Faith has been cursed with a voice so beautiful, she has to stay silent. She wasn't born with it, rather she was transformed into a walking weapon at the ripe age of ten years old. After barely escaping with her life, she ends back up in the foster...
"Faith, we are over here!" A voice rings out and I hear the clicking of square pegged high heels and male dress shoes. I spin around trying to follow the voice and I am pulled into a woman's arms.
"Oh, it's so good to see you again Faith," Ruka says and I pat her back awkwardly. She's definitely a hugger.
"Most of your stuff arrived yesterday and we put it into your room so you can unpack it when you get back. But before we do that, was your flight okay?" Ruka asks me earnestly and I can't help but smile.
"She's smiling so it couldn't have been too bad," Dax says amused and he gives me a brief hug.
I pull my little pad of paper out of my pocket and start writing down what happened on my flight. They wait patiently to finish before I hand it to Ruka, she smiles and laughs as she reads.
'I've never actually been on a plane before, so it was a really weird experience and I was a little anxious, but the flight attendant noticed so she gave lots of crackers and I listened to the music thing you gave me with all the songs on it and eventually I fell asleep. The flight attendant had to wake me up because I didn't hear the captain's voice through the headphones,' it reads.
"You've never flown before? Didn't you live with a family in Georgia before? How did you get there?" Dax asks as we start walking out of the airport.
I only brought a single carry on with me, so we didn't need to wait for luggage. I make a motion of pulling a train whistle and they look at me strangely for a moment before it clicks. Dax makes a motion and a shiny, black car pulls up in front of us. A nice gentleman takes my bag and puts it in the trunk. Dax climbs into the passenger seat and Ruka opens the door for me to climb into the back seat.
My nose is overwhelmed with the scent of new leather and I can't help but stare out the window as we peel away from the curb and drive through the city. I have never really been to the city, especially not a huge city like New York. Ruka and Dax make casual conversation with the driver, but I just focus on all of the huge buildings.
"Faith honey, we need to go shopping for your uniforms for school at some point, so I wanted to know if you were hungry or if you wanted to eat or rest or unpack," Ruka asks listing off a lot of choices.
I purse my lips and think about it. I am sort of tired but at the same time I do want to finish settling in, so I don't have to deal with it later. Especially because I know I will be starting at that fancy private school shortly. I make a gesture of eating and Ruka smiles and gives the driver directions. We pull up in front of a nice restaurant and I look down at my wrinkled t-shirt and jeans.
"It's a very casual restaurant, don't worry dear," Ruka says before ushering me out of the car.
This is not a casual restaurant, but I guess we just haven't different definitions of the word casual. The hostess leads us to a table and I pull out my pad of paper and look down at the menu in front of me and recognize the language on the menu. I start piecing together some of the phrases as I wrack my brain trying to remember the French I was forced to learn when I was ten. I eventually find something and show my menu to Ruka and point to it.
"Oh! I'm so used to reading this menu I forgot that it was French. Do you want me to explain what that means?" Ruka asks me. I shake my head no and she looks confused.
"Is that what you want?" Dax asks me, picking up on what I am not saying.
I nod my head, yes, and he smiles okay. The waiter takes our order and Dax and Ruka converse amongst themselves and I occasionally write something down to chime in. After dinner, they call the car again and we drive back to the apartment. Stepping out of the car I crane my neck upwards in an attempt to see the top of the building. On the elevator ride up Dax hands me the key and it is made of thick plastic. I give him a confused look and he explains that all of the locks here are electronic to make it more difficult for people to get in.
Walking into the apartment nothing could have prepared me for what is in front of me. Everything is glass and chrome. The couches are a soft grey and are quite sharp. The walls are painted a crisp off white and as I peer into the kitchen I see granite, black, countertops, dark wood cabinets, and stainless-steel appliances. I trail behind Ruka as she shows me to my room. Opening the door, I walk inside and see faint blue walls with grey wood furniture, a large queen size bed with a grey patterned bedspread, and a beautiful glass and wooden desk in the corner. I walk over to the large window and I notice that I can see so much of the city.
"Do you like it dear? We redecorated once we found out a little bit more about you," Ruka asks and I can hear Dax shuffling things around in the next room over. I look around for a pad of paper and find one already on the desk.
'It's amazing Ruka, thank you so much,' I write out and hand her the tablet.
"I'm glad you like it! All of your things are in those boxes; we will go shopping tomorrow, okay? Do you need any help unpacking?" She asks.
I shake my head no and she leaves me to unpack. I start going through the boxes and finding places to put things. I see a bag next to all of the boxes and open it carefully. Peering inside I see a few shirts and skirts. I pull the soft material out of the bag and marvel at the different colors and patterns. I carefully hang them up in the closet and check tags, they are all my size. Climbing into bed I sink into the mattress and drift to sleep confused, but not anxious.
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