Armored

2

Izzy:

Present:

I woke up from another nightmare, frantically looking around to make sure it was only a dream.

"Hey, hey, you're okay. Shhh..." Kevin, my best friend who also happens to be the owner of the care home Rosie and I are currently staying at's son, hushed me.

I fell into his warm embrace, feeling safer and more at ease as he comforted me. Believe it or not, this was a fairly typical occurrence for us, me waking up scared out of my mind and him being there right by my side to soothe me back to sleep.

Eventually, I did go back to sleep, and so did he.

Ring. Ring!

"Ugh! Are you fucking kidding me!" I let out a groan in frustration as my annoying-ass alarm clock went off.

"Fuck," Rosie repeated.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath before trying to fix this, "Ummm, Rosie, you can't say that okay? It's a very bad word," I quickly explained to her.

"Shit," she repeated, happily giggling and clapping her hands together.

"Ughh, you know what? Screw this, it's way too early for this shit," I muttered under my breath before quickly explaining not to repeat that either.

After making sure she fully understood to never say it, I got out of bed and made sure she got ready before getting ready myself. Last night, Martha, our caretaker, told me that some people would be coming over today to possibly adopt us. I for one was not too thrilled about this. Why you may ask? Well, Rosie and I have been placed in nearly 15 different foster homes and nearly adopted 3 times in the six years we've been in the system.

"Kids! Breakfast!" Martha hollered up the stairs to where we kids slept, and by us kids I mean Kevin, Rosie, and myself along with Lucy, Kevin's little sister.

We all rushed down the stairs, trying to be as civilized as a couple of lazyass teens and hyperactive children can be.

Martha put the food on the table and has us all sit at the table. This was one of her only rules aside from not hanging out with the opposite gender behind closed doors, that one was mostly for Kevin. Even tho Martha was only our temporary caregiver, she treated Rosie and me just as she did with her children. She would scold us if we got in trouble and comfort us when we needed it. Unfortunately, she couldn't adopt the two of us as she didn't have the time to care for two more kids all the time. This was another reason she made us eat at the table. It was because she believed that it was important to spend as much time together as a family, or whatever you wanna call it. After all, we did spend most of our time going our separate ways anyway.

As usual, the other three scarfed down the food as if it were their last meal on earth while I simply picked at the food on my plate. Martha always simply handed me a plate with food in it, knowing I wouldn't eat anything at all otherwise. It's not that I was trying to starve myself, I had simply gotten used to not eating much at all over the years since our previous foster parents weren't the best.

After eating breakfast, well 3 out of four of us at least, us kids went back up to get ready and what not before carrying on with our daily things. As I was about to go up, Martha stopped me.

"Izzy, I need to talk with you in the kitchen for a sec."

"Coming."

...

"Yes?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the people coming over today..."

"Okay..."

"You see, they're not exactly what you would consider a typical family looking yo adopt..."

"What are you trying to say, Martha?"

"I'm saying that if all goes well, then you and Rosie would be living under the same roof with four young men. Is that okay with you?"

"Are they registered sex offenders or kidnappers?"

"No honey, not at all. They seem very sweet actually."

"Okay then, whatever. It's not like they'd pick us anyway."

"Don't talk like that. I think this time you and Rosie will find the happily ever after you both deserve."

"I know you mean well Martha, but please don't try and give me hope on this one. Nothing good has ever come out of me expecting anything good out of life."

"But this time it'll be different. I can tell."

"Why? Will they realize they can't put up with both of us and our issues before they adopt this time?"

"I think you might be surprised this time. I think this will be good for you. Now go get yourself and your sister dressed and ready, and please, be nice and don't give them attitude this time."

"Fine. Whatever," I rolled my eyes and went to walk away.

"I'm serious Izzy. Even if you don't want to end up in a good place before you age out, at least do it for your sister, so she won't have to grow up without her sister by her side."

"I'm still taking care of her when I age out though... right?"

"No sweetie, I'm afraid not. Legally, you would have to show you can handle yourself on your own and are equipped to take care of her and her needs before you can even think about gaining custody of her."

"But, that's not fair! I practically raised her myself!"

"I know sweetie. I know. Unfortunately, that's life."