Mute | Adopted by Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett

After driving back home, Scarlett was left alone with her thoughts. There were so many crowding her mind that it became quite hard to navigate the different ideas and opinions that she almost couldn't decipher what was a feeling, a fact or pure anxiousness.

To take her mind off of things for a while, she thought that now would be as good of a time as any to start preparing some dinner for herself. With not much left in the fridge, the options were limited but Scarlett was almost thankful for that as it would mean one less decision to make, even though 'what's for dinner?' is nowhere near as big of a question as 'which child am I thinking of adopting, if any?', it was still nice to not need to choose. In the end she went with spaghetti bolognaise as it was relatively easy and fast to make.

Once that was all made and she had eaten Scarlett went into her office to check a few emails before she could begin thinking about winding down for the day. As soon as she opened the webpage she saw the email from the orphanage. Scarlett assumed that they must have written it practically as soon as she left, which then brought her mind back to the big question at hand. The email was polite and still had a cheerful tone to it and in summary it thanked Scarlett for choosing to visit them and gave her some more information about all the things to consider when making the ultimate decision.

With the nervousness back in her system, she hastily closed the laptop and went up the stairs to her room, deciding to mull it over whilst lying in bed. After Scarlett completed her daily night routine she climbed into the bed, sinking into the comfortable pillows and soft mattress, and started thinking hard about who it could be that she would possibly take home with her.

As she was narrowing it all down, Scarlett made the decision that if she was going to adopt, she was most likely going to go for the younger side of the age scale. Although this seemed like a big step in the decision process, that still was around 60% of the kids at that orphanage. Scarlett also thought that it would probably be for the best, in the long run, that she adopted a girl. Mainly because of the fact that, for the time being, there wasn't going to be a father figure in the child's life and it would be easier for both parties if the child shared the same gender as her, making any future 'talks' easier to navigate and explain properly, since the information would also come from experience.

After making this mental note, Scarlett had the idea to list down the names of the girls that stood out most to her and stuck in her mind. So she climbed back out of bed, retrieving a notebook and pen from a draw, before rushing back to the warm bed. Whilst Scarlett was jotting down a few names, she came to the realisation that perhaps a baby girl wouldn't work best for her lifestyle as she tends to travel a lot, and would therefore find it difficult to both work and give the baby the attention they needed and Scarlett was relieved that this shortened the list by a few names.

With the list condensed down to around 7 names, Scarlett decided to finally put the notebook and pen down on her bedside table and try and fall asleep. Although for about half an hour, this proved to be quite the challenge as thought upon thought passed through her mind, leaving her no time to focus on clearing her mind. However, she eventually cleared her mind and managed to fall asleep.