Torturous [Fillie]

Fire

Flashback
February 16, 2017

-The final bell rang, everyone sighed in relief as they shoved their school supplies into their bags whilst explaining their weekend plans to their friends. Millie was excited, her dad promised the whole family a trip to Disney World this weekend for her seventeenth birthday and they were leaving this evening on a plane. She loved Disney World and was truly excited. Millie had already packed her bags and they were sitting by the door in her room, ready for her to just grab them and go.

Millie slung her bag over her shoulder in excitement as she left the classroom. No bullies could ruin her mood today, nothing could as she walked all the way home thinking about all the fun rides she'll go on with her little sister and all the cool things she'll see. It was going to be the best birthday ever, even better than her eighth birthday when her parents took her to a petting zoo where she got to ride a horse and play with pigs the whole day.

The young and happy brunette finally arrived home to see five police cars, three ambulances, two fire trucks, and her family's house all charred and smoky. Millie looked in horror at the sight. She saw paramedics rushing her parents into two separate ambulances. Burns covered their faces and pretty much their whole bodies. Millie couldn't seem to find Ava anywhere. She looked around, hoping that at least one family member came out of this alright.

A woman dressed in a grey pantsuit and a badge over her heart had noticed Millie standing just a few yards away from the scene. She suspected she was a family member that had just been released from school. She approached her carefully. "Hi, did you know Kelly and Robert Brown?" The lady asked the frightened young girl in front of her. Millie swallowed nervously as the stranger gave her a sympathetic and apologetic look. She knew that this woman would give her bad news, she could practically feel it. "Y-yes, I'm their daughter. Are they okay? What happened?" The brunette began to question.

The woman in the pantsuit shook her head as she bit the inside of her cheek. "Your parent's house had caught on fire after your mother had lit a candle near an open window. The curtains caught on fire and the flames quickly spread all throughout the house. Your parents were trapped in the house for an estimated thirty minutes before the fire department came and found your parents in the house...dead." Millie felt tears in her eyes at that word. She wasn't expecting her day to turn out this way. She wanted to go to Disney World with her family, not hear a tragic story of how they died. Millie did have just one question for the lady.

"Where's Ava, my little sister?" The woman knit her brows and shook her head. "There was no little girl in the house when the fire department came and looked through the house. Do you have any idea of where she could be around this time of day, maybe a friend's house or at school?" Millie did have one idea of where Ava could be. Ava was usually picked up from daycare just an hour after she came from school every day. Ava could still be in school.

Millie nods as more tears fell from her eyes, clouding her vision. "She usually is in daycare around this time." The teenage girl sniffles and sobs. Her parents death now hitting her at full blast. She couldn't help but think of all the responsibility she would have to carry on with her mom and dad being dead. Millie would have to take care of Ava, make sure she's fed, she has a place to sleep, and be there for her when she needs her. However no one would be there for Millie, no one would be there to do all of those things for her. She's finally taking on adult responsibilities.

"Would you like me to take you and your sister down to the station so we can talk? We just need to discuss important details like new legal guardians and such." The older women questions softly as she put an arm around a crying Millie. She was hysterical, gasping and chocking on air. Her face was all red and wet. Millie felt like she would never stop crying. She did manage to give the lady a nod and the two made their way to a cop car where they were escorted to Ava's daycare and then the station.

-

The young brunette sat in a chair at a big table in a quiet room. Her head was down and her eyes were on her lap as she could only think about her parents death and how she would never get to see them again, ever. Her little sister Ava was sitting in a chair next to her, holding a stuffed horse that the detective sitting across from the two gave her. It was to help calm her down, as she broke down when she heard about her parents death.

"Millie...we have called every single relative that you have listed...none of them want to take you and your sister in." The woman stated with a sad tone. She genuinely felt bad for these girls. Their options of a new home was now limited. Millie just let out a quiet sigh, understanding why none of her aunts or uncles and such wanted to take care of her. Nobody wants a sad depressed teenage girl in their home or a little girl that would constantly have a breakdown.

Detective Winona Ryder let the information sink in for a bit before suggesting plan b. "We may have to place you and your sister into foster care if no family member is willing to house you two." Those words put Millie in a defensive mode. She knows what happens to foster children. She knows that there's a chance that her and Ava could be separated and she just wasn't willing to take that chance. Millie knows that she has to stay by Ava's side every second of the day now just to keep her sane.

"No." Is all she said before lifting her head to look at the woman sitting across from her. Detective Ryder was confused. Millie really had no other choice. Oh but she did, Winona just didn't know it yet. "I want to stay with Ava and I don't want some stranger to take care of her." The brunette calmly stated. The woman shook her head as she leaned forward in her chair a bit. "Millie I don't know if you knew this or not but the law requires all children sixteen and under to have a legal guardian that is at least seventeen or older." The detective stated.

Millie knew the law and never thought she would actually have to take care of a child at that age, but she had no other choice. "I know and I'll be turning seventeen in three days. I just need to ask my father's mom if she can lend me some money for these real cheap but great apartments that are only a road away from my school and they're really close to the daycare Ava goes to. I could even find a job so I don't have to ask my grandma for money since it's her retirement money."

"Millie...are you sure you want to take on the responsibility of raising your sister? I mean you're not even seventeen yet and you're going to be looking after her you're whole adult life until she's old enough to move on." The woman asks, making sure that Millie was ready for something this big. Even though Millie sounded like she was ready, she secretly wasn't. She just really wasn't expecting to grow up this fast and have to do something like this, but she knew she had to and that's all that mattered to her. "I can do this... I must."-

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I feel extremely sick because the drinking water in our house is unfiltered at the moment. Thanks to me 💉