Out of the Dark

by Arescynthea

This is about a young orphan girl who is best friends with Percy and Grover. She shares her secrets with them and they are her only friends. She has two little sisters who she must care for. She must provide a safe habitat while locking out the feelings that have been pushing her into the darkness for years.

3. Chapter 3

AJ's P.O.V

Today is my birthday. Yippee. I am so happy to go another year without birthday presents or cake from my foster family.

"AJ, I have a gift for you! Come and see!" Tammy, my foster mom, trilled out.

I can't believe she would actually spend money on me! I ran out into the sleek, modern living room only to find my hopes being crushed. I am an idiot. I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning. What was I thinking?

"Now clean all of this up." She pointed to a huge mess. It had wine glasses and half full beer bottles. There were broken bottles on the floor and wine, different alcoholic drinks, cheese, crumbs of bread, and grapes. They must have had a party last night. I don't know how many people they invited, but they must have gotten seriously drunk.

"It's not my mess!" I argued.

"What did you say?!" She screamed at me.

"I said, it's not my mess! If you want someone to clean it up, call up your drunk friends who were up all frickin night!" I yelled back.

"Watch your mouth! I said clean it up and if you don't, you better say goodbye to Macy and May!" She threatened.

Immediately I began to clean up. I could not lose them. I cut my hands on the broken glass, not that "Tammy" cared.

"Don't you dare get blood on my nice wine glasses!" She screeched at swooped down on me like a hawk. Her beady eyes watched my every move, boring into the back of my head.

I worked hard, trying not to break any glasses, but trying to hurry. Keyword: trying.When I finally finished, Tammy had already taken Lexi and Brooke, my foster sisters, to their preppy, private school, and Macy and May to their public school. I looked around the apartment for Michael, my foster dad, but he wasn't home. Hmmm... I'm in the apartment all alone. I switched on the TV and raided the fridge for junk food. That was when I heard Grover's and Percy's voice. They sounded frantic. Percy and Grover were supposed to be in school. Of course I was too, but my agreement with Tammy was that if I cleaned the house and did all the chores, my sisters got to go to school. Unfortunately, I wasn't included. The government didn't know about me, so it really didn't matter whether I went or not. But if Percy and Grover were supposed to be at school, what were they doing here? This could not be good.