Surviving - Rewritten

Chapter Seventeen - Counting Stars

Cassandra Blake

Cassie woke up the next day crying. She felt her hands trembling and tried to mentally calm herself down from the horrific nightmare in which she had just awoken from.

She looked over to Blaise's side of the room and noticed that Blaise was already gone, causing her to sigh in relief. She didn't want anyone to see her crying, especially Blaise. Quickly, she went into the bathroom and gave her face a wash, getting rid of the dried tears. Truthfully, Cassie was unsure of if she would ever recover from the events of the last few months.

She couldn't help but wonder how Becky was doing, she hadn't seen or heard from her in weeks and Becky probably didn't have a clue as to why Cassie had been off for so long. Cassie wondered if she would even care.

Shaking her head, Cassie got dressed and went downstairs, trying to forget about everything going on inside her head for a moment. She froze when she walked into the kitchen and saw about nine heads turn her way.

"Who's that?" A small blonde girl asked, staring at Cassie.

Carly smiled "this is Cassie, who I told you about. She will be staying with us for a few months. Cassie, this is Savannah and next to her is Kelsey, they are twins. And also you have Alayah, Ella, Maisie, Diana, Callie and the youngest here, Maddison and of course, you already know Blaise" Carly explained, pointing at each child individually.

Cassie gave them an awkward smile and wave as she wondered how on earth, she would remember all their names, and how she would ever be able to tell the twins apart. They were practically identical except for the fact that one wore an orange jumper and the other a purple one.

"What would you like for breakfast Cassie? We have pancakes, sausages, eggs or bacon?" Carly asked her, standing up and grabbing a plate.

"Pancakes sound nice" Cassie remembered the last time she ate pancakes with her mother, a few months before she passed away. They used to be Cassie's favourite.

Carly handed her a plate with about four pancakes on with strawberries, and cassie muttered a quiet "thank you" before sitting down at the table in the corner.

"Cassie, how long are you staying?" One of the smaller girls asked, who was introduced as Maddison.

Cassie shuffled in her chair nervously; she had never really been around children before, so she found this incredibly awkward. "Um, just a few months, I think"

The little girl frowned. "You are so pretty though; can't you stay longer?"

Cassie blushed unsure on how to respond. She didn't get compliments very often, or at all. "Um, I don't know" she muttered, giving the girl a small smile. She seemed sweet.

Maddison smiled back before beginning to eat again. Cassie wondered what could have happened to some of these girls to cause them to end up in care at such a young age, and she really hoped that they hadn't gone through what she had or something worse.

After eating breakfast, everyone helped clean up before going their separate ways and Carly approached Cassie somewhat cautiously whilst she was drying up.

"So, Cassie, on Monday I think you can go back to school. Obviously, if you are not feeling up to it or there is anything that I can do to help you transition back into the routine of it please let me know"

Cassie frowned, not quite sure on how to feel about going back to school. She still had no idea what was going on with Becky, and she doubted that Blaise would be nice to her at school. She only tolerated her at the house because she had to.

"I know it's probably hard for you to go back after everything, but it'll be nice for you to get a sense of normality again. Also, I know that you only technically need to stay for a few months and you're more than welcome to leave when you want, but if you want to stay for longer you can. I don't do this for money, I do this because I care about all of you and I want to help"

Cassie loved how genuine Carly was and how passionate she seemed to be about her job. "Thank you, Carly, but I wouldn't just stay for free. I would feel guilty"

Carly smiled at her "well, I was thinking of offering you and Blaise a little job here, helping with things. I wouldn't be able to pay that much more than minimum wage and I don't want you to feel pressured, but it would help you get a better start towards savings and some work experience"

"That would be amazing Carly, but I've not had a job before. I'm not sure I'd be good at helping take care of everyone"

"Yes but, Cassie, you have cooked and cleaned and looked after yourself for the last ten years. But, if you were to stay here I would want you to look into therapy a bit, and to get some help for your mental health. I know that its really hard, but I can see how much you struggle with anxiety and I want to help. So, when you are ready to get some, please just come see me"

"Thank you, Carly. I don't really know what to say that's all a lot to process"

"I know, and you don't need to answer anything right now. Just take some time to process everything and I'm here to talk when you need to" Carly reassured her, before going upstairs towards where some of the younger girls were shouting.

Cassie shook her head, unsure of what to think. She had never really thought about her future. She didn't ever believe that she would get away from her father and she never felt like she was clever. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't help but think she would like a career in care more than in an office or a restaurant or anything like that.

She wasn't sure what she was going to do in terms of university, but she knew that it wasn't mandatory to go. There were apprenticeships as well, or she could go into full time work. She would just have to look more into her options, because the more that she thought about things, the more that she realised she had so many. There were so many possibilities on what she could do and for the first time in her life, she realised that she had  the chance to do so much good and to help so many people.