The next time Erin woke up she was almost blinded by the bright light shining above her. "Am I dead?" She whimpered looking around, only just making out the blurry figures beside her. "Rose, she's awake!" She heard her granddad say as they both turned round to look at her.
Finally, when her eyesight was back to normal Erin saw two unfamiliar faces smiling brightly at her. "Hi I'm Tracy and this is Mike!" A young woman with black hair said enthusiastically, "We're your care workers. Erin groaned. Partly relived that she wouldn't have to go through any more torture but partly annoyed. Why couldn't her grandma and granddad take her?
She was scared. Scared of having to make friends with all the other children. Even though she knew they had all suffered very similar backgrounds and most of them would probably be quite nice but she was scared. Scared that she would get too close to them. She preferred to keep herself to herself. That was how she's been doing it for years.
"Erin," Her grandma said. She snapped back into reality. "Your mum and dad have both been arrested and are awaiting trial; we honestly hope they go down for what they've put you through!" Rose's voice cracked at the end and she began hysterically sobbing. "I just can't believe what they did to you, I'm so sorry Erin!" Her gran said. "Calm down now Rose, you're upsetting her." Her granddad said. He then bent down and kissed his granddaughter on the cheek before whispering, "Good luck kiddo," into her ear. He waved before escorting his tearful wife from the room.
Erin was left alone with two people she met about 5 minutes ago. She looked up at the smiling people. They both looked okay but Erin knew appearances could be deceiving. She just wanted to go back to her Gran's house but it was all too late. Mike and Tracy had already discharged her and she was free to go.
When they got to the care homes minivan Erin saw a medium size bag stuffed with various things. She looked closer. They all belonged to her. Tracy saw her staring. "Oh your grandparents packed a bag for you earlier on." She just looked at Tracy and nodded. Her face emotionless. Tracy tried hard to make conversation with Erin but gave up after finally realizing she wasn't going to answer.
15 minutes later they pulled up at a large house with a sign that read Elm Tree. "You'll really like it here," Tracy said to her, "Your sharing with a girl called Carmen, she's sweet so please keep your temper with her." Erin knew what she was getting at. Everyone would probably be scared of her. Only a fool wouldn't be. She practically went crazy and nearly killed her dad. Erin shivered as she stared at the tall dreary building in front of her. "Oh well," She said to herself, "Might as well get it over with." She walked inside to start her new life in Elm Tree