Searching for Love

Chapter 14

As soon as I get home from the magical day at school, Cindy can tell that I’m acting different. That something is up. With a giddy smile on my face, a spring in my step, and an undeniable twinkle in my eye, I walk through the door.

                       

            “Alright, spill,” Cindy says not more than a minute after my being in the house. “Well,” I began, “You know Brandon? Brandon Lewis?” “Honey, how can I NOT know about him? That’s all you’ve been talking about for weeks!” I blush. “Well… He kinda asked me to go the movies on Saturday.”

            Cindy doesn’t look surprised, but she does look thoughtful. “And…?” she asks. “I said yes, of course!” I say not even trying to mask my excitement. At first, I thought Cindy would object, telling me not to go; locking me up in a tower called my room with my Prince Charming waiting for me to ride with him into the sunset called the movies. But, her thoughtful look breaks out into a huge grin and she holds her arms open for a hug. I jump up and run into her arms almost feeling like a normal little girl getting a big hug from Mommy.

            I feel a twinge of sadness but it soon disappears with Cindy saying “What are you going to wear? What movie will you see? How will you do your hair?”

“Woah woah woah,” I say, “One thing at a time! How about we talk about this over dinner? Homework before dates, right? I’ll be up in my room.”

            With that, I bounce up to my room, take out my phone, and add a heart next to Brandon’s contact name.

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(Flashback Sequence)

            As the orphanage owner walked us down to the family room/visiting area, I couldn’t help but try and sneak peeks at the woman who CHOSE to talk to me.

 

            “Well, I’ll let you ladies get to know each other,” the orphanage owner said, and left with a hustle. I sat quietly and confused as I looked at the woman sitting across from me. She didn’t look crazy or mentally unstable. I figured those were the only reasons why someone would want to get to know me. But I guess that wasn’t the case with this lady.

 

            What was her name? Cindy Ferril? Seemed normal enough. The silence dragged on for a while until Cindy realized that I was not going to speak first. So she broke the silence by saying something that I would remember for the rest of my life.

 

            “Sydney, listen. Let me start by saying that I’m not going to treat you the way you’ve been treated in the past. Your past is your past and I understand that that you may not want to talk about that. For now, at least. I’m going to treat you with love and respect; the way that people should be treated.”

 

            That last part really got to me. Love? What’s that? Could someone actually love me for the first time in my life? I didn’t know how I felt about that, but I was about to find out.

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