The Dumping Ground - Taylors story

Moving On...

I arrived at my new care home at around 4pm, I was tired and hungry. As we pulled up I noticed a sign which said "Elm Tree House" on it, I'm guessing this was the name if the home. I was greeted by a man called Mike who was the head care worker and Tracy who was another care worker. All of the kids were on their way back from school when I arrived so it was very quiet, I was shown to my room by Tracy while Mike went over paperwork with social services. My room was large and spacious, it had a small double bed in the corner, a dressing table and a wardrobe. I only had a small bag of stuff with me and my other belongings were getting dropped off tomorrow. Tracy left me alone to unpack my stuff and have a look around. I made my bed up, lay down and closed my eyes..

I haven't even introduced myself yet, my name is Taylor Barkley, I'm 15 and I'm going to become a mum. Yes I know! Shocking right? Let me explain. My mum was young when she had me, she was only 16. She was an alcoholic throughout and after the pregnancy which surprisingly didn't affect my health, she split from my dad about a month into the pregnancy, she couldn't cope with me until I was four and taken into care, she then had rehab and I went back to stay with her when I was eleven.

Long story short, I got pregnant after my (ex) boyfriend 'forgot' to put on a condom, and then dumped me when I told him. Then my mum got back into alcohol and I couldn't find a way to tell her, I have never had a good relationship with my mum so I knew

She would take the news bad..

I finally blurted it out during an argument and she didn't take the news too well. She started shouted and throwing things at me, telling me how worthless I was and I should if got an abortion. She was drunk and abusive, I was scared that she might harm me or my baby, I couldn't have an abortion without her permission but it was too late, I had to keep it. I wanted to. I ran outside and to my neighbours house, I explained what happened and she phoned social services just in time. I felt safe, I wanted to make a fresh start. This was how I ended up at Elm Tree House.

I woke up from what seemed like a long nap, it lasted an hour. I could hear noise outside of the door. The rest of the kids would have returned by now. I looked at my growing belly, I was already three months into my pregnancy but my bump was quite small for twelve and a half weeks. I got up and went over to my wardrobe, I changed into some black leggings and a large baby pink sweatshirt ( http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=101833735 ), to cover my bump. I don't want the rest of the kids to know, not yet.

It was already half six, I heard Mike call for dinner. I could hear the scrambling of footsteps running past the door, I waited a moment and then left the room. As I was walking down the stairs Tracy emerged from the office, she called me in and asked about my pregnancy and dietary stuff, such as meals etc.. I told her it was fine just now and I would eat anything. I made her swear to not tell anybody, not until I got to know them, she promised. She then took me down to the kitchen to meet everybody, I was nervous to find out what they think of me.

I walked in and everybody turned to look at me, I felt nauseous but I held it back, I was just hungry. I greeted Eveybody, they all seemed really nice. and I was introduced to Tee, Carmen, Lily, Liam, Frank, Harry, Johnny, Faith and Elektra. Tee, who was around my age asked me to sit beside her, we were having spaghetti bolognase for dinner. It was very awkward over dinner as nobody really spoke to me. After dinner I went back up to my room and lay down, I heard a quiet knock on the door.

"Come in" I mumbled.

"Hi, I'm Tee I thought you might need some company?" The same girl from dinner came in.

"Come in, I'm Taylor" I smiled for what seemed like the first time in a while.

"I made you this" She giggled. "I heard your name began with a 'T' so I made you one like mine" She smiled handing me a piece of card shaped like a 'T', it was covered in glitter and flowers.

"Thank you!" I got up and hugged Tee.

"You seem like you need some cheering up!" She laughed pulling me up from the bed.

She dragged me to her room to show me her freshly painted walls, she painted the base a light blue and painted on a leopard print design using different shades of blue, it was really cool! We got talking about school and our previous care homes.

"So how come you are here?" Tee asked.

I couldn't tell her the truth, not yet.

"I didn't have a good relationship with my mum." I mumbled.

"Oh." Our mum left us for her new boyfriend. She explained to me that her and Johnny were siblings.

It was getting late and I headed of to bed, I didn't want to get changed in my room incase anybody walked in and seen my bump, so I headed to the bathroom which had a lock. I put on some joggies and a large t-shirt ( http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=101834142 ) .I got washed and headed to bed. I was exhausted.