I Thought My Family Was Dead? (Austin Carlile)

Chapter 5

"DAUGHTER??" Alan, Tino, Aaron, and Phil yell at the same time.

I jump from the yelling, and Austin notices.

My heart is pounding in my chest and my breathing gets uneven.

I know a panic attack is coming and I can see Sarah can tell too.

"She's having a panic attack!" Sarah says bending down in front of me.

"Annabear you gotta calm down. No one is gonna hurt you. Breathe with me girly." She says and starts taking exaggerated breaths for me to follow.

After a minute or two my breathing has gone back to normal.

"Are you okay?" Alan asks.

I nod in response, "Sarah ms.Bones. She's gonna notice!"

"Wait, who's Ms.Bones?" Austin asks looking between me and Sarah.

"Uh... She's our social worker, and foster care house owner..." I say, looking down and hoping they don't get suspicious.

"Wait your in foster care?" Alan asks. "Where's your mom?" Tino says,
finishing Alan's sentence.

"S-she's no longer alive..." I say tearing up.

"It doesn't matter. We need to get back or Ms.Bones will... She'll get mad." I say catching my mistake.

"What were you gonna say?" Phil asks.

"She'll get mad. We really need to go." I say standing up and grabbing Sarah's arm, pulling her with me toward the door.

"Wait!" Austin's voice yells.

I turn toward him.

"I wanna adopt you. I- you can come on tour with me. We could be a family." He says looking into my eyes.

I see Sarah tear up in the corner of my eye. What would happen to her if I left? She would get so much more beatings.

"I-are you sure?" I say, searching his eyes.

"Yes I'm sure. I'm sure the guys wouldn't mind having you on the bus." He says looking back to them and they all nod. "And it would be so fun. I could finally be your father. I could be there for you." He says taking my hands.

"Y-yes. Adopt me. Please..." I say in a quiet voice.

He pulls me into his chest, giving my a big hug.

"Well let's get you," he gestures to Sarah, "back to your house. And get your things." he says, gesturing to me.

Me and Sarah nod, and look at each other.

I grab her hand and squeeze it, giving her a small gesture that it will be okay.

She looks at me and gives me a small smile, while we feel the bus under us start to move.

After around 30 minutes on the bus and everyone asking me questions we arrive at the house.

Me and Sarah stand up and start walking to the house, the guys close behind us.

As we're walking to the door I see the other kids look at the window giving us sympathetic looks.

I sigh and knock on the door.

Ms.Bones opens the door looking furious, but once she sees the people standing behind us she puts on a fake smile.

"Thank you for bringing these delinquents back to me. I'll make sure they get punished." She says, grabbing each of our arms and pulling us inside, making me stumble forward.

She slams the door in their face and drags me and Sarah to the basement.

"Shirts off. Turn around." She growls, as she takes off we belt.

We do as told and soon I feel the belt dig into my back.

A cry of pain breaks through the air and soon another one comes from Sarah's mouth.

She continues to snap the belt onto our backs until we hear the doorbell ring.

She growls and says "Stay where you are."

She walks up the stairs and opens the door upstairs.

About a minute later I here her yell, "Sarah! Annalise! Get up here!"

Me and Sarah gently put our shirts back on and walk upstairs slowly.

I see Austin and the rest of the guys standing by the door.

"You came back?" I say quietly.

They all turn and look at me. Austin says "Of course I did. I told you I wanted to adopt you didn't I?"

I smile and he says to Ms.Bones, "Don't I need paper work or something? I wanna adopt Anna." He says.

Ms.Bones growls and says, "Yes." Then leaves to get the paper work.

Austin takes my hand and squeezes it.

I lean into him, feeling weak, and he puts his arm around my shoulder.

Ms.Bones comes back and hands the paper work to Austin.

"Alan, why don't you go help Anna pack her stuff?" Austin says to alan as he starts filling the paper work out.

Alan nods and says, "Lead the way." To me.

I start walking up the stairs slowly with Alan behind me.

Once I get to my room I open the door and let Alan in.

"Kinda small..." He says quietly.

"I know. There's a lot of people and not a lot of room so I get what I get I guess..." I say back, grabbing my suit case from under the bed.

"I'm glad you take the good out of it." He says patting my back, right where the belt hit my back.

I flinch and he notices. "What's wrong?" He says.

"N-nothing." I stutter.

"Let me see your back." He says.

I shake my head fast and he sighs, "would you rather me just tell Austin?"

I shake my head again and slowly lay down on the bed with my back up and I pull my shirt up slowly.

I hear him gasp then he yells, "Austin! Get up here now!"

I hear pounding on the steps and the door swings open.

Austin hurries over to me and gasps.

"Who did this to you?" He says, touching my arm and turning me around.

"S-she was mad because we snuck out..." I say quietly.

"Ms.Bones?" He questions, and I nod slowly.

"Tino! Call the cops!" He yells into the house.

I hear more footsteps coming up the stairs and Tino Aaron and Phil come in the room.

"Oh my God..." Tino says as he pulls out his phone and dials 911.

Austin pulls my shirt down and pulls me into a hug as Tino talks to the cops.

After 5 minutes the police are here and me and the rest of the girls are showing them the marks Bones left and they are taking pictures of them.

After they have all the pictures they take Ms.Bones to jail and they take the rest of the girls to a different group home Austin takes my hand.

"Why didn't you tell me she hurt you before I went and let you anywhere near her?" He says, leading me back into the house to finish packing and get my stuff into the bus.

"I don't know... I didn't wanna move again..." I say quietly.

"I wish you would've told me..." He says back.

"I'm sorry..." I say quietly.

"It's okay. I understand..." He says in reply.

We pack my stuff up quietly and take it to the bus for the rest of tour.