Raindrops

Unexpected Uncoverings

Standing there was a thirty-something year old lady with a big smile on her cheerful face. She was wearing a short-sleeve black dress that had pink and red flowers all over it. She had a pink shawl wrapped around her slighty sagging shoulders. I could tell she was a little tired, but her grin made up for it.

She looked nice, and completely out of place in this gray and depressing scene.

"Hello. You must be Alexis. My name is Mrs. Ruthford, but you can call me Pattie. Everybody does." She laughed. It was a nice sound, happy. It made me a bit more comfortable to hear something so light and free in such a dark place.

After Pattie stopped giggling, she looked at Ms. Vaan and I, and we stared back at her. After a few moments, she shook her head as if clearing it. "I'm so sorry," she said, and she actually did sound apologetic. "Where are my manners? Come inside." She motioned for us to come inside. Ms. Vaan motioned for me to go first. Chicken. I stepped into the house and looked around.

The inside of the building was much warmer and brighter than its exterior. It was actually kind of cozy. It was very large, but not drafty. There were lit fireplaces on the sides of the huge room we had entered through. There were many closed doors lining the walls.

I wondered what hid behind them.

In the middle of the room was one of those wide, old-fashioned looking staircases that branched out into to stems that led to different ends of the same hallway. I had only seen that kind of staircase in movies.

Pattie let us take in what we could see of the house for a few minutes, but then decided to speak.

"Well, your room is up the staircase to the right. The fourth door. Supper is at 8:00, which is in about," she paused to check her watch, "45 minutes. You can go see your room and settle down. You'll meet the other kids during supper. There are only four kids here." She paused to see if she was missing anything, but apparently she couldn't think of anything more to say. She looked awkwardly at the ground for a moment, before turning and walking into a room. The delicious smell of baking turkey wafted out, teasing my slightly rumbling stomach. That room must have been the kitchen.

I looked back up towards the staircase.

It looked like there was a pair of yellow eyes staring at me from the darkness on the balcony of the second floor that the fancy staircase had created. I blinked and the eyes were gone.

Probably just a hallucination, I thought to myself.

I turned towards Ms. Vaan. For some reason, there were tears in her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" My surprised voice echoed throughout the enormous hall we stood in.

Ms. Vaan quickly wiped her eyes. "I just have a feeling that I'm not going to be seeing you again," her voice shaky.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry. I'll be out of here soon enough."

Ms. Vaan smiled weakly. "You never know."

Then she did something that thoroughly shocked me.

She held out her arms, beckoning me to come and give her a hug. I walked slowly towards her, and wrapped my arms around her. I realized that I was actually going to miss that crabby old woman. She had sort of become a substitute mother for me: always lecturing me about my grades, asking how my day was, even taking me out sometimes.

I guess I didn't give her enough credit.

I was probably going to be leaving the foster home in a month or something. I didn't need to worry too much.

After a minute or so of being squished by Ms. Vaan's thin and bony arms, I gently pushed her away.

"I'll be seeing you soon, yeah? No need to worry." I tried to sound encouraging.