Rising From The Ashes

Chapter 2

Court didn't change much for her other than she changed houses. She was placed in a home that had a boy in it already. He sat across from her at the table.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Madelyn," she said, quietly.

"I'm Nathan,"

"Hi."

They became pretty close while they were in the house. The parents of the house didn't like it as their own boys had taken an interest in Madelyn. She wouldn't pay any attention to them. They requested that Nathan be removed from their house. He hugged her tightly the day that he had to leave.

"I promise, I'll find you when we're older. You will be my sister forever," he said.

"I love you brother," she replied.

"I love you too."

The social worker took Nathan from the house. Madelyn went to hide in the bedroom to cry. She hated that he had to go. She hoped that he ended up somewhere better than where she was now.

She spent a lot of time crying in that house. Her social worker didn't visit as often as she was supposed to which left Madelyn vulnerable to abuse in the house. The mother looked the other way when the boys made comments to her and about her. She wasn't worried about protecting her. She was just worried about the monthly check that came from keeping her as a foster child. She barely made sure that Madelyn even had what she needed. Madelyn came home from school one day, upset from another day of being bullied. She threw herself on her bed, in tears.

"Whatcha crying for brat?" Steven asked.

He was the older of the two boys. She ignored him and buried her face in the pillow. She could hear him moving into the room though.

"Get out," she whined.

"Little girl, you don't get to tell me to leave. This is my house, not yours." he snapped.

She noticed that he had shut the door. Her eyes widened. He forced her to touch him with the threat of violence. She felt dirty and gross after he finally left. He threatened her into silence about it. She told her case worker that she wanted to leave the next time the woman came to see her. She was only nine years old. The case worker moved her again to a house that only had girls in it. They were snobs and treated her like trash. She didn't care as long as the boys weren't around. She stayed in this house until she was 13. She just wanted to survive to adulthood so she could just leave.

"Madelyn, Michael asked about you," Stella said.

"Why?" Madelyn asked.

"Because everyone knows you're easy."

Madelyn rolled her eyes. She walked into class. She was just sick of all their bull. She wanted to escape from her life. Michael approached her after class. She looked at him and shook her head.

"What?" she asked.

"You wanna get some ice cream at the mall this weekend?" he asked.

"I'm not allowed to go to the mall. Foster parents won't let me,"

"You're a foster kid?"

Madelyn nodded. He stared at her and slowly backed away. She wasn't surprised that he didn't want anything to do with after she told him about being a foster kid. Most people avoided her because of it. She didn't know why but she didn't care either. She really didn't have any friends in school. She avoided getting involved in clubs because her foster mother constantly threatened to have them move her out of her house. She didn't want to get attached to people just to lose them. Her parents did the bare minimum to make sure that she stayed in the system long enough that no one would want to adopt her. She was going to have to age-out of the system. She knew that much.

 Her saving grace was when she was able to go home and hide in her room. She had just discovered MTV and spent time watching music videos. She sighed heavily.

"Madelyn," her foster mother yelled.

Maddie got up from the bed and walked down the stairs.

"Yes," she asked.

"Pack your shit, you're leaving," the woman said.

"What? Why?"

"Because I've had enough of your shit. Now you're out here telling everyone that you're better than the rest of us in this house. I don't think so. Your case worker is on her way."

"I never even said that. Who told you that?"

"Now you're calling my daughter a liar?"

"I guess so."

She shook her head. Madelyn turned and went to pack her stuff. The case worker just shook her head when she arrived at the house to pick her up. Madelyn sat in the car quietly while the foster mother told the whole story to the case manager. Madelyn sighed. She was tired of feeling unwanted.

She kept going like this through high school. She met a real friend named Ashley. They became close rather quickly. Madelyn felt like she found a place that she belonged once she had Ashley in her life. Ashley made sure that Madelyn could come over a lot, giving her that safe place to land. She didn't have to hide things from her. Ashley also helped Madelyn get things so that she wasn't an outcast in high school. Madelyn graduated from high school in 2005. She was already in her own place that her social worker had helped her get when she turned 18. She was glad to be out of the foster system and had quickly found a job. She was doing what she could to take care of herself. It was stressful but she was doing what she could.