Mute | A New Beginning

Chapter 3

Today was the day that Scarlett and Holly were going to visit the orphanage that the latter had recommended. Holly had worked with Little River Orphanage for many years, and by now, she had a good relationship with the people that ran the place and trusted that they ran the orphanage well and treated the kids nicely. One of the things that Holly thought was good about Little River was their ability to accommodate for all the different kids that came into their care. She had seen a wide variety of children from there in her files and admired how they were always able to do right by the needs of the kid.

As for Scarlett, she trusted that Holly was good at her job and knew what she was talking about. Without her, Scarlett wouldn't have come nearly as far, in the short amount of time, as she had, and she was grateful that she had someone like Holly around to help. The woman, when they had first met, hadn't shown any signs of knowing Scarlett from her movies and had kept the atmosphere nothing short of a friendly variation of professional.

All their hard work had led up to this point, the morning of the big day. Last night, Scarlett was tossing and turning, anticipating how the day would turn out. One thing that Holly had advised her, before the day arrived, was to not allow her hopes to get too high, mainly because, if the right fit for Scarlett wasn't there, they wouldn't try to force anything or rush to any conclusions.

The anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach was really doing a number on the amount of decent sleep she was achieving but she was trying her hardest, which truthfully may have been having an adverse effect. Unfortunately, Scarlett was now feeling this lack of rest, having slept from 3AM to 7:30AM. She pushed on, however, too excited to care about sleep, as she waited patiently for Holly to arrive at her house so they could discuss a few more things and then drive together to the orphanage.

When Scarlett woke up, one whole hour before she had her alarm set for, she was far too apprehensive to try to fall back to sleep and so she got up, got dressed in clothes that were comfy enough, without seeming too casual, before washing her face and brushing her teeth and then applying some light makeup. After her morning routine had been completed, she wandered downstairs to grab a cup of some much-needed coffee. Whilst enjoying the hot beverage, Scarlett checked her phone, seeing a message from Holly stating that she would be over at 9AM, which thankfully meant that she didn't have to wait long for Holly's arrival.

Before Scarlett knew it, Holly's car was pulling up in the driveway with the doorbell ringing moments later. She welcomed the woman into her home, who was wearing one of the many formal pan suits that she almost always wore when they saw each other. The two sat down at the kitchen island, where they had spent many hours before, and started to discuss how the day would work and what Scarlett could expect.

"Full disclosure, I am very excited about what's going to happen today, probably not as excited as you are, but still very excited" Holly chuckled, earning a smile from Scarlett. "Okay so, let's get started, shall we?"

"Please, I barely slept last night just thinking about today, but I've had some coffee and I'm ready to go over everything." Scarlett stated, lightening the mood a little. She was a little tense and needed to try and release some of the anxiety in her.

"Honestly me too, coffee is really saving the day right now." Holly sympathised, "Anyway, the first thing that will happen is us driving over there" she joked, "when we get there, we will have to sign in with the receptionist and you'll get given a visitor lanyard to wear and then we can meet with one of the owners of Little River and they are going to ask us some questions and tell us a little more about the facility."

"What kind of questions do you think they'll ask me about? Are they going to ask you anything as well?" Scarlett questioned, hoping that she is well equipped for the things she could be asked.