Broken (Edited edition)

New Home

The elevator doors open in front of Mark's apartment, and he takes his keys out. He unlocks his door, and opens it." After you." He says, acting like a gentlemen, and I walk in slowly. It's looks just like what it looks like in the videos. The spiral staircase, the tiny kitchen, the long brown couch, it's all here. There's the small bathroom near the small hallway of the entrance, and it turns into the living room." It's big, this is the biggest apartment I've ever seen." I say, and he stares at me for a moment." Um, why don't you go put your things in my room, I need to make a quick call." I walk up the stairs, and walk into his bedroom. It has dark blue walls, a large bed pushed up against the wall with a dark blue comforter, a black nightstand, gray lamp, a black dresser, and a white door that opens into the walk in closet. It looks really nice, except for the pile of clothes in the corner of his room. He really needs to start doing laundry soon.

As I walk out of his room, I hear him talking downstairs." She had a little scare at the airport, but she's fine. It's just that I don't know if I'm capable of keeping care of a kid, I barely know how to keep care of myself. Yes I want to keep her here, but what if I can't make her open up? She'll just stay in her little cocoon, and I'll never find out what truly happened to her." He's probable talking to one of the people at the Child Protective Service Agency (CPSA), telling them how it went. He finally sees me standing near where the wall ends and the metal railing starts." I'll call you back later." He hangs up, and smiles at me." They wanted me to tell them how it went." He says, and I nod telling him I understand." I thought I told you everything already." I say, and walk down the stairs." Not everything, you didn't tell me anything about the burns or how you got the bruises."

"He burned me with cigarettes and beat me when I came home from school. He's a drunk, a terrible human-being, and I never want to go back to that terrible family again." I say, feeling myself get angry. I take a deep breathe, and look up at him." He just never understood how fragile I was, so he continued to take his anger out on me. Like a punching bag sort of." I look down at the ground, and rub my bruised eye because it hurts." What's wrong?" Mark asked, and looked at my eye." It just hurts a little." I say, and he checks it for me." I'll get an ice pack." He walks into the kitchen, and gets an ice pack from the freezer. He places it over my eye, and tells me to keep it there." You said you didn't know if you could keep care of me. You liar." He grins, and looks at me." I know how to place an ice pack on a face, yeah I can care for a kid."

"If you worry about me, I know you'll be a great guardian." He blushes and smiles at me." Come on, let's go buy somethings. I got an Uber." He says, and we leave the apartment. The Uber is waiting outside the apartment complex, and we get into the backseat of it." Ikea please." Mark says, and the man drives us there." So it's basically like having your own limo driver?" I ask Mark, and he shrugs." Kind of, it's more like a taxi you can call whenever." He says, and I nod. I look out the window with my good eye, and see how pretty it is. It's still trashy in some areas, but it has a lot of places to visit.

The Uber drops us off at Ikea, and we walk in.  Ikea is just a huge place with lots of furniture in it?"  So what are we getting?"  I ask, and he grabs one of the blue carts."  We need a comforter, bed sheets, dresser, nightstand, lamp, and some pillows."  I was getting excited, this was all for my new room!  In my new house!  In my new state!  In my new town!  We walk into the bedroom area Ikea, and Mark brings me over to the comforters."  What's your favorite color?"  He asks and I look up at him."  Blue."  I say, and he grins."  Okay, we'll get you a blue comforter and sheets."  He picks up blue comforter that's a bit lighter then his, and some dark blue sheets."  Just like my sheets, so we can't mix our sheets."  He says, smiling brightly.  I smile back, and help put the sheets and comforter into the cart.

"Okay, next thing on our list is to get the lamp."  He says as he pushes the cart forward."  What about the dresser and nightstand?"  I ask as I follow him through the store."  I'll buy them online, and they should arrive in the next week."  I nod, holding onto his hand as we continue to walk."  Here they are, lamps!  Now pick whatever lamp you want."  Mark says, and I look through them.  There are all different types of lamps, small and big, square or round, tall or short, different colors.  I see one that is a deep blue, and had pictures of stars on it."  This one."  I say as I pick up a box with one hand."  Careful, you don't want to break it." Mark takes it from me, and sets it in the cart."  Okay, you ready to check out?"  He asks, and I start to realize I hear laughter.  A high, shrill of a laughter that causes my spine to shiver.  I turn to see a kid, about my age, laughing and pointing at me.  All of my happiness and excitement fades, and all I feel is sadness.  Mark glares at the kid, making him stop laughing.  He runs over to his mom,  crying like a baby.  Mark puts his hand on my shoulder."  Yeah, let's go."  I say, and walk in front of him.