Finding home

Chapter Eight- Kassidy

Kassidy felt herself flinch when the person knocked on the door, her eyes shot up to look at Maya, panic was more than evident. She felt her body begin to shake but Maya squeezed her closer, trying to help ground her as Carina went to the door to see who was there.

"Can I just have a second to tell her? Grazie," Carina said to the person standing at the door before closing it and turning to the bed that both Maya and Kassie were on, "Kassidy, a CPS case worker is here to have a conversation with you. Maya and I can stay if you want us too,"

The teens eyes went wide, the fear and panic becoming more prominent. Kassie had met a few case workers in her life, there was the one that she had when she was removed from living with her dad when she was six (not that she actually remembered that one), then there was the one that had come to her school that came to talk to her about the bruises that she had on her wrists that some of her teachers had noticed when she was in fourth grade (Lane had soon learnt his lesson about that and pulled her out of that school once she had finished for the summer), then there was the one that got called to the house by one of their neighbours, Mrs Russel, after she had heard her Lane screaming at her Nana, and there had been a few occasions like that but nothing ever happened. Kassie always wished something would happen and they would take her to live with a new family, one that was nice and didn't yell as much as the family that she had now, but it never did. So for Kassidy the bar was on the floor, she suspected that she would be sent back to live with lane and she would be until she was old enough to move out or until she died from the amount of running that she needed to do with how little food and water was given to her.

She heard something said but it was muffled, she tried to focus on the sensation of Maya rocking her back and forth and well as the hand that she felt stroking her hair. Kassidy watched as a woman walked into the room, she looked professional but she also had a face that just made her look kind, she looked nothing like the case workers that she had met before. She had long black hair and bright green eyes, in Kassie's opinion she was really pretty. The woman looked at her with a small smile on her face.

"You must be Kassidy," the case worker spoke, her voice was soft but it wasn't enough to calm the nerves that were flowing through her body, " I am Kate Jacobs, I am a case worker and I am just here to have a talk with you, and possibly Miss Bishop and Dr DeLuca if that is okay."

All Kassidy wanted to do was say no, it wasn't okay; because she was going to do the same thing all the other case workers have done and place her back with her grandfather. But Kassie couldn't even look the new woman in the eyes let alone talk to her. She buried her head in Maya's chest again in a similar way to what she had done earlier to Carina.

"Can you tell me who Miss Bishop is to you Kassidy?" Kate asked, her voice still soft and there was no hint of irritation that Kassidy could pick up on, but regardless Kassidy felt like she wasn't physically able to talk to Kate, so all she did was shake her head.

Maya and carina both watched Kassidy, they could see she was anxious and they could tell that Kate wasn't going to push the teen past her limit, which they were grateful for. They didn't want her to panic and work herself up more than she had already during the day.
"I can tell you are feeling a bit uncomfortable Kassidy, so I am going to ask Miss Bishop and Dr DeLuca some questions. And then if you are feeling more comfortable you can answer later, okay?" Kate spoke, looking at the two older women before looking at Kassidy. Kassie nodded her head, which was as much confirmation that Kate needed before she continued, "Miss Bishop, can you explain to me how you know Kassidy and what your relationship with Kassidy is?"

"Maya is fine by the way. Kassidy is my brother's daughter, however she was living with my father after she was removed from my brother's care after he OD'd. She was six when she was removed, I had been asked if I would take her in, however I had just joined the fire academy and my work hours were unpredictable so I had to turn it down. I hadn't seen my father in a while as we didn't have the best relationship," Maya spoke, doing her best to keep herself calm, because Kassidy didn't need Maya to panic when she herself was panicking.