When The Sun Rises

Twenty-two

Dad and I got up and I made breakfast for us both. After, we sat down to discuss and plan of what we are doing. Dad was the expert so really I didn’t need to do much.

“Describe to me what Indy would look like coming out from the shelter.” He asked. It was horrible to remember what she looked like.

“Once she came with a big bruise on her head and one on her eye. They were purple coloured.” I described.

“Ok, when did you meet Indy roughly?” he asked.

“The beginning of November.” I guessed it seemed like so long ago although it was only 6 weeks or so.

While dad was writing something down I thought I had better start cooking some lunch which was going to be roast dinner as it was Sunday. I got out the chicken and put it in the oven, then prepared the vegetables.

“Do you need any help?” Dad asked politely.

“No, I'm fine. I love cooking, you should know that by now.” I replied laughing. Dad had probably forgotten how the oven worked. I laughed to myself.

“What’s so funny?” he was very confused.

“Nothing Dad.” I snickered whilst giggling to myself still.

While dinner was cooking I went upstairs to wrap up my Christmas presents for other people. I didn’t know the last time Indy had got a Christmas present but I was pretty sure it had been a very long time. She might not even have remembered, so I wanted to make this a very special Christmas. Although the court case was just two days before, Dad rang up that morning to book it up that was the closest day.

Dad and I ate lunch and just sat chatting about what was going to happen and what I needed to tell Indy that night. We watched some TV and just generally spent time with each-other which was something I had missed.

Later on I went to bed ready to meet Indy. I stumbled down to the jetty and sat next to Indy. The water seemed to reflect a blue and brown landscape, the leaves drooped over the water which was still not making a sound. Indy was there in the middle, waiting for me. I approached her, greeted her and sat down.

“Hello, are you ok?” Indy asked smiling, happy to see me.

“Hey, I'm ok thanks.” I replied “Dad and I have been talking about the court case and planning what we need to say.” I explained.

“So what’s the plan?” Indy questioned, waiting to find out.

“Well we are going to try and do lots of things in one. First we are going to show them what the shelter is like. I will need you to say your experiences there. We should be able to get it closed down.” I began to explain.

“But where will all the other children go?” Indy asked.

“Hopefully they will be taken to a nice shelter instead.” I hoped. “After the shelter business, they will see that your foster family were not checked so they should take you away from them. Then we are going to prove that we are a good enough family to adopt you. We can’t promise that all of this is going to work but we can try.” I really didn’t know how much of it was going to work.

“Okay, I think I understand.” Indy said, thinking.

“I have an idea that might help us. We’ll both go to the shelter tonight and take pictures of the conditions to show the judges.” I told her.

“Lily, what if Sam and his gang are there?” she pointed out.

“They shouldn’t be awake. They are normally asleep at this time, right?” She slowly nodded her head, unsure still.

“Ok, but you are coming with me right?” she asked, looking scared. I wasn’t sure why she had lived there for years. How bad could it be to go back there for one night and she would be with me?

We got up and slowly walked off to the shelter. Indy was on crutches so it took longer than I expected but that was ok, the sun wasn’t going to rise for a long time.

We got there and pushed open the door slowly peaking my head around the crack. The lady at reception was sitting at her chair looking very bored. We waiting for a while then she went around the corner which was our time to run. We opened the door and ran up the stairs. My first target was the bathrooms which she dragged me to. They still smelt just as bad as the last time I had been there. The damp lingered to my nose and the floor was covered in water. The toilet doors were drawn on and some of them were missing.

We took a few photos and left. While we were going through the corridors I took some photos of the ripped wallpaper and the mess everywhere. We went to Indy’s old room which was empty so we went in and took some pictures.

“Come on Lily, let’s go. I don’t want them to wake up!” she whispered.

“It’s ok, if they do they are not going to hurt you.” I assured her, feeling sorry for her. She had lived like this her whole life.

We walked quickly down to the food hall to take photos of the bad food and how they cook it. The kitchen was a mess and the hall where they ate was not much better. There were a few tables which didn’t look clean, the oven was dirty and the floor wasn’t washed. There were bins over-flowing and piles of washing up that needed to be done were scattered across all of the worktops. The dirty washing up had attracted flies which were circling around it and the whole room was dark with only one light in the middle. It was ridiculous how they could even serve food like this. Indy was better off waiting to get food from me anyway as I wasn’t really sure what she could get from this state.

Indy and I ran back down to the front desk. We took a photo of it - empty. Then we scrambled out of the building. Indy really needed to get back before Sally woke up or she would be in big trouble and she wouldn’t be able to see me anymore which really didn’t need to happen now because of the court case. We said our goodbyes and both walked home to go to sleep.