Too old for the blanket
A guest asked for a oneshot of a 5 or 6 year old Emma in Foster care where the mother takes Emma's blanket away and locks it in a cupboard because she's too old for it. Emma freaks out because it's the only thing she has from her parents.
Emma wailed into her pillow, fighting the urge to sneak back out into the hall and try and unlock the cupboard.
"Emma, come on, try and stop crying." Dascha said, patting Emma's back. At fourteen Dascha Guerrero was the oldest girl in the group home. The woman in charge Miss McGorry (she only suddenly allowed them to call her Maureen when a social worker called round) wasn't exactly a motherly figure, so Dascha was all the little ones like Emma had. "You don't want to wake up baby Lori, do you? You know how mad she gets when Lori starts screaming."
"But she took my blanket." Emma sniffled. "I can't sleep without my blanket. It's all I've got from my real mommy and daddy."
"I'll get it back for you Emma, I promise, but for tonight you have to try and stop crying."
"I'll try Dascha." Emma promised. "But I don't like it. It's the only thing that makes me think they'll come back for me."
"Going for the little orphan Annie routine huh?" Dascha joked. Emma just gave her a blank look, not getting the reference. "Never mind kid… So, when did you last see them? Your parents, I mean."
"They gave me away when I was a tiny." Emma whispered. "I thought I did have my real mommy and daddy, but when I was three I got taken away. I met Constance my social worker and she told me that the Swans weren't my real mommy and daddy. They were going to have a baby that really was theirs and they didn't have room for me anymore. Then I moved in with Diane and Todd. I thought they were going to be my forever home, they were even going to change my last name from Swan to O'Reilly, but then the same thing happened again." Dascha could see the downtrodden look on the little girl's face. She could tell her everything was going to be ok, that she was going to find her forever home real soon, but what was the use in lying and giving her false hope? She'd been in and out of homes since she was younger than Emma, there was a strong chance it would be the same for her.
"Just try and get some sleep kid." Dascha said, patting her head. "We'll get your blanket back soon." Emma nodded and curled up, trying to cuddle into the edge of her quilt, but it just wasn't the same. Little did Emma know this was just going to be the first hard night of many in her lonely childhood.