Tethered (Book Two of The Invisible String Series)

The Runaway: Part Two

After glancing around to make sure that neither Debbie nor the guy at the counter were paying me any attention, I slide the written note out of its safeplace and gently spread it out on the table in front of me. The Midnite Sun guitar pick falls out next to my coffee mug and I quickly snatch it up, closing my fist around it as my eyes wander over the page.

Liv,

I was going to try and wait to give you your Christmas present when we see you again after the New Year, but I'm too impatient for that. So here's your sneak peak. Don't lose it! You're gonna need it next time we see each other.

Love you, kiddo!

-Y/N

My eyes sting with a few unshed tears, and I open my hand to look back down at the guitar pick as my jaw clenches. Y/N's letter had arrived the day after Christmas, and I'd been counting down the days after, waiting until I'd get to see her and Lizzie again.

And then Miriam, the fucking group home supervisor had told me that a family was thinking about fostering me and I just...lost it. I know I should be happy, excited even, about getting the opportunity to leave the group home. But I just couldn't bring myself to care. Because I know how this all works. I get placed with this family and slowly, but surely, Y/N and Lizzie will forget about me. The phone calls will stop coming, and then visits will get rescheduled.

God, what was I even expecting out of all of this? Y/N and Lizzie aren't normal people. They're fucking celebrities. Why the hell had I let my stupid fucking brain think that once, just once, someone might have cared enough about me to let me a part of their family?

That's not how my story ends. Not for someone like me. I don't get to have some stupid fairy tale ending. I'll always just be the unwanted orphaned kid.

"Excuse me, darlin," the voice brings me out of my thoughts and I glance up and away from the letter to see Debbie standing at the edge of the booth, a frown settled on her face. "I don't mean to intrude, but it's pretty late out and you don't look old enough to be wandering around on your own. Is everything alright?"

I quickly nod, folding the letter back up and placing it back in the envelope as I wipe the underside of my eyes free of the few tears that had managed to escape. I told myself earlier that I wouldn't cry over this. There was no use in wasting some tears over something as stupid as this. "Yeah, no. I'm fine."

Debbie nods, but hesitates as she turns to leave and instead slides into the empty seat across from me. "I have a daughter. Who looks like she might be about your age. She's always trying to hide her problems from me, but as a mother I always know when something's botherin' her. So call it my motherly instincts, but I can't in good conscience let a teenager sit in a booth at my diner, at two-thirty in the morning, and cry without asking her what's wrong."

I let out a light chuckle, moving my attention to the half-empty mug of coffee in front of me. "It's nothing. I just...I got a lot on my mind."

I see Debbie nod out of the corner of my eye, the older woman making no move to get up from her seat. "I'm a stranger, I know. I won't make you talk if you don't want to, but can I at least ask if your parents know where you are?"

Shaking my head, I move my gaze from the coffee cup up towards the woman, unsure if I should give her this information. She is a stranger after all, and if I tell her I'm a foster kid she'll definitely call the cops on me. And like hell I want to spend the night in a jail cell. "Uh, yes?"

Debbie's eyebrows raise, the older woman looking unconvinced by my poor performance. "You're not in trouble, are you?"

I chuckle, shaking my head at the woman's concern. If I had any doubts about her being a mother before, they're gone now. That sounded way too motherly, and reminds me of the tone that Y/N and Lizzie sometimes used on me. "No, I'm not in any trouble. I just went for a walk to clear my mind, and I got a little lost and my phone died. When it's charged I'll make my way back home."