Piece by Piece

A New Day Ch 1

Her footprints remain...but she couldn't. The wind carried the crisp autumn leaves from the oak tree five grave plots away. A dried, brown, earth shield covers this plot and the one next to it. Both buried on the same day, leaving behind the same family, both victims of the same tragic accident.

A car door closing jerks my attention to the dirt road nearby. A boy with dark curly hair takes a few steps away from the car. His sunglasses cover his bloodshot eyes from the setting sun's golden hour beams. He doesn't walk any close to the cement headstones that lay in front of me- almost like an invisible wall that won't let him come any further. Dandelions and crab grass creep over the semi-recent additions. It has almost been a year since the funeral, but it looks like people have already forgotten about them. No flowers or trinkets sit in remembrance.

"We can't stay here," he gruffly says, drawing my attention to him.

"I know," I respond, giving the stones one last look, "Let's go."

With those two words, we are both released from our trances with our masks firmly in place. The turn of the key and screeching of the rusted remind me of the new task that I have been given. Two thousand miles, maybe it will be enough distance to make the pain go away.

Five Years Later

 Hands grab at Scarlet from the darkness, pinning her against a stone wall. She screams and screams, but no one comes to help her. The hands still keep grabbing at her, their nails digging into her skin. She tries to run, punch, kick, thrash, but nothing is able to set her free. A dog growls from somewhere in the darkness and some of the hands start to pull away. A shadowed figure appears in front of her. It reached out to her, but she suddenly jolted up in her bed.

Car horns honked outside her bedroom in the two story suburban house. Birds chirped out on the white picket fence that encased the yard. The bark of dogs could be hear from the neighbors walking their dog before work. A gap in the flowered curtains did nothing to stop the sunlight from streaming into her eyes. Some might see the waking sunlight as a nuisance, but Scarlet saw it as a blessing.

For the past two weeks, Scarlet and her three younger siblings were living in their tenth foster home. Four years ago, Scarlet and her six siblings had their own rundown apartment. Yes, there were rats, and she would jump at the slightest creak in the floorboards, but at least they were all together.

Scarlet was the second oldest, only younger than her brother Matthew. Six years ago, Scarlet had one older brother (Matthew), two younger brothers (Mike was 3 years younger than her and Mark 2 years younger than Mike), two loving parents, and a new sibling (Max) on the way. Five years ago, Scarlet no longer had parents but two more adopted siblings (Rachel and Reese). Despite the year difference in acceptance in the family, Rachel, Reese, and Max were born around the same time. The three became thick as thieves and adopted the nickname Mike had made 'the triplets'. It was a big, complicated family of seven at that point, but Scarlet loved each and every one of them. 

While more mouths to feed and a bigger group to hide was hard, having a big family had its benefits. The four older siblings could swap working shifts with babysitting duties. They were scraping by and had to sleep in some of the sketchiest of places- always on the move. It was tough to say the least, but the eventually hit a groove and made it work. But, that sense of routine security was short lived.

Everything started to fall apart when one of her brothers had gotten in a fight with one of the crackheads that lived in the apartment a few doors down. Apparently, it was enough to warrant a call to DCFS and get them all placed in foster care. The case worker hadn't even seen our files for more than a few seconds before she had told us we were going to be split up. Originally, the group was split in two. It didn't work out that way. Out of all of the foster families, somehow the scum bags were the only ones who were taking in more than one child. After taking a bat to her handsy foster father, Scarlet and her group were moved and separated. That was the pattern for the next couple of months. Either a foster parent would get handsy or a foster parent would back out and realize there were too many kids for them to handle.  The only ounce of luck was that their social worker fought tooth and nail to keep all of them in the same city. 

Nine failed placements later, Scarlet was able to be homed with the triplets. This was her last chance before being separated and sent to an all-girls home to spend her few remaining months before she turned eighteen. Scarlet pulled back the covers to get out of the bed, detangling herself from the three little bodies that had snuck into her room during the night. Although sunlight peaked through the window, it was still very early in the morning. There were a few hours before she would have to wake them up for their first day at school. The house was quiet as Scarlet closed the curtains and tucked the sheets around the sleeping chaos machines.

Their foster parents, Mia and Rachel, already had two children they had adopted from foster care. It was a miracle that they agreed to take in the four more siblings.  Today was going to be the first day of first grade for the triplets. Scarlet would start her senior year of high school. High school couldn't be worse than the American foster care system, right?

***Hey everyone,

This is a start of a possible book I was thinking of. Any feedback on improvements and future plot would be greatly appreciated! If this gets enough views, I'll continue the story.