Mercy- Ethan Dolan

Chapter Twelve

 I run into my house, alone. Carl was finally talked into doing an after school program today. I have been waiting for this moment for so long, I need to talk to my moms as soon as possible, without anyone around to hear but me and them. I don't even care if they're awake or not, I run upstairs to their room and knock on the door. "Come in!" I hear mamma yell. I go in and stand over her, she's sitting down doing her makeup. "Rowen!" She says, wrapping an arm around me. "What's going on, love?"

"Wheres mom?' I ask. "I need to talk to you guys. It's important."

"I'm right here, darling, what's up?" Mom asks, walking out of their bathroom.

"Okay, so I've been thinking." I tell them, catching their attention. "I know it's kind of soon, and this is usually a longer term thing to talk about, but it needs to happen as soon as possible." I start with.

"Are you going to tell us, or are you just gonna keep beating around the bush?" Mamma asks.

"No, I think I know where this is going." Mom says.

"You guys need to adopt Carl." I blurt out. "I was talking to him, he loves it here, with us, this school, our neighbourhood. He was scared to join any clubs because he's been in a good situation before but then social workers come take him away. He wants out of the system, I want him out of the system. I was only in for a couple of months and it was hard, he's been in it for years. He needs a forever home. He fits right in with us, we couldn't send him away now."

"Honey, slow down." Mom says. "We have no intentions of sending Carl anywhere. We love him very much."

"Then adopt him." I say. "You don't have to want him to get sent away for him to end up going away." I say. "He was almost adopted before."

"We know his file, sweetie." Mamma says. "Carl has been through a lot, theres no denying that. He's an awesome kid, and he's just as much a part of this family as the rest of us, okay? He's not going anywheres."

"Then why aren't you adopting him?" I ask. "He's fifteen, he's out of the system in three years, there is no guarantee that between now and three years he'll still be here, don't you want him to stay?"

"Of course we do, love." Mom says. "But, there's also a lot about adoption that you don't understand. "You don't just sign papers and they are yours now. If it were that easy, we'd have seven kids. But, it just doesn't work that way."

"Then why did you adopt me so fast?" I ask. "There was like a two month time frame between coming here and being adopted."

"Your case was a lot less complicated." Mamma says. "We'd need his birth parents to sign rights away, and they're both in jail, very unwilling to sign away their rights. That's why he didn't get adopted the first time, that's why he ended up not staying with those people, they were all devastated when he couldn't get adopted, so he started acting out until they sent him away."

I take a deep breath, taking all of that in. "That's so sad." I say. "Why are his parents both in jail?" I ask.

"There was a lot of abuse and illegal stuff going on there." Mom tells me. "Even when they get out, which is scary soon, they're not getting Carl back. I guess that I shouldn't say they won't, but their chances are so small that it's not even worth fighting over."

"Kind of like your chances of successfully adopting him?" I ask. "So little, so why would you even bother trying, right?"

"Rowen, don't do that. That isn't fair." Mamma says.

"We don't want to put him through another failed adoption again." Mom tells me. "Do you really want him getting hurt like that?"

"Well no, but-"