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The seats at the police station were extremely uncomfortable. Emma had been sitting in one for about an hour. Rachel was stuck in the snow storm. Emma kept wondering if she would have made it to the train station before the snow started to fall and what would have happened to her if she didn't. "Do you want some coffee?" The cop watching over her asked.

"No I'm 8." She answered. She never knew why people always treated her like she was older. She had just attempted to run away and live on her own, but still she was just a kid.

When Rachel finally arrived she was not happy to see Emma. She was pissed that she had to drive all that way in the snow in the middle of the night. Her hair wasn't done and she was not wearing any makeup. Emma suddenly felt very worried. She did not want Rachel to be mad at her. Rachel was the only person she could really trust. She waited in agony as Rachel discussed the situation with the cop. When she was done Rachel sat down in the seat next to her. "So we haven't been able to contact your foster family. We don't know if they are worried that you have went missing but when they call the police they are going to tell them that we found you. Normally I would have drove you back, but because its so late I'm not going to bother. So I suggest we just all go home."

"I don't really have a home at the moment." Emma tried to joke. Suddenly she was holding back tears. Tears she knew would start falling any second. She bolted off the chair and ran into a near by bathroom.

"Emma!" Rachel called after her but she didn't answer. Rachel has seen her cry a million times before, but this time she didn't want her to see. She found some toilet paper and started to wipe her eyes. She tried to take deep breaths to calm her down. "Emma are sick? Do you need some help?" Rachel kept asking. Emma knew she had to get out soon but she wanted to stay in that bathroom forever.

"We have an extra key made we can use to open the door." She heard the police man say. She look at herself in the mirror one last time and flushed the toilet paper. Hopefully nobody could tell she was upset. Swinging open the door she was startled by Rachel's sudden embrace.

"Oh thank god you are okay." Rachel said.

"I'm fine." Emma replied harshly.

"I was thinking you could come home with me tonight. It would be stupid for me to come pick you up here tomorrow."

"Whatever."

"I bet you are hungry."

"I'm fine."

"Well lets go then."

They pull up to a McDonalds even though Emma swore she wasn't hungry. Rachel knew that this must have been hard for her. That everything she had to do was hard. So for once in her life she wanted to give Emma something that would make her life a little bit easier. She started with a burger.

"I know you aren't hungry but take just a couple of bits." Rachel said handing Emma the burger. They were still in the car but she wanted her to eat so she could go to bed as soon as they got home.

"Fine."

"You know Emma you can talk to me about anything."

"No I can't. You're mad at me."

"Emma no I'm not. I was just a little frustrated because of the snow and I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Well bad things have happened to me."

"Was it the family you are living with. Did they hit you or something."

"No, but they sometimes forgot to feed me. All they really care about it drinking. That's why they didn't even notice I was gone. I honestly don't think they will until you drop me off tomorrow. Well that is of course if you come before six. After six they don't really remember anything."

"Wow well I guess we have to find you a new home." Emma took a bite of the burger so she wouldn't have to answer. She tried to make it stop her from crying. The last thing she wanted was a new home. Even if her home was awful she knew that it could get worse. She could handle the family she was in now.

"We don't really have to."

"No if they neglect you like that they are not fit to be parents."

"Thanks for the burger." Emma said as she took her final bit. "I guess I was more hungry then I expected." Rachel noticed how skinny she was getting. She didn't know if it was genetics or because of her diet. Either way she felt bad that she was not a bigger help.

"Here time for a milkshake."

Rachel opened the door to her apartment and was greeted by her husband Steve. "Hey baby." He said giving her a quick kiss. "This must be Emma."

"Hi. Who are you?" Emma asked.

"I'm Steve. Rachel's husband."

"Oh hi."

"I put some pillows on the couch for you to sleep on."

"Thanks."

"Yeah Em its super late, so I think we should all just go to bed. You can sleep in as late as you want because I doubt I'm getting up before 2 at this rate."

"Okay." She climbed into the covers on the sofa and Rachel tucked her in. Kissing her forehead she disappeared into the bedroom with Steve. Emma couldn't sleep even though it was extremely late. Instead all she could think about was how her real parents didn't want her. How she would never know what it felt like to have somebody love her so much that they did not want to give her away. That night she cried herself to sleep.

After arriving at Emma's current foster home and realizing the family had no idea she had been gone all that time Rachel knew that they were unfit parents. She waited as Emma packed her things into the tiny suit case ready to start her new life. This new family seemed perfect. They already had two kids, a girl and boy plus the parents seemed to have a stable marriage. Either way it couldn't be worse than the alcoholics she was living with now.

Emma knew from the moment she walked into their house that this family would be different. Her new "sister", Kristina was extremely happy to meet her. Quickly showing her their new shared bedroom. Emma was use to having her own space, as small as it had been. She liked to be alone. She was not very excited to be living with miss perky for the next couple of months. Kristina was the same age as Emma, while her older brother Tyler was 10. Emma thought that there was a possibility that she would maybe like Tyler and they could be friends. When Tyler gave her a hug the first time they met and asked if she wanted to play baseball with him she knew there would be no such luck. She was about to call Rachel to get herself out of that place when it was time for dinner. All four members of the family sat down at the table to eat the meal prepared by the mother. Emma honestly thought this only happened on TV.

"So Emma dear tell us about yourself." The mother asked her.

"Um. Well I'm 8."

"I know we are the same age." Kristina informed her for the 10th time.

"What do you like to do Emma?" The dad asked.

"Watch TV."

"Oh we don't have a TV." The mother said smiling. "We want to encourage education. TV is just mindless garbage that kills braincells."

"So uh what do you do then?"

"Once a month we are allowed to go to the movie theater to see one movie." Tyler said. "But it has to be rated G."

"Rachel said she wanted me to call her to make sure I was settling in okay. Is it okay if I do that now?"

"Normally we are not allowed to leave the table during meals, but since you are new we will let it slide." Emma's new mother showed her where the phone was. Thankfully it was in the other room where nobody could over hear her.

"Rachel it's Emma."

"Oh god is something wrong."

"Yeah they are awful."

"Did they hit you are you hurt."

"No they are nice. Like really really nice."

"Then what is the problem."

"They are way to nice. I can't live like this. I think she is going to tuck me in at night and read me bedtime stories."

"Emma that's sweet."

"I don't want sweet. I can't do this."

"Yes you can. It hasn't even been a day."

"Rachel they don't have a TV."

"They don't?"

"No." Emma started to panic. It was something that had started to happen to her ever since she had the idea to run away. It started to happen when she felt trapped and couldn't get out of a situation. The first signs of panic was her heavy breathing. Something Rachel thankfully picked up on.

"Okay Ems listen. I'll come and get you in a month. I know you can survive that one month. You might change your mind."

"Okay."

"Emma these are all of my friends. Tracy and Carrie and Lizzie and Jennifer and Jack and Parker and Tristan." Kristina was trying to introduce Emma to people at their school during recess. Emma couldn't remember a single name. She really didn't want to either. In a month she would have a new family. One that did not want to force her to be friends.

"So are you happy that you are adopted now. Were you dreaming your whole life for this?" One of the girls asked.

"This isn't Annie and I'm not adopted." Emma answered.

"Emma don't be mean. I'll tell mom. Plus Annie thought her birth parents were coming back to get her."

"Fine tell her." At that point Emma gave up. She didn't want to talk to these kids that she would never be friends with. Emma walked away and sat on one of the swings.

Tyler sat on the swing next to her. "Whats up." Out of the two Tyler was much better than Kristina.

"Nothing really."

"Do you want to meet my friends?"

"No I don't."

"Okay." He sat on the swing for a little while longer before leaving when he realized I was not going to talk to him. '

The rest of that month was awful. Tyler and Kristina decided that they hated Emma and never invited her to do anything with them again. She spent a lot of time by herself and wouldn't talk to anyone. When one month passed Rachel called hoping that Emma was having a great time but was disappointed that she would have to pick her up the next day.

I really want to focus a big part of this story on Emma when she is in highschool so I might just write really short pieces for her life from ages 9-13. I hope thats okay. Also sorry this was not the most eventful chapter.