As Dj Khaled said, "Another one." ~Dj Khaled. Still ain't got the keys tho.
"We'll be taking the squad car back to the city." Ms. Colette said as she walked to the SUV. Sabrina followed trying to suppress her overwhelming sense to run as fast and as far as she could away from the woman. She forced her legs to walk around the car, then forced her arms to open the back door.
She climbed into the seat and immediately felt a sense of claustrophobia. The partition was a wire grate, there weren't handles on the inside of the doors, and the realization of all that just happened had hit her like a MMA smackdown.
It felt like ice water was slowly being poured into her body; her chest was as heavy as lead. Her breaths drew shallow as she tried to get enough air into her lungs under the weight. Daphne, her parents, her family, they were already minutes behind her. An emotion she knew all too well had an iron grip on her again, helplessness. She hadn't been without her sister for more than a couple days, her intuition was telling it was going to be a whole lot longer than a couple days till she saw Daphne. God, why had she gone along with this?
Sabrina pushed those feeling to the corner of her mind. Why should she feel helpless? She had won a war. She had fought monsters four times her size. She had escaped from dozens of foster homes before, she could do it again, even if she was alone.
She willed herself to put her sneaky cap on and access her surroundings. This was a one way ticket to the orphanage, that's for sure. She could watch Ms. Colette to see if she had any pet peeves or odd obsessions Sabrina could use against her.
The blonde could feel a small smirk coming on. She got this, she'd be back home in no time at all, at least she hoped.
"Ms. Colette, or could I call you Isabelle?"
"It's Ms. Colette to you."
"Isabelle it is then. Y'know Isabelle is a beautiful name, a shame you have it."
"Sabrina, an ugly name for a brat of a girl." The caseworker sneered.
"Did it not say in the job description 'working with children'?"
"It didn't say 'working with little brats'."
"Hey lady it's not my fault you fooled yourself into think all kids are little bundles of sunshine."
"It's your chose to be as rude as you are."
"That goes both ways, Colette." The two sat glaring at each other.
The rest of the two hour ride went about the same way. Sabrina dragged her attention from insulting Ms. Colette to New York City. They had entered on I-95 through East Bronx, and had already hit lunchtime traffic. She sighed knowing full and well that it was going to be at least an hour before they reached the orphanage.
Sabrina looked back at Ms. Colette who was still fuming from their two hour long insult-a-thon. She snorted, that sounded like a word Daphne would have made up. Daphne, her anxieties came back with a vengeance, twisting her stomach into knots a million times over again.
As cement skyscrapers passed at a crawl, she couldn't stop herself from worrying. She'd never been in the city alone, and to be frank it was scary. She was only twelve, and the reason she hadn't ended up goblin grub or a troll treat or flattened by a giant was because there had always been someone there for her: her sister, Puck, Granny, Uncle Jake even Canis.
Now, though, she was all alone, sure she knew a little Kung Fu, but was that really enough? She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window. All she knew for sure was that she would not die, and that she was going to get back to her family, to her home.
The cop driving slammed on the brakes causing Sabrina's head to jerk forward giving her a minor case of whiplash. A crescendo of honks followed, accompanied by curses. You'd think people would have the sense to not honk at a police car. New York, capitol of road rage, Sabrina thought rolling her eyes.
The reason for the sudden stop, she found out, was because a rabbit had hopped out into the middle of the road. Rabbit? Why's there a rabbit here? She looked off to the side of the street, and saw a familiar sight. The Howard Bennett park, which meant they almost to the orphanage.
The orphanage was in one of the poorest sectors in Manhattan, Harlem. Under funded and in dire need of a renovation the place more closely resembled a prison rather than a place for parent-less children. An analogy for how this country views minors? No one may ever know.
She frowned as the squad car pulled up to the curb of Hamilton Heights Orphanage. The remnants of a time where the social services were well funded came in the form of peeling, faded blue and yellow paints from the once colorful building. The police got out, rounded the car, then open her door.
She swung her feet out onto the sidewalk. Boy, did she need a good stretch and a visit to the restroom. They did not stop a single time on that whole trip, does that Ford really have that good of gas mileage?
"Alright, Sabrina go inside and freshen up. We've found a family that wants to foster you." Ms. Colette said as she walked up the concrete stairs of the orphanage.
"Wait, you've already found a foster home for me? Where, how?" She said chasing after the blonde woman. She pushed through the old wood doors; which Colette didn't bother to hold open.
Jeez, this place looks worse off than the last time I was here, Sabrina thought. It had been a little less than a year since she'd been here, yet it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in twice that time. The waiting area was composed of mismatched chairs from salvation army, even the wood on the front desk was molding. Ms. Colette had disappeared into the faculty wing where all of the caseworker offices were.
Sabrina gave up trying to get answers from the woman. She dragged her little suitcase down the corridor to the left that led to a flight of stairs that stretched up the six stories of the building. The base floor was crowed with case worker, counseling and faculty offices. The second was for the cafeteria. The third was a daycare. Finally the boys, girls, and faculty dorms took up the last three floors. In that order, which meant Sabrina had to walk up five flights of stairs to get to the dorms.
By the time she reached the long hallway that led to several different dorm rooms as well as the restrooms, she was sweating. Man, that's a little pathetic, she thought while taking deep breathes. Sabrina headed straight for the last door on the right, which was where she always stayed when she was in this wrenched place. Seeing as there were free beds she slipped into the room, and she walked down the aisle made by the cots that lined either wall. She decided to sit down on one towards the back close to the only window in the room which had a beautiful view of the brick wall of the building next to them. The cots themselves were bare-thread and mildew covered, and coupled with the scratchy moth eaten blankets made sleeping quite the relaxing experience.
Sabrina frowned as she went over what she had brought with her. She had brought some things that did have value, which in turn meant that they would likely be stole if she didn't find a place to hide them. Well, either that or keep her suitcase with her at all times. She sighed, she might as well leave it here. Everyone was at lunch anyways.
Sabrina's stomach grumbled, speaking of, she rolled her eyes; she didn't have a chance to eat this morning, because of that blasted case worker. Her nose scrunched just thinking about the cafeteria food. She got up anyways. She needed to eat too bad to be picky right now. Sabrina walked all the way back down to the second floor, grumbling harmoniously with her stomach all the way.
She pushed open one of the doors and was immediately swallowed by chatter, laughing and shouting. Upon first look she saw a group of kids shooting dice* in the corner, a fight was happening in the back, but most kids were messing around with their friends at their own designated tables. See there was a hierarchy which had the older kids at the top and little kids at the bottom. It was a lot like a regular school except it wasn't a school and there was no real security and all the kids lived there and housekeeping was nearly non-existent.
Ignoring this all, Sabrina went straight to the lunch line. Grabbing one of the bright blue, scratched plastic trays as she shuffled down the bar. She didn't know any of the kids in the line, I mean not that I was real buddy buddy with a lot of kids here it'd just be nice to see someone I know, was i just her or did the room just get a whole lot bigger? There was a new lunch lady; She was an old hag of a woman that closely resembled a snapping turtle with lose neck skin, thin lips and a beached nose.
The lady slapped down on her tray what looked like mashed potatoes, then gravy, finally very pale, very gray turkey. Sabrina fought the urge to gag, "Thank you." She said trying not to breathe in the noxious fumes. The lunch lady only replied with a grunt and a jerk of her head signaling Sabrina to move along.
She took her plate and turned to find a place to sit. She scanned the room once more; she saw a table with only two other girls sitting at it. She walked over to it: "Hey, could I sit here?" The two girls looked up at her, "Sure." One said, she had black hair and black eyes. She must be Latina, like me. Sabrina thought as she sat down.
The girls went back to talking to each other in Spanish, only cementing her suspicion. She made pretty awkward eye contact with the other girl, she had curly black hair and deep brown skin. Sabrina quickly looked down at her food. Taking small bites, so maybe she wouldn't throw up, she ate the meal.
She had eaten most of what was on her tray when Ms. Colette walked up to her: "Sabrina, get your things you have a train to catch." The case worker dragged her up by her elbow and towards the stairs.
"Let go. I can walk on my own." Sabrina demanded as she yanked her arm away. The woman glared daggers at her.
"Meet me in the front lobby in five minutes." Sabrina didn't respond only walked up the sitars and to the last dorm room. She hefted the little, but heavy suitcase up and turned to go back down the five flights of stairs.
When she got to the waiting room she saw Ms. Colette standing with, no it couldn't be.
"Sabrina this is James. James, Sabrina." The caseworker introduced him. Sabrina was dumbfounded, she had know him since the first day she ever set foot in the orphanage.
"Long time no see, Blondie." He said, seeming to recognize her as well.
"Well if it isn't Jay, Hamilton Heights finest." She said, smirking. Everyone called him Jay, or The dumbest genius you'll ever meet. The kid was stupid smart, but couldn't make a good decision for the life of him. Daphne had always loved the kid, he was like a big brother to her. Come to think of it Puck was a lot like him, if Sabrina had started to notice boys sooner than she'd probably have had a crush on Jay. Maybe that's why she liked Puck.
Sabrina was so rudely dragged out of her inner monologue by Colette's shrill scream of- "Sabrina!"
Jay tried to stifle his laughter whilst having Sabrina's infamous death glare inflicted upon him. "As I was saying, You and James are being sent to a home in Hartford, Connecticut."
"Connecticut?" Sabrina asked, caught off guard.
So I went back and edited this joint so it would be less crappy, and changed a few things.
*A gambling game where if you roll the dice and get a 7 or 11 you win the pot which each payer contributes to each time they fail to roll a 7 or 11.