I Don't Do Back Stories; However, I'm Becoming Increasingly Interested in Yours...

Chapter 1:
"You did what?" I stared at my mother absolutely gobsmacked taking in what I'd just been told, she rolled her eyes "Alexander, she's just lost everything and everyone she ever knew, she doesn't even know who she is, I couldn't just let her go an orphanage, so I adopted her" I scoffed and she slapped me lightly on the arm "Please Alexander? Be nice, she hardly talks" I looked at my mother "Like Zack?" She shook her head "Zack doesn't talk because he has nothing to say, it’s like she's scared to talk" okay, now I was confused, scared to talk? Scared to express herself? What had happened to this girl? I sighed "How old is she?" My mother grinned at me "16" before I could respond the front door opened and closed, a bag was dropped at the stairs, shoes were kicked off by the downstairs bathroom and then a very fragile looked bruised and beaten brunette girl appeared in the doorway.

My mother’s small gasp was enough to tell me this wasn't how she'd left the house this morning "Alex, go get a damp cloth" I nodded and walked into the kitchen and returned a few moments later and bent down in front of my mom and the girl, she looked at me with fear? Or curiosity in her eyes, I couldn't tell "I'm not like them, I'm not going to hurt you" I reassured her looking directly into her eyes her eyes seemed to change their expression to definite curiosity to see what I was gonna do "can I clean your cuts?" She nodded slightly as I began to dab at the dried blood from where her bloody nose had run, then moved to the cut above her eye brow she gave me the tiniest smile when I'd finished, it was only when my mom walked back in the room carrying a tray with three hot coca's on it that I noticed she'd left, "sweetie, what happened?" She asked gently, the girl just shrugged, "why won't you tell me?" Mom asked softly, the girl looked at mom and then at me, mom made a noise of understanding "Alex, honey, can you excuse us for a minute" I nodded and looked at the nameless girl who was staring at me, trying to work out if I was a threat, I heard my mom ask her what happened once again before I was out of ear shot I sat on the stairs and texted Jack

Alex: Dude, mom adopted this chick that doesn't talk? It’s weird x

Jack: Well, obviously dude, chickens can't talk x

Alex: Oh, real cute Jack, I'm serious, this girl doesn’t talk x

Jack: GIRL?! Dude is she hot!? x

I rolled my eyes, why is he my bestfriend?

Alex: Jack, she's 16, and my sister now, I guess x

Jack: Oh dude, that sucks, why doesn't she talk? x

Alex: I don't know, she came home all beaten up so I cleaned the blood off her face then when mom asked her what happened she wouldn't talk until I left the room x

Jack: Dude, that is weird, anyways, we're going out as a family before I leave for tour next week, in a bit x

I put my phone in my pocket and looked up as the lounge door opened and mom said it was all good to come back in, so I did, I had no idea where my sister had gone so I put the TV on and crashed on the couch.

She reappeared a half hour later in an old pair of my sweats which mom must've given her and an old jumper which was too small for me but way too big for her, with her school bag and a plate of cookies and sat on the floor in front of me getting her homework out, offering me a cookie which I accepted and then placed them on the coffee table that she was using as a desk and started working on her homework.

After half an hour I heard her give a frustrated sigh, I climbed off the sofa and sat cross legged next to her "Need help?" I asked and she looked at me, confused at my kindness and nodded, I looked at her work and quickly realized it was math which I'd always sucked at "Okay, show me what you’re doing, I'll try to help, bearing in mind I sucked at math" she looked at me through her lashes and shrugged.

After an hour or so of me trying to explain her math homework to her and 3 packets of cookies later, I was bored and curious "What’s your name?" I asked in the softest tone I could mange, she shook her head at me and I didn't press the issue, I wanted her to trust me, I just didn't know how I would achieve it "Dinner!" My mom’s cheery voice rang through from the kitchen, I stood up and offered her my hand to pull her up, she looked at it doubtfully for a few seconds and then took my hand so I could pull her up she let go as soon as she was standing upright and lead the way to the dining room.
After dinner, she collapsed on one side of the sofa and I collapsed on the other, picking up the acoustic guitar and began to mindlessly strum, while she immersed herself in a book. After a while, her curiosity got the best of her and she was staring intently at my fingers plucking the strings and my hand moving up and down the fret board trying to figure out what I was doing "Wanna play?" I asked her, her eyes snapped from my hands to my face, looking for traces of malice, when she found none; she shrugged at me "Do you know how?" I questioned softly and she instantly shook her head, I motioned for her to walk over to me, which she did, I took a risk and pulled her onto my lap so I could explain the chords to her, we started with a simple three chord tune and after a few fails she seemed to get it, I took this time to really look at her, her beautiful face was littered with bruises and her arms with scars from the car wreck that had taken her family.

I was so engrossed in staring at her and she was so engrossed in the tune she was playing that we both jumped out of our skin when the flash of a camera went off, she instantly jumped off of my lap as if I was something that was burning her skin, glaring at my mother “Was that necessary?” I asked her, Mom just smiled in retaliation to my question; she knew I hated it when she did that “I’m starting a family album” she beamed, however the nameless girl just looked down at her feet, “Whatever” I muttered as I left the room, the girl, whose name I really needed to know shot me a panicked look silently asking if it was her fault that I was leaving, I slightly shook my head telling her it wasn’t then went up to my room, after tweeting with the fans for a while I showered and got ready for bed and went back to tweeting, about an hour later there was a soft knock on my door, I opened it an saw her standing there in an oversized T-shirt and a pair of shorts with wet hair and no makeup on, that’s when I saw the full extent of her bruises from the beating she got today and made a mental note to myself that if she ever came home like that again, I wouldn’t let her go back, she smiled up at me ever so slightly and handed me my guitar which I’d left downstairs “Thank you” I smiled at her she looked at me and seemed to be considering something “Ivory” She said, she talked, holy shit! She talked! My ingenious reply? “What did you say?”