"Cassidy?" the soft voice asked as a gentle hand pushed against my shoulder.
My eyes flew open and my hands immediately went to my face to cover it from the blows that should be raining down soon.
An exhaled sigh was the only sound I heard though the hand removed itself.
No blows came.
I chanced opening my eyes and saw a strange man hovering above me.
A squeak of fear escaped me as I scrambled up toward my headboard.
He held both hands up in the air and said, "I'm not here to hurt you."
My breath came in heavy pants as I stared at him. I only relaxed when I saw the badge and my mind processed it was the police officer I'd seen earlier. I let my hands fall from my head.
A shift of movement caught my attention. My gaze flicked over only to see the boy from school standing on the other side of the room. His expression was unreadable, but I watched as he stared at my hands, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he did.
I tried to speak but my mouth was too dry. I swallowed a couple of times.
"Why are you here?" I croaked out.
"We're here to take you away," the officer said.
I blinked at him as silence fell in the room. It only lasted a few seconds before a harsh and disbelieving laugh escaped me. "Where's my aunt?" I asked him. "Is she waiting outside?"
The officer's strong jaw clenched. "She's not in the house." He glanced back at the boy. "She won't come back in until she's allowed."
I held the man's kind hazel gaze. "And my cousins?"
"Otherwise occupied." He held a hand out to me. "I'm here to help you, Cassidy. Why don't you grab a duffel and pack your things?"
I didn't take his outstretched hand. "Where am I going?" My heart was pounding out a steady, thumping beat as blood rushed through my ears. That fearsome thing called hope was starting to squirm around in my belly, but I squished it like a gardener would a snail in their garden.
"With us," the boy said. I turned to him and studied the lean angles of his face. The soft light streaming through the window threw his face into shadow, making him appear even broodier than normal.
"And why would I do that?" I asked him.
The officer and the boy met gazes. "Because we know your father," the man said.
I took his hand then.
Hope bloomed like a flower within me.
The ride to wherever we were going was silent. The boy whose name I still didn't know sat in the backseat leaning against the driver's side window, while I stared out at mine. The officer hadn't said much more as he led me out of the house I hated so much, but he did ask me if I wanted to say goodbye to my aunt.
A harsh laugh cracked from me then. I swept past him and as I was about to step out of the house, I noticed the precious vase my aunt kept by the side of the door. She liked to look at it every time she stepped into the foyer. When I first arrived, I accidentally bumped into it and the beating my aunt gave me kept me home from school for two days and I had to eat soup for three because my jaw was so swollen. I didn't know if the vase actually meant something to her or if it was just one more thing used to scare me. But as I stepped up to the front door to the goddess knows what, I stuck my hand out and gave that vase a light shove.
