Guest: Yes Callie and Jude are adopted, I mentioned this already a few chapters back :)

Stef POV

I am walking hand in hand with Callie up the steps to apartment 10B, I do not like this place and I can't believe I am letting my daughter come up to this apartment with me but I know she is as stubborn as ever and she would not have stayed in the car. As we reach the top of the stairs I see an elderly woman smoking a cigarette, I recognise instantly that she is a drug user, I have seen many people just like her in my time as a police officer so I know all the signs. I pull Callie closer to me, I can feel the womans gaze looking us up and down as we walk past. I look up at the door where the woman is sitting in front of 9B and next to that door is 10B. I look at Callie and I can see the worried look in her eyes, I give her hand a small squeeze before I turn back to the door to lift my fist up and knock three times. Thirty seconds pass with no response, I knock again three more times "What do you want Shaun for aye?" I turn around to acknowledge the woman who has decided to speak to us, her voice is raspy like she has smoked a pack of cigarettes for the past forty years of her life, from the look of her she probably has. I decide to reply as we are still trying to piece all our information together so anything helps at this point "We are looking for the girl that lives here" I state, I turn back to the door to knock again but before I get the chance the woman speaks again "Oh she is long gone, you ain't gonna find her here no more. Good riddance I say. She was a piece of work, lost Shaun his job he told me" I hold Callies hand tighter "What do you mean she is long gone? Did social services come and get her?" I have a feeling this is not the case but I feel that could be the best case scenario at this point "Oh no, she just left. Ran away Shaun told me, even stole his money the little cow, karma will find her" the woman sniggers before she starts to cough up her lungs. I can feel Callie tense beside me and I know we need to end this conversation now, I turn away and knock on the door again making sure I am louder this time. Within a few minutes I hear movement coming from inside, I knock again and I hear a mans voice bellow from inside "SERIOUUSLY!" a few seconds later the door is aggressively opened and I am looking into the bloodshot eyes of a middle aged man. He looks Callie and I up and down, his eyes starring daggers towards Callie, almost like he recognises her. His eyes are filled with hatred which makes me want to get my daughter away from this place, away from this man, as soon as possible.

The smell of alcohol seeps out of the door that has just opened "Whaat du yuu want eyy? Knock'n on my dooor like that. Yoou wooke me uhp yu know!" this man is trashed, we need to find out about Charlie fast, I need to tread carefully I do not want to make him any angrier then he already is "Sorry I woke you" I say, my voice is filled with sarcasm "We are looking for Charlie Jacobs, we believe she lives, lived, here?" the man who I now know goes by the name of Shaun instantly responds "that girl ain't never stehping foot in ere again, she a lil bitch she is, stole from meh, ruin'd my life she did" he suddenly points his finger at Callies face, my heart begins to race and I step directly in front of Callie "Yu know you kinda look like her you du, well maybe not noow" he laughs, an evil, horrible laugh "I'm not sorrry, she deserev'd what she got she did, I don't even know hoow she woulda walked aft'r that one" I just want to smack this man, I want to arrest him and send him to jail; how was he ever allowed to foster a child. Callie breaks her silence "WHAT DID YOU DO TO CHARLIE?" Callie is trying to push towards this man, I can feel her anger radiating, I push my arm up to keep her away from Shaun as best I can. Shaun snickers "I jusst put her in place I did, she need'd to learn the hard waay. Thought she was betta then erryone she did. She is scum, shoulda never let her intu my homee!" Shaun slams the door in our face, I pull Callie towards the stairs and we quickly make it down to the car, as we jump in I instantly lock all the doors. I look over to Callie who has tears running down her face "We have to find her Mom" she is absolutely sobbing now, I move towards her and embrace her in a hug, I feel my eyes welling up with tears "We will love, I promise you I am going to do everything in my power to find your sister".

Charlie POV

This time I wake up to a football rolling into my leg, I hear small footsteps heading in my direction and I open my eyes to see a small boy running towards me, he must not be any older then eight. I sit up with a groan and look up to the boy who is now looking me in the eyes "Are you okay?" he asks in a quiet voice, this is the first time in a while that someone has asked me this, Paula is the only one that use to ask but she stopped asking once she realised I never wanted to talk about it and walked away before the conversation could even start. I open my mouth to reply but I'm cut off by a woman who is standing a few metres away "Sam, come back here" the boy picks up the ball, gives me a empathetic smile and quickly makes his way back to the woman who I'm only assuming is his mother. I can just hear her as she talks to the boy "I told you not to talk to strangers, especially the homeless" the two turn around but I can still just make out the rest of their conversation "They are dangerous Sam". The comment makes me want to crawl into my skin and hide from the world, am I now considered dangerous because I don't have a home, because I am sleeping in a park I can't be trusted. I guess she is just trying to protect her son but I would have never hurt him. I guess I am just part of the stereotype now. I look down at my clothes, I am still in the same jeans and black ribbed shirt as I was yesterday, I feel dirty, I officially feel homeless.

My stomach rumbles reminding me to have some food, I reach into my duffel bag to grab out my bread roll when my hand stumbles across the enrolment papers that I had placed in my bag yesterday. I pull them out and look them over, as soon as I read the name Anchor Beach Charter School my heart skips a beat, yesterday I had been so excited to enrol myself in school but now, but now I don't even know what is happening in my life. Where am I going to be next week, where am I going to be tomorrow. I hate that my future is so unpredictable, I thought that running away would help me take charge of my life but I feel more lost now then I did before. My mind starts to roll through ideas, what if I forged Shauns signature, then I might be able to still go to school, I would have to do a lot of lying which I hate to do but I would be able to shower in gym class and maybe I could even sleep under the pier at the beach. I think over this idea, running through the possibilities of what could go wrong. A lot could go wrong but if it goes right then my plan would be perfect. I have no better ideas so what the heck I may as well give it a shot and if it doesn't work then I can just keep running. My thoughts take me back to the woman at the school, Lena her name was, she looked at me like she wanted to help me, maybe I could just talk to her, maybe I could tell her the truth and she could really help me, this is a second option. Either way I need to get back to that school, it's my best bet to actually take control of my life and my future. I brush my hands through my hair, trying to make myself look better, look less homeless, I hate having people starring at me as I walk through town. I reach back into my duffel bag and grab out some food and painkillers, I take a bite of my bread roll and a big drink of water to wash down the pain killers. I have decided that I will start the walk back to the school this evening as it might take me a while with the current state of my body and tomorrow morning I will decide whether I am going to try enrol myself in school or talk to Lena.

Ten minutes later I have gathered up all my belongings and I am making my way towards the road, I am only on the footpath for a few minutes before my attention is drawn to the sound of car quickly braking behind me. I turn around to see where the noise has come from and I see a black SUV pulling to the side of the road just behind me, I don't think much of it so I quickly turn back around and continue walking. Next minute I hear two car doors open and a voice yell out down the street, a voice that has just said my name. I don't know whether I should try to start running or if I should turn around "Charlie?" I hear the voice again, this time I take in the tone and it sounds calm, the voice sounds friendly, it almost sounds familiar. I stop walking and I decide to turn my body around and look at the person behind the voice.

Sorry for the short chapter, I really struggled to write this one. I have had so many ideas to how this story is going to go but as I write it continues to change. Hope you enjoy!

I know this story seems to be moving slowly but if people are still enjoying this idea and the story I will aim to bring some more exciting/drama filled storylines in the future.