl a kind smile and looks back over at Leo.
"Well i see you gave up all parental responsibility of the child. Is there no one other family that can possibly take her?" She queries.
"Don't know and don't care. As far as I know Amelia, her mother was an only child and both her parents are dead. As for her biological father, who knows? Could be dead, could be alive. I met her mother when she was 2 and a half. I only tolerated this little bitch for her. I tried to keep the brat here she isn't worth the expense, plus she's just trouble. Good luck with her."
Amelia looks at him, shocked he is saying such things, not that she hasn't heard it before, just usually not in front of the child.
"Im sure we'll be fine. Thank you again. Would you be so kind as to help load the bags into the car"
"Sure i guess." He says grudgingly.
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Amelia and Rachel arrive at the group home. It's a mixture of twenty boys and girls, ranging in ages between three and sixteen.
"Okay you will be in the girls dormitory," Amelia says, "myself, Mrs Jackson or Mr Watson can assist you in answering any questions you may have."
In the corner of the room sat three young teenagers who were are playing a videogame. Amelia looks around then smiles.
"Santana come here please."
"Can't you see we're playing here?"
"Well you can pause the game, we have a new guest."
Quinn snorts,"more like prisoner," she mutters to Santana and Britt.
"I want you to show Rachel here the dorms. She will be staying in your room as Belle is no longer here".
Santa sighed heavily, "fine."
"Come one Sanny I'll help you." Says Britt excitedly.
Brittany was always cheerful and happy when she got to meet new people. San pauses the game, gets up and walks over.
"Come on squirt I'll show you to our room. I'll explain the rules too."
They headed to the dorms.
"It goes like this, Quinn, the blond girl I was playing with, Brittany here and I run this place. Now you will have a part of a locker and a closet. DO NOT touch any of our stuff or we'll break you!"
"Sanny be nice she just little." Brittany encourages then looks at Rachel, "hey. So how old are you?"
"Im 8."
""Well I'm Brittany, like Sanny said and I'm thirteen. Quinn is my twin sister, but right now she's still twelve. She will turn thirteen in 3 weeks. Sanny is gonna be 14 but we're all in eighth grade as Sanny has a late birthday. So you're third grade?"
"Oooh no I'm in fourth, I'm in, was in Mrs Wilson's class. I don't know where I'm going now."
"Well you're going to the same school we're going to. It's Mckinnley elementary it goes to grade 8 so we'll help look out for you okay...right Sanny?"
Britt smiles at Rachel then gives a puppy dog look to Santana,
"Pleeease."
Britt sees no real response so adds in the pout.
"Ooooh man the pout too? You're killing me here Britt Britt." Santana sighed, "fiiiiine."
They finish taking Rachel to the room and help her place her few items away. They proceed to show her the dining area, how to get back to the play area, and where the station was for the adults. Within twenty minutes they are back at the playroom.
"Daaaaaaamn, I was about to send a search party for you guys." Says Quinn smirking.
"Quinn this is Rachel, Rachel, Quinn." Santana introduces.
Rachel waves shyly. Quinn looks Rachel up and down and nods then looks back at the two older girls.
"So can we get back to our game now?" Asks Quinn.
"Sure" says San sitting down as Britt also plops down on the couch.
Rachel was unsure what to do and is feeling overwhelmed. She is about to head back to her room.
"Come on, we got another controller, you can play too." Says Britt waving the control pad.
"I haven't play much." Replies Rachel
"It's okay I'll help you."' Smiles Britt.
'Uhm okay thank you." Rachel smiles as she sits down. She thinks to herself, If this is how the first day of her new life was starting it might not be too bad.
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