Painted Hearts | ✔️

XIV

CHAPTER 14

"She had blue skin,

And so did he.

He kept it hid

And so did she.

They searched for blue

Their whole life through,

Then passed right by-

And never knew."

-Shel silverstein

'You need a guardian, you're under 18.'

'You don't have anyone to take care of you and no extended family in the country.'

I sat there crying as I realized they were all gone, and it was all my fault. They'd all left me. Tears ran down and I shook uncontrollably, I just wanted my family back. Pain raged through my chest.

"Scarlett?" A voice called out, and I woke up slowly, realizing I'd fallen asleep. "Scarlett, look at me honey. I'm Brianna, your mom's friend, remember?"

I looked up, my eyes blurry and my body stiff. "You need to come with me honey, it'll be alright. It'll be okay. I signed as your guardian, there's still a lot of procedure, but we'll get through it, okay?" I didn't reply.

"Honey, come with me." She offered me her hand.

"No, please leave me alone." I deserve to be alone, I thought.

"Nobody deserves to be alone, Scarlett." Brianna said as if she'd read my thoughts. Smiling softly and grabbed on to my hand pulling me up.

♡♡♡

We drove past my old house on the way to Evans', it's pretty much the same, except dad's abstract painted mailbox was gone and mom's beautiful flower garden had been replaced with a barbecue table and grill. It's recognizable yet unfamiliar.

Evans seemed to notice me looking it. "Your old home, I remember seeing you and your brother playing around here."

I grinned remembering too, Logan would chase me around because I'd steal his Superman boxers or his Xbox controllers, we'd be screaming while mom would scold us out the window.

Evans' house was only four or five minutes away from mine, we reached there in no time.

"This is the second time I've been here in almost 3 years, and it's the same." I say looking out at the lawn.

"Yeah, home sweet home." We walked up to the doorway and Evans opened the door with his key. "I don't think anybody's home. Ma has a night shift at the hospital and Mary, my older sister, is probably at her fiancée's place. So um, you could call over Zoey if you want." He explained as we made our way to the living room.

My insides elated as I realized he was trying to make me feel comfortable, but knowing it was Evans, I already felt safe. "That's alright, Evans, I think I trust you won't be murdering me tonight."

He paused for a second then laughed as he realized I was joking around. "Well, that's where you're wrong, Dev, I could turn out to be a serial killer." He made a scary face and I giggled.