Surviving Depression

Chapter 6

I hugged Jeremy for the longest time before his phone rang.

"Hold on." He says as he gets up and pulls out his phone. He answers it and rolls his eyes.

"Hey sis." He greets. "Yeah, she's fine." A pause. "She doesn't even know you!" He chuckles. "Fine." He says and holds out his phone for me to take. I hesitantly take the phone and put it up to my ear.

"Hello?" I greet.

"Hi! This is Jeremy's sister, Rebecca." The woman greets.

"Oh, hi." I greet again, unsure of what to say.

"Jeremy's told me a lot about you. How are you doing?" She asks. I look at Jeremy and raise an eyebrow. I don't even know this woman, but apparently she knows me.

"I'm doing a lot better than I was two days ago." I say.

"I'm sure you are. So, you know Jeremy likes you a lot, right?" She asks.

"Yeah. I like him, too." I answer.

"That's perfect! The next break I have, I'm coming to visit you guys! You must be such a cute couple!" She shouts, making me hold the phone away from my ear briefly.

"That'd be nice." I say awkwardly.

"I know it's kinda weird talking to me since you have no idea who I am. I'll make sure to introduce myself properly next time." She laughs and I laugh along with her.

"Well, I'll talk to you later. Can I speak with my little bro again? I need to embarrass him a bit before ending the call." She says making me laugh again.

"Sure. Thanks for calling, Rebecca." I thank her and give the phone back to Jeremy. He talks with her for a minute longer before ending the call.

"Sorry about that." He apologizes, sitting down in the chair next to my bed.

"It's ok. So, what have you told her about me?" I ask. I see a light pink cover his cheeks before he answers.

"All good things, of course. Well, aside from the whole abuse thing." He says, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well, that's good. She seems nice." I say, smiling.

"Yeah, she is. She's a great sister." He says as he smiles at me. After a minute of Jeremy and I staring at each other, there's a knock at the door.

"Come in." Jeremy says. A man comes in with a clipboard.

"Hello, are you Willow Anderson?" The man asks.

"Yes." I answer.

"I'm from the Orphanage of Lost Hearts. We understand that your previous father has abused you, correct?" He asks. I recognize the name to be the orphanage I was in before Richard adopted me.

"That's correct." I say, squinting my eyes at him.

"Since you are still not an adult, we're bringing you back to the orphanage." He says sternly.

"What?! Fuck no! Get the hell out!" I shout, pointing to the door. I'm not going back to that hell hole. I spent five years in that place, hoping someone would adopt me and the person that did end up adopting me abused me.

"We understand that-" I cut him off.

"No! You don't understand! That place is terrible! I hated spending the first five years of my life there!" I shout at him, making him sigh.

"Then what do you want to do, miss?" He asks. I stare at him, looking through my mind for an answer.

"My family can take her in." Jeremy says.