Seeing Red

Chapter 2: Awakening

Marylin's hands were shaking from excitement. She had been smiling so much her cheeks hurt. She was being driven by her social worker to her new foster parents.

Of course, she was already a few years into adulthood when she left the lab. But being as clever as she was, everyone believed that she was seventeen. An orphan with no memory of her previous life or who her parents were. She was taken into the system, given an identity and now had found the family that wanted her. She had been reminded of how fortunate she was not to age out of the system, as most families wanted a baby or a toddler to raise.

This new family wanted to be her family even though she was nearly 18, and would be graduating high school soon. She was incredibly grateful to them for that.

She could have just found another way to get herself an identity, rent a place here and live her life as an adult. But she wanted this. She wanted what she never got to have.

They were driving slowly through the nicest neighborhood in Derry. Every house was nicely painted with a manicured lawn. It almost seemed like the sun shined the most on this particular spot in Derry.

The social worker, Ms. Taylor, pulled up in front of a two-story pebblestone grey house with a red door. Marylin couldn't hold in her excitement; she threw the door open and jumped out, staring in awe at the beautiful suburban house. It felt so welcoming and bright. Taylor climbed out after her, smiling because she was happy to see such joy. It was something that never got old for her, even after all the years of her work.

They approached the door, but before they could even ring the doorbell, her foster parents opened the door. The woman looked nearly as excited as Marilyn did.

"Hi, mom and dad!" said Marilyn, as she dropped her bags and threw her arms around the couple standing in their doorway, taking them by surprise. Her foster mother began to weep joyfully at the idea that she was finally a mother. She and her husband embraced their new foster daughter tightly in a long hug as the social worker stood behind them fighting back tears herself.

After all the sniffling and hugging was done, they all made their way into the house where Ms. Taylor helped the couple sign paperwork and went over everything they needed to know. On her way out the door, she hugged Marilyn and told the parents that the case manager would be visiting next week and would continue to check in on her every week for a month. As soon as the door closed, Marilyn ate lunch with them as they talked about school and their jobs.

Her foster mother was named Trisha and her foster father was named Levi. Trisha had been working as a hairstylist, but she'd taken time off to spend time with Marilyn. Levi was an anesthesiologist.

She asked them if they were rich. They laughed. "Well, some might say that we are. We are very comfortable with money," said Levi.

Marilyn giggled. "You must buy a lot of milkshakes,"

The couple flashed each other a strange look before chuckling. "Sure, we do buy milkshakes sometimes, I suppose."

As they continued conversing and eating lunch, she couldn't help but stare at them.

Besides being tall, they were both very different in appearance, with Trisha being blonde with blue eyes and a heart shaped face, and Levi having very black hair and dark brown eyes with heavy, black eyebrows and a broad jawline. He had a nose that was rather prominent and curved down, while Trisha's was small and upturned.

And here Marilyn was, with her flaming red ringlets, who looked nothing like either of them. She was short in stature and slightly muscular. But they didn't care.

Once Marilyn was finished with her tuna sandwich, she asked to see her room. Trisha kicked herself for forgetting to give her a tour as she led her upstairs and down the hall to her room. When she opened the door, Marilyn gasped.