Shawn looked across the parking at his dad. His dad had told Shawn that he had a "surprise" for him. There was a small figure walking by him. Shawn squinted his eyes and saw that the figure was wearing a dress. He walked towards them and realized that the small figure was a girl about his age. Henry smiled at him.
"Juliet, this is my son, Shawn." Henry explained. Juliet waved weakly. Shawn did the same.
"Who is she?" Shawn asked obliviously.
Henry frowned and held up his finger to Juliet. He pulled Shawn aside. "Shawn, I am, um, taking care of this girl until she finds a home. She's a run away." Henry explained.
Shawn's eyes widened. "Cool," he breathed, imagining running away for a second. He was obviously taking this better than Henry had planned.
They walked back over to Juliet who was fiddling with the buttons on her dress. Shawn smiled at her. They got into Henry's truck and he began driving back home. Shawn stared at the stitches on Juliet's head.
"How'd you get those?" he pointed to Juliet's left temple.
"Shawn," Henry warned.
"My dad pushed my head into the counter." Juliet replied as if it were nothing.
Shawn's eyes widened. "On purpose?" Shawn asked. Juliet nodded.
"That's why I ran away. Plus my mom got a su'cide." Juliet still didn't know how to say that.
Shawn understood her. He gasped softly and apologized. Henry remained quiet. Juliet fiddled with her dress as Henry pulled into their driveway. He helped Juliet out of the car. Shawn followed close behind her as they entered Henry's large house.
Juliet glanced around, "Where will I sleep?" she asked. Henry sighed and looked at her sympathetically. He shooed Shawn away, although he knew he would just listen in his room.
Henry crouched to her level, "Juliet, I need to tell you something," he sighed. Juliet looked at her savior intently. "I called an adoption center and talked with a nice lady. She said that she would take good care of you while I went through the process of adopting you." Henry tried to make it sound as fun as possible. Juliet's expression went blank.
"But- You- I can't…" Juliet felt tears well up in her eyes and soak her cheeks. She ran out of the house and sat in his driveway, shaking. Her mind making things seem way worse than they were.
Henry slowly sat down next to her. "If you want to, we can go meet this nice lady. If you don't like her, you don't have go to the adoption center." Henry negotiated.
Juliet sniffled and looked up at Henry. She nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. Henry patted her shoulder. "I'll be back in a few minutes, alright? I'm going to go talk to Shawn." Henry explained.
Inside, Henry called Shawn to the living room. He signaled for his son to sit. "Shawn, I want to make sure that you are okay with having a temporary sister," Henry said, "Possibly permanent." Henry continued.
Shawn stared into space for a second and shrugged. "She's alright." He smiled. Henry nodded and ruffled his son's hair.
"Thanks bud." He said and stood up form the couch. "I'll be back in a bit." Henry walked outside and brought Juliet back into his truck. He drove to an adoption center called St. Francis Adoption Home. Juliet hopped out of the truck and followed Henry into the building. They were greeted by a young woman.
"Hi, is this Juliet?" the woman asked. Juliet nodded slowly. "Hi! I'm Ginger." Ginger held out her hand for Juliet to shake.
"I'm Juliet." Juliet barely whispered, shaking Ginger's hand.
"Would you like to look around? I can show you." Ginger offered. Juliet nodded and took Ginger's hand, following her around the center. Ginger turned back and winked at Henry. He sat down in a chair and waited for them to return.
Ginger walked Juliet into a large cafeteria. Tables were scattered around the room and a long lunch line of orphans stood a few feet away. "This is the cafeteria. This is where you will get breakfast, lunch, and dinner." Ginger smiled. She pointed to the line of kids. "Those kids are like you. They don't have mommies or daddies either." Ginger explained. Juliet nodded as they left the cafeteria and made their way down a long hallway. On each side of the hallway was a long line of doors. In the middle of the hallway, Ginger opened the door to reveal a bedroom with four bunk beds in it. There was another boy in the room, laying on his bunk bed.
"Hi, Harry. This is Juliet. She is going to be your new roommate." Ginger said sweetly. Harry hopped off of his bed and walked over to her. He waved hello to her.
"I'm Harold Shiner. Harry for short." Harry smiled.
"I'm Juliet O'Hara. Jules for short." She replied. Harry nodded and turned to Ginger.
"She's gonna be in here?" he asked. Ginger nodded, causing a big smile to dance across Harry's face.
"You will be on the top bunk, right here." Ginger patted the top bunk of the third bed down. Juliet nodded. Maybe this place wasn't so bad.
Ginger guided her into a playroom. Many young children sat in there, playing with overused toys and blocks. "This is the nursery. This is where the very little kids play. You'll play in that room." Ginger pointed to a door across the room. Very few people were in there. There was a pink, wooden castle in the corner that had the word The Princess Castle on it and in another corner there was a blue castle with a knight in front that held a sign. It read The Prince Layer. Juliet looked inside the Princess Castle and saw a fake kitchen set and a fake bedroom. It looked pretty fun.
Ginger led her over to another door that led them to the outdoor playground. Yet again, there was a playground for young children and older children. On the older children playground there was a set of monkey bars, two swing-sets, three slides, and a large jungle gym. Juliet smiled with excitement. She'd never been on such a fun playground.
Ginger turned to Juliet and crouched to her level. "What do ya' think?" she asked, sweeping her red hair behind her ears.
Juliet shrugged. "It looks like fun." She replied. Ginger clapped her hands and gave Juliet a big hug. It was the first hug she'd had in a wile. It felt nice. Ginger was nice.
Juliet walked with Ginger back out to the waiting room area. Henry waited there for Juliet. He stood up and looked at Juliet hopefully. Juliet nodded, "I'll stay here for a little bit." Juliet sighed. Henry smiled and gave her a short hug.
"I'll be back. I promise." Henry promised. Juliet nodded and watched Henry leave.
Ginger crouched down to her level. "Juliet, how about we go set up your room." Ginger suggested. Juliet said 'okay' and they walked down the long hallway. Ginger opened the door and looked around. No one was in the room. "Juliet do you want to talk about anything?" Ginger asked. "You can tell me anything." She continued.
Juliet shook her head. "No." She barely whispered. Ginger nodded.
"Do you want to set up your room?" she asked. Juliet pulled her backpack off of her back and unzipped it. She pulled out the stuffed cat that Mr. Hugh had given her. She set it on her new bed. It was all that she really had. Ginger smiled. Juliet took the few outfits that she'd packed and placed them on the shelf above her bunk bed. Ginger sighed.
"Alright, is that all you have?" Ginger asked. Juliet nodded. "Are you hungry?" Ginger asked. Juliet shook her head.
"I'm tired. Can I sleep?" Juliet yawned and stretched. Ginger nodded and gave her a hug.
"Let me know if you want to talk. M'kay?" Ginger walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
Juliet turned over and closed her eyes. She didn't fall asleep for another thirty minutes.
Frank knocked on the door to her new room. Juliet looked at the door and skipped over to it. She pulled open the door and saw her dad. "I told you, if you told anyone, you would die." He breathed. Juliet's eyes widened. Frank pulled a gun from his belt.
"NO!" Juliet screamed, covering her face. Frank steadied his hands and pushed on the trigger.
Juliet screamed and bolted upright in her bed. She looked around and saw Harry staring at her from the ground. Juliet wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"Are you okay?" he asked concerned.
Juliet nodded. "Can you get Ginger?" she asked. Harold nodded and left the room.
Juliet wiped the sweat from her neck. Ginger came in a few seconds later. She looked up at Juliet. "Are you alright?" she asked.
Juliet shook her head, feeling more tears fall down her cheeks. "Can we talk now?" Juliet asked.
Ginger nodded and signaled for her to come off of the bunk bed. "What is it?" Ginger asked.
"I had a bad dream about my dad." Juliet sniffled. "He said he was gonna kill me." Juliet wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"Why would your daddy do that?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Cause, he's a very bad guy. My mommy said so." Juliet sniffled, taking a deep breath.
Ginger thought for a second. "Was your mommy nice?" She tried to change the subject.
"Yeah, but she got a su'cide cause daddy hit her too." Juliet shook a little bit at the thought of her mom killing herself.
Ginger's eyes widened. "I'm sorry." was all she could say. They sat in silence for a second. "Are you feeling better now?" Ginger asked. Juliet nodded and sighed.
"Can I go eat?" Juliet asked. Ginger nodded and walked Juliet to the cafeteria. Juliet walked into a lunch line where they were serving spaghetti. She grabbed an apple and a bowl of spaghetti. She sat down at a table and picked at her gooey spaghetti. Her mind wandered around as Ginger stared at her. The apple the Juliet had taken was mushy and the spaghetti was soggy. "I'm not really hungry anymore." Juliet rested her head in her hands. She longed for the day that Henry adopted her and took her home. She wanted a dad and a new, friendly brother. Ginger sat in front of her.
"What'cha thinking about?" Ginger asked.
"I just want a mom and a dad." Juliet sighed. "I miss my brother, too." She admitted.
Ginger tilted her head, "Where is your brother?" she asked.
"A social worker took him to an adoption center while I ran away." Juliet explained. Ginger nodded.
"Where did you run away from?"
"North Miami." Juliet replied.
"What's your brother's name?" Ginger questioned.
"Ewan." Juliet replied, confused.
"Ewan O'Hara?" Ginger asked. Juliet nodded. Ginger stood up and told Juliet to stay there. She walked towards the front desk. Juliet waited patiently for Ginger to come back.
Ginger sat back down at the table. "Your brother, Ewan, was here for two days when one of our caretakers decided to adopt him. He is now living with Georgia, our nurse." Ginger smiled. Juliet's eyes widened.
"Wow, he has a new mom now?" Juliet asked, a hint of jealousy in her voice. Ginger nodded.
"It's okay though. If Henry doesn't adopt you, then I will. Okay?" Ginger promised. Juliet smiled at the kind act.
"Okay."
SOOOO? How'd do you guys like it?
I have school off on this Monday and Tuesday so I will definitely have another chapter up by Wednesday.
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