LORELEI POV
The door was locked.
In disappointment I just sat in front of the door.
While sitting and trying to breathe because I felt a panic attack on its way, I was slowly drifting to sleep, exactly when I felt peace and was ready to dive into dreamland, a thud was heard behind me on the door.
All the sleep vanishes away and I quickly try to get up, managing not to scream from the pain and head to where I was left lying, planning to go fake sleep again but a voice I've never heard before says "is anyone there inside".
I wanted to respond but I didn't know who this person was.
One thing Mrs Rose always taught me many many times was not to trust strangers.
"Hello, is anyone inside" he said lightly tapping on the door.
I did not make a sound.
"Go get the keys damn it" ,
"they ran away?",
"oh man"
And it went quiet.
I don't know why but a wave of disappointment hits me.
But suddenly a key was being inserted and the door was being unlocked.
By the time I could lay down and pretend the door was kicked open with a thud and three men in funny uniforms walk in.
I've never seen these people but they looked familiar, something about that uniform.
"Hello child?"
I did not respond.
I just watched them.
My head was starting to hurt again and the pain was getting worse.
I wouldn't be able to keep myself from crying this time and I would get punished.
"You don't have to be scared of me, I'm not gonna hurt you"
I still stayed quiet but he said "I promise".
"You do?" I asked
"Yes"
"Who are you?" I asked.
"We're here to help you, were you being held captive here?".
"No I l-live here".
"You live here?".
"Yes, S-sir".
"You don't have to call me sir, I'm Royce".
"I-im Lorelei" something about him made me feel comfortable enough to introduce myself.
Suddenly the other man who was looking into his phone whispers in Royce's ears.
Royce looks at me and says "are Kennedy and Cole your parents, since you live here"
"No they are not, they're my foster parents" I said with hate for considering them my parents.
"Oh then she's innocent, they're definitely not gonna be coming back for her, let's get her to the foster system" he says walking towards me as I step back.
"It's ok I promise I won't hurt you, let's just get you to the hospital and get you cleaned up and definitely some food" but I had already heard him about the foster system, I guess it's better than here.
Probably.
I slowly walked towards him and he held my hand gently leading me with him taking small steps but I was too tired already and felt my head spin and I passed out.
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When I woke up again, I was on a bed, it was soft, I could smell lots of things around me but I recognised the smell of soap.
"She's awake" said a guy in the same uniform, oh he was the guy beside the nice stranger man, his name was, I couldn't remember something with R I think.
Oh yes, Royce was his name. As I said the name over in my head.
Royce walks towards me with a lady wearing a long white coat and a booklet in her hand.
"How are you feeling , child" she says in a calm voice.
"I'm feeling fine" I said feeling shy.
Reason I do not know.
"Okay, I'm still gonna check you one last time before you can leave okay?"
Leave?, leave where? Not possibly back to Sir and Miss.
I thought I escaped from there.
Oh wait didn't Royce mention going to the foster system, it must be there.
That still made me sad but I nodded and said "yes".
She quickly checks me, asking me to breathe in and out a couple of times which I could only manage to do twice without folding from the pain and throbbing in my ribs, which made the pretty, kind lady worry but after doing it a few more times she said with a soft smile "you'll be fine baby girl, your strong as hell aren't you?"
"I am?"
"Yes, you are" she says smiling again.
She smiles a lot.
I liked it.
She turns towards Royce and whispers something I cannot hear and then Royce walks towards me and says "we can go now, come on let's get you something to eat"
I nod and he carries me with a swoop to which I squeal.
I have never been carried by anyone before, so this is new.
"Hey, you don't have to hold onto me so tight I'm not gonna let you fall" I realize I have been holding his collar a bit too tight.
"I'm sorry"
"No that's alright, I'm just saying" he walks me out of this place that's called Rosewood hospital and we're in a car.
After around ten minutes we reach someplace else, with a lot of people dressed like Royce.
I'm not used to people. So I had to step back, Royce holds my hand gently again, bends down to my level and says.
"It's ok baby girl, it'll be fine, no one here is gonna hurt you"
"Okay" I say not believing my own words.
He asks me to wait in a corner and he goes into another room followed by some others.
A lady wearing the same funny uniform walks towards me.
"Hey, look at you, so cute, what's your name"
"I'm Lorelei" I didn't stutter surprisingly.
"Oh my god such a pretty name for a pretty girl" after a moment of silence she says "aren't you gonna ask me my name, oh I'm wounded" she says dramatically pretending to hold onto her heart which makes me giggle and she laughs too.
She reaches into her pocket and gives me some small wrapped things.
"Here you go, candies"
"What's candies?"
"Oh" she says frowning
"I'm sorry" I say bending my head.
"Nono it's alright, these are yummy eatable things, you just gotta pop one in your mouth and suck on it, see like this" she says demonstrating what she said handing one to me.
I do the same and it tastes amazing, it's very sweet and doesn't melt away in your mouth as quickly as you put it in so you can feel the taste on your tongue for quite sometime while sucking on it.
"Do you like it" she says with hope filled in her eyes
"I love it" I say while she gives me one more
"You can have some but not all, it's gonna rot your teeth if you eat too many, okay?"
"Okay"
"Good girl"
But this whole while there was something that didn't make sense to me, it was messing with my mind.
How was it that this lady in front of me looked into my eyes multiple times but did not run away screaming or ask me to look away.