Chapter 4: Familiar Promises

Loren smiled. It seemed like she hadn't felt this happy in awhile. In the darkness of this old rugged down orphanage, a light was shown, like she would be happy wherever she was at. However, that wasn't the case.

Her smile died down to the thought of never seeing him again. But didn't she say that she didn't care what happened as long as HE was happy? It felt like he was the one who understood her, unlike her parents or those before them.

She felt deep inside a hole inside her stomach. This was when she kind of wished she was back home with her parents trying to deal with whatever life threw at her. Loren reread the article. He escaped and that's all that mattered. Believe.

It came back to her. Did he escape because she believed in him? It was hard to say if it really was the case. He did mean it when he said it, right? Loren began thinking. Of course, why would he joke around?

Loren looked out the rusted filled window. She had gotten up and leaned over it, to see the sidewalk below her and the rest of New York. Wherever he was, she was sure he was having the time of his life.

Just then, Andy came to her almost in tears. He tapped Loren on the arm and sniffed.

"Loren!" he said, muffled, "T-The ball hit my bruised arm! It hurts!"

Loren looked at it and picked him up into her arms. She walked up to the room where Bill entered through and knocked at the door. "Mr. Sinclair! Bill!"

Bill opened the door with a slight look on his face and quickly closed the door. Loren gazed at the door in utter shock that she just had a door slammed in her face. What was that about?

Finally, Bill opened the door once more and smiled rather nervously. "Sorry about that, kids. What can I do for you?"

Loren took a breath of tension and sighed. "Do you have any ice? My brother here has a bruise and it starting to swell a bit."

Bill stared blankly at her for a moment. "Of course. One moment."

About fifteen minutes later, Andy stopped crying and felt completely better. Bill didn't even come out with the ice like requested.

Loren sat back on the couch again and watched the kids run around once more. It was now around 9:30 a.m. She finally made her first hour in this joint and she was already getting a massive migraine like never before. Do these kids ever tire out?

Andy was now playing with the dinosaur stuffed animals with a couple of other kids by the names of Danny and Michelle. He seemed to have fun unlike some of them.

Loren rested her head on her knee and tried to think of what to do for the next few months of her life. Who knows, it might be a few weeks. She tried to think of what she could do if she was ever adopted. What would Andy do if he was adopted to a new family? Loren couldn't stand the thought of that one. Maybe he would forget about her. Tears started forming within her eyes as she sadly thought of her next few weeks or months inside this joint.

It was a waste of life. She had better things to see than this. Loren started to think what great life could be when she turned 18 and can live off herself. Two years.

The next day seemed to be worse. The night she slept in was when all the kids seemed to be sore from playing all day, one started crying menacingly, the other wet the bed and so on and so forth.

Loren didn't even get out of her bunker. She just kept her head under the pillow very tightly to block out any sound. That's just when Miss Mercado approached her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Loren replied to it lifting her head up with tired, heavy eyes.

"Hello, Loren. Are you alright? You don't look too well."

Of course she wasn't alright. If you were the oldest of all living breathing snot nosed kids you would be just peachy. "No, Miss Mercado, I'm not," Loren said putting the pillow over her head again, just when Miss Mercado took it away from her.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked.

"No. Can I just sleep, please?" Loren asked, trying to fall back to sleep.

Mercado nodded and left, throwing the pillow back down at her. Loren was fed up with these people already and it was only one day. It seemed Andy was enjoying himself. Good for him.

Loren yawned and tried to get up from the bed. She looked around and she was the only one within the bedrooms. Andy must've been at breakfast.

She walked out of the bunkers and headed into the main hallway.

Suddenly, the door of Bill's office closed, but not all the way. It was creaked open just so she could see and hear what was going on without their knowledge.

His office was a yellowish brown color with many portraits hanging around. She could see Bill straight ahead, but she couldn't make out the other man. The man was dressed in a black boulder hat with a ponytail hanging out the end of it. He was also wearing a black trench coat, even if it was over 70 degrees outside.

Loren eavesdropped.

"Cromwells, my good man?" Bill replied, almost confusingly.

"Yes, sir. Miss Loren Cromwell and… uh… Alex is it?" the man repeated with a nod of his head.

"Andy, sir." Bill corrected.
"Ah, yes. Andy Cromwell."

"They've only been here a day. Are you sure you want to take them?" Bill asked, almost acting like they could let them go.

Loren watched and listened closely. The man speaking could almost be made out as her step dad, but unlike this man, he wasn't slurring and yelling every word he could muster.

"Alright, just sign here sir." Bill asked of him, handing him a pen.

She stood worried. Loren and Andy was being adopted by someone she hadn't known. What if it's one of these work camps? She would never survive. And Andy. He wouldn't make it either. Strong weights hit her shoulder as she ran over to Andy, taking him away from his new friends.

"Hey, Andy, can I talk to you for a second?" Loren asked taking him by the hand.

"Yeah. Hold on, guys," he told his friends before being dragged away.

Loren sighed before speaking. She didn't know how she would tell him. "Hey, Andy. Um, I-I overhead the owner. We're being adopted."

"Adopted? Is Mommy here?" Andy asked with large eyes and excitedly.

"No," said Loren.

Andy's eyes started tearing up. She couldn't help his sadness or maybe it was tears of joy? She couldn't tell. Loren tried hard to comfort him.

He didn't want to be. He just plainly walked back with his friends, rather sadly. Loren felt bad. He was young, he didn't need to be put under this kind of pressure!

As she did before, Loren sat back on the couch in which she started with yesterday. She let out another sigh and groaned. That just made her think of Luke when she tried talking to him again. He groaned the exact same way.

Trying to think positive, she watched the children pass by. No more children running around screaming in her ear. No more Miss Mercado and Bill, and finally no more…

Was she getting out of New York? Loren prayed not. She couldn't stand going into another city or state for that matter.

A couple hours later, Bill approached her and smiled. "I have good news! You're adopted by the Edalb family!" Loren watched him closely. He seemed almost happy about it. He seemed too jumpy for his own good. Was she already too much of a problem?

"I-I'll go get Andy," she reassured, standing up and heading over to Andy's way, tapping him on the shoulder and bringing him over. He began to get red in the face, like he would right before he would start crying.

Just then, the man from before with the boulder hat approached them with a grin. She couldn't see his eyes, since the hat was so close over them.

"This is Mr. Edalb. Loren, Alex. Run along now," Bill said, taking them quickly out of St. Bridget's.

"My name is Andy," said Andy, with deep eyes and a little frustration as Bill just plainly smiled.

Once they were out, Edalb called a cab and stepped inside. That followed by Loren and Andy.

"Where are we going?" Loren asked, curiously.

"None of your business," said the man next to her. Loren trembled a little bit, nervously. He seemed kind of uptight in her opinion.

About three minutes later inside the smelly old cab with the foreign driver who barely spoke English, the three of them got out in front of a large apartment building that looked familiar. It was her parents' building.

"Is this where you used to live?" Edalb asked.

"Y-Yeah. Why?" Loren said.

"Go ahead. You know where it's at."

Loren carried Andy who tried to sleep on her shoulder until they got into their building. "It's right here." she told the man as he opened the door.

Edalb looked around as he entered. It was very trashed from when her mother knocked over everything. "Home sweet home," he muttered to himself. Almost instantly, he turned to Loren and Andy. "Go get anything you think you'll need."

She obeyed. She set Andy down on his old bed and went into her bedroom. Loren found an old suitcase she used once when she was twelve to the Ohio trip with her parents. It was a bit ripped, but it worked for both her and her brother.

Loren was almost afraid of their new guardian. We think we'll need? What was that supposed to mean?

Loren packed quickly and took Andy with her to the living room. Suddenly, when she walked into the living room, she recognized a familiar face.

She dropped her suitcase in shock.

It was Luke Blade!