SCREECH.
The car came to a stop before a large house. The three kids looked at the alien house with eyes of interest. They were ushered outside the car and walked up the driveway to the front of the house. When the door to the house was opened, out came a man and woman. They were holding each other's hands tightly. Karl deciphered the two to be a couple. They were all welcomed in by them, and found some six kids already inside the house, taking on some different chores.
The escorting man and woman went and talked with the couples as the three were left to tour the house and interact with its environment. Six kids were already in… and Karl saw how they looked different from each other. They were probably not all kids from these two grownups. Karl thought. He went over to talk to them, and they all moved away. He didn't know why. 'Why were these kids avoiding me?' he asked himself. Starting from the blonde boy his age and now these six kids? He walked away and flopped himself on a couch and began to doze off. It was almost four in the evening, and the day had been long and dragged itself to complete its twenty-four-hour runtime.
"Wake up, wake up." A voice shook him from his sleep. Karl opened his eyes and eyes saw the red-haired girl. He snuffed the little sleep remaining and got on his feet. She led him to the backyard of the house and found the man and woman who had brought them were talking with the couples and the other boy. Karl and the girl stood opposite the guys in suits. The three kids were told the news they knew was coming all along.
Mr. and Mrs. Quagmire had taken the children under their wings— to take care and nurture for them. This was going to be their new home for the coming few months and if they were lucky, they'd all live here till they were old enough to leave and start living on their own. Some major rules about listening to them and obeying their instructions followed and the things to be done and be avoided while under their premises. The three kids went for their items inside the vehicle and said goodbye to the nice people who had brought them here. Karl couldn't believe it! It was really happening. A few weeks ago, he was a proud son of Paul Purcell, and right now… he was just another boy in a foster home.
That night after supper, Karl went over to one of the girls' bedrooms to talk with the red-haired girl. She was the only one so far who was speaking to him and giving him any attention if there was any to be offered. He knew nothing of a backstory of her. He missed her in the girls' bedroom, asked for her whereabouts, and was ignored, as usual. Some few hours here and the present kids still treated him like an outcast while the red girl and the boy were welcomed with open arms. He went over to the backyard and found her by herself. He sat next to her and they gazed at the skies, sleep having packed its bags away from their tired eyes. It was a new and strange environment and truth be told, he couldn't still place where they were.
"Hello there," Karl started.
"Hey…" the strange girl replied.
"Um… I was wondering if I could talk to you, everyone here is not welcoming, and… I feel so alone."
"It's because of what you did." The girl told him.
"What do you mean?" Karl asked.
"You, you helped that boy kill that other boy… your story and face are all over the news."
"Dylan?" He asked, his voice tinted with confusion.
"Yes."
"No, no, no… I did not kill my brother." Karl muttered. "It was Zayn. Not me."
"The news person said that you led him to play with Zayn that day… so how is it not your fault?"
"I never knew he was going to do that." Karl cried out, eyes stinging with tears.
"Now that's what everyone knows. And I'm sorry that that's how life turned out for you. It isn't fair but here we are Karl."
"You know my name?"
"Yes. You and Zayn have been on TVs for a while now." She snuffed a little. "Oh. I'm Kimberly." The girl told him as she brought her hand to greet him.
"You know so much about me," Karl said as she shook her hands, "would you mind telling me about yourself?"
"It's a tragic as all kids who are here… nothing special."
"Your parents passed away?"
She nodded.
"I'm sorry…" Karl told her. The girl scoffed.
"It's funny how the universe has its own plans. You think that you have everything under control, that you know what you're going to do tomorrow… only for something else to happen. Something bad… it always has to be something bad."
"I guess we all have our different stories, intertwined in different ways," Karl told her. "Do you think this place is going to be okay?"
"I dunno. I have no option… No living relative." She sadly answered. "What about you, what happened to you and your parents… or wherever you were living."
"I have no family," Karl responded, as his eyes stung once again. "I knew that pretty well yesterday."
"We will be your family." A male voice shook him from behind. The two turned around and saw the boy they'd come with standing close to them and had rested his back on the opened door.
"Hey… so you talk?" Karl started again.
"I do." The boy answered as he walked towards them. "I'm sorry for being a jackass. It's just that everyone is afraid of you."
"Do I look like a killer? Really?" He asked the boy.
"No you don't. It's just what people are saying."
Karl turned and faced in front once again. He brought his knees closer to his chest and rested his chin on them. "I really miss him. Wish that things would have turned out different." A stray tear slid down his face. "If I could change everything, I'd have already done so."
"What happened was not your fault Karl," Kimberly told him. "It was a mistake."
"Listen kid," the boy said, "we're a little band of misfits here. Everything happened so that we could be here. And if fate wanted us to meet each other then okay… let it do its work."
"Thanks for your sweet words…?"
"Oh… my name?" The boy asked. Karl nodded. "My name's Guarth."
"Nice to meet you Guarth." He answered, eyes fixed on the curious stranger.
They heard some footsteps heading their way to the backyard. They looked around uneasy. Someone was approaching. And then they saw him. Mr. Quagmire is in his gumboots and brown overall. He looked tired and his clothes were full of dirt… or mud to be precise. He was smoking a cigar.
"What are you three kids doing down here at this time of night?" He asked in a coarse croaky voice.