The Reaper Child: Book II [Child!Reader Protagonist]

~Chapter 1~

During the year you last saw your former daycare caregiver, you received no signs of being adopted. With no surprise, the ones that were adopted into nice families were much younger than yourself, being no older than two years old. Overtime, you became indifferent to it and if anything, grew more used to the idea of being in foster homes until you were old enough to live on your own.

But one day, just a month after your sixth birthday, you were informed that one family had taken in interest in adopting you.

"Someone wants to adopt me?" You asked, shocked. "Strange," you thought. Normally people came in to interact with the children before deciding if and who they wanted to adopt. You haven't interacted with any family recently, or ever actually. The only people you talked to were your foster parents, the other children you resided with, and occasionally kids at school (Though you mostly kept to yourself at school).

Your foster parent nodded. "Yes, she said that she wanted to adopt you personally. According to our records, she is no relative nor does she have any direct connections with your biological parents. But clearly it's someone that knows you."

"Who is she?" You asked. "Is it just her? Or are there others with her?"

"Her name is Grell and she is married to a man named William." Your foster parents chuckled. "Grell is a rather interesting one... she's very loud and excitable."

"Grell...?" You nearly pinched yourself to see if that was just a dream. Could it really be that same Grell from the daycare just a few years back? The same one you spoke to just a year ago? Trying to process the news, you couldn't do anything but stare at your foster parent.

"Well," your foster parent continued. "Why don't you wash up and get ready for the day? William won't be available today, but you're scheduled to meet with Grell after lunch." Your foster parent then left the room, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

Questions swarmed your mind. Did Grell really want to adopt you? Were you really going into a forever home?

Excitement and euphoria filled your soul before transitioning into anxiety and dread.

What if you met up with Grell this afternoon and she decides that she didn't like you and she didn't want to adopt you after all? Your stomach churned at the thought. You then remembered William, Grell's husband, and grimaced.

Something about his face, void of all emotion. Not even the funniest joke could so much as make him smile. You dreaded the idea of having to be around him all day everyday.

Half an hour has passed before you realized how long you've been lost in your thoughts. It wasn't long until lunch and the clock was ticking. You rushed to get ready for the day, the only thing on your mind being that meeting coming in merely a few hours.

When lunch came, you could barely eat. It took a lot of effort to even get one bite out of your meal. There was nothing wrong with the meal you were provided. It was quite delicious, actually. But your mind synced with your stomach as each minute approached the time of the meeting.

"Are you alright, (Y/N)?" Your foster parent asked. "You've barely touched your meal. Not hungry today?"

There was a slight pause. "I can't stop thinking about that meeting after lunch..." You admitted.

"Oh... I see. Well, I'm here to tell you that there is nothing to worry about, dear." Your foster parent smiled empathically. "I promise you that everything will go well. But I understand if you really can't eat right now. Just make sure you at least eat your fruit and you will be excused. We'll call you over when Grell arrives."

You nodded and began to nibble on your apple, trying to take comfort in your foster parent's words. The uneasiness remained, however.

After eating what you could, you spent the remainder of lunchtime in the bedroom that you shared with five other children. You sat on the bed silently, each second feeling like an eternity. About twenty minutes later, your foster parent poked their head in the bedroom.

"(Y/N)? Ah, there you are! Grell is here, just waiting in the office. She's very excited to see you!"

"This is it..." you thought as you hopped off the bed. You followed your foster parent downstairs where the office was. While your demeanor was calm and silent, your heart was pounding inside your chest.

"Grell is just inside here," your foster parent said when you both arrived in front of the office door. "You go ahead and enjoy your chat. I'll be back in an hour." After a couple gentle pats on your shoulder, your foster parent walked away leaving you alone in front of the door.

"Grell really is here...?"

You placed your small hand on the knob, giving it a twist and slowly opened the door.

And sure enough, the same redhead that you knew before was indeed here. She was sitting in the chair, cross legged and filing her nails. She looked toward your direction when she heard the slight creek from the door hinge.

"Darling!" Grell greeted you with a large grin and stood from the chair, tossing the nail filer to the side. "I FINALLY found you after all this time!" You were barely able to step inside the office room when you were lifted in the air and pulled into a crushing embrace.

"You were looking for me?" You managed to say as your face was smashed up against Grell's shoulder. "But why?"

"Does it matter?" Grell held you at arms length. "You have grown SO much since I last saw you last!" She beamed.

"Well, I suppose if you're so curious about why I've come to find you," she set you down on the floor. "It's because I've developed a little thing called Baby Fever."

"What's baby fever?" You asked, trying to fix your outfit and hair that got disorderly from the embrace.

"It's a..." She paused, trying to figure out how to describe it. "It's a situation where women have a desire to have a child. It can be a gift or a curse depending on how you look at it. But for me, I knew I didn't want just any child as just about all children are nothing but a bunch of miniature pests..." She briefly grimaced at the vile memories of her daycare days. "But YOU on the other hand, are an angel! And I can't wait to bring you into our home soon!

"So you're... you're really going to adopt me?"

Grell scoffed at you. "Honestly, don't be daft..." She turned around and walked towards the window. "If I didn't really want to adopt you, I would be anywhere but here... and I certainly wouldn't have searched every orphanage around here. I searched and searched and just when I had begun to lose hope, I found this place and here you are. Though I couldn't have done it without Will's help."

Grell thought back to her conversation of their decision to adopt. It was quite an interesting memory.