Adopted by Adam (COMPLETED)

Chapter Nineteen-Found

^😂The squirrel wheeeeesperer😂^

€•ZOE•€

"Get up."

Josh is shaking me awake, and undoing my ropes.

"What the hell?" I ask groggily.

"Your idiot father tracked your phone here, and now there's police surrounding the place." he says, and I turn to him.

"Well, if you're going to be arrested..." I say, and pull him in. He smirks; this is what he wanted.

Our lips are barely touching when I kick his legs out from under him, and he slams onto the ground. I take off running, and I throw the back door open, and throw myself onto the ground just as a gunshot rings out.

"Fuck." I hear him mutter, as police aim their guns at him.

"Put the gun down!" someone bellows, and he does as he's told. I stand up, and brush the grass off my knees.

A couple of EMTs take me to an ambulance, where they check me over for injuries. I see Dad's car pull up, and he and Alesa jump out and run towards me.

"I missed you so much," I say, almost crying, as he picks me up in a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," He says, hugging me tight.

"I am too," Alesa says, and Dad sets me down so I can hug her. I do, and we walk to the car.

"Bailey! Milton! Rascal!" I squeal when they all come running up to me when the door opens. I get on the floor and play with them for a while, and then get up.

I walk into my room, and flop onto my bed. I pull out my phone, and lay there for a while, music playing, thinking.

When I fall asleep, I have troubling dreams.

I can tell it's a memory, by the way everything looks like I'm a foot shorter. I realize I am in a closet, tears streaming down my face. I remember this, it was sixth grade.

I hear my mother and father downstairs, fighting again.

"She's a worthless piece of shit!" my father shouts.

"She is not! And she wasn't a mistake, either! You're just pissed that you didn't get the football jock son you wanted!" my mother retaliates.

I look at the locket around my neck. It shows my family, smiling, picture perfect, you could say.

It's not really like that.

I scoot back farther under the clothes when I hear my mother's cries. What is he doing to her...?

I start to talk to myself through the tears to calm down.

"I wish words were like little toy guns...no sting, no pain, no war, just a 'Bang, bang!' rolling off your tongue...I wish words were like little toy guns, no smoke, no bullet, no kick from the trigger when you pull it, no pain, no damage done, just a 'Bang, bang!' rolling off your tongue...I wish words were like little toy guns!

"I wish there was a white flag wavin', that it was just a game they were playin', like "Shoot 'Em Up, Cowboys"...Leave the plastic pistols in the front yard, throw away the scorecard, and just turn off all the noise! I wish words were like little toy guns...no sting, no hurt, no war, just a 'Bang, bang!' rolling off your tongue...No smoke, no bullet, no kick from the trigger when you pull it, no pain, no damage done, just a 'Bang, bang!' rolling off your tongue...I wish words were like little toy guns!"

The talking soon turns to singing, and I am belting out line after line of my own little song.

"Oh, I wish they didn't cut like a knife, I wish they didn't break you inside, I wish they didn't 'Bang, bang!' make you wanna run...Like little toy guns...no sting, no pain, no bullet, just a 'Bang, bang!' rolling off your tongue...I wish words were like little toy guns, no smoke, no bullet, no shock from the trigger when you pull it, no pain, no damage done, just a 'Bang, bang!' rolling off your tongue...I wish words were like little toy guns...Oh, like little toy guns..."

Suddenly, the door is thrown open, and I see my father's shoes and jeans inches in front of me.

"Come out, you little slut." he growls, and I shakily clamber out and past him, running to the hallway.

I freeze at the top of the stairs when I see my mother's body, lying lifeless in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?!" I roar, turning around and punching him in the face.

"EXACTLY WHAT I'M ABOUT TO DO TO YOU!" he roars when he recovers, and pushes me down the stairs.

Darkness envelops me, and the dream is over.

I wake up to someone shaking me, and saying "Zoe, please wake up, wake up, please!"

"Huh?" I ask, opening my eyes, only to have tears spill out, and I start crying.

"Hey, shhh, you're okay." Dad says, rubbing circles into my back as I cling onto him for dear life. "You're okay."

"I-I had-a nightmare." I say through tears.

"I know, you're okay now, though. There's nothing to panic about." he says, still rubbing circles into my back.

"Well, I'm not at a disco, so I guess there isn't." I chuckle, and dry my tears.

"There's the Zoe I love," he smiles. "Can turn anything into a band or fandom reference."

"Thanks for waking me up," I say, and lay back down.

"You're welcome. Are you sure you're okay?" he asks, walking to my door.

"Yeah, I'm good. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And with that, I fall back asleep.

Yo

This chapter is dedicated to @nerdie_cookie because they were the first to vote for my new story Silence! Definitely check it out, it would mean the world to me! I love how it's turning out, and I hope that it'll get just as many reads as this book!

Peace✌️!