'Rachel!' a male voice yelled from downstairs. I slowly wondered out of my dream, and rejoined this world.
'Rachel! Are you up?' the voice yelled again,
'Yeah' I sort of screamed back, still adjusting to my surroundings, recovering from my nightmare. I grabbed my clothes and shuffled into them, scrapped my hair into a loose braid, and headed for downstairs.
'You ok?' Christopher asked when I entered the kitchen. I gave him a slight nod, and sat on a bar stool, noticing some documents on the counter top.
'We getting another kid in?' I asked, living in a children's home, a new kid came roughly once a week, generally one left every week as well, so the number of kids stayed the same, give or take.
'Yeah, coming here tomorrow, only a little dude, his mom n dad left him few months ago, been in rehab since.'
'how old?' I asked, eating the toast he made for me,
'5 next month.' he said, now pouring me a drink. Michael was one of the older kids in the home, like me, but he was leaving soon, he had his 19th birthday, even though you can stay here till 21, he wanted to leave, I was going to miss him, he had been my best mate since I came here, not living with him was going to be hard, he normally calmed me down after my episodes, I didn't know what I was going to do. I quickly finished breakfast the headed out to the den. This was where I usually wasted my days, since we were on school break. I sat down on the beanbag, and watched as the younger kids outside played tag. It was funny watching them chase each other and never getting tired. What felt like hours later, the phone rang.
'Rachel, can you get that?' I heard Michaels voice yell, everyone must have been out, so I grabbed the phone.
'Hello'
'Hey, is Lukas there?' the female voice asked on the other end, I knew instantly who it was,
'hold on Alicia, gotta grab him outta his bed' I joked, taking the phone upstairs and barging into his room. He was sitting on the window seat playing his guitar,
'your girlfriend' I said, running away from the intended hit he was about to give me. Alicia wasn't his girlfriend, but he liked her, so of course it was my right to wind him up about it. As I headed out the door, he started his attempt of a chat up line, I contained my laughter until I had closed the door,
'What you laughing at?' Robbie asked, he was slightly younger than me, but had come here at the same time, which made us feel even closer.
'nothing, what you doin today? I asked, following him down the stairs,
'meetin up to see the new Spielberg movie with Cassie tonight, other than that, nothing.' he said, walking towards the library. In this house, there is a separate room for everything, since it used to be a hotel, there are many rooms, most of which have been made bigger, but it was perfect for its new role. I turned off into the kitchen again, grabbed a drink then scuttled back upstairs.
I turned my music up quite loud, happy that could now make as much noise as I wanted. My kitten awoke, unhappy to be disturbed. He trotted over to me, winding himself through my legs. I sat down on my bed, and he joined me, falling asleep on my lap. I spent the rest of the day reading magazines, studying and listening to music.
'hey Rachel, get your butt down here.' I disturbed Bert again, and went to investigate.
'its your turn to help with dinner,' Lynn told me, chopping vegetables already. She handed me a knife and I joined her. Lynn was one of the workers we lived with, she never gave up on a kid, no matter how bad they got, she believes everyone needs a second chance, in the end, the kid normally gets annoyed and gives up from all 'talks' she gives us, and just changes over night. She started the school conversation.
'you looking forward to going back?' she asked me,
'in a way, I guess I cant wait to finally go to a proper school,' I had always been home schooled due to my childhood.
'at least you will have friends there, Robbie already attends, and Lukas is your age, and Rebecca.'
'what's that about me?' a voice came from the doorway. Rebecca was one of those girls who, looks wise, got away with anything. She was wearing her pjs still, however she wore them with both elegance and comfort. Her hair bounced off her shoulders as she came to join us.
'your going to be in my classes in September.' I told her, cleaning up.
'yeah, I must warn you about certain people before you go, stay well away from Martin Banks, he is one of those rich geek people, knows everything, and the Kyle family, they will try and hang around you, all five of them, just ignore them and they will forget about you.' she listed a few more people to stay away from, and others who I shouldn't even talk to because of their importance, even high school has a class system. ' oh and you will be called newbie for the first few days, but that will soon pass.' she carried on chatting about some more people, but I didn't hear her, the name newbie, I remembered that from when I was 14, three years ago, I had called a police officer that, when they took me away.
'Rachel? Hello? You in there?' a hand was waving in front of me.
'sorry, was thinking about something else, what?' I asked Lynn, still dazed by the memory of the name,
'carry these into the dining room,' she passed me a tray with bowls of different foods on and I carried out of the room.
Over dinner that night I couldn't stop thinking about what she said, I didn't understand why it bothered me so much. I cleaned up after dinner then headed for my room, I fell asleep still thinking about the memory.
I slept in quite late the next day, and was awoken by the games the young kids were playing outside. I stuttered across my room and lazily got changed. I decided I was going to pass this day helping the kids, since I had nothing else to do. I grabbed my phone and headed to the garden. Watching them all day took my mind off things, mostly the newbie comment Rebbecca made yesterday. just before dinner,I cleaned the kids up, then sat them down.
'hey Rachel, could you make sure the new kids rooms set up?' Ryan asked me, he was one of the male leaders who lived here.
I scuttled up the stairs to check on the room. The corridors were set out in age ranges. Children aged up to 10 on one corridor, then upstairs 10-15, then the older ones even further up. Leaders were spread out everywhere. I quickly found the room name I was looking for. I walked inside, the bed was made, a blue cover with light blue circles covering it. The wardrobe stood in one corner, and drawers in another. It was an empty room, it had no memories, not yet anyway. I quickly checked nothing was under the bed or in the wardrobe (other children had a habit of scaring new kids by jumping out from places) once I had done that, I left the room and returned to the dining room.
After dinner we cleared the table and waited for the new kid. The leaders wondered out into the hall, waiting for his arrival. After about twenty minutes, the doorbell rang. He met with the leaders first, then was led into the dining room. As he walked in, a strong sensation came over me, memories from my childhood replayed in my head, strong emotions were flying everywhere. I tried to ignore what was happening in my head, and focused on the young boy. He was small for his age, pure black hair, swooped to one side, he had olive skin and illumined eyes, I could see his soul behind them, I knew he had a strong will, I could sense it.
I attempted to get up to greet him, but my legs couldn't take my weight. I collapsed, watching people wash away like the tide, into white light.
