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sophietheemu-blog · 6 years ago

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No Place like home Ch.4 The Party

I wanted to get out of the car before we pulled into the driveway. I didn't want to stay in this horrible silence, it was too deafening, I didn't want to keep facing it. It took a minute to get to the end of the driveway but it felt like years. I wanted to get out, I needed to get out, I had to... Right now.

As soon as the car stopped, I opened the door. I couldn't wait anymore, I ran to the beach I didn't listen when Jace called for me. I needed to be there, even if I terrified me, even if it meant crying.

Right when I got to the shore line I fell, I didn't care if I was crying or on my knees. I just wanted to be somewhere like home, somewhere like where I last saw my father. It's when a hand touches my back lightly that I turn to see a woman, around Jace's age touching my back. This must be Jess. She has beautiful dark brown hair that has highlights of almost white, her brown eyes have gold flecks that threaten to break into pure sunlight.

"Are you okay, Juleka?" I hear her say politely, yet there is a hint of worry in her voice. Huh, I never realized how stupid asking that question is, if it's obvious someone is sad or very clearly hurt, shouldn't that answer your question? Or if someone looks like they were crying isn't it slightly obvious they're a little okay by now. I notice she has a hand out to take mine.

"I'm fine," I say back as calmly as I can, forcing a smile. Hey just because she'd assume it doesn't mean I can't act it, too. Don't blame me. I take her hand and she helps me up, she started walking to the house and I quietly followed suit.

"So tonight we have a small party at a neighbor's house. All the kids and their parents will be there. Do you want to come?"

My eyes lit up. It's my second day here, and yet, it's seemingly my only opportunity to actually make friends. I need to go, to get a group of people who I can keep around for the next small while. It seems like by now, I'd never want to make friends, but I can't help but to have at least one person to be around.

"Okay, I'll go. But only if I can take my sketchbook, phone and headphones if I need to get out of there. I may need it."

"Nobody said you couldn't, get ready, we leave in about forty-five minutes." Jess said. She seemed happy, I think this is the first time I'll truly be able to trust someone from a family that wasn't the first one I was in. I had a friend in that family and he was close to me, when he died, I stopped trusting the families I was in, after the third family, I just let them pass, everyone I've ever trusted has either died or stopped talking to me. I don't think about him, it always hurt to remember. I can't keep dealing with it the way I do, maybe I should let someone in.

When we got to the house I got ready, dressing in a simple patterned dress that when down to my knees, I packed a purse that matched with my stetchbook, pencils, charcoals, and my phone with my headphones plugged in. I slipped on a pair of pearl coloured flats and left my room to find Jace and Jess ready to go, I never realized how different they looked, but they definitely could've resembled my parents. Jess had the same olive like skin that I did and Jace had my eye colour. Although Jace is shorter than my dad was and Jess is slightly taller than him,both of them have some sort of match with my parents, whether it be personality or looks, they remind me so much of them th-

"Juleka! You're crying!" They both scream at the same time. But I can't help to smile.

"You look a lot like them." I say, the tears still pouring down but I don't care. My smile gets bigger. They look at each other and and flash a small look of worry before smiling a little.

"Do we really?" Jace said, looking at Jess and smirking.

"Yeah! You guys do." I say smiling bigger, it's then that I realize what I said and instantly turn red from my neck to my ears.

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sophietheemu-blog · 6 years ago

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No Place Like Home ch. 3 The City

The man watched from the shadows as the woman pulled up to the driveway. He noticed her walk up the porch and go in but he wasn't worried about her. He watched the girl as she changed into her clothes for the day, checking his watch, he noted that she wakes up at 5:00 am.

"Perfect." He whispers before getting up and quietly leaving the premises. "Perfect, indeed."

As Juleka gets ready, she heard someone close the door and walk up the stairs. She peeked her head out the door and saw the woman go into a room she can only assume is the other bedroom.

"Okay," I say to myself quietly, "So that must be my new 'mother.' I'll say hi to her later, for now, I want to go explore the house and see if I can find secret places to read or draw." She quickly leaves her room and goes downstairs to get something to eat. On her way to the fridge to see if they have some sort of fruit or snack she can grab quickly, something catches her eye. She looks at the table, only to see a box with a note on it. She pulls off the just note to see that it's some instructions, she throws it behind her and opens the box. It's a phone! And it looks new! She turns around and gets on the ground to find the instructions for it but she can't find the paper anywhere.

"Oh, well. Guess I have to wait for Jace to get up." I say quietly, I don't want to wake up either of them. It's then that I realized I might as well go back up to my room and draw up there until one of them wakes up, and that's exactly what I did. I sat on the balcony with my sketch book and pencil in hand and started to draw the ocean and the lights of the city in the distance, putting as much energy as possible into it, until it was around 8:00 am and I heard someone knock on my door.

"Come on in." I say, knowing that it's Jace, probably coming to wake me up or something like that.

"Oh hey. I didn't think you'd be up, how long have you been awake?"

"Since like 5 am. Why?"

"Just curious. How do you wake up so early?"

"I always have. Is that a problem for you?"

"Not at all!" Jace said quickly, it's obvious he just wants to make sure I'm settling in well but I've never liked it when they do that, it makes me feel kinda like a prisoner.

"Can we go downstairs? I'm starving and want to explore the area, find good places to read that aren't just my room." I say while getting up, "I also want to know what kind of people I'll be around going into the next school year and their parents. I think I heard the social worker say that there were a lot of kids my age around and I want to have a friend group set when I finally get to the school." I throw on a jacket that I took out of the closet, and when I look in the mirror, I see... Well I see me, a girl on the shorter side of the spectrum, with ocean eyes and an olive skin glow, my dark red hair is long enough to go down to my waist but I keep it up in a ponytail. The only thing I see is what I hope other kids will see when I meet them. Not too poor looking, not too snobby acting, I'll stay the me I want them to see.

"Ok, let's go get breakfast. Then a little while later, we can go meet the neighbors and I can introduce you to their kids," Jace said.

"Ok." I say back.

After breakfast, he and I worked together to set up the phone he gave me and after about an hour, we set it up. I grabbed the headphones and the phone, quickly, I shoved it into my pocket. We decided to leave for the day to meet the neighbors and so he could show me the city that I'll be stuck in for who knows how long. But, it's weird, this is the first time I've been excited at a new place since the first family I had to stay with. Instead of meeting the neighbors first, Jace took me to a café he owns, apparently he owns five in the area and that's how he makes money.

"Order anything, it will help me to understand what you like and you might be surprised." Jace said happily, Jeez, he really wants to know what I like. It's strange in a way, I'm not used to people wanting to know stuff about me, they usually don't care or ask but don't listen.

"Can I get a strawberry frappé and a strawberry cheesecake." I say quickly. I love strawberries and I've never seen a place that had strawberry deserts like these.

"You must really like strawberries, don't you Juleka?" Jace says surprised, "Can I get the same." He said politely to the cashier. While the woman up front rings us up, he looks down at me and says,"You're lucky that I do, too. Jess would hate me if she found out I ate strawberries, she's terrified of them." He says it in a somewhat joking tone. Is my new 'mother,' or should I say Jess, honestly afraid of something as simple as strawberries? That's strange.

"Wait, seriously? A phobia of strawberries, that's rare." I say back, confused.

"Yeah it's called Fragariaphobia, I think. Fear of strawberries."

"Fragariaphobia. That's a weird word, am I saying it right?" I ask. That's such a strange term.

"I think you are, I'm not a hundred percent sure though, I think you should ask her tonight when she's home."

Our food is done when he finishes the sentence and we go to find a place to sit, as soon as we sit he has a few more questions, he wants to make sure that he knows everything about me but I don't know if I want him to know it all.

"So when's your birthday?"

Nobody cares. Why bother telling him? I don't respond and start to drink the frappé, the strawberries are blended into the drink along with a flavoring powder or substance. Whatever it is, it tastes amazing.

"What kind of sports do you like? The school you're starting at is big when it comes to it a-"

I stopped listening again, I see his lips moving but I hear no sound and, frankly, don't care to listen.

"What's your greatest fear?"

I felt shocked when I heard this one, it completely catches me off guard. I think he could see my eyes change from mildly annoyed to terrified and sad, just with the terms 'greatest,' and 'fear.'

Before I can even really think, the words come out. "Fire, losing the people I loved, the nightmares that come with it." I quickly cover my mouth. I can't believe I just blurted that out, he looks puzzled and confused.

"... Oh, sorry... Did that last question hit a bad spot? You know what don't answer. I'll stop the questions for now. Go on and enjoy your food. You said you're afraid of fire? You have pyrophobia. T-"

Dad would act like this, telling me facts until he ran out of them and mom, she'd just laugh. He always seemed so defeated when he couldn't come up with another, or repeated one more than once, I miss them s-

"Juleka? You're crying again." Jace says. Damn it! He knows I spaced out. I reached up and wiped the tears with my sleeve.

"So... Did you start thinking about them again? Look I know Jess and I may not be your real parents bu-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW MY REAL PARENTS!" I scream at him, cutting him off with tears in my eyes while standing up. A second of silence passed through the restaurant and I run out to the car. He quickly follows behind and we drive back home in silence.

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sophietheemu-blog · 6 years ago

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No Place Like Home ch. 2 The New Family

I step out of the car and take a glance at the house. My jaw instantly dropped, I never looked at it before we got there but, the house is huge. Almost like a mansion, and it had a perfect view of the ocean! I went to the back to grab my bag, it's a plain red backpack that my first family gave me the day I got there. I only have a few things in it, a locket my father gave me, a pair of headphones I got out of the house that mother used, and an old stuffed rabbit from the second house I stayed at. It has some pencils and an old notebook that I use as a sketch pad. As soon as the social worker gets out of the car a man runs out of the house to greet us. His blond hair shinned bright in the sun, his olive green eyes were a sort of surprise, I was expecting brown or blue, but they were soft and calm, he was tall,and skinny.

"Hi. You must be Juleka." He said with a smile.

"Yeah, and you?" I say with my eyes trained on the ocean. I haven't been this close to the sea side in years, I still remember learning how to swim in the big waves, surfing with my dad and tanning on the sand with my mom.. it wasn't that long ago that I was able t-

"Juleka?" Says the man. I come back to reality. Shoot! I must've gotten lost in thought. I put my hand to my face and realized I was crying.

"O-oh! Sorry. I must have gotten lost in my mind. What was your name again?"

"Jace. Jace Smith. Shall we go in?"

"Sure. Sounds lovely."

As we walk in, I realized how big the house was. They have a huge chandelier hanging from the high ceilings, beautiful, expensive wallpaper hanging from the walls, and an amazing bedroom for her. As soon as I walked into the room that would soon be my bedroom, I was ammused at how they had everything I wanted inside, dark blue walls, like how I thought the ocean looked on the day my parents died, light blue blankets on the bed, ones that remind me of sunny days on the beach, bookshelves full of books I love and a balcony that has an amazing view of the ocean. The closet had mirrors on the doors and I had a desk will plenty of art supplies. Yet, as soon as I saw the bed, I didn't care about the room anymore, I wanted to pass out on the beautifully made bed. And that's what I possibly did while the social worker and Jace talked outside the door. I woke up before the social worker left and waved goodbye from the porch.

As she left, Jace said kindly,"My beautiful wife, also known as the woman who will be like your mother, will be home late and I will stay with you until then. What do you want to do?"

Juleka had never really done much with any of her other families, they always left her out of most things but she continued to train her eyes on the ocean, on the waves.

"Surfing?" I said in a questioning tone, I didn't really know much about him. Anytime he said something about him during the last few hours, I always spaced out and thought about my parents, and when he was done I always felt bad for not listening but I was too scared to ask him to repeat. After all, I'm the one who ignored him.

"That sounds like fun! I don't think you got a chance to look in the closet but we assumed you were more of a tomboy than a girly girl. You have plenty of outfits in there along with a wetsuit. We have surf boards out by the water."

I ran upstairs right after he said that and found the wetsuit without looking at any of the other outfits. I may be rusty because of how long it's been, but I need to do something that'll remind me of home. I miss them and I miss the old house. After Juleka got changed, she was surprised to see that Jace was already in the ocean. As soon as she noticed him, she ran down as fast as she could and grabbed a surfboard. I can do this. I may be a bit rusty, but I can do this. As I jump into the water, a small wave hits me, and with that wave comes every memory, every thought, just everything about my parents and I can't do it. I get out of the water, sobbing and put the board back where it was before sprinting to my room in the house. I quickly took off the wetsuit and replaced it with a pair of soft and comfortable pajamas before falling onto my bed crying. Before I could meet the woman who would be my new 'mother,' I cried myself to sleep.

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sophietheemu-blog · 6 years ago

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No Place Like Home ch. 1 The Beginning

"Wake up! Juleka! Juleka, please." He screamed into my face.

Dad? Where are we? I thought were inside.. Wait! Where's the house? Where's mommy? Everything looks destroyed, no. Not that, burnt... Did something happen? All I can see is the sky.

"What happened?" I ask slowly, I feel like I'm going to fall asleep again. I watched as my dad's face turned from terrified to ecstatic just to see my ocean blue eyes. As soon as we make eye contact, I see him start to cry.

"Oh thank the Gods! Juleka! You're okay!" My father quickly says while holding me tightly. I'm so confused as to what's going on. "I'm so happy to see you awake! Wait... Where's Ashely? I'm sorry, my Jule, but I'm going to have to set you down and look for mommy, stay here, please."

"Ok, dad." I say back, as I say it I see him running away. I hear him screaming mom's name as he runs, "Ashely! Ashely! Yell if you hear my voice!" I see him run out of sight but I'm too tired to try to look with him, I can only stare at the ocean. As I watch the calming waves, I feel something, dark and terrifying... I don't know what, but there's just something inside that feels... Missing, like someone stole something but I can't think of what.

That's when I hear it... The explosion. The one that killed both my parents, the one that was supposed to kill me, too. After that, all I remember is crying, harder and harder while watching the sun rise over the ocean in the soothing Maryland sky, one last time, before the social workers put me in one of the many new homes I'd be stuck in.

I hardly had the time to process it, what happened to my family before I was dropped into these new families, these people were supposed to be my new family, this place was supposed to be my new start. But, one by one, each family returned me, each one refused to keep me, each one wanted to get rid of me. And every time, the social workers would say, "The next family will love you as much as your parents. The next family will care for you. The next family will be your forever home."

Those dirty, lying bitches. Never once has a family loved me as much as my parents had. Not once have they cared, not a single one has wanted to keep me longer than a year. But, sure. Keep saying the next one will be it, the next one will be better, I'm sure it will be. It's been three years since my parent's death.

Three years! In those three years, I've been to five different schools and have had six different families. It makes me want to scream! Right as I think that, we pull up to my next 'forever home.' Also known as, the place I'll be for maybe six months, before I'm thrown back into the system, again. But there's something. Something very tiny, that's making me think otherwise.

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