That's Ryder up top
Chapter 1: Another New Family
I'm awoken by a knock at my bedroom door. "Who is it?" I ask.
"It's Mary."
Mary is my social worker. You know, the person who makes sure I don't get in trouble while I'm between foster homes. "Come in," I say. I sit up, stretching my arms out. I try to rub the tiredness out of my eyes.
She opens the door and walks over to me. "Is your bag packed?"
"No?" I ask.
"Well, you need to pack. We're leaving in twenty minutes to go to your new foster family."
"Another one?" I frown.
"If you didn't run away from them so much, maybe you could stay with one family. Plus, this one's different."
"You know why I run away, and it's not my fault that some of them don't like me and send me back. How can this one be any different than the rest? No one likes me." I stare intensely at the floor.
"It's different because they have a daughter."
"How the hell does that change anything?" I look up at her and stare into her eyes.
She frowns at my expression. She sits down next to me. "Because their daughter has always wanted a brother and she looked through all the kids' files and she picked you."
"That was a dumb move," I say.
"You need to be nice, Ryder. It'll be good for you, you'll see. Now come on, get packed." She pats my back and then leaves the room.
I sigh and begin to pack my stuff, which is not much. It all fits in one bag. The only things I own are some clothes and a necklace. I was told I was wearing the necklace when a cop found me wandering alone outside of a police station. It's just a chain with a wolf paw charm. It's the only thing I have left of my parents. They died in some accident when I was two, so I was raised in foster care. I have no memory of my parents. The foster system tried to find any relatives I might have, but they weren't successful.
Since then I've had more than my share of different foster families. Which I either tried to run away from or was sent back from because "I didn't fit right." Mary is also the person who helps me get assigned to new families and find me if I run away. I get stuck in group homes when I'm between families, which is where I'm at right now. Mary's always watching out for me and tries her best to get me into good families. Which is a pretty hard task because no one wants a troubled sixteen-year-old boy. Can't blame them though, I wouldn't want me either. Especially if they knew what I am.
My train of thought gets derailed when the door opens. "Time to go, you ready?" Mary asks.
I stand up and sling my backpack over my shoulder. "Am I ever ready?"
She frowns. "Come on, let's go. I don't want to keep them waiting too long."
***
We pull into the driveway of my new family's home. I climb out of the car and we both walk up to the door. I just wait for Mary to knock, but she doesn't. I look over at her and give her a confused expression.
"I'm not gonna knock, you are," she says flatly.
"What? Why do I have to knock?"
"Would you stop complaining and just knock? It's not that hard."
"Fine," I grumble.
I knock. For a few seconds nothing happens. Suddenly I hear footsteps quickly coming towards the door. It flies open and I'm attacked with a hug. I look down to see the person who is hugging me. It's a girl who looks about fourteen, maybe fifteen. Her hair is long and brown like chocolate. Her eyes are a bold green, and her skin is tan like she spends a lot of time outside on sunny days. I find it odd considering it's winter.
"Ummm." What the hell am I supposed to do?
I feel something jab me in my left arm. I look over to see Mary giving me gestures for me to hug back. I look down at the girl who has been hugging me for at least a good twenty seconds. I slowly wrap my arms around her. She hugs me tighter.
She looks up at me and smiles. "Hi!" she says excitedly.
"Uh, hi," I respond, not certain what to say.
"I'm Mist, and I'm guessing you're Ryder?"
"Um, yeah, that's me."
"It's wonderful to finally meet you! I've been so excited to have a brother."
"Really?" I ask.
"Told you so," Mary pipes in.
I give her a dirty look.
"Let's go inside so you can meet our parents."
Did she just say "our" parents?
She grabs my arm and drags me into her house and down a hallway. She stops when she reaches what looks like the kitchen.
A man and woman both turn around and smile at us. Mary walks past us and introduces herself. I feel a tug on my arm. I gaze over and see Mist smiling at me.
"What? Why are you staring?"
"I'm not staring. I'm just simply trying to figure out why you're so quiet."
"I'm quiet because I don't like to talk much," I say.
"How come?" she asks.
"Because I don't, that's why."
Still smiling, she looks towards her parents. "Hey, Mom."
Her mother looks our way. "Yes, honey?" she replies.
"You and Dad should come and say hi to Ryder," she says smiling.
"We will, sweetheart, just give us a second," she answers.
Mist looks back at me. We just stare at each other for a few moments. A voice snaps me out of my daze. I look towards where it came from.
"Hi, Ryder. My name is Betty Gage. You may call me Mom, but if you're not ready for that, you may call me Betty. And this is my husband, David. Same goes for him."
"Hi." I look down.
"You okay?" David says.
"Yeah, I'm just kind of tired," I respond.
"Mist, how about you go show Ryder to his room?" David suggests.
"Okay!" Mist grabs my arm and tows me up the stairs.
Mist leads me to a room at the top of the stairwell. She opens the door and walks in, while I follow close behind. I glance around the room, and it's nice. The walls are painted to look like a forest, the carpet is the color of green grass, and the ceiling is dark like the night sky. I look to my right and see a queen-sized bed between two doors. I notice the covers are camo.
"Where do those doors go?" I ask Mist.
"The first one leads to a shared bathroom, and the other door leads to a closet."
"Oh, nice." I look back to my left and notice a brown leather sofa. "What's the sofa for?"
She points to above the bed. "For that."
"Is that a TV?" I ask.
"Yes, yes it is."
"You people trying to spoil me? Did you just happen to have this room lying around?"
(Continue for pt 2 of chapter one)
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Foster Wolf
Werewolf(Complete) Ryder is a teenaged boy in foster care. his parents died when he was two and was put into the foster system. He has bounced from one home to another. Either he was sent back or ran away, but this time when his social worker, Mary, found h...
