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Chapter 3 - The Children's home

Chapter 3 - The Children's Home

The car slowly pulled up in front of a huge house, the gravel crackling away as we stopped.

From what I could see from the police car window, the house had 2 floors and an attic, and was made of old red bricks with climbing plants spreading over it. On one side, a huge Lilac tree dotted with delicate purple flowers leaned over the building, casting out shaking shadows. Next to the big door was a small sign saying 'Lilac house'. It seemed to have a strong sense of character and charm to it - a world away from the grey concrete building I had been picturing on the journey.

PC Chillton got out of the driver's seat and, walking round the car, opened my door for me. I couldn't help but feel impressed that he had allowed himself to show an act of kindness to me. I guess there was hope for everyone.

As I slowly unclipped my seatbelt, I started to feel a wave of nerves hit me. My life had literally done a U-turn in a day, and this was now where I lived - it was impossible to not feel at least some nerves in this scenario. However, I tried my best to push them down as I stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind me.

Looking up at the home, I couldn't help but notice that, from a window on 2nd floor, there was a considerable number of people looking down at me - at a glance I would have guessed 8 or so. They must be the kids that already lived here, trying to catch a glimpse of the new girl. In the rush of everything, I'd entirely forgotten that there would be other kids, and that I was essentially invading their home. Maybe they had heard how I had run away? Maybe they knew about my family and that I was an orphan. Maybe they already thought badly or me.... I could already feel their judgemental stares on me.

I hated it when people stared at me.

I looked over at PC Chillton for reassurance... I should have known better, he didn't seem to like me much. In fact, from his facial expression, I got the feeling that he couldn't wait to hop back into his car, and put as much distance between himself and me as possible. His kind gesture earlier was obviously just because he thought I was incapable of opening a door...

I heard the door of the house opening behind me. It swung open, revealing a rather plump, motherly looking figure standing in the doorway. She had a dark brown bob of hair and rosy cheeks, with worn features and light, delicate wrinkles. Wrapped around her waist was an apron with 'I'm the boss, deal with it' written on the front, protecting her flowery top and jeans underneath. Her whole atmosphere immediately gave me the feeling that I could trust her.

"Welcome to Lilac house!" She said, in a soft, soothing voice. "I'm Julie, and I'm the head carer in the house. And you must be Sylvia!"

She smiled and walked over to me, pulling me into a light embrace before I even had a chance to reply. It made me feel safer, for some odd reason. Maybe it was because she was in a different universe of kindness to PC Chillton.

Releasing me slowly, she said, "Come on in, and I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone!"

I hesitated slightly at the second half of that. I wasn't sure I was ready to meet 'everyone'... I still felt like I was viewing the world through a grey filter, which didn't feel like it was going anywhere. Meeting people was definitely a big step, and not one I wanted to mess up.

However, Julie seemed to pick up on my reservations. Taking my hand, she squeezed it lightly, before leading me in to the home.

The hall was bigger than it looked from the outside, with a worn out red sofa sitting in front of a winding staircase. Branching off of the hall was what seemed like thousands of completely identical dark wooden doors, which I was sure would mean that I would be getting lost more than once here. I've never been the best with navigation...