Letting Him Save Me || ✎

Chapter 4

Stella Garbor POV

I stepped off the bus and started walking up the side walk with Lukas, John, Max, Haley, and the twins back to the house.

It sucks that none of us can do after school activities or sports cause we don't have a way home. It's against house rules to get a ride home from anywhere that's not a city certified vehicle, and the busses only run once after school and if we're not back to the house by curfew then we're in big trouble.

I'm very introverted so it doesn't really bother me but Lukas and Max look like they'd play football or baseball. And Haley looks like she'd wanna do things like student council or yearbook, but that requires being at school before the busses run. It just sucks that since our parents couldn't get their shit together, we can't do things that we'd enjoy.

When we all get to the house there's a car I've never seen before. Jane and her boyfriend Mike are taking boxes of what I assume is their stuff to their car. We all walk up and stop on the lawn. There's a dark skinned woman with beautiful curly hair, a blonde hair blue-eyed girl, and a younger looking male standing outside the front door and they all have ID cards around their necks signaling their positions at DHS. When they finally realize our presence, they walk over to us and start asking us about our day. We all just nod our head and give a bullshit answer knowing they don't really care how our day was, but rather getting their paycheck.

"Let's go inside. We have a couple questions to ask you guys, okay?" The blonde one says, motioning her hand to the front door.

Lukas seems to take the lead, "Okay." He says and motions for us to walk in first.

They seat us all at the dining table. The male and the darker woman on the edge of the table closest to the door, like one of us would run at any moment. The blonde stands on the opposite end of the table.

The darker woman speaks up first, "I'm Makayla," She motions to the male standing next to her. "This is Logan, and that's Maggie." She says.

Lukas voluntarily takes the role as spokesperson, "What questions do you have?"

"Straight to business." Logan nods.

"Well we've all been through this before. We know how this works." Lukas responds.

"Okay well since you all 'know how this works,'" Maggie says using finger quotations, "What are we gonna ask you?" She says leaning onto the table.

I notice Makayla watching me through the corner of my eye but speak nothing of it.

"Have you ever witnessed Jane doing any type of drug? Did she often bring unknown people into the house? Did she often leave the house at odd hours? Did she ever touch any of us in a non-consensual way? Did you ever feel personally distraught or attacked by anything she ever said? Did you ever feel unsafe in her presence?" Lukas said with a blank expression, as if reading from a pamphlet.

Maggie looked at her coworkers standing across the table seemingly impressed.

"Am I right?" Lukas asked.

"Very close." She says.

"Well to answer your questions, Yes, Yes, No, No, Yes, Yes. Does everyone agree?" He asks looking at the rest of us.

We all nod our heads in agreement without saying a word.

Makayla speaks next, "Okay then, let's attach all of your names to your faces, yes?" She asks picking up a file of what I assume is all the information about our orphanage.

"When I say your name please raise your hand. John Bland." John raises his hand and she looks at him, matching his name to his face. "Max Carmicheal, Lukas James, Stella Garbor, Haley Maxwell, Natalie Graham, and Ava Graham." When she's matched all of our names to our faces she sets the file on the table and looks up at Logan.

"Alright, things are gonna look a little different around here." Logan starts. "Jane no longer works for DHS, so we need to find a new foster parent to take over Jane's role. But until then, the three of us will be acting as temporary guardians until suitable foster parents can be found."

Maggie pipes up, "Does anyone have any questions, comments, or concerns?"

We all shake our head no.

"Okay then, all house rules still apply. Jane should have had the rules printed out and posted somewhere, did she?" Makayla asks.

"Upstairs on the pinboard in the hallway." Lukas responds.

"Alright you all are excused." Logan says, and we all get up and head to our rooms.

When Haley, the twins, and I make it back to our room and shut the door Haley sits on her bed, "What the fuck." She breathes. "What happened?"

Natalie responds, "No fucking clue."

"Somebody must've reported her." I say without thinking.

"But who?" Haley questions.

"No idea." Natalie answers.

I sit on my bed and do my homework while Haley goes to do her chores and the twins play a card game on Ava's bed.

It's not long until we're called down for dinner.

Once everyone's made their way to the dining room Makayla tells us to sit in our 'usual dinner seats.'

We all look at each other confused before Lukas pipes up saying, "We don't have 'usual dinner seats.'"

"You all never ate together at the table?" Logan asks as he places a covered casserole dish in the middle of the table.

"No. Dinner's usually a free for all." Lukas explains.

"Alright then, looks like I'm assigning you all your dinner seats!" Maggie exclaims.

She seats us from youngest to oldest meaning Lukas sat first and I was seated last.

I notice Makayla looking at me again. She doesn't seem to know that I notice her stare. She seems to be analyzing my body language, which is normal for DHS agents but my gut tells me her gaze isn't just one of a concerned DHS agent.

Once everyone is settled, Logan explains all the dishes he's prepared. He made a variety of dishes, from fish to Mac'n'Cheese. I settled for Mac'n'Cheese.

After dinner we all do dishes together and then head to our rooms to go to bed.

Even when my head hits the pillow my mind stays awake thinking of how weird today has been.