Here is another chapter, thank you everyone for reading, favoriting/following and reviewing it really means a lot. Oh, and happy Halloween everybody:)

A few weeks passed uneventful. Taylor was doing much better, going to his service and giving me less attitude during our appointments. I reminded him again about the program that trains to be a mechanic, but he brushed it off. Brian was doing great, and I was genuinely happy for him. I still didn't get through to Alex though. Something I'll just have to deal with, I thought. Today however I was going to check on Emily - the girl that locked herself in the closet, who I took to the orphanage about a month and a half ago. They placed her in foster home, and it was my job to follow up to make sure everything was OK.

The family that took Emily in lived on a farm in the suburbs of Tulsa. They had a farm so they weren't poor, that's a good thing I thought while driving up there.

When I drove up to the address, I saw a big and tall fence - you couldn't see the house. I opened the gate and walked inside. There was a huge house and land all around it. I was immediately hit by the smell of the animals and I could hear the noises made by them in the distance. The house was huge, painted white with a green roof.

I walked up the porch and rang the bell. The door was answered by a woman. She was a little chubby with brown hair with strands of gray. She was wearing a gray dress and an apron.

"Mrs. Hunter?" I asked.

"Yes, that's me, how can I help you?" she sounded surprised.

"Nice to meet you," I said stretching my hand out, "I am Emily's social worker. I'm here to check how she's doing." Mrs. Hunter looked confused for a second then got a hold of herself and planted a polite smile on her lips. "Please come in, take a seat." She cleared her throat and it looked like she didn't know what to say. "Emily is … um, playing with the animals outside I'll go get her."

"Sure," I replied not thinking much of it, "do you mind if I take a look around the house in the meantime?" She looked friendly enough, and I sincerely hoped that everything was ok with Emily. She deserved that.

"Or please, you can definitely do so." Mrs. Hunter left, and I went into the kitchen first thing. I opened the fridge. There was a lot of food inside. Then I opened the cupboards – a lot there too. The place looked tidy and straightened up. I went to the living room – large couch with a throw over it, a big TV, a table, a large closet. Then I went into what looked like a child's room. I figured it was Emily's. It was decent. There wasn't much – a bed, a dresser with a mirror and a night stand. It also looked clean and tidy. It looked like everything was ok and I felt relieved. I went back into the living room, where Mrs. Hunter and Emily were waiting for me.

"Hi, Emily, do you remember me?" I stepped forward. She nodded. "How have you been?" I asked smiling, expecting her to say everything was ok. She looked hesitant for a moment before replying, and gave Mrs. Hunter a somewhat puzzled look, and I noticed Mrs. Hunter gave her a little nod. Emily looked down and mumbled something. I was thrown off, was something wrong?

"What's that, honey?" I asked in a soothing voice.

"I'm fine," she repeated a little louder, and still looking down. Mrs. Hunter wrapped her arm around Emily's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "I like staying here," Emily mumbled still looking down. At this point I was not convinced. I cleared my throat … "um, thank you Mrs. Hunter," I said looking her right in the eyes, "but I would like to speak to Emily alone." I saw a frown on Mrs. Hunter's face. She clearly disliked this proposition, but she had no choice but let me talk to Emily.

"Ok, I'll be in the kitchen," she said reluctantly, walking away.

Emily and I sat down on the couch in the living room. "So how is everything?" I asked Emily, hoping she would let me know if there was something wrong. She looked in the direction of the kitchen, then looked down and said "I like staying here." She sounded like a robot repeating the lines that she was supposed to say. I wasn't buying that.

"Hey, look at me please," I said carefully, turning to face her "and now tell me what's bothering you."

"Nothing," she said sheepishly, staring down at her lap, her voice quivering slightly.

"C'mon," I replied trying to meet her gaze, "I see that something's wrong. What is it? You can tell me." She looked apprehensively in the direction of the kitchen, then whispered "Sharon told me not to say anything or I'll get in trouble." Now I was concerned even more.

"You don't have to be afraid of her," I said also lowering my voice to make sure Mrs. Hunter doesn't overhear anything. Emily was silent, just sank deeper into the seat.

"So what do you do around here?" I tried another tactic.

She looked in the direction of the kitchen again, her face turning pale, then whispered "I clean… a lot." I was taken aback by that.

"I can see that it's really clean around here, did you clean that?"

"Yes," she said barely audible. I frowned.

"Ok, what else do you do?" I asked firmly, concern in my voice.

"I help Sharon's husband clean and feed the animals. He says since their son moved out they have nobody else to help." She said meekly and stumbling over her words. I bit my lower lip. I started to get the picture - these people were clearly taking advantage of her. They got money from the state to care for her, instead it looked like they were slaving her not wanting to hire and pay somebody to do the work around the farm.

"So tell me just now when Mrs. Hunter went to get you, you weren't playing with animals, you were working?" She glanced at me, meeting my gaze for a second, then nodded. I was furious, but I still needed to get a better picture of what was going on.

"So when do you do all these things?" I asked reluctantly.

"Well," she paused a little, "in the morning before I go to school we feed the animals…" I frowned, she must be getting up at five in the morning to do that. "Then when I get back from school in the afternoon I clean the house and do the dishes and then I help Sharon's husband clean the animals and feed them again." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Don't you get tired?" I asked.

"I do, but I have to do it," she whispered shooting another worried look in the direction of the kitchen.

"What do you mean you have to do it? What happens if you don't?" I could hardly contain myself from raising my voice.

"One time … ,"she paused, "I was doing my homework and I didn't clean and didn't do the dishes so they didn't let me eat dinner that night. They said I didn't earn it."

This was outrages. "How do you do at school?' I asked. She looked down and started biting her nails – "not so good." No wonder, I thought, she's probably so tired all the time from all the work she's doing and getting up so early in the morning.

I've heard about enough. "C'mon sweetie go get your things, you are not staying here." Her eyes grew wide, "am I going to get in trouble?"

"Oh no, you are not in trouble." To my surprised she stated crying, - "I don't mind all the work," she was saying through sobs, "I don't want to go back to the girls' home." My heart was breaking, I wished I could take her home with me.

"It's not right for you to do all the work around here," I said trying to sound as nice as possible, "and you aren't doing well in school because of it." I couldn't even begin to imagine how it would traumatize her to be thrown into different foster homes and then out of them. I thought about when I was fourteen and Darry was taking care of me and how absolutely terrified I was of going to boys' home, and this girl, at her young age had to go through that. I felt so much pain and compassion, but there was nothing I could do.

She obediently went into her room still sobbing, while I went into the kitchen to talk to Mrs. Hunter. "I'm taking the child," I said not bothering to explain myself.

"What do you mean you are taking her?" she said flustered, turning away from the cutting board where she was chopping some carrots. It's a good thing they are not forcing Emily to cook too, I thought sarcastically.

"She told me you've been making her do work around the house and on the farm." Mrs. Hunter's face turned red. I'm sure she was thinking about telling Emily not to tell about doing the work or she'd get in trouble.

At this moment a tall man walked into the house. He was wearing a plaid shirt, jeans and heavy boots that made a lot of noise as he walked. Emily walked into the kitchen with her backpack over her shoulders. She was shaking slightly. "What's going on?" the man, who I assumed was Mr. Hunter, asked.

"I'm taking Emily back," I said with contempt, "and I will make sure you are taken off the foster homes list. There is no way I will allow you to ever have another foster child again. Let's go Emily." I gently took her hand. She started crying out loud.

"Oh, please, please don't cry," I picked her up and carried her outside. I put her gently in the passenger seat. How do you explain this to the child that grown-ups are not always worth the trust.

"Please stop crying honey," I said, stroking her hair "it's only for a little while. We'll get you a good family, a really good one, I promise." 'I promise' I thought as I spoke the words, but how would I be able to ensure that. I just hoped to God that I would be able to fulfill my promise. I even considered that maybe she could stay with me but decided against it - I mean Jenna and I weren't even married. So I took her back to the orphanage, and it about broke my heart when she broke down and cried asking for her mother. I walked her down the hallway talking to her in a soothing voice and by the time we reached her room she stopped crying.