We're walking to the bus stop. When we arrive there, there's a police officer. Grace pinches my arm and I put my hand on her back. "He's not gonna hurt you Grace, not again." I tell my 12 year old sister.
The officer smiles at us. Crap. It's the officer from a year ago. I see his smile fade away. So he reminds us too. "Avery? Right? And Grace?" I nod. "How are you both doing? How's your aunt doing?" "She's fine. We're fine. I guess." I'm not good at lying, so I feel my head getting red. Our aunt didn't want to take care of us, but she didn't want to put us in another family either.
Grace relaxes a bit. From all the officers we've met, this was the nicest one.
"Well, there's our bus. Have a nice day!" I tell him. "You too kids, have a nice day at school." And with that, we step into the bus.
When we arrive at school, we tell each other goodbye and walk up to our own classes. The day is long, and when I'm in my last class, the school nurse walks in. "Avery? Can I talk to you?" I stand up, take my books and walk to her office.
"It's about Grace. She came into my office, and when she told me what she felt, she passed out. She's back in class now, but I'm really worried about her. Maybe you should take her to a doctor."
Most of the teachers at school knew about me and Grace living alone. They helped us with everything, and we appreciated that.
"I can make an appointment for her, if you want me to?" "that'd be amazing" I tell her.
So she did. A day later, we're at the doctor. I can feel Grace is a little scared. She hasn't talked since yesterday... When I help her putting out her jacket, my jaw drops.
"Grace... How did you get these bruises?" She looks at her arms and shrugs.
"Grace Poynter?" the doctor says. "Come on sweetie, the doctor is waiting for you."
We walk into his office and sit down on the chairs.
"So..." The doctor says. "How can I help you?" I look at her, and see she's too scared to talk, so I decide to do it. "Grace passes out a lot. She's always tired, and has a lot of bruises. The school nurse told us to see a doctor."
"What's Grace date of birth?" he asks. "May 2nd, 2002." he starts typing our story in the computer. Silent. It's really silent. All I can hear, is the sound of the computer.
After 5 minutes, he finally starts talking again. "I don't trust this, miss Poynter. I really think you should get your blood checked in the hospital."
With that, he stands up and gives us a hand. "Take care." "You too, doctor."
