N.B It has been a while, hasn't it? Still don't own anything, never will

Enjoy,

White Walls

Something was dripping through the mattress on the bed. It took Emma a few moments to recognize the red fluid; it was blood. She screamed and scrambled out from underneath the bed. Her eyes locked on her mother and again she could not move, her mother had been her whole world, the only person that she took from place to place as they moved across the country, the only consistency that existed in her life.

Emma did not even hear the footsteps approaching.

"Oh my God, what the hell happened here?" it was their neighbor, Gavin. "Emma, kiddo are you okay? You gotta tell me what happened"

She heard herself say "I don't know, I only just got home"

Emma didn't know what made her lie. But, she couldn't undo that now.

Gavin took her back to his house and Emma scarcely paid attention to anything that happened. She realized that he must have called the police considering they were crawling all over house. One officer kept asking Emma all these questions, all she could say was "I don't know".

Gavin and his wife Caroline said had she was to stay there for the night until further arrangements could be made. In their spare bedroom she stared at the mirror. She looked like her, there was nothing different about her; she could have looked in the mirror a week ago and wouldn't have noticed the difference. Emma was looking for something sort or scarring on her body that would signify what she went through today, what she felt; cuts, bruising, anything. But there was nothing. She couldn't describe why this was so upsetting to her, but tears were falling fast down her face.

Waking up in the morning, it was like when you're at camp, and after the first night, when you wake up you have absolutely no idea where you are, then memories of the day before flood through your mind. But instead of excitement, Emma was only filled with an ache she couldn't explain.

The next two days Emma was like a robot, doing everything mechanically. All she did with her time was to write letters to her only friend Jake. He'd been her friend for three or four years now. It was a bit old-fashioned writing letters, but they both liked it that way, they never exchanged email, home numbers or even cell phone numbers.

It wasn't until there was a mention of foster homes that she cried in front of anyone when she remembered the conversation with her mother, one of the last she's had

"I swear mom, if I have to go into foster care just to stay here I will". It was a cruel irony.

Emma was directed by one of the officer's to grab a bag and she would be going to her new home

"Only temporary until someone can be found to take care of you of course" he'd said. She could tell he was a bit taken aback by her reply;

"You won't, my mother had no one but me, no family but me, no friends but me, at least no one she was close enough to that would take a fourteen year old in. No. I'll be in foster care, bounced around. The percentage of children adopted above seven are low, the percentage decreases dramatically as the child gets older and is in their teens. No one wants to take in a fourteen year old, not just my mothers transient friends."

She was taken to an idyllic looking house, if she had seen it a week before she would have loved it. But now, what the house looked like had no effect on her. When she saw her new 'parents', the Campbell's she could almost laughed with derision; they were old, fat, looked like they cared, but really they took in kids so they could feel like they've done their part in the world. A self-fulfilling act was all.

The old lady took her up to what was to be her new room. It was white, again, just like in Gavin and Caroline's spare room. "Why doesn't anyone put any colour into rooms, are they trying to make everything look plain and dismal?" Emma thought she'd said it to herself, but when she heard the old lady's soft reply that she could paint it any colour she wanted later, Emma guessed that she had said it out loud. Surprisingly her own rudeness didn't bother her; rudeness shown by anyone was normally her pet hate.

The next few days past just like the last few. There were more questions, to which she gave her now favourite answer "I don't know", more people to meet, like her new foster family. The Campbell's had five other children already living with them, three boys and two girls. The only surprise came when the old lady told her there was a young girl waiting at the door for her. As she thumped her way down the stairs and opened the door she saw it was Ellie Freeman, a girl from school, not one she was particularly close to, or one that she'd even told where she was, she hadn't been in contact with any of the people from school in a week.

"Em-J? I know I'm unexpected, but I thought you could do with someone to talk to. I'm really sorry about your mom"

Emma was caught unawares. "How the hell, how'd you know about that?"

Ellie explained that her father was in the police, that he'd told her. She'd gotten him to find out where Emma was now.

"Can I come in?" She asked tentatively. Emma moved aside to let her in. She had seen Ellie around other people, and knew she was smart when it same to other people. Ellie knew what questions to ask and what to leave unsaid. She would be okay to have around.

Ellie followed her into the kitchen. "Em-J" she said "Do you mind if I stay for lunch? It's just my Dad's at work, and I have no-one else, there's no one at home." Emma was glad Ellie's questions were easy to answer; a simple yes or a no was all that was required. But throughout the day Emma began talking, really talking, more than she had in the past week, talking, laughing, crying about her mom. Ellie even stayed the night there.

The next morning when Emma got up, the old lady came in. She told Emma that she was to go back to her house and gather up more of her things, that the house was to be cleared out as soon as possible. Emma hated to be told so bluntly that her old life was ended.

She looked over at Ellie "Would you come with me?"

Ellie nodded, "Sure thing Em-J".

As they were leaving the house Emma stopped suddenly, making Ellie walk into her as she added 'Ellie, could you call me Emma? I know I asked you to call me Em-J, but the fact is, that isn't my name, no one who's ever been important to me has ever called me anything apart from Emma". Ellie smiled and nodded, as if she'd been waiting for her to ask.

It was hard for Emma to walk into her house and start packing her things. She never realized how messy she was, she had things scattered throughout the place. When she passed her mother's bedroom she stopped. Her mother was gone, but the evidence that her body had lain there was still evident. No one had cleaned up the blood. She shook violently. She stood there for a long time. When Ellie saw her all Ellie was saying was "I know sweetie, I know". That was all it took, a few words indicating that someone understood her. Emma fell to the ground, sobbing, with anger, fear and grief flowing through her.