Adopt-a-Story

Adoption - Anyone (originally written as a 5H fic)

"Ellie, where are you?" My care worker calls as she looks around the building. I scoot further back into the corner of the kitchen, underneath a table. "Ellie!" She says sharply. My eyes squeeze shut.

'Please don't let her see me. Please don't let her see me. Please don't...' I beg silently.

"There you are!" My eyes snap open.

'Well, I jinxed it.'

"The adopters are coming soon, and I know this might be your chance!" She says as she helps me up from under the table. I just continue to stare at the ground.

'When was the last time someone scrubbed the floors in here? Ugh! They need to hire cleaners or something to clean this stuff up. Oh wait, we already have cleaners! What do they even do all day? The floors obviously aren't cleaned.'

"Ellie." She calls, snapping me out of my thoughts. I mumble in response. "I promise you, this one'll be good." She says, staring into my eyes. I nod slowly.

"They're here!" Alexa, a little 5 year-old girl calls.

"Good luck!" Sandra, my care worker says as she goes to wait by the door.

I sigh and walk out into the living room, doubting the fact that I was going to get adopted. I'm 12, nobody wants a kid that old. I figured that out when I was about 10 and all of the adopters requested to see the '5 and under' category. One did ask to see the older kids, but they skipped right past me and onto the next kid when it came to interviewing time.

I've been here since I was 5, and that was right after my parents ran off somewhere. They just took me to my aunt's house so that I could play with my cousins, and next thing I know, my aunt's on the phone screaming at somebody.

"I don't care if she's too much," she yelled, "she's still your kid!"

I remember staying up all night, thinking about that phone call. I wondered who she was talking to, but I figured she'd tell me to not eavesdrop next time and that it's none of my business, so I dropped it. It took a couple days of me staying at my aunts house and those angry phone calls to realize who she was yelling at; my parents.

One day, it was eerily quiet. Usually my cousins were rowdy and my aunt was yelling on the phone, but this time there were soft voices and sniffles. I remember hiding around the corner to hear their conversation.

"I have to, her parents don't want her anymore." My aunt sniffled.

"Why not? I don't want to lose her!" My cousin quietly protested.

"I don't know, but I do know that she can't stay here and that she'll have to go to a special home. One that makes you not be able to see her very often."

"But I want to see her all the time!"

"We have to. It's her only hope. Let's go get her stuff."

I ran to my room and cried. I cried and cried all day, knowing the truth. Knowing that I was too much for anybody to handle, that even my own family didn't want me. Knowing that I may never get to see my cousin again.

"What's the special home, mommy?" I heard my cousin ask from the other side of my door as I pretended to be asleep.

"It's called an orphanage." I started to cry a little harder. I knew what an orphanage was. I didn't want to go to an orphanage! "It's where kids who don't have mommies and daddies live."

"But Ellie has a mommy and a daddy!"

"Her mommy and her daddy are going through a tough time right now and they can't watch over her." My aunt tries to reason.

"Why can't we watch over her?" He asks.

"We watched her for a whole week!"

"But can't we watch her for just a little bit longer?" He begs. I hear my aunt sigh.

"She leaves tomorrow morning. You better get to bed so you can come with us!" She says and I heard his tiny little feet shuffling down the hallway and into his room. My bedroom door opens quietly with a slight squeak and my aunt enters the room.

By then, I was able to stop my tears from flowing down my cheeks. They were still there though.

"I'm so, so sorry." She whispers. I feel a warm tear hit my cheek as she presses her lips against my forehead.

The next morning they dropped me off and now I'm here, 7 years later.

"Which category would you like to see?" I hear Sandra ask. I snap out of my daze and look up to meet brown eyes, who seemed to be looking at me.

"Um, could I start with the 5 and under group please?" I huff and roll my eyes, standing up from the couch and silently walking up to my room.

'Of course. What is it always? The freaking 5 and under group! Ugh I wish someone gave the older ones a chance for once.'

I plop down on my bed and thought to myself for a minute.

'I'm almost 18. I'll be out of here soon anyway. I just have to wait until I can get out of here. But then what? Find a job? I don't know what job to get! Heck, I don't even know what I want to do for a living! I'd have to have money to buy a house, get food, pay bills, ugh. Too much. I need to chill out.' I take a deep breath. 'Alright. I'll get a job before I turn 18 and save up now so that I'll have a little money to start off with when I move out. Now for a career... What do I want to do? There are accountants, nurses, doctors, electricians, physical therapists, everything I can think of. So what do I choose?' That's what's got me stumped. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do as a career.

"Hi sweetie, my name's Ally. I was looking for a girl with black hair and bright blue eyes. Have you seen her anywhere?" I hear coming from the hallway.

I have black hair, but then again so do most of the other girls. I'm not the only one with bright blue eyes, either. It's probably not me.

"Maybe." Lexi, the only 9 year-old in the orphanage, says. "Ellie, come here!" She yells. I huff and stand up, slowly making my way to the door.

"Coming!" I yell and open my door. The same brown eyes find their way to meet mine and I switch my gaze to look at Lexi's green-grey eyes.

"Is this her?" Lexi asks. The girl nods.

"Thank you." She smiles gratefully and Lexi returns the smile, walking away.

"Hello." I smile awkwardly.

"Um, hi. Sandra told me to tell you and the other older kids that some more adopters were coming over. She would've had someone else come and tell you but all of them were being interviewed." I nod slowly. "I'm Ally by the way." She smiles, holding out her hand. I shake it quickly.

"Ellie." I smile.

"Well, we should be heading back down." I nod and we both make our way down the stairs.

"Ellie, can you watch over Jack?" Sandra asks as I walk into her view. I nod and walk up to the 3 year-old. He was playing with the little toys that were donated for Christmas last year.

"Hi, El El! Wanna play with me?" He asked with his adorable baby voice.

"Of course I would, J!" I smile widely and sit next to him.