Sitting at his desk, brows furrowed and forehead creased in thought, the county officer looked between January and the young girl seated before him.
"And when did you find her again?" He asked.
"About two weeks ago, sir." January replied, her voice soft as she looked down at the young child, who had grown increasingly comfortable in her company. "We were unsuccessful in getting information on where she is from, who her parents are or anything like that."
The officer frowned and looked solely at the young girl. "Can you at least tell me your name, kid?"
The girl cowered away, burying her face in January's shoulder, which remained the nearest comfort.
"Sorry…" January replied, her expression apologetic enough. "She's shy, it's a wonder we can get her to say anything around us. But… she loves dresses… so I've just been calling her 'Princess'."
A smile tugged at the corners of the officer's lips at that.
At last snapping back into the realm of his job, the officer heaved a sigh. "There haven't been any reports of a missing child. The best we can do is have you send in a DNA test and we can go from there in figuring out who she belongs to."
January nodded, pressing her lips together. Just the mere thought of sending the girl away to whoever first abandoned her made her stomach churn. "And if she doesn't find her family?"
"She will be enrolled in the foster care system." Came the confident reply.
The meeting had been concluded, and with a gentle grip on the girl's hand, January walked out of the police station with an expression no one else could read. She felt it inside of her. It was a tug at her heart, refusing to let go of the child, but preparing to have to anytime soon.
"Are we going home?" The girl's little voice asked softly, having grown to trust January enough to speak.
January nodded, touched that she would call their place "home". "We are."
They both entered the car where Asmond was waiting, playing on a tablet and only looking up to see the two that had arrived.
"You're finally back." He said with a sigh of relief as the girl climbed into the back seat with him. "Any luck?"
"We know what to do next." January responded, backing out of the driveway and beginning the ride home. "That's the important thing. We're one step closer to finding Princess' forever home." The car grew utterly silent and remained so during the entire car ride.
It was a blur. The ride home filled January's mind with thoughts that haunted her. The girl's abnormal behavior from the first day, her state when they found her, and why she felt so connected to the child. Every look into her little green eyes would say it all. Those were eyes she had forgotten, but eyes that filled her with all the hope in the universe. Eyes that said more than words could ever say. How could she just let this child go?
"Mom…" Asmond moaned after they pulled up to the house and began getting out of the car, "I feel sick."
January locked the vehicle and put her arms around him. "Sick? How?"
"My stomach hurts…" He paled just a little.
"We'll get some Ginger Ale for you, alright?" January lead Asmond into the house and helped him to lay on the sofa, speaking quickly. "Let me know if it gets worse."
Slowly taking off her shoes, the girl watched Asmond carefully, her demeanor cautious. There was a soft mumbling of a hushed conversation coming from the kitchen and Asmond curled up from where he lay. She hesitantly approached him, frowning at how his face was scrunched up.
"How bad does it hurt?" She asked, her tone quiet and gentle while kneeling beside the sofa.
"R-Really bad." Asmond groaned, arms wrapped around himself. "I might throw up."
The girl didn't know what he meant by that, quite naive to some of the simplest of terms. She cocked her head to the side.
"Jan, you need to breathe." January's mother coaxed in a quiet manner from the kitchen. "Stressing about this matter will not help."
"I'm trying, Mum. Please let me be." Popping a can open, January began to pour the ginger ale into a glass, a bit of fizz nearly bubbling over. "Every time Asmond gets sick I… I worry. He hasn't gotten better, we only try to hide the fact that it's getting worse."
"But at least we have hope that he will get better. I know he will."
"No, Mum, you don't know! None of us do. Princess is the only one who can feel when he's in pain, Asmond's told me that she knows about the… monsters, or whatever he calls them. I don't know how or why, but I need answers, and I need them now. It's been over a month, I can't handle these agonizing questions and this situation that we can't understand. I want my son to be well… I want to know why it hurts so much to even think of letting Princess go. A-And there is no one to help me. Not even you."
January's voice quieted to a whisper as tears pooled in her eyes. Her mother stared back with a face of guilt and shame, her own eyes saying that she was willing to help.
With her lower lip quivering, January grew ready to burst into tears. Her chest was tight and her mind fogged up with such fear and worry.
"There are some things even I cannot undo." Her mother mumbled lowly. Brows furrowing, January opened her mouth to question the statement, but it was cut off by a scream of pain.
Asmond curled up while screaming, the girl looking towards the kitchen with frightened eyes, hoping someone would come.
"Asmond?!" January rushed out without the glass of ginger ale.
Her mother followed, kneeling by Asmond's side while urgently asking, "Where does it hurt?"
"It hurts everywhere!" He shrieked, tears streaming down his pale cheeks.
January pulled him into her trembling arms, shouting for her mother to call an ambulance.
"Asmond!" She cried as her son writhed and moaned, his eyes threatening to roll back into their sockets. "Asmond, look at me! You have to look at me!" His green eyes were gray and blank, whimpers escaping his chapped lips as if he was seeing something no one else could.
"He'll come soon." The girl's voice spoke up as she approached January and Asmond, her voice quivering as if she was fighting tears of her own. "We're not safe here. None of us are."
The minute Asmond began to violently throw up, January grew visibly pale.
