Shine your light

2

Chapter 2

POV Maya

After about 5 minutes, I was sure everyone had gone up to the beanery.

"Hey sweetie, is it okay if we go to my office? It's way more comfortable" I whispered, moving some hair out of her face.

I felt her nod against me, but she made no move to loosen her grip or get up, so I stood up with her in my arms. I adjusted my grip a little, causing her to hold on tighter, probably afraid I was putting her down. I peeked out of the aid car, happy there was no one in the barn, this girl did not need people ambushing us with questions right now.

I managed to sneak to my office without running into anybody, and sat down on the couch by the window. She was still sitting across my lap, and I could feel her breathe in my neck. I didn't know what to do, I felt completely helpless. She wouldn't talk, and was understandably terrified. I knew I needed to call CPS, but I didn't even have a name, so I decided to text Andy.

'Hey, what do we know about the man and his daughter? Could you get me the names?' I wrote.

'Um yeah, his name is Christian Thomas, and the girl is Olivia Thomas, she's 12' Andy replied not even 5 minutes later.

12, I knew it was possible, but she did look quite small. After sitting for a while longer, contemplating my options, I heard light snores from my chest. I looked down to see Olivia asleep, and I think my heart skipped a beat. I untangled her limbs and laid her down on the couch as gently as possible. I draped a blanket over her, and waited a few seconds to make sure she hadn't woken up.

I walked over to my desk and sat down, begrudgingly picking up the phone, calling CPS.

'Child protective services, this is Natalie, how can I help you?' A friendly voice came through.

'Hi, this is Captain Maya Bishop of station 19, we have a girl who's father was taken in for custody' I answered as quietly as I could, not wanting to wake the sleeping girl.

'Do you have a name?' Natalie asked.

'Yes, Olivia Thomas, according to the information we found she's supposed to be 12' I said.

'Okay, we will see if she has any family that can take her in, otherwise she will be placed in an emergency foster home. Either way someone will be by to collect her in a few hours' The woman spoke, igniting a weird feeling in my stomach.

'Thank you, bye' I said and quickly cut the call.

Foster care. The system was so broken she would likely be placed with someone that either abused her or didn't care at all. The thought made me want to cry, I couldn't imagine her going through that after everything that already happened.

I decided to just do whatever I could for her now, and got up, making sure the office door was closed behind me. I hurriedly went up the stairs and into the beanery, wanting to get back as soon as possible in case she woke up. Nearly everyone was sitting at the table, staring at me as I took quick steps toward the fridge. I grabbed a juice box, water bottle and yoghurt cup. As I closed the fridge and turned around, everyone was still staring.

"What!?" I asked, tired of their looks.

"Umm... is she okay?" Andy asked.

"Physically yeah, mentally... I don't know" I sighed.

"Are you?" Jack asked.

"I- I don't know" I said truthfully, making some of them nod understandingly as they all knew about my father.