Wishing I was 23

The Video Clips

Lauren's POV

What we saw was all the explanation of her life that we needed. I clicked on the first video and we all watched carefully.

"Hi, My name is Rachel and I am 13 year old. You may be wondering why you have this flash drive that I gave you. If you have it, means that you are special to me. It means that I love you and trust you the most. However, I haven't told you my full story yet. As I was growing up, it has been pain, repeated over and over again. I know I've told all of you that but no one really knows whats behind it", she paused.

"Let's start from the beginning. As you all know I have an older brother, Christian and a younger sister Joyous. What you don't know is we three had a half brother name Nicholas. He left us when he was 16 and we've never seen him since. Well, Chris never saw him since, I've never seen him at all because I wasn't even born yet. Take note that Nick is 4 years older than Chris and is ten years older than me. I know he could be older than you but I don't really know much about him other than the information that Chris had revealed to me. He said that Nick was a good brother, a great one, he defended. Nick was this very brave person that would protect our mom from harm. Yes, we all have the same mother. We came out from her but unfortunately, she died when I was just 4 when a murderer came to my home and killed both of my parents. Now bare in mind that at that time, Nick wasn't even there yet because he was at his friend's house. He didn't know any better", she took a breath.

"When Nick came home, the authorities were at my house that night and took us away to an orphanage nearby. Chris managed to escape but when Nick found him, they ran away together. Joy and I were sent to an orphanage there in Colorado. It was a nightmare. I would get picked on because of my birth defect and at that time, I was just a kid. I only had Beatrice and Marco there. Joy was still a baby. I could never protect her so I begged my caretakers for some martial arts class. They gave in and put me into wrestling and boxing first. Skip to two years and Joy was growing into a smart toddler. We went out for a walk with Beatrice and Marco and there was a moment WHEN I got distracted and lost Joy", she huffed.

"I regret ever looking back and not getting to find her for 4 years. Christian came back into my life when he heard that I got adopted. He came only to ask for favours and I would give him but he ends up using me for his business. Anyways, My first Foster home was with the Simpsons. They seem nice at first but it turned downhill from there on. They never touched me but would call me many, many names that a 5 year old should never hear. It was a short period of time but my self esteem was damaged. My second family was worse. The Jacksons. This is the family that was the worse than the first and the rest. Mrs Jackson was my source of happiness but when she died of a car accident when I was 6, things went down hill for me. Mr Jackson and his only son started blaming for their wife and mother's death. I couldn't stand up for myself because I was terrified. I got early beatings and late night terrors. They used a hammer, whip, hanger, all kinds of bats, knifes and blades. They even use tools and ever since now, I am scared", she shivered and I could tell that Ryland was heartbroken already and so was the other guys.

"My life changed when the Fosters found me. I had to go through two more terrorfying homes that would beat me up. Authorities was no help of course. They just shift me here and there, giving me to anyone that wants me. I finally got shifted to Venice Beach and there's when the Fosters found me. Brandon was he first one to help me recover from my trauma. Then came in Callie when I was 8. I met Jude and we became closer. Callie was my protector and I owed her a lot. She came up with an idea that I found was agreeable as I would say now. Take note that I was eight and had already matured. Callie was this horny teenager and we would have sex with one another. Yes, she touched me but I wasn't complaining because I felt like it was something I had to do to pay her back after protecting me. We were safe but when they both got adopted, The Fosters had to let me go because the house was full. My caretaker brought me to Singapore. My education went up from there. I learned many languages and even go into a religion. My name changed into Arina Syakirah. I was adopted to a Malay Family. My late mother was the famous author Norhayati Yusope that I helped write when she was terribly sick. Yes, we lived with over 30 cats but there was also many arguments between my parents. My dad cheated on her many, many times and even got one of them pregnant but asked her to abort the child. They eventually divorced but I didn't have the custody of any of them. I choose to stay with my mother but she died due to her brain tumor and I got shifted back to Colorado. Of course I had her book collection but my siblings made sure they didn't know me at all",she stops and sips on a drink.