Good Girls Kiss Bad Girls

EllenBurg

I never wanted to move here, I didn't have much of a choice, my name is Kate Harrison, but I go by Traci, it's a long story. Dad kind of lost his mind, I don't know if it was the PTSD, the drugs or both but he killed my mom, I can still remember the screams of terror as he struck her, only to pull a gun, the cocking was hard and clean, followed by a solid shot. The doctors said the first shot went straight into her chest. I stayed in my room for a long time.

Eventually I came down, dad was gone, mom was dead, in a pool of her blood, so I called the police, they quickly put me into the custody of the Witness Protection Program and I was sent here, because they couldn't find my father and they had good reason to believe he was coming for me next.

I moved in with the Woods, a family of five, Mrs. Woods, a lawyer, Mr. Woods, a doctor and their three kids, Brian was the oldest, a tall, blonde, swimmer, sixteen years old. The youngest was June, a blonde, five year old little girl with an obsession with the color pink. The middle was a girl a year older than me, fifteen, Jade.

Jade was interesting, tho her whole family had blonde hair, she'd decided to dye her's black, she wore tight, black clothing and her room was, goth to say it in simple terms, but she interested me. She was so separate from the others, like she didn't belong.

The day of my arrival I felt sickly, the black car rolled up beside the house, my uber helped me grab my things. I took a nice hard look at the home I would possibly spend the next four years, the house I might bring my kids to for holidays, with the family I might someday consider my own. I wondered if they'd accept me. The pathway to the house was concrete and windy, the home itself was tall, deep red bricks and two large oak doors, windows littered the house and one of them was covered by black curtains.

Ms. Traci Woods, this is your new home." The uber said nodding toward the building. "I assure you Mr. John Woods and Mrs. Lily Woods are excited to meet you." I followed behind him as he took my bags to the door. The door swung open as we approached, Mr. Woods stood in the doorway, "Traci!" He greeted me with a strong hug. He nodded at the uber/ Witness Protection worker, giving him permission to enter.

Mrs. Woods stood with June by her side. Mrs. Woods basically threw herself on me to give me a hug. "Welcome to the family, dear." The worker sat at the dining room table, which stretched all the way down the large room, at least ten seats on either side. "Remove the little girl." The worker demanded. Mrs. Woods told June to go play before closing the dining room door.

"Alright, let's get this over with." The worker cleared his throat, I sat across from him, Mr. Woods on my left and Mrs. Woods on my right. "From this point on you will be the parents to Ms. Traci Woods, no one, not even your other children can ever know who she really is, they will believe you simply adopted an unfortunate girl. The name Kate Violette Harrison dies today, that girl is long gone the second you all finish signing these papers. If you put her in any potential harm we will remove her from your custody and move her far away. Along with her comes the responsibility of keeping her away from Mr. Jacob Harrison." The name stung my ears, the man I used to call "Dad" I didn't want to hear it.

The worker rattled on about legal stuff for at least fifteen more minutes. "Kate, sign here." He pointed to a line on the paper, I signed Kate Harrison. The line below was for my alias, I signed Traci Woods. Next the Woods' signed. "Kate Harrison is dead, Traci Woods has been born, I will alert the Witness Protection Services to put Kate Harrison as dead in the papers and to print a death certificate. Have a nice life, Traci." He smiled and he was gone.

"So, Traci, I'm your dad, John Woods, this is your mother, Lily Woods, come along. He stood and lead me upstairs. There were  eight rooms upstairs, all the doors were closed, one had a large "B" painted blue, on it, Brian's room, the next, a large "J" painted pink, June, next a room with another large "J" this one was black, Jade's room. Finally my room with a large, teal-blue "T". Mr. Woods swung the door open, it was beautiful it faced the road, but since it was the third story that wouldn't be a sound issue. The walls were painted white and lined with a nice, light blue, my bed was large, the blankets and pillows matched the wall colors. There was a large dresser across from my bed and a mirror, a bedside table with a stain glass lamp and a closet, full of clothes, fancy and refined, along with a school uniform. "Thank you." I blushed at the family's kindness. "No need for that, now come downstairs to meet your siblings, there will be plenty of time dwell in your room later." Mr. Woods smiled.

I glanced at myself in the mirror, for the first time that day I felt like I didn't belong. I had long brownish red hair, tan skin, greenish-hazel eyes, I was skinny but I had more hips than Mrs. Woods, I looked nothing like these people, I was wearing torn up jeans and a teeshirt, they were dressed in silver jewelry, button up shirts or dresses, I didn't fit in. I took a deep breath and followed Mr. Woods back down the long stairway, I wondered what all the other rooms were for. We ended up in the living room, I sat on the black couch. June was next to me, coloring, Mrs. Woods appeared with one kid at either side of her. Brain was tall and muscular, with grayish eyes, Jade had deep blue eyes but her black lipstick distracted from them, they both smiled at me.

"So she's our new sister?" Brain asked, interested. "Brian!" Jade barked. "Don't be so rude, yes she's our sister." Jade smiled at me and winked. It made me feel uncomfortable for some reason but I assumed it was sisterly. She sat beside me. "So you're Traci?" She smiled nicely at me.

"Yeah." I looked at my feet.
"What's your last name?"
"Woods."
"No I mean-"

She was interrupted by Mr. Woods "Quinn." He smiled at me. I felt relieved. "What music d'you listen to?" She asked, moving on. "I don't." I'd grown up listening to country with dad but I couldn't anymore. "I'll change that." Jade laughed.

"Quit hogging the new girl!" Brian pushed Jade out of the way. "I'm your new brother, Brian. Where are you from?" He seemed very focused on me. "Georgia." One thing I hadn't lied about. "Woah, that's far!" He was correct, California and Georgia were worlds apart. "Yeah." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "What happened to your parents?" There was a moment of silence, I felt my heart begin to race, the images flew through my head, playing over and over, a lump formed in my throat. "That's enough, Brian!" Jade grabbed my hand and led me upstairs.

From down the stairs I could hear Mrs. Woods speaking. "Brian, honey, her parents were murdered." Her voice stuck in my head. I wish it were that simple, just a nice clean murder. No it was much more. I collapsed on the stairs, I could feel the hot tears on my cheeks, believe it or not this was the first time I'd cried since mom was killed. "Traci! Stand up!" Jade barked. I continued following her.

She swung her bedroom door open, deep red carpeting, black walls, black ceiling, a large, decadent bed, surrounded by curtains. All of her furniture was black and there were very little decorations.

"Welcome, miss Traci Woods. Mind if I get dressed for bed, we are sisters after all, aren't we?" She began to unbutton her black, satin, shirt. "Yeah." I sat on the floor and watched her.
She was pale and skinny, I looked away as she slipped off her skirt. "What's wrong?" She asked as she threw on black sweatpants and a black tank top. "Nothing"
"Why'd you look away?"
"Because it's weird to watch."
"Mm, guess so." She laughed sadistically before sitting beside me. "I'm not normal, Miss Traci." She winked at me.
That's when I realized this was going to be harder than I once thought. "So, tell me the truth, what happened?" She didn't really look concerned but she did seem interested. "Stuff." I was uncomfortable with this girl, we were sitting so closely and maybe I was losing my mind but she seemed to be flirting with me.

"Hmm." She messed with her nails. "Uh, I'm tired, night!" I jumped up and ran out of the room. I darted into my own and slammed the door. My heart was racing, that girl was a creep, a freak, but part of me wanted to run back in there....

I grabbed a night gown and jumped in bed, the moon was large in the sky, I watched from my bedside window as the stars sparkled, I didn't think about my dead mom, psycho dad, new family or creepy sister, just the stars. Only one thought in my head, "No matter what happens, the stars will be right there, every night. It'll be okay." It was something I told myself every night ever since I was put in witness protection. That was day one.