Together (Demi Lovato Adoption)

Chapter Seventy

GRACE'S POV

It was the early hours of Saturday morning and Demi and Ellie had left a while ago to see Dan at the airport while Dallas, Sam and I stayed home. I was finding it hard to sleep again, my thoughts racing and a sense of unease that I hadn't been able to shake for days weighing me down. I just wanted to get out of the house and maybe go for a drive to get my mind off of things, but the prospect of going out alone in the middle of the night was surely going to be met with a 'no way.' Deciding it was worth a try anyway, I grabbed phone from my nightstand and started sending the woman a text.

Grace: hey I was wondering if I'd be allowed to go for a drive? i'm just really agitated and need to get out

Demi: I'm saying yes but you need to have your location tracking on, and text me every fifteen minutes so I can make sure you're alright.

Demi: I know it seems dramatic, but I worry about all of you, and if you aren't actively talking to me I get paranoid.

Grace: all good. I can do that. thank you so much

Demi: You're welcome sweetie. I hope you feel better soon :( I'll be home soonish so we can talk then and I can see if I can help alrighty?

Grace: okay :)

Grace: locations on, I'll text you in 15

Demi: xx

Taking a deep breath in, I gathered the things I would need to bring with me and walked out the front door, grabbing my keys on the way out before shutting the door quietly. Looking out at the car parked in the driveway, my beaten up piece of junk looking painfully out of place for the million-dollar mansion it was parked in. It looked even more out of place when Demi's fancy car was parked beside it, and soon enough, whenever Ellie got her first car, it would look like utter scrap metal. I didn't mind though; I was lucky to have this car. Despite how it looked, it was decently reliable and could probably get me across the country should I ever need it to. I got it for basically nothing a few years back, an old family friend giving it to me for when I got my licence. I don't remember how we knew him, but I don't remember ever seeing him again after he gave the car. He just kind of disappeared.

As I started the car up and backed out of the driveway, I found myself driving straight towards the home that I had grown up in. Somehow I thought that coming here would make things better and put my mind to rest -- at least, I hoped. Even if there was no one in there yet again, at least I could come to the conclusion that perhaps my mother had cleaned up her act and moved her and my brother out of town after she had kicked me out. I hoped that that was what had happened — I wanted my brother to have a good life, even if it meant I wasn't in it. As I arrived, I pulled into the driveway and sat in my car for a few moments, preparing myself for the possibility that I might not ever see my biological family ever again. I had made a deal with myself that if they weren't here, this was the last time I was ever going to come to this house. 

Upon getting out of the car, there was a stench in the air that I couldn't quite place, but it was a smell that made me nauseous. I vaguely remember the neighbours laying down manure quite often — perhaps it was that. Walking up to the window, I peered in. There was no sign of human life inside, making me wonder if they had sold the house and left or not. My little brother's father, who was a better man than my own, had paid off the house when he decided to leave, not wanting us to be left with nothing when he was no longer around to pay for rent and bills. He was only around for a year or two when I was about 9; he didn't leave because he didn't want the responsibility of children though. He was better than that. He wanted to take Anthony and I with him when he left so that we could all get away from my mother's alcoholism, but it wasn't so easy. He was in danger, and he worried that his staying around would put us in danger too, so he left.