Unwanted. Broken. Abused

Chapter 29

<Hope's p.o.v>

As soon as they let go of me, I curled into a protective ball on the floor, still shaking and breathing unsteadily.

I couldnt hear anything anymore.

All I knew was that those guys had their hands off and I was safe for a moment.

After about five minutes of 'safety' there was a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I flinched away almost immediately.

I heard a sigh.

Then a pause.

"Hope..." This person knew my name.

How did they know my name?

I froze up.

Tears were blurring my vision.

I was so, so scared.

"Hope," There it was. My name again. "Hope, its me." The voice sounded desperate, and slightly....

Familiar.

Then it all clicked into place.

Xavier.

He had come to save me.

I slowly uncurled from my ball and looked up at him.

He looked exhausted.

But it was him.

I jumped up and embraced him in a massive hug.

At first he was too shocked to hug me back, but as soon as he processed what was happening, he hugged me back tighter than ever.

I sobbed onto his shoulder.

He held me tighter.

"Thank goodness your okay." He breathed.

I nodded.

Thank goodness I was okay.

* * *

Xavier took us back to a completely destraught care home, despite my many protests.

The tall lady, whose name I found out to be Jenny, was so relieved.

I was immediately bombarded into chaos, but I was fine as long as I had Xavier by my side.

The police asked a few questions, which Xavier answered, then left.

Xavier took me through, then, to meet the other kids in the home.

They were all in a room labeled 'Games Room'.

I walked in shyly, and everyone looked up to see me.

Xavier spoke up for me.

"Everyone, this is Hope. A new resident here. If you'd all like to introduce yourselves."

So they did.

I remembered every single name and age.

In fact, I can even make a list.

• Alaska, 4 (the youngest resident at the house)
• Jonas, 6
• Gracey, 6
• Richard, 8
• James, 10
• Arjun, 11
• Hana, 13
• Hans, 13 (identical twin of Hana)
• Kase, 14
• Rebecca, 15
• Corey, 15

Two people my age.

Rebecca and Corey.

Rebecca was really sweet.

She had brunette curls cascading down her shoulders and beautiful chestnut brown eyes.

I wish I was as pretty as her.

She giggled a lot and spoke just a tad too much.

Corey was more self-contained.

He had jet-black hair and baby blue eyes.

He only spoke when spoken to, or if he had an opinion to get across.

But overall, it wasn't half bad.

I was feeling less self concious now.

I was laughing with everyone else, and was having an alright time.

Until someone asked me a question.

"Why are you here Hope?" Corey asked.

I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Like, what's your backstory?"

I bit my lip and glanced at Xavier.

He shrugged as if to say 'it's your decision'.

I sighed and shook my head at him.

I grabbed a spare piece of paper, and wrote on it;

I'm not that comfortable telling you all.

They passed the note around.

"That's fine. It was really rude of Corey to even ask." Rebecca told me, glaring at Corey.

But then Corey asked another question.

"Why don't you speak, Hope?" I shrugged my shoulders and stared at the ground.

Everyone was staring at me in a hushed silence.

Things were going so well.

And I had to ruin it all.

I was shuffling my feet around awkwardly.

"You don't need to tell us. Corey's just being a nosy idiot." Rebecca told me.

Then one of the younger kids, Alaska spoke up.

"Huuuuummm, Rebecca said idiot."