ʟᴀɴᴅʟɪɴᴇ.

001.

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️
child abuse, sexual assault, self harm will all be mentioned in this chapter. if you'd like to you can skip it. it's all for character development.

—

OMNISCIENT
CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN NEW YORK
DECEMBER 5, 2005 | 10:23 AM

KHAMARI sat facing the window, her feet swinging as she waited patiently for her social worker to come for her. This was the 3rd time this year she had been kicked out of a home and if you asked all of the foster parents why,  she was the common denominator.

She knew she wasn't wanted, they only wanted what came with her. A check. So in her eyes, they were no one to listen to. As long as they got their check, they should be good and then she should be good. But most of the time she was wrong.

"Hey!" She snapped out of her trance to see a brown-skin girl with wild curls dangling all over head smiling at her with some sort of action figure in her hand. "I've been calling you for like the last 15 minutes." The girl dramatically complained, knowing she only attempted to get the lighter skinned girl's attention twice.

"My bad." Was all that left out of her mouth before she turned to face the window again. Her eyes fixated on the pigeons that walked back and forth pecking at whatever garbage laid on the ground.

"It's okay. I'm Harley. This ya' first time being in foster care?" The inquisitive 6 year old didn't understand why the other child was staring out of the window. But Harley remembered her first time coming here, she stayed in a corner until they forced her out of it. She didn't want that for the girl.

All Khamari could do was shake her head no. She turned in her seat so that her eyes were now on the other child in front of her.

"Me neither. I'm getting a new mommy and daddy." Harley exclaimed cheerfully, sitting directly in front of Mari. Criss crossing her legs as she looked up at her. "I hope they're nice to me. The other one's-" She cut herself off before shaking her head. "Do you  know if you're getting a mommy and daddy? I've gotten two mommy's before."

She rambled on and on as Khamari just stared at her blankly. Still unsure as to why she was even speaking to her. It seemed like there was a timer because as soon as she finished speaking, Khamari's worker returned.

"I see you've made a friend. Maybe y'all will see each-other at the Christmas dinner." Her social worker, Mrs. Dubois smiled at the pair. She had never seen Khamari speak to anyone when she sat in the center, so it felt good to see her branching out. "C'mon. Let's go check out this couple." She held Khamari close to her hip as she started walking away. "Say goodbye to ya friend."

Khamari turned to see Harley smiling as she waved her goodbye. She raised her arm to wave back before turning as they made their way into the elevator.

DECEMBER 25, 2005 | 4:35 PM

KHAMARI sat between the two she would be calling her guardians, until they decided she was too much to handle. She looked around the large ballroom, which was heavily decorated with Christmas decorations. They even had a black and white Santa walking around taking pictures.

She felt a hand on her lap, making her look up at the Hispanic male who's face held a caring smile, "You okay?" She nodded, pushing his hand off of her. Khamari was taught by Mrs.Duboise to never let anyone touch her anywhere she didn't want, especially her pocketbook. As she did that, he glared at her, unbeknownst to her the nice act would soon be over.