Care

Rebecca Stone, the social worker that had been assigned to me, was gushing about this new family, assuring me that they were amazing people with warm hearts and a loving family environment. The ‘loving environment’ wasn’t what I needed. I had a family. I didn’t need another one. What I needed was a place to crash until I could legally live on my own and live my own life.

“The couple that you’ve been placed with, Ethan and Claire Mason already have four children in their care. There’s little Mathew, who is actually Claire’s nephew, his parents died in a crash a few weeks after he was born. He was the only one who survived. Poor thing.” She said, her red hair flying everywhere from the wound-down window.

“Then there’s the twins, amazing children, truly. Thomas can read at a college-level already, and his memory is impeccable, and Talia, well. The girl is brilliant with a piano. Any musical instrument, really.” She chatted on, not realising that I wasn’t listening to her at all.

My eyes were focused on the rapidly passing trees, there were a lot of pine trees in this town I was beginning to see, but the smell was pleasant. I had always liked pine trees. “And lastly, there’s Logan. He’s a little older than you are, in fact, he only has a few more weeks in the system until his birthday. He’s a good kid, he’s been in foster care for most of his life, which is a shame, but he’s one of those good cases. No problems wherever he went.” She said, looking away from the road and to me, which I saw out of the corner of my eye. “Do you have any questions, Phaye?” She asked. I shook my head because I didn’t. I didn’t really care about the other kids. That might have sounded mean and cold, but I didn’t. They were just going to be people I lived with.

“Are you sure?” She asked, and I nodded absent-mindedly. “Well, you have my card if you need anything, and you never have to worry about the time. And I’ll check in every two weeks to see how you’re adjusting and getting along.” She assured me as she pulled off the main road and onto a quaint little street filled with medium sized houses with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens. It looked like a set from a movie or something, it was that picturesque.

She drove down to the end of the street and stopped outside of a beautiful house with a large oak tree in the front yard, with a wrap-around porch and paved footpath from the sidewalk to the stairs leading up onto the porch. The house had double front doors and windows that were perfectly aligned with the ones on the first floor. There was a single window in the roof, which led me to believe the house had an honest-to-God attic.

Rebecca got out of the car, leaning back into it to look at me. “Are you getting out?” She asked, and I sighed inaudibly, opening the door and stepping out onto the footpath. Rebecca clapped her hands excitedly like a thirteen year old at a Justin Bieber concert and ran around to the back of the car, grabbing my bag for me. I hadn’t been able to shop recently, so my luggage was painfully small, but I didn’t really mind.

Rebecca handed me my bag and I took it without a word, following her up the paved footpath. I was watching the street when Rebecca rang the doorbell, but turned around when the door opened. Standing in the doorway was a guy around my age, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was cute.

“You must be Rebecca. Mum was just getting Mattie ready. Come on in.” He said, opening the door wider and stepping out of the way. Rebecca smiled at him warmly.

“Thank you, Logan. This is Phaye, she’s going to be living here for a while. How have things been?” She asked, and after a nod to me, Logan turned back to her.

“Things have been great. Tom’s been allowed to skip another grade, and Talia’s jealous as always.” He laughed, and I rose an eyebrow that went unseen.

“Ah, Talia never changes. How has Claire been handling everything? What with the twins’ father showing up and all.” Rebecca asked, and Logan shrugged.

“She’s handling it better than expected. Dad’s been around whenever the guy’s come knocking, so he hasn’t gotten violent like we were warned.” He said in a hushed whisper, and Rebecca nodded.
“That’s well and good then. You know all you have to do is call the police the next time he shows.” She said, and Logan nodded.

Before their conversation could go on any further, a dark haired woman descended the stairs with a bright smile and two kids walking down behind her. In her arms she held a little boy around four.
“Hi, how was the drive?” She asked Rebecca, and Rebecca smiled.

“It was fine Claire. I want you to meet Phaye. She’s the kid I was speaking with you the other day about. Phaye, this is Claire Mason.” Rebecca introduced once Claire was at the bottom of the stairs. Claire smiled warmly as she placed the little boy on the floor, and gave me a quick hug.
“It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Phaye.” She said, and I gave her a small smile in return.
“Nice to meet you too.” I said, and she smiled even brighter.

“This is Mathew, Thomas and Talia.” She said, motioning to each kid as she said their name. I smiled and gave them a small wave, jumping when I felt two small arms wrap around my legs. For a four year old, Mathew was pretty small. I patted him on the back awkwardly, and Claire thankfully pulled him away when she saw my expression. I was never really great with small children.

“It’s nice to meet you, Phaye.” Thomas and Talia, the twins, said in unison, which was only slightly creepy. If they had said it without smiling, I would have already been running for the front door.
“Would you like a tour of the house, Phaye?” Claire asked, and I nodded slowly. I figured it was probably better to get the tour over and done with. “Okay. Logan, can you take the twins and Matt to the park? I promised them the other day.” Claire asked of Logan, and he nodded.

“Sure. Come here, Mattie. Let’s get your shoes on.” He said, heading further down the hall with the twins in tow. Rebecca smiled as they went, and Claire motioned towards the stairs.

“I’ll show you your room first. It’s the third door on the right. I hope you don’t mind sharing with Talia. I swear, she doesn’t snore.” Claire grinned back at me, and I smiled back. Her smiles were infectious, and I could see why the other kids seemed to adore her. It didn’t mean that I would though. I wasn’t going to feel anything for these people.

The room that was apparently mine and Talia’s was large, with a two windows, one that overlooked the front yard and that massive oak tree, and one that had a view from the side of the house. After putting my bag on the bed that was mine, right under the window, Claire led me out and continued on the tour, showing me the bathrooms, of which there were two, then going back downstairs to show me the living room, dining room, massive kitchen and the laundry.

“Now that there are seven of us, the chores can be completely evened out. One day a week, you will have to do the dishes, laundry, cleaning the dining room, lounge room and bathroom. Of course, you won’t have to do all these jobs in one day. On Mondays, Thomas cleans the dining room, Talia cleans the lounge room, I clean the bathroom, Ethan does the laundry and Logan does the dishes, and you can cook if you’d like, or you can trade with Logan.” Claire explained, opening the pantry door to show a blackboard covered in colourful chalk.

“The jobs get rotated, so you’re not always doing the same thing. I switch it around every week, and if you have something school related, or work related, if you want to get a job and have your own money, all you have to do is tell me and I can get one of the other kids to cover that job, but you’ll have to do one of theirs the following day as well as your own.” She continued, and I nodded. It was a pretty simple procedure, one that I could follow. “Do you have any questions? About the house, myself or Ethan or school?” Claire asked, and I shook my head.

“Not really.” I said politely. I wasn’t about to be rude to the woman who was allowing me to live under her roof.

“Okay. But if you ever have any questions, all you have to do is ask, either myself, Ethan, who should be back from work any minute, or the other kids.” Claire told me, and I nodded. “Okay. Well that’s everything. Oh, dinner is at seven thirty, and we each take turns cooking. If there’s anything you want to cook that we don’t normally get in the groceries, just leave a note on the chalkboard or write it down on a piece of paper, and I’ll grab it when I’m shopping.” She added, and again, I nodded.

“I must get going, Claire. Long drive ahead of me. Give Ethan my love and Phaye, call me whenever you like, even if it’s just to talk.” Rebecca said, giving me a quick squeeze before hugging Claire.

“I’ll walk you out. Phaye, make yourself at home.” Claire said, leaving the kitchen with Rebecca. I looked around for a moment after both women left, before leaving the kitchen and heading back up to my new room. I sat on my bed and searched through my bag until I found my I-Pod and a tattered copy of Bloodlines by Richelle Mead. I had already read the book fifteen times, but I loved it. I had to buy the others again, because I had left them at the other foster home and I doubted I’d get them back.

I opened the book to my saved page and hit play on my I-Pod, drowning out the silence.