A sleek red car drew up outside of Elm Tree House, and all of the residents were staring out of the living room window, whispering in hushed voices that the new girl was here. Nobody knew that much about her at all, not even the care workers, although that was something they refused to admit. The fact was, this girl never trusted anyone enough to tell them her story, and the social workers didn't have anyone else to ask. So they figured, put her in a nice care home, and when she's settled in, she might reveal her story so that they could put it in the files. But this was irrelevant.
"Here we are!" Helen, the new girl's social worker, got out of the car. "Now don't you think this place looks nice?" she waved cheerfully at the kids, and they immediately waved back before scattering away from the window. "Come on, Indie, get out of the car sweetie."
The passenger door opened and the girl called Indie stepped out in a flash of light brown hair. She slammed the door shut and put her backpack on her back. Her eyes flickered to the house and she arched an eyebrow slightly, but apart from that her expression didn't change. She walked to the back of the car and opened the boot, silently getting out a few black bags of stuff.
"Need any help?" Helen asked, closing the boot as Indie walked up to the door. The only reply Helen got was a mere shake of the head.
The woman frowned, but she forced another smile on her face as she walked up to the door and rang the bell. Indie stood silently beside her, a rather annoyed look on her face as she did so. Helen felt bad for her, but what could she do? Indie needed a care home that she could stay in for longer than a few weeks, and this was the only place available. With any luck, she'd start to fit in for once.
A young woman with silky black hair opened the door, and she smiled pleasantly at Indie and Helen. "Hi! Indie, right? I'm Tracy."
Indie gave a slight nod and offered a very small smile, and a look of surprised flashed over Helen's face. She never smiled, not even a tiny bit, this easily. Tracy seemed proud of herself as she moved aside to let both of them in. Indie went in, looking around her as she did so. She kept a more tight hold on her bags, worried that someone might jump out and steal them. The thought of this made Indie's expression darken a little, but nobody seemed to notice. A group of kids behind a big Jamaican woman caught her eye.
"Hi, Indie! I'm Gina. Nice to meet you. I'll show you your room, yeah?" Gina said, but then Tracy appeared beside Indie.
"Gina, why don't you help Mike and Helen out in the office? I'll show Indie her room." Tracy put a hand on Indie's shoulder and, again to Helen's surprise, Indie didn't shake her off.
"Alright." Gina agreed, heading into the office.
Indie's eyes settled on the group of kids, and then her eyes widened as they found two particular kids. They seemed to recognize her too. She quickly turned away and followed Tracy upstairs, her heart pounding fiercely in her chest. Was it really them? It…couldn't be, right?
Tracy gestured to a room with very bare walls and a bed, with a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. Indie put her bags down on the bed and looked around her.
"It's a bit dull and boring at the moment." Tracy admitted. "But you'll be able to paint it soon, since we're redoing the kids' rooms at some point in a couple weeks."
Indie nodded. "Okay…thanks." She said, surprising Tracy a little since Helen had seemed to think Indie didn't talk much.
"Do you want help unpacking?" Tracy asked gently.
Indie shook her head. "Nah, I'm good, thanks though."
Tracy nodded and headed downstairs, closing Indie's door behind her. Indie let out a sigh and opened her backpack, revealing her laptop, her phone, and a couple of beanies and t-shirts. She took her laptop, phone and their chargers out, and she instantly plugged them both in. Then she emptied out the beanies and pencils and such that she'd crammed in. She poured the contents of the black bags onto her bed until there was literally no room on there for anything else.
Indie picked up all her beanies, opened the chest of drawers, and put them in neatly, along with underwear and stuff. She filled up that drawer, and began putting pencils and notebooks and pens and any random stuff in the other drawers. She filled up the wardrobe with her clothes and shoes and she put three boxes (filled with stuff that nobody knew about except her) under her bed. Then she put the remaining stuff away and lay on her bed.
Her phone began to ring. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone…" she sang along with the ringtone, before checking the caller ID. She answered, putting the phone to her ear, and her expression instantly changed.
"Where the fuck are you?" the familiar, very menacing voice growled. "I went to yer house, and you weren' bloody there, and neither were your siblings."
"Does it really matter?" Indie said coldly. "What the hell do you want, Andy?"
"Straight to the point, are we? Alrigh'. There's a guy in that alleyway next to your favorite café. He's sellin' them drugs I asked you for. Take 'em, and kill him." Andy said.
Indie's eyes widened. "K-kill him?"
"Yeah. I figured it's time to up your rank in the group. You used to only be the collector, but now you get a real chance to shine. I want the drugs, and proof he's dead, by tonight. Good luck, sweetheart. I'll be waiting!" with that, Andy hung up.
Indie let the phone drop onto the bed, and she slowly began to tremble. This was all happening way too fast, and no matter how safe she'd thought she might be here, now she knew that they'd find her. She got up slowly, her face white, and she silently changed into all black clothes, topped with a black hoodie. She opened her bedroom door and stepped out.
And there, staring at her in surprise, was Johnny Taylor.
Her childhood best friend.