Finding Pride - story from The Dumping Ground

Chapter Three

chapter three

'Hey guys, Gus has sent us an email!'

Frank signalled for his fellow Elm Tree residents to gather around the computer. Ever since getting fostered, Gus sent a weekly email (at precisely 5:35pm, Saturday) to everyone back at the Dumping Ground. The emails usually just contained pretty mundane information about his day-to-day routine, but everyone still made the effort to read it through- although they may not of liked to admit it, they all really missed the eccentric boy.

'Dear Mike, Gina, Tee, Carmen, Lily, Johnny, Frank, Harry, Jody, Tyler-'

'Frank we get it, read on!' Carmen whined.

'Fine. He says he has done some piano, ate some macoroni cheese-'

'No look, let ME read it in my head.' Carmen barged pass Frank to get a clearer view, and the other residents leaned in closer. There was a long pause.

'Look here,' Tee pointed at the third paragraph down, 'Gus said he saw Dawn crying on Tuesday.'

'Wait, what?' Faith pushed to the front of the crowd, looking worried. 'Has he said why?'

'He said it was... because people were being rude about her and Ronnie holding hands or something.' Tee responded, looking anxious.

Elektra looked over from the far sofa. She wasn't partaking in reading Gus' email, and instead was spending her time handling Mo's pet snake. There was something about Mike (the snake) that made her feel calm, but suddenly she was all-ears.

'That's horrible!' Carmen exclaimed passionately, 'why do some people have to be homophobic?'

'I don't know Carmen,' Faith responded, 'Tee, how did Gus say he reacted?'

'He says... that he made them a list on why they are good foster parents.'

'That's sweet, but still. Why are some people SO horrible about it! They just want to love and yet people just... kick them out of their lives and abuse them for it-'

Carmen's speech was interrupted by a thunder of boots running out the room. Faith jumped at the sound,

'Who was that?'

'Elektra.' Johnny laughed, looking at the empty spot on the sofa, 'I don't know what her problem is.'

Faith made a connection in her head. 'You lot STAY HERE... ELEKTRA!' Then, she too ran out the room.

'What is wrong with them?' Johnny aksed.

'Dunno,' said Jody, 'But read here about the present Gus gave has girlfriend!' They all laughed.

Meanwhile, Faith was rushing to catch up with Elektra. Despite being a competitive runner, she still didn't make it in time, and was met with a closed door.

'Elektra, please let me in.' Faith said, as softly as she could, but to no success. She tried to open the door, but to her surprise, it wouldn't budge. As there was no way of her locking the door (locks weren't permitted), Faith suddenly realised that Elektra had in fact barricaded herself inside.

'ELEKTRA! PLEASE! I'm... worried about you.'

She was about to shout for her again, when she heard something from inside. A sniffle. An inhale. Another sniffle. Was Elektra crying?

Faith had grown close to her roommate over the last few months, but Elektra had never really shown any emotion to her, and when asking about it to Johnny, he said that she didn't even cry after the incident with her parents a year ago.

Something must be seriously wrong. She looked around frantically for help.

'Rick!' Faith shouted down the corridor at the approaching boy.

'What's the matter?' He called out.

'It's Elektra. She's barricaded herself in our room, and I'm... worried.'

'Should I get Mike or Gina?'

'NO!' She looked at his shocked expression, 'Sorry, but no. You know she wouldn't want that.'

'But would she want us? Maybe we should give her some space Faith-'

'I know what I'm doing. Now help me open this door!'

With both of their force combined, they pushed as hard as they could at the wooden door.

'Rick, try push more towards the centre!' Faith was starting to struggle.

'Can't you see I'm trying my best!' He argued.

After after 5 minutes or so of trying, they managed to create a small crack in the entrance.

'Ok. That's good enough, thank you Rick but can you go away now.' Panted Faith.

'What?'

'I said go away! I can deal with this.'

Rick sloped of to find Tyler, leaving Faith to talk to Elektra. She anxiously peered through the gap to see what was going on.

It was difficult to get a clear picture of what was happening, but she could see that her friend had pushed both of their beds against the door (no wonder it wouldn't budge), and that Elektra's clothes were carelessly scattered everywhere. Yet, no sign of Elektra herself. Faith then noticed that the bedroom window had been opened, something that Elektra never does. Why would there be clothes everywhere and the window open? Elektra hadn't tried to run away, had she? 

All of a sudden, a massive wave of adrenaline rushed through Faith's body, and she had the urge to continue pushing against the door- all she that could think about was making sure her friend was okay.

Faith was so fixated on thinking about what might of happened to Elektra, that she didn't realise what she was doing.

She was opening the door.

Faith had learnt about this from her PE GCSE, that high amounts of adrenaline in the bloodstream can cause short spurts of 'super-strength'. For some reason, she never thought it would happen to her. She thought wrong.

With one final push, the door was open.

'Faith?' A small voice whispered.