Accepting Grace

Chapter 2

Bring! Bring!

The class phone rang loud and clear as Grace and her class was in the middle of silent reading.

"The phone! The phone is ringing! The phone, we'll be right there!" Someone in the class sang sending the rest of the class in to a fit of giggles. But as Grace's teacher glared at them the giggles quickly subsided.

"Mrs. Hobkins speaking.... Oh! Oh my... Yes, I will send her down immediately!" Mrs. Hobkins put the phone down quickly and walked over to Grace's desk. "Grace," she said her eyes filling with tears. "You are needed in the office... and take your stuff. You are not coming back today."

Grace hesitantly stood up and gathered her stuff. She wondered why she was being called to the office and why she wasn't coming back. It was only third period. She quickly went to her locker, opened it, took her backpack out, and closed it. Then put her stuff in her backpack and nearly ran down the hall.

Something about Mrs. Hobkins tears disturbed her.

Silently she opened to office doors. "You called and said you needed me?"

"Yes... Grace, the news I have will change your life for forever..." the seceretary said slowly letting her voice die at the last word. She shook her head sadly.

"What is it?"

"Your parents... all your family... have died."

"How?" Grace said. "This is a prank. A silly little prank," she thought.

"The whole apartment...all of it... burnt down. The firefighters got your family out but by that time they had inhaled so much smoke and their skin was so hot that they died in the ambulance."

"What? Is this a prank?" Grace said.

The secretary's eyes filled with tears and immediately Grace knew it was no joke.

"No," she whispered. "No!"

She fell to the floor sobbing not caring who heard or saw her. After a few minutes she calmed down. Though still sniffling.

"Where will I go?" she asked.

"For now," the lady said. "You will go with the police and they will sort it out. They will be here in a few minutes, so please sit down."

Grace looked around until she found a chair. Quietly, she curled up in it and began to cry.

The secretary came over with a tissue box. "I'm so sorry," she whispered and began to silently rub Grace's back.

The police came quickly. One man came in and looked at Grace, "Come with me, please."

Meekly Grace got up and followed him out to the police car, opened the passenger door and climbed into the front. After setting her backpack down at her feet she closed the door and buckled herself.

When she got to the police station they instructed her to sit down and she did as she was told.

While they were making some phone calls Grace looked around. It wasn't what she had expected it to look like. It looked homey. "What had I expected it to look like?" Grace thought.

After a few more calls a tall man with short brown hair and a short brown goatee walked over and said, "Tonight you will be coming over to my house. Okay?"

Grace nodded because she knew the 'okay' was not a question it was a statement and there would be no arguing.

"Then tomorrow you will have a place to stay for longer... Are you fine?"

Grace's eyes filled with tears. She looked at the floor and nodded. When the man gave her a squeeze it made even more tears flow as she thought of her own father.

Grace slept in the chair fitfully for the next few hours. Only waking up fully to eat lunch.

Right before dinner the man she had talked to earlier was off duty and motioned for Grace to follow him.

Grace grabbed her stuff and followed him. Knowing that her life would never be the same.