A/N: Hey guys! Here's chapter four! This chapter is kind of long, I just kept writing. I hope you like this chapter. I think everything will speed up in the coming chapters. Just a warning, the next chapter will start to get a little… intense. And that's all the hints I shall give. Enjoy and drop a review! ~Kawaii Stella

Picking Up the Broken Glass

Kawaii Stella

Chapter Four

A Friend

"Why are you doing this?" Echo asked, stunned by the sudden explosion of friendship. "You've known me for what, less than an hour?"

"You aren't like the rest; you don't deserve this, Echo." Marbles told her.

Echo didn't know what to say.

Marbles lifted the little window where her meals were normally pushed through and shoved the notebook through.

"I'll be back soon, okay? Oh, and if you get challenged again, fight back." Marbles said with a wink.

"Okay." Echo agreed with a shadow of a laugh.

Dr. Marbles left the orphanage after once again having to avoid the disastrous flirting attempts of Abigail Truehart. He felt bad for leaving Echo in that awful place. His only consolation was that he'd go back as soon as he got the chance.

Echo sat on her bed with her dinner, which had been delivered shortly after Dr. Marbles had left. As she ate she thought about what had just happened.

Somebody cared about her. Well, she worked for the Judge and the judge had seen the bruises, but the judge had only cared enough to give her a job, which was nice enough. The judge had never directly done or said anything about the bruises, though. Dr. Marbles had. She had a friend now, and that made things a little more bearable.

It was back to work the next day, Saturday. The day was unusually slow, but nice nonetheless. Any minute away from the orphanage was nice as far as Echo was concerned. Basic organization and filing took less than two hours. By midmorning Echo was sweeping the porch of the dry dust that had blown in the previous night.

It was overcast today, and a measurable wind foretold a coming rainstorm. Echo took a break after she finished sweeping. She sat out on the porch until the judge called her back inside. Not unusual, the sheriff was there as well.

"Echo, you can do live sketches, right?" Sheriff Judy asked.

"Yes ma'am, I can." Echo answered.

"Great; can we commission you to do a few drawings during a hearing today?" Judy asked.

"Sure, I've never done court sketches before, but I'll do my best."

"Excellent. Thank you, Echo." Judge Trudy remarked. "And here is the defense team now."

In from the street came the three kids and cyboid Echo had seen earlier. She learned that they were Inez, Matt, Jackie, and Digit. Echo didn't have a chance to speak with them. Instead she was directed to the little table containing several canvases and a plethora of supplies. As she got set up, Echo overheard the others saying that they couldn't believe that they were defending their arch nemesis.

It's a strange world. Echo thought.

The trial began and Echo got to work. The trial lasted two hours, not including the twenty minutes of deliberation. By the end of the trial Echo ended up with six, not too shabby portraits. Her hands were covered in every color of oil pastels imaginable and there were a few smudges on her face.

"How'd it go, Echo?" The sheriff inquired.

"Oh, just fine," Echo said as she wiped what she could from her hands with an old rag. She spread out the canvases for observation.

"Very nice!" Judge Trudy complimented. "I think someone will have a bonus in her paycheck this week."

"Oh! Thank you very much!" Echo said with a blush.

Before she knew it, Echo's work day was done. She was paid every Monday, so Echo wondered what kind of bonus she would receive. At the orphanage, to Echo's surprise, she was let out of her solitary cell to hear an announcement by Truehart.

In the lobby Truehart spoke to everyone.

"Okay, children, it's that time of year again!"

What time of year? Echo wondered confusedly. Early summer?

"The visitor's yard has been groomed to perfection! Of course those of you who are fifteen and older may go outside from the orphanage if you visitor so whishes to take you. For the rest, you all have the visitor's yard to wander around. I have a feeling we may get a few adoptions done this spring and summer!"

A chorus of "Yeah, rights" were mumbled throughout the room. Truehart went on for several minutes about proper etiquette for when they had visitors and the like before all were dismissed. Echo was put back in her room where she decided to do some housekeeping.

Echo's bags were still haphazardly piled in her trunk from when she had first arrived. She went through her things, finding a couple of blankets, one a throw and the other a soft, homemade quilt. She put them on her bed, and then went on with her voyage. In total, she had seven pairs of jeans, one pair of khaki slacks, nine pairs of underwear, three bras, four camisoles in nude, black, grey, and white, three thank tops, eight t-shirts, six long sleeve tops, two hoodies, one sweatshirt, two button up blouses, and four pairs of pajamas. Those were all the clothes that had been sent with Echo. The other things were toiletries like a toothbrush, tube of toothpaste, hair care products, lotions, a few bottles of allergy medicine, aspirin, and other bath items. Then, there was a small selection of books from her massive collection back home. All of Echo's own literary works were accounted for, as well as her eight sketchbooks and her drawing supplies. Whoever had packed for her back home had left a lot of her supplies out. That was all that was in her trunk. As she refolded her clothes and put them in her trunk, Echo noticed the piece of paper taped to the inside lid of the trunk.

The paper was labeled "Inventory in Holding". It was a list of the prohibited items that were being withheld from Echo.

One iPod touch, white, 8GB. One laptop, 16", brown. One cell phone, silver. And a few accessories to the aforementioned items.

Echo put most of her things back up but she did leave out some of her drawings which she taped to the wall above her bed. By the time she was done it was rather late, so Echo showered and went to bed. Everyone was woken up at 7:30 the next morning.

It was Sunday, and it sounded like everyone was on edge. Echo dressed in a teal, light weight sweater with blue jeans and black canvas sneakers. Her breakfast, consisting of the regular slop, was brought to her before she brushed her teeth. After brushing her teeth she sat back on her bed. Echo quickly became bored and began to doodle on a scrap sheet of paper while she thought about what Truehart had said. It didn't take long for Echo to realize what was going on. It was visitor's day.

Echo didn't figure that she'd have a visitor today, but to her surprise, the door to her cell opened.

"Would you like to get out of here for a while?"

"Oh, hello, Dr. Marbles. Yes, I'd love to get out of here for a while." Echo said happy yet surprised that Dr. Marbles was there.

They left the orphanage, returning to the park where Echo had been two days ago. After a bit of miniscule talk about the weather and Marbles insisting to Echo that she needn't be so formal and that she could just call him Marbles, they reached the hilltop where they sat and watched some ducks swim leisurely. Echo remained quiet.

"So, how have you been?" Marbles asked.

"I'm okay. I work six days a week so that keeps me pretty occupied." Echo said quietly.

"Really? Where are you employed?"

"At the courthouse. I do whatever they need me to do. Filing, dusting, the works."

"How long have you been working there?"
"Well, I've been here about a month, so, about two weeks."

"You're not been in solitary this whole time, have you?"

"No… I wish I had been put in there from the start though. It would have been better that way. I could've gotten away from…"

"The beatings." Marbles finished softly.

"Yeah."

Echo was quiet for a time. She thought about all of the beatings she had received. Finally she forced herself to clear her mind and then pulled her hair into a bun.

"Do you do okay in your spare time? It can't be easy in there all alone." Marbles asked Echo.

"Yeah, I do fine on my own. I bide my time doing this or that, waiting until I turn eighteen. Nights are the worst."

"You don't expect to be adopted," It wasn't a question; it was more of a statement.

"Nah. It's been proven that the ones closest to being legal age don't get adopted like the little ones do. I can see the point though. Turn 18, get kicked out on your own, find a life and move on. Adopted or not it's pretty much the same."

"It's not always like that." Marbles countered.

"I know it's not, but I see that happening a lot back on Earth, and I doubt it's much different here."

"Why are nights worse for you?" Marbles asked. He hoped he wasn't coming off as being nosy, but he was truly curious about Echo.

"That's when everything comes back to haunt me. Especially trying to figure out why my parents gave me up but kept my half brothers. You know, neither of my parents told me I was being put up for adoption. The council did."

"That's rather odd that your half brothers were allowed to stay."

"Yeah, but they never cared for me. They were all real close to their dad and when he died they all left mom. It took several years for mom to get over him. She met a new guy and then I was born. I was a surprise to my mom. She didn't know she was pregnant until she was six months along. But that's not the point. My brothers don't care much for me so they probably didn't give an effort to let me stay. That's the point."

Echo got mad thinking about her half brothers. She disliked them as much as they disliked her. And as any time she became angry, her accent came through.

"You have an accent," Marbles realized. "Irish?"

"No, Scottish. Have you ever been to Scotland? It's beautiful there. So what do you do?"

"No, I've never been. I'm a computer technician."

"Oh wow, that's neat."

"Sometimes it is; sometimes it's duller than watching paint dry."

"I know that feeling," Echo chuckled.

They stayed on the hilltop and talked until, like all good things, the day came to an end. Eventually, they had to return to the orphanage.

"Thank you for coming to visit me today." Echo said, standing outside the orphanage door. "It was nice to get out and talk."

"Anytime. I'll see you again soon, Echo."

"'Kay," Echo said before she and Marbles heard Truehart's voice trill from the lobby.

"You better get in before the witch grabs her broom."

Echo laughed but didn't argue. She reluctantly went inside. Unsurprisingly, everyone was glaring at her. Echo slipped back to her safe little cell where she stayed fairly content.

Two more weeks passed much the same. She worked Monday through Saturday and was visited on Sunday's by Marbles. However, on the third Tuesday after Marbles' first visit, she was kept from work. Apparently, she had a new visitor. His name was Solomon Quinn. In an instant Echo did not trust him. She didn't' like the way he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The real kicker was that she was not to speak of him to other visitors and vice versa. The whole day she wanted to go back to work. Finally the creeper left. To her dismay he visited every few days. Echo simply didn't like the vibe she got from him. Luckily for her, Sundays remained how they should be.

On the Saturday night before he was to tell Echo he'd be away for two weeks, Marbles got a call from his elder brother, Abel. Abel was interested in what his little brother had been up to. He was especially eager to hear how excited Marbles was for the annual family vacation. To Abel's disappointment, Marbles wasn't all that excited.