Chapter Text
‘Calm down, everything’s going to be fine. Just keep your eyes on the road, and watch for the turn.’
You kept repeating this mantra in your head as the rain continued to pound on the windshield of your car. It had been storming so loudly that you could barely hear the radio, let alone hear yourself think. You rubbed your eyes as you looked at the sky. Dark thick clouds covered the sky like a blanket. The winds were so strong that if you didn’t have a firm grip on the wheel it would have sent you flying off the road.
Your face hurt from rubbing at your cheeks so much. And your eyes were stinging as tears continued to fall down your cheeks. Your breath caught in your throat as you sniffled trying to regain your composure. Your chest had begun hurting as you drove further away. There were a few times that you felt like turning back, but convinced yourself not to at the last minute.
Thunder roared as lightning cracked overhead. Even though the heat was on, that didn’t stop the chill that ran down your spine. The rain hadn’t subsided even once since you started driving.
This is not how you thought this day was going to play out.
*****
“I’m going to do it. This is the day!”, you thought excitedly.
After weeks of debating and gathering the courage you were finally going to do it.
You were going to adopt a child.
At this point in your life you had not settled down with anyone. There were a few times when you had thought you met the right guy. Sadly, they never lasted very long. As the years passed you began to feel this deep longing in your heart.
You always wanted to have kids, but since the opportunity had never presented itself you thought it would never happen. And that terrified you. You were approaching your thirties and your biological clock was ticking.
Don’t get you wrong, you never ‘needed’ a man in your life, you just wanted one. But at this point you had put that on hold and decided enough was enough. You were going to find other solutions to have a child.
Your heart all but shattered when the doctors told you that you were physically incapable of having children and your eggs were practically useless. It took awhile for the news to truly sink in. When it finally did you broke down and didn’t leave your house for days, grieving over the child you never had.
Your boss at the daycare you worked at understood completely and gave you a week off. For the most part you felt empty...hollow...like something had been taken from you that was never there to begin with.
You felt lost.
When you finally did pull yourself together you made a promise to yourself that you weren’t going to give up. That you still had other options that you could explore. Unfortunately, Lady Luck didn’t share your sentiment.
For the next few weeks you researched on how to adopt a child, and what the restrictions were. You filled out multiple applications and paid quite a large sum of money just to get an interview at an adoption center. They took one look at your qualifications and immediately turned you down.
Not only did you not have another source of income to offer more stability for the child. But your income as a daycare worker was barely enough to provide for yourself nonetheless a child. As the social worker continued to explain your shortcomings as a potential parent all you could do was stare at her with a blank expression.
You didn’t know how to react or how to feel at this point. You felt like you should be bawling or exploding with anger, but...you didn’t do any of it.
She concluded her speech and looked at you expectantly. You continued to stare at her as you slowly got up from your chair, and headed towards the door. Before you reached for the handle, you heard her sigh.
“Miss y/n, how willing are you to give a child a forever home?”, she asked.
You paused and turned slowly towards her.
“I’ve never wanted anything more in my life, Mrs. Applegate.”, you answered quietly.
She gave you a calculating look before reaching into one of her desk drawers. She pulled out a flier and held it out to you. You walked over and took it. It was very colorful and read in big gold letters: “Ebott Home For Wayward Souls; Open House, August 14th!!”.
“This group home is very small and houses some of the most troubling children we have ever encountered. Let me warn you that this is not for everyone and we don’t usually advertise this to first time adopters. But considering your situation I feel that you at least deserve a chance to meet them. Their fee is very low, and their qualifications for adopters are practically nonexistent. Are you at all interested in something like this?”, she asked.
You stared at her wide eyed as you glanced from her to the flier. ‘Is this really happening?! If I’m dreaming for God sake don’t wake me!’, you screamed in your head. You thought it over for a moment before answering. As much as you wanted to say ‘Yes!!’ to her proposition, you still felt like you had to ask first.
“When you say, ‘troubling’, what exactly do you mean?”, you asked hesitantly.
She got up from her chair and put her hands on her desk.
“You must understand that the majority of these children came from horrifying and appalling situations and that they have been traumatized by them. Most of them are very aggressive and violent towards others and each other. They don’t know how to act in normal society. They are for lack of a better term...disturbed.”, she concluded as she met your gaze.
Your heart twisted painfully inside of you at the very thought of someone hurting a child in any way. You couldn’t even imagine the horrors that these poor kids have been through. Were you ready for this? To be responsible for a child that most likely has developed a complex or possible mental issues from their encounters with adults. With that in mind, your face became serious as you took a step closer.
“Mrs. Applegate, I would feel like the biggest disgrace to humanity if I didn’t at least try to understand and get to know these kids. I understand that they’ll be an extreme amount of work involved, but if there’s even a chance that one day we might become a family then that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”, you answered proudly.
She smiled and handed you a small piece of paper with an address on it.
“There’s no appointment needed for their open house, and they welcome anyone who’s willing to give the little ones a chance. But I must advise you to follow their rules to the letter. They are very strict about certain things and it would be in your best interest to obey them.”, she said sternly.
You gulped slightly and smiled meekly.
“I’ll remember that, thank you so much ma’am!”, you explained as you hurried out the door.
You didn’t hear her as she tried to grab your attention as you closed the door. She sighed, defeated, as she sat back down.
“That poor woman, I didn’t get a chance to tell her about the deformities the children have.”, she said sadly to herself.
*****
“Don’t be nervous, they're just kids. Possibly violent kids but kids nonetheless.”, you said trying to calm yourself.
You weren’t sure if the anxiety you felt was from having to make a good first impression or the preconception that had formed in your mind about the residents of this place. For the life of you, you couldn’t make yourself knock on the door. Your hand still mid raised as you try to force yourself to move.
As the thought of going back home crossed your mind, the door was flung open and you were now lying on your back as a couple had ran into you in their haste to leave. In a matter of seconds the couple had scrambled off of you and ran towards their car.
“Hey what’s the big deal?!”, you screamed at them as you got back up.
“Demons! They're horrible!”, the lady yelled in a panic.
“Freaks! Every last one of them!”, her partner shouted.
You stared in complete disbelief as they got into their car and sped away. It could have been your imagination but were their clothes shredded slightly? And you could have sworn that one of them had been bleeding from the head.
“Please wait!! I’m so sorry, they don’t mean it honestly!!”, you heard a female voice shout from behind you.
You turned and saw a woman panting as she had her hands on her knees. She looked back up and saw you standing there. She chuckled awkwardly and righted herself.
“Let me guess, they left?”, she asked tiredly.
“Yeah they did. They were shouting something about demons.”, you said as you faced her fully.
The woman’s eyes widened as she frowned. She sighed heavily as she leaned on the frame of the door.
“I’m sorry about that. I’m sad to say it’s a common reaction when they meet the children.”, she said somberly.
You frowned and walked towards the door.
“Well, are you still doing the Open House or am I too late?”, you asked with a small smile.
A look of surprise and joyful fear spread across her features as she stood up straight.
“Really?! Are you still interested??”, she asked hurriedly.
You chuckled softly as you outstretched your hand.
“Absolutely. I’m y/n, nice to meet you.”
“It’s very nice to meet you too! I’m Sofie, let me show you inside.”, she said eagerly.
And from that moment on, you just knew this day was going to be very...interesting.