Anywhere But Here

Chapter Twenty-four, Zyra's POV,

Where is my bodyguard? I have never had so many people staring at me at once, not even when my parents were happily married. Having Dawn here does make me feel a little less antsy but I still feel nervous. The woman named Thea comes in through the doorway and addresses us.

"Okay, Dawn, Zyra, ask us your questions, don't be nervous, these people are safe and have all the answers to your questions, most of these people are your lawyers, teachers, and a few of them are our undercover cops," She says brightly.

I have so many questions for them. What is happening with my parents? Why did the government take me? What is going on with Dawn's family? What about our education? Our learning? What is going to happen to our school work? Dawn speaks up first and I am relieved.

"Why did the government take Zyra?" She asks and a woman with red hair and fair complexion responds.

"The government thought that the house was now owned by then and they took her for testing because they were planning to demolish the house, they took her because they wanted to test the effects of the human mind for holograms," The woman says without breaking eye contact with Dawn.

I have so many questions to ask and I'll never get any answers unless I say them now.

"What is the status of my family?" I blurt out.

A man with dark skin and a bald head responds, "Both your parents were taken to court and proven guilty, your mother is facing a sentence of two years in jail while you're father was put in jail for six years, your sister was put into child care to be taken care of" He says.

"I don't have a sister," I say.

"Your mother had another child after your father took you away, she named her Daisy, she was put in an orphanage a few blocks down for babies and young kids," The man says.

I am left speechless. My mother had another child and never told me? How could that even be possible? When my father took me away it was because of the divorce, but could the baby be a part of that? I sit there dumbfounded and silent.

Then Dawn speaks and I am relieved to hear her voice, "What is going to happen to our education?"

A woman with long ombre blue hair speaks up and looks at Dawn with a huge smile on her face, "I am so glad you are talking about your education! So here is the deal, Dawn! I am Ora from the school of music in New York, we were called by Thea to check out your talent with percussion which everyone in this orphanage says you are amazing at!"

Dawn's face lights up and she smiles. What about my sister? Will I ever get to see her? Will I ever get to know her?

"About my sister Daisy," I say softly, "Will I ever get to see her?"

Thea speaks up, "Yes, we will allow you to see her whenever you want, we bought both of you bikes so you could go places, no one else in the orphanage has bikes because they are not mentally stable enough to go around town with them, since you have phones, we thought to get you could have them, I have taken the liberty of texting you the address of the orphanage and how to see your sister"

I nod my head and return to being silent. Everyone is quiet for a few seconds. Dawn is looking at me with concern and compassion but I just stare at the ground. What do they mean no one here is stable enough? Everyone here seems better off and way happier than me and Dawn. How could we be the most stable here? I ran away and Dawn........... well Dawn is mentally stable but how could I be. I have broken down, cried, been shot at, abused, how could I be mentally stable?

"And you Zyra" I hear another woman say, "I will be your tutor, just like Dawn's tutor, I am here to see how good you are at one subject, everyone in the orphanage, especially Jori, has told me how you like to read and that could mean a special ability to be very good at writing, I am your tutor to see if that is true, if we see that you do have an amazing ability in writing we might take you back to New York so you can write a book at our college-like place for exceptional young minds like yours"

I don't think I am that good in writing. I am horrible in spelling and my handwriting is atrocious. All those people there would laugh and make fun of me if I ever got in. I really don't want to get in, it's so far away from Dawn and my life here in Telford. Plus what about my sister, I'll never get to see her again. But I stay silent and don't say anything. Dawn squeezes my hands and then looks at the woman.

"Zyra isn't feeling well right now, come on Zyra, let's go," Dawn says and stands up.

I silently follow her out of the room. When we get into the hall, I realize she never asked about her family. Maybe she doesn't want to know.