I could not believe how many people responded to this story! I'm so happy! Here's the new chapter. I'm already working on the next one, and have a general idea about where I want to take the plot line, but if any of you guys want to see something in particular happen, let me know and I'll try to fit in in here! As always, I don't own anything (I wish I did) and all mistakes are my own. Let me know what you guys think. xx
Skye jerked awake and looked around. Her ankle was really cold and she was shivering. She looked towards timer and saw that it had gone off. She gingerly took the ice off of her ankle and prodded it with her fingers. It was still a little achey, but it felt much better than before. She stretched it out a little, and only felt a dull pain, rather than the intense pain she felt earlier. She smiled. May and Phil had fixed her.
Thinking of the kind lady and man who had instantly rushed to her aid made her feel a little sad. They were probably gone by now and she probably wouldn't see them again. She sighed and swung her feet off of the couch and onto the floor. The Ramsey's had probably already left and she felt relieved that they hadn't stopped and said goodbye on their way out. She never wanted to see them again.
Skye was walking slowly back towards the room she shared with some of the other girls. Since she was the smallest, the older girls always ended up taking her stuff. She tried to stand up for herself, but there was only so much she could do when she lacked to ability to put up a hard fight, and when all the nuns were convinced she was a "problem child." She didn't know why no one believed her.
She hated this place. She hated the uncomfy bed she had to sleep on and the clothes that never seemed to fit her. She hated that she would inevitably have a nightmare and would wet the bed and all the other kids would tease her for it while the nuns scolded her and made her clean her sheets up. She hated that no one would listen to what she said and that no one believed her when she was telling the truth. She wanted friends and she desperately wanted a family. The Harvey's could've been her family. They were her parents and they had started to feel like an actual family before they had died. No, they were killed. Skye killed them.
Having a family and then having it ripped away from you felt worse than never having a family at all, Skye thought to herself. This was the second time in her short life that she had been abandoned by people why had called themselves her parents.
Skye heard voices coming out of Sister Margaret's office. That was where people went when they wanted to take kids away from here. They went into Sister Holly's office when they were bringing them back. Skye didn't want to go back to her own room and face all the girls waiting to tease her in there, so she quietly walked up to the door, slightly limping to keep the pressure off of her bad ankle. She looked down the hallway to make sure that no one would see her spying on the people inside. No one was around. Now that she thought about it, she remembered that today was Sunday. The nuns made all the kids attend service on Sunday, and that lasted half of the day. Skye knew it was still morning, so no one would be around until the sun got to the top of the sky. She smiled.
She made sure to be super quiet as she approached the door. She put her hand on the doorjamb and leaned towards the small opening. It was May and Phil! They were still here! And they were in Sister Margaret's office, so that meant they wanted to take someone away from here. Maybe they could take her. She felt hoping growing inside of her before she squashed it down. They had seen her cry and complain earlier. She had made Phil feel bad and had acted like a total baby in front of them. They wouldn't want her. They probably wanted nice little girl or boy, who laughed and smiled all the time, and who wouldn't wet the bed. That wasn't Skye.
Even though they didn't want her, Skye kept staring at them. They were going to take somebody. Maybe they could take Lucy. She lived in Skye's room with her and was one of the only girls who didn't make fun of her. She didn't stick up for her either, but at least she left her alone. Lucy deserved to have a nice family. She was still staring intently at May when the older lady's eyes landed on her. She had been spotted.
May smiled at her, and before she could stop herself, she smiled back. Skye couldn't help it, she liked May. Maybe it was her kind face, or the way she treated Skye life a regular human, not a stupid orphan. Maybe it was how she kept giving her nice smiles or helped her out when she didn't have to. Skye didn't know what it was, but she felt herself trusting May. It was okay to trust girls. None of the foster moms Skye had been with had ever pushed her down or tried to scare her. Sure, they had yelled sometimes, but they weren't bad. The boys were bad. The boys did bad, mean things. Skye couldn't trust boys, but she could trust girls.
May was still smiling at her and so Skye gingerly lifted a hand and waved at her. May laughed silently and gently waved back. May jerked her head back towards Sister Margaret when she said, "I can show you some of the drawings some of our little ones did yesterday. They aren't here right now, they're in church, but this could help you get a feel for which one might work best in your home." Phil nodded eagerly and they both stood up. The group was walking towards the door and Skye started to panic. She ran down the hallway and hid behind a corner. The group exited the office and started walking towards the craft room. She could hear Phil asking questions.
Skye quietly followed them around. She stayed far enough away that they couldn't see her, but that also meant she couldn't hear what they were saying. She thought she heard her name a few times, but she was probably imagining it. They stopped in the crafts room and May and Phil started looking at the children's drawings. Phil pointed at one and May smiled down at it. Skye didn't have any drawings in there. If she did draw something, Jonathan always ended up tearing it apart, so she kept them folded neatly in her pillowcase. She wished she had one in there so that May and Phil could look at.
Once they were done looking at the drawings, they made their way back to the office. Skye hustled into the kitchen and hid behind some curtains as they passed by. She limped back towards the office after them, but the door was firmly shut. She sighed and trudged back to her old room. At least she could get settled before the other kids arrived.
May knew Skye had been following them. She glanced back every now and then and saw a flash of dark hair or brown eyes staring at her. She had looked for one of her drawings in the craft room but couldn't find any. She asked the nun about Skye, telling her that they had met her on the way into the orphanage. Sister Margaret wasn't a fan of Skye's, May could tell. She had only said that Skye had just left a foster family and had returned today, and then she had redirected their attention back to the drawings that the other children had made.
When they were returning to the office, May saw Skye run behind some curtains in the kitchen. May saw how Skye was limping and favoring one leg over the other. She felt a rush of anger. This little girl was obviously being neglected or bullied or something. She felt protective over her. She didn't deserve to be treated like this. When they walked back into the office, May made sure to shut the door firmly behind her.
"Sister Margaret, there actually is one child in particular that I'd like to know about. She said her name was Skye. I asked about her earlier?"
The nun let out a breath, "Her name is actually Mary Sue, but she has taken it upon herself to change it. She just got back from staying with a nice foster family. She was hitting their son and acting disobedient and wouldn't stop, so they had no choice but to bring her back. I don't know if she's the right fit for you. We have some other, well-behaved children that also need to be foste-"
May cut her off, "Actually, I think she'd be a great fit for us," she glanced at Phil and he nodded at her. Good, she didn't want to make any decisions without him, "and we would like to foster her."
Sister Margaret stared at her. "Are you sure? Here's her file," she handed over a large manila folder, "and as you can see, she's fairly problematic." May could feel her anger growing. She didn't even glance at the file. Before she could open her mouth, Phil laid a gentle hand on her arm and spoke up, "Yes, we've made up our minds. We want Skye to be a part of our family. If you would be so kind as to give us the paperwork, we would greatly appreciate it." He narrowed his eyes at the nun, and she sputtered a little bit, but started filling out the paperwork.
Phil smiled at May, "I thought we weren't making any decisions today?" he whispered at her.
"We can't leave her here Phil."
"I know. I knew as soon as she hugged you that we had found the newest member of our family."
Skye was sitting on her bed when she heard Sister Margaret open the door. She looked up and was about to speak, but then she spotted May and Phil walking into the room behind her. Her mouth snapped shut. She wouldn't get her hopes up. They were probably just coming in to say goodbye to her.
Phil grinned at her and May waved.
"Skye, this nice couple would like to be your new foster parents," Sister Margaret motioned towards May and Phil and Skye could not believe what she was hearing. She still wouldn't get her hopes up, in case this was some kind of joke. She didn't say anything.
Sister Margaret looked towards the couple, and May stepped forward and kneeled before Skye. "Hey Skye, if it's alright with you, we'd like to take you home with us?" She said it like a question. May was saying that if Skye said no, then she wouldn't have to go with them. She was giving her a choice. May was one of the only people who had ever done that before, and this was not even the first time she had done it today! Skye found it hard to swallow, she was so nervous.
"Is this for real? Or are you joking?" Skye whispered to May. She glanced up at the nun, and then focused back onto May's face.
May's lips twitched into a smile. Phil walked forward and kneeled beside May. Skye resisted the urge to lean away from him. He'd been nice to her so far and she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
"This is for real Skye. We would really, really like it if you lived with us." Phil smiled at her and waited for her to say something. Skye knew she should say yes. She knew she should be jumping around with happiness, because these nice people wanted her and were willing to get her out of this place. But she needed to make sure of some things first. She had to be careful.
"Do you have any other kids?" She asked May. It was easier to talk to her.
"We have two, a boy and a girl. They older than you are, teenagers, but they're really excited about having a new sibling. They've been begging us for years to get them a little brother or sister." May answered her and reached for Skye's hand. Skye flinched a little, but let her take it.
They had other kids. Other kids didn't like Skye. They didn't like it when foster kids came in and tried to steal their parent's away from them. They would be mean to her.
As if May could tell what she was thinking, she said, "You know what? They were foster kids just like you are. But then they became a part of our family, just like you can too. I promise you, they're very nice."
Oh. They were orphans too? That would be better. They could still turn out to be mean, but for some reason, Skye trusted May when she said that they were nice. She was willing to take a chance, because even thought this could go terribly wrong and this new family could turn out as mean as the last one, Skye really wanted a family.
So, she straightened up and tried to sound confident when she said, "Okay."
May and Phil beamed, and she could tell that they wanted to hug her, but were happy when they didn't. Skye smiled up at them though, so they knew that she appreciated them.
Sister Margaret interrupted, "Okay, well this paperwork should be complete by tomorrow. You can come pick Skye up around noon if that's okay?" The grown-ups started talking again and Skye felt sadness and a little bit of dread wash through her. They weren't taking her right now. They were coming back to get her. What if they forgot? What if they got home and decided they didn't want a new kid after all? What if they got into a car accident on the way here and died? Her heartbeat was going really fast and she tugged on May's hand. May sat on the bed besides Skye, "What's wrong sweetie?" May seemed like she was worried about her, and that made Skye feel even worse.
"You can't take me today?" Skye whispered. She could feel her eyes starting to well up, but refused to cry. They had already seen her cry today, and nobody wanted to crybaby in their family.
May stroked her cheek and it felt good. "I'm sorry, I really want to take you with us right now, but Sister Margaret won't let us until everything is filled out."
Skye's throat felt tight, so she didn't say anything, just looked down at her feet.
May ran her fingers through Skye's hair and Skye involuntarily leaned into her touch. "I'm so sorry Skye. We don't want to leave you here for tonight, but we promise we'll come back for you, and Phil and I? We never break our promises," Skye nodded at her, but still felt nervous and sad.
"How about this? I'll give you my phone number and you can call us if anything happens. Even if nothing bad is happening and you just want to talk, you can call us." That made Skye feel better. If they forgot about her, she could call them and remind them.
"Okay," she finally said. May smiled at her and wrote out her phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to Skye. "You know how to use a phone, right?" when Skye nodded, May kept talking, "Okay, please don't be afraid to call me, okay Skye? I mean it, call me if you need me, and I'll be there." That sounded so similar to what Mrs. Harvey had said the night she had died that it made Skye's throat tighten again. She nodded at May. She felt like she should hug her, but it was still a little scary, so instead she wrapped her pinky around May's. May glanced down at the contact and smiled.
Phil came back over and kneeled by Skye so that he was looking into her eyes, "I'm so happy that you'll be joining our family Skye," and Skye could tell that he meant it. She grinned at him.
May and Phil both stood up and announced that they had to go and pick their daughter up from dance class. They were leaving.
Skye jumped up with them, determined to be with them until they drove away. She hovered near May and the women reached down and hooked her pinky with Skye's. The group walked towards the front door. The grown-ups were talking about adult things, and Skye didn't mind because May's pinky was locked around hers and it felt right. At the front door, they paused and May and Phil both leaned down to say goodbye.
"Goodbye Skye, We'll be here tomorrow at noon to pick you up." Phil paused before saying, "and I am so excited that you'll be living with us."
May nodded and said, "We're excited for you to join our family Skye. We'll be back tomorrow, and don't forget about what I said," and with that, May gingerly eased her pinky away from Skye's and they walked towards their car. They got in and looked back towards her. She raised a hand and waved until she couldn't see their car anymore.
Family. They were excited to have her be a part of their family. Skye didn't mind that Sister Margaret tugged her back into the orphanage and told her to go clean up her things. She didn't care that the other kids would be back soon and would probably tease her. She didn't even think about Jonathan and her hurt ankle. All she could think about was that she was about to have a family again. She couldn't stop grinning.
Okay guys, let me know what you think. Anything I should do differently? What do you like? Who do you think are May and Phil's other kids? More importantly, what did you guys think of the season finale? Message me if you have some ideas you'd like to see happen in this story, and I'll try to fit them in. Thank you so much for reading! xx - Ariel