Justin’s POV:
Sophia had stormed out of the room, leaving all of us in silence. I looked over at Selena and saw that she was staring blankly to the wall while tears started coming out of her eyes. I grabbed her hand and wiped away her tears as they fell down her cheek.
“Justin,” Brian broke the silence, “can you take Selena outside while we have a talk with Ms. Scott?”
“Sure, c‘mon baby.” I nodded while I grabbed Selena’s hand and walked her out the door. Selena still said nothing but followed me outside. We closed the office door and then Selena spoke,
“I don’t wanna go outside.” she told me. “I wanna look for Sophia.”
“Sel, you don’t know where her room is and I don’t think she wants to talk right now,” I told her.
“I don’t care!” she said sternly as she started to walk around the house. We walked down this long hall and then we saw Lily playing with some dolls.
“Hi, sweetie,” Selena said to her while she knelt down to get eye level to Lily. “Hi,” she said back. “Do you know where Sophia’s room is?” she asked her. “Uh huh,” Lily said as she nodded her head. “Can you show me and Justin where it is?” she asked again.
Lily stood up and grabbed mine and Selena’s hand and led us to Sophia’s room. “Here it is,” she said pointing to a door.
“Justin, will you play with Lily while I try and talk to Sophia?” Selena asked me. “Sure,” I said grabbing Lily by the hand.
“Are you taking Sophia away from me?” Lily asked Selena before we left. “No, sweetie. Sophia will always be yours,” she told her before I took Lily to go play.
Selena’s POV:
I knocked on Sophia’s door but she didn’t answer back. I slowly turned the knobbed and opened the door. “Sophia?” I whispered out to her.
“Please don’t hit me Ms. Scott,” I heard her say “I promise I’ll tell them that I was lying.”
I looked down to the corner of her bed and saw Sophia sitting down with her head tucked in between her knees. I laid my hand on her back and she flinched. “Sophia it’s me,” I told her and she looked up. Her eyes were swollen because of how much she was crying. I sat down next to her and wrapped my arms around her.
“Oww,” she cried. I quickly pulled my arms away. “I’m sorry,” I told her. “It’s okay,” she said. I just have some bruises on my back. I moved her hair from her back and saw that she had some pretty bad bruises. “Who did this to you?” I asked her. “Nobody,” she responded back.
I grabbed Sophia’s chin and moved her head so that she can look at me. “You don’t have to be afraid Sophia,” I reassured her.
“I’m sorry I yelled at your mom,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me.” she paused. “I-I just couldn’t believe it. You are my sister. Your mom is my mom. I guess I kind of got jealous when your mom told me that I was part of your family because I never grew up with people that loved me. Ever since my mom and dad died, I was in foster homes. Every foster home that I went to, I got raped. I was just a little girl. I didn’t understand why my daddy was hurting me and I didn’t understand why mommy didn’t do anything about it.” she explained.
I felt a knot in my throat. Hearing her say those things broke my heart. How can some sick person do that to a little girl? She started crying so I put my arm around her and embraced her in a hug.
“ I thought that when I came here, that everything would stop. No more being raped. But Ms. Scott is just as bad. She hits me almost everyday. I either didn’t clean right, didn’t take care of the younger girls, or I came home late and didn’t tell her that I would. I take the blame for all the younger girls because I can’t stand seeing them get hit. Especially Lily.” she continued.
“Sophia, I’m sorry that you had to go through all this,” I told her. “If I would of known that I had a sister, I would of wanted to be with you. Please, come and live with us.” I pleaded. “ I want to be a part of your life. I don’t want to miss out on things like I already have.”
“I can’t.” she said. “ I can’t leave all the girls here. I can’t leave Lily.”
“Sophia, Ms. Scott isn’t going to be working here anymore. I can promise you that.” I told her. “Really?” she asked back. “Yes, really,” I nodded my head. I reached out for her hand and then we stood up. “I love you,” I told her as I gave her a hug.
“Sophia?” we heard Lily calling from the other side of the door. “Come in.” Sophia told her. Lily opened the door and ran into Sophia’s arms and Justin walked into the room.
Justin’s POV:
“How did it go?” I asked Selena. She looked pretty happy. “It went well,” she responded with a smile on her face. “Is she going to live with you all?” I asked her. “She didn’t really answer my question,” she told me. “I’m not sure.”
We then heard Mandy and Brian calling us. I grabbed Selena’s hand and Selena grabbed Sophia’s hand while we walked downstairs to see Brian and Mandy. Mandy walked up to Sophia and embraced her in a tight hug. “Oww,” Sophia yelled out. “Not too tight mom,” Selena said to her.
“What is it honey?” she asked Sophia. Sophia looked at Selena and Selena nodded back to her. “I have some bruises on my back.” she told Mandy. “W-what happened?” Mandy asked her. Sophia looked around the room, I’m guessing to see if Ms. Scott was around. “She’s not here,” Selena told her. Selena knew what had happened. “Ms. Scott hits me,” Sophia told Mandy showing her the bruises she had. Mandy grabbed Sophia’s hand and told her,
“You don’t have to worry about her anymore. She’s going to jail where she belongs.” Mandy told Sophia. Sophia started crying and wrapped her arms around Mandy. “Thank you,” she whispered to her.
“Sophia I’m really sorry about everything but I hope that you can forgive me and come live with us.” Mandy told Sophia. Sophia nodded with tears still in her eyes.
“I-I can’t leave Lily here,” she told Mandy while she grabbed Lily and picked her up and placed her on her hip. She’s like the only family that I have. She’s like my little sister. I can’t just abandon her,” Sophia explained.
Mandy reached out for Lily and grabbed her in her arms. “Well Lily, would you like to come live with us too?” she asked Lily. Sophia and Selena’s eyes both lit up and a huge smile came onto their faces. “Really?” they both asked in unison.
“You mean Selena is going to be my sister too?” Lily asked. “Yes,” Mandy nodded with a smile on her face. “And Sophia too?” she asked again. “Sophia too,” Mandy responded. “Yay!!” Lily yelled and wrapped her arms around Mandy.
“And that’s my new daddy?” she asked pointing to Brian. “That’s right,” Mandy said. Lily reached out to Brian and Brian picked her up. “Hi daddy!” she exclaimed while placing a kiss on Brian’s cheek. “Hi sweetheart,” he told her while some tears started piling up. “So we’re a family now? No more Ms. Scoot?” Lily asked again.
“We’re a family now Lil,” Sophia told her with a huge smile on her face. “Finally we have a family.”
