Squid
"Harmony? Harmony!?" A female voice called. I glanced down at my daughter and she whimpered, grabbing at my hand. I picked her up instead and she held on to my shirt collar for dear life. I hear some angry yelling and assume that the woman sees me with Harmony. I see the woman storming over to me and violently attempting to grab her from my hands, and she screams loudly, so I pull her closer.
"Excuse me?! Who are you to be holding my niece?! I am her legal guardian from now on." She claims, staring at me with hatred in her eyes. "I actually am Harmony's legal guardian from now on. I have adopted her, and she willingly wants to live with me. And assuming how she is visibly terrified of you, I don't believe that my daughter will be going with you anywhere," I say, trying to keep an even voice. It's difficult since I want to strangle her on the spot.
"Let me see them. Now," she says sternly. I pull the folded paper from my pocket while, surprisingly, still keeping a firm grip on Harmony, and show them to her. I don't trust her to hold them, even if the police had another copy. She reads it with a frown on her face, and I think I've won.
As she reads it, I take some time to study her appearance. She's in a business suit, extremely high heels, she has mousey brown hair, and it's as straight as a stick. Her face is creased with anger lines and her mouth molded into a frown that seemed like it was a normal expression. She stares up at me with indescribable anger, why I have no idea, and stalks away, her high heels clacking as she leaves.
"Harmony? Are you okay?" I ask her, rubbing her back to comfort her. "Mhm," she mumbles from my shoulder. "That's okay, I promise you will never have to see..." I struggle at calling that terrible woman her aunt, "see your aunt ever again." She giggles a little and I feel a bit better. I slowly put her down and she smiles at me, her toothy little grin shining.
"Oh my god, Harmony! Are you okay!?" A teenage boy carrying a book runs up to Harmony and tackles her into a hug, but Harmony doesn't complain and hugs back, so I trust the guy for now. He seems nice enough. He wears ripped skinny jeans, a blue T-shirt that says RANDOM on it in big, rainbow colored letters. I peeked closely at his wrist and saw a bracelet with a small heart charm on it. He lets go of Harmony and glances at me, worry filling his eyes and he disappears. Wait....disappears!? Did I just imagine this?! "Oh Harry, he's my new daddy. You don't have to be scared," Harmony reassures...nothing?
'Harry' slowly reappears, still looking at me a bit apprehensively. "Oh Harmony..." he turns his attention to my daughter. He wraps his arms around her and she hugs him back, a few tears falling from her big blue eyes. "I miss them, but I love my new mommy and daddy. They're so awesome, Harry! Maybe you can live with us too!" she says, and I stare at Harry in awe. Isn't he living with his parents? He couldn't be more than 15 or 16. "No. I have a home," he says sternly. "But you d-" "No buts, Harmy, I'm sorry."
Harry starts running away and something clicks in my head. He's homeless (sorry person who chose this character [I'm going to tag you in my a/n] it's for the sake of the story!). "Harmony, stay here," I tell her, then sprint after Harry. Luckily I'm quicker on my feet than him, and I grab his arm so he can't go any further. He whips around and punches me in the face, I'm sure from fright, but I don't move. He stops and looks at me. "Well?" he asks, his voice a mixture of anger and terror. "You can live with us if you want to," I offer softly. He still stares. "I haven't been able to trust anyone but two people. How do I know that I can trust you?" he asks, his voice shaking. I think for a minute. I can't guarantee anything but a home, food, and my protection.
"You don't."
He looks right into my eyes, seemingly studying them. I keep my face normal, not wanting to look to desperately nice. Suddenly he shakes a little, and then smiles. "I trust you. Don't make me regret it," he says, sounding genuine. I grin and pull him into a hug and he jumps a little, then hesitantly wraps his arms around me and relaxes.
"Harry is going to live with us!? Yay!" a little squeaky voice exclaims. I pull away from the hug and we see Harmony jumping up and down and clapping. "Silly Harmy!" Harry laughs and picks her up, tickling her sides. I smile at the two kids who are now my kids. "Harmy?" I ask. "My nickname for this one," Harry tells me. "We're cousins, in case you're wondering."
"Fine by me. Come with me, I'll go introduce you to Nicole, she's my girlfriend."
It's been forever, I'm so sorry guys! I finally had a day with no homework so I wrote a chapter of this! I may write something for a different book, I don't know. And great job to @KittyBrine for winning the competition! It was pretty random, my brother randomly went through the comments and just picked. He didn't read anything. That's all for now, peace out!
