Hey, so OVER 50 reviews?! Wooooooow! PAR-TY! *celebrates a ridiculous amount* I mean seriously, though, wow! Thank you, thank you, thank yooooooouuuu, for my reviews and follows and favourites, I'm honestly surprised by just how many I've had :D
So here's the update, I'm sort of struggling with this at the moment as I want her back at the Fosters, but it's tricky so I have ONE idea how to make it happen, but you guys may hate me for doing it...
Anyways, on with the chapter!
DISCLAIMER: Me = sitting quietly in that corner over there, owning nothing...
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
She didn't know why she'd ended up there. Hell, she barely knew how she'd ended up being there. It seemed like one minute she was sitting on the sidewalk, still sobbing, and the next she was stepping off of a bus and into the old neighbourhood she once lived in. Her feet moved of their own accord, until they stopped outside a small, slightly rundown house, identical to the rest of the buildings in the street. She was outside her old home - her first home, the one she'd lived in with her parents until she'd been ten. The house where a new family - a luckier one - now lived.
She watched, a silent spectator, as they, the young family who now lived there, left the house. They were a small family of four, two parents clearly in love and two children - a boy and a girl. They were what she used to be - all of them happy, all of them safe, all of them oblivious.
Oblivious to what could happen, and oblivious to what would happen. At least, what would happen if they weren't careful, if they continued to believe that they were safe. Because they weren't, not really, not ever. Not with their false sense of security. The same false sense of security which her mother used to have. Her mother who died and left them. Her mother who she could never get back.
Suddenly she wanted to yell and scream at them, to warn them of the challenges they could face, to beg them to treasure their time together because they would never know when it could end. But instead she stayed silent, and watched as they left, ignoring the pang she felt in her heart as she did so.
As she watched them, she wondered. She wondered if the little girl had her old room, and if the said room's walls were still the same shade of powdered pink, and if the off-white skirting board still had her initials hastily scratched into it, or if all of that was gone, erased, as though Callie Jacobs had never been there. The overwhelming urge to go inside and take a look around came over her. She wondered if they kept a spare key where her parents used to, or if their old key was still there...
Before she could reconsider, Callie made her way up the paved pathway and over to a tree which stood near the hedge which separated the house from its neighbouring one. Reaching into a home in it's trunk, she did get fingers along its walls, until she felt the cool, familiar texture of metal. Drawing her arm from it, a grin spread across her face as she looked at the house keys which she was now holding. Not letting herself think about it, she unlocked the front door and stepped inside. She walked across the hallway, silent as she relived previous memories.
...
The girl ran through the front door, her long dark brown hair flying behind her and a huge grin on her face. Two boys followed her, one was younger by a couple of years and was clearly her brother, the two if them sharing the same dark eyes and brown hair, whilst the other boy was the same age as her and a close friend - "The bestest friend in the whole wide world!" She'd once declared. The older boy overtook her as the three of them raced to the kitchen where upon arrival they stopped, panting, each desperately trying to catch their breath.
The older boy grinned at the two siblings. "I won, I won!" He cheered, happy and victorious.
The girl glared at him in a childish manner, which was fitting for her young age. "No fair!" She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip, a small frown on her face. "You must have cheated!"
"No he didn't." A quiet voice interrupted, and both older children turned to glare at the younger boy.
"Shut up, Jude." The girl snapped, irritated by his _, "You always take his side."
Jude frowned slightly and ducked his head, but didn't apologise. "I'm right though," he muttered, "Jace didn't cheat."
The older boy, Jace, smirked at the girl, his green eyes twinkling with mischief. "See, Cal, told you so."
Callie glared at him, and stuck out her tongue childishly. "Shut up idiot."
She turned to Jude. "Seriously?! Do you have any use?! I mean, I'm your sister, you're meant to back me up!" Angrily, she pushed past him, shoving him into the wall, and stormed towards the stairs.
"CALLIE JACOBS!" Her mother yelled, having reached the front door in time to witness the girl's angry exit. "Who on Earth do you think you are, hurting your brother?!"
The girl stopped, halfway up the stairs, and turned. "Callie Jacobs." She retorted, smirking slightly.
Colleen raised an eyebrow, unimpressed at her daughter's answer. "Well, Callie Jacobs does not get to be mean to her brother. Not like that." She gestured towards the kitchen doorway where Jude sat crying.
Callie rolled her eyes. "Pur-lease!" She said, "I didn't hurt him that bad - I just pushed him, he's just being a big baby. Besides," She added, "he deserved it. You said that family sticks by each other and he wasn't sticking with me. He took Jace's side."
Her mother rolled her eyes. "Oh Honey," she walked up a couple of steps so that she was eye level with her daughter, and reached out to hold on to his chin, forcing her to pay attention to her. "I meant we stick for each other when things get tough, or when people are mean about a member of this family, not that we can't all have different opinions. Families don't always have the same views as each other, but when things get tough, they stick by each other - or at least they should."
Callie nodded, beginning to understand what her mother meant. "Not like Gramps and Nana?" She asked
Her mother smiled sadly, "No, not like Cramps and Nana." She confirmed.
"Okay." Callie nodded. "I think I understand. I'll say sorry to Jude."
"Yeah," Colleen laughed, "you better!" She reached out and ruffled her daughter's hair. "I love you, Calla-Balla," She whispered and hugged her, "you know that, right?"
The girl rolled her eyes, a friendly smirk on her face. "I know, Mommy, you tell us every day!"
Her mother smiled at her. "I just want to make sure that you remember."
...
She smiled at the memory, ignoring the tears that ran down her cheeks. Slowly she made her way up to the top of the stairs and into her old room.
It completely different. The walls alternated from navy and ocean blue, and were plastered with poster of soccer teams and pokemon. There was no trace of Callie Jacob left. She fell to the grey carpeted floor, sobbing. Trying desperately to remember how it had been. She couldn't. She screamed.
"Hello?"
A voice called, making her jump and her heart race.
Shit! She wasn't meant to be there, she was trespassing, breaking and entering... whilst she was still on parol! Her heart rate increased and she found herself struggling to breathe.
"Hello?" The voice repeated, and she realized it was searching the downstairs area, warning her of how much time she had left to get out, to get away... or get caught. Get caught and be taken away by the police. Taken away, possibly to Juvie, away from the Fosters and Jude... And away from Robert. Away from the Quinn's. She could escape them, she just had to...
"Hel-lo?" The voice called a third time, the stairs creaking as who ever it was made its way slowly up the stairs.
Callie took a deep breath and leant against the wall. She made up her mind.