"She isn't moving." Sky said out of realization, and this indeed was a lot to take in. Our grandma died, and we have another sibling coming from the same parent. I started disliking the parents who did not like us.
Zoey walked into the room and looked at us with her big brown eyes. "Is grandma sleeping?" She asked, trying to wake her sleeping figure. "No, sweetie, umm." I tried thinking of something to make a 7 year old understand.
"She's gone. She is sleeping forever." Sky said, and she didn't seem to understand.
"Who am I going to stay with?" She came to me and brushed her hair out of her face.
"Not the hell here." Ms. Serena interrupted along with the paramedics who were going to take her away. I looked at Sky, and she kneeled down to Zoey's height. Of course, Aunt Serena had to ruin the moment.
"Do you know who your actual mommy and daddy are?" She asked, and Zoey nodded. "Do you know where they live?" I asked, and she nodded. I couldn't believe the nerve of our parents. Zoey had nowhere to stay, and she didn't even know she had siblings.
"What are you kids going to do? She can't stay with me, of course." Ms. Serena said, and I was surprised at the gentle tone she used with us.
"We will make a plan. Thank you, Aunt Serena." I gave her a small smile. Even though she hasn't been the nicest of aunts, she still helped us a lot.
Zoey took her small backpack, and I led her in the car, which was also not in shape. "We need to take this to the car wash." Sky and I both said at the same time. I also need to take a long needed shower. But first, we need to find our actual parents.
"You do know your directions, right?" I asked Zoey, and she nodded. "From here, take a right, and you'll stop by the corner house." She said, and I nodded, following the directions I was told.
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We stopped at an extremely untidy house. There were bottles of alcohol lying everywhere in the yard. There were car parts also scattered along the yard.
I opened the door for the child to get off. She ran her little legs to the door knob. We followed her.
She knocked because there wasn't any doorbell. A young man, maybe in his late thirties, opened the door.
"Not you again, kid." He was annoyed, and maybe that was my actual father, but he looked too young. He was dark skinned, he had a short black haircut and the eye color was light brown.
I could smell the alcohol from a mile away. "We told you to find another person to take care of you." He spat her while kneeling at her height. Zoey looked like she wanted to cry. How could they even speak to her like that?
Do they know how dangerous this part of New York is?
His eyes went from Zoey to us. He gave us a look of boredom. "Sorry we are not accepting any parcels." He said, almost closing the door, but Sky put her foot just before the door closed.
"We are not here for that, sir." She said, and he opened the door while muttering some incoherent words. I let Zoey in first, and then I got in.
The house could have been nice, but it's not. It is not tidy. It is unclean, and it reeks of alcohol everywhere.
"We have visitors, honey." The man said, and the wife turned to look at us. I now see the resemblance from the mother to us. She has black curly hair with brown highlights. Her brown skin is lighter than the man's, and it is also lighter than ours. She looked an awful lot young. She looked mixed.
"Hi. Can we help you?" Her voice didn't sound polite. Instead, it was persistent on us leaving. "Yeah. You can." Her eyes went to Zoey, and she let out an annoyed sigh.
"You don't even recognize us, do you?" I gave them a harsh chuckle. I'm so ashamed that these people are my parents. They look like low lives.
"No." They were genuinely confused. They can't see that we're their kids. "We're your kids." I deadpanned, and the mother analyzed us a bit more, and a look of realization hit her.
"Whoopee you found us. Do you need fucking apology?" She dramatically flung her hands up. "No. I wish we didn't find you. The parents we actually lived with acted like parents, not low lives like you two. Oh, and I feel sorry that our sister here has to live with sorry excuses for parents." Sky snarled, and they laughed.
"I got her pregnant at 16, we didn't want any children, so we took you to an adoption center. You ungrateful little brats are not thankful that we didn't kill you." The man said, and I glared at him.
"What about her?" I asked, pointing at the little girl who was on the verge of tears.
"Useless excuse for a child. All she does is she whines about going to school and books. All we did is we kicked her out." I held Sky back from hitting the woman.
"Zoey. Do you still want to live here?" I kneeled down to her height, and she shook her head. "I need documentation to say I'm legal enough to be her guardian." I said to them, and the mother rummaged through her bag.
"Here." She said after she signed. Would you look at that? She even had the papers with her, ready.
"Get out." She said, pointing to the door. Sky raised the middle finger when they had their backs turned, and I subsided the need to laugh.
"What the hell did you do?" Sky shouted at me once we were in the car. I gave her a sheepish smile. "You do realize that she is automatically in trouble if we're in trouble." She shouted whispered.
"I know, but now, I just have a lot of errands to do in one day." I focused my eyes on the road, and Sky slumped in her seat.
She was not fond of children as much as I was. She needs to get used to her. It is her blood, after all. She kind of looks more like Sky than she does look like me.
"That whore will fucking pay leaving us with a child." She whispered to herself and I rolled my eyes.
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We just had her passport done, which took almost 4 hours without an appointment, and Sky kept being rude. After that we went to the car wash and bought some ice cream too.
"You wanna go to the mall?" Sky asked Zoey after the long wait, but Zoey's reply shocked me.
"I'm okay. The clothes I have could sustain me with the current mass I have unless I grow a little more." She deadpanned, and Sky looked at me with wide eyes. She sounds like a genius.
"Sweetie. Which grade are you doing?" I asked her. "My parents didn't send me to school, but I have the IQ of a 9th grader, and I'm 7." She said and it looks like being smart runs in the family.
"I've read a study about this. From what I've seen with our parents. They are alcoholics and maybe when they were pregnant with us, she drank alcohol which made us who we were." She said, and she was right. It could go either way.
"Wait, let's test her. What does IQ stand for?" I asked her, and she scoffed. "Intelligence Quotient." She replied, and I was starting to be impressed.
"What is the capital city of Germany?" Sky asked, and that was random, but I went with it.
"That's random, but it's Berlin." She said, and I was impressed. "Girl. Your smarts need to match your beauty. We need to go to the mall." And I heard her sigh. Trust me, sister, she will not stop until you are perfectly pampered and maybe pink.
"I guess. It fair enough. You guys are my sisters." She shrugged, tugging on to her backpack. I wonder what is so important that she has to tug that backpack.
We got into the mall, and obviously, Sky started at a kids' clothing shop. I hope she knows that we're splitting this 50/50.
"I like this. Can I have it?" She held up a puffy blue Frozen dress. "You can have anything you want, oh and how about the shoes to match." Sky held up some baby blue shoes with a small bow on top. I chuckled at how fast she nodded.
Looks like genius is getting addicted to looks. I finally switched on my phone, and that was a mistake. A huge one.
Matteo
Kyla. We know you and your sister are in New York. We're coming.
Shoot! He knows, and he is not happy. Why the hell is he angry? He freaking killed someone I cared about. I left him on read because we will go back to Rome.
Matteo
You're at the mall...
Me
And you're stating the obvious:/
Matteo
Amore, please come back home
Me
Don't freaking tell me to come home. You're first impulsive, and now you want me to come home??
I didn't care to see his response. I put my phone inside my pocket and I saw a lot of clothes on Zoey's little hands.
"Okay. We're done." Sky said, and I gave an incredulous look.
"Umm. You freaking bought her a whole closet." I said incredulously, putting hands on my hips.
"Oh, you think this is it?" She said, putting the clothes on the counter. "No. We will buy the rest when we get to Rome." I said, and she nodded.
"Good point. I saw these really cute bows that will suit her in this boutique store." She said, and I sighed. "Thank you so much, Kyla." She hugged my thighs, and I hugged her back.
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"We'll sleep her for the night before we go back to Rome." I said as I untied my hair, which needed to be washed. We were currently in a hotel for one night. It is a bit luxurious because it has two bedrooms, which Sky and I don't have to share.
There is a full window glass view by the living room where we can watch the stars. I was preparing for bed when I saw Zoey was a bit scared.
"Something wrong, sweetie?" I asked, and she nodded. "What is it?" I asked as she took out a book, a huge one. 'Netherlands of the city' as it was titled.
"I want you to read me this. It helps me fall asleep." Weird ass fairytale, but this is also what I read when I was younger. I didn't have an interest in Disney books as much as the other kids were.
I started reading for her, and she took out her really worn-out teddy bear. It was white and dirty, but I knew it had a special place in her heart. Her eyelids started to become heavy, and I picked her up to sleep in her new pink flannel pajamas that Sky bought for her.
I lied her down, and I started planting my hair while Sky was already asleep. I lay on the couch feeling exhausted, but I could not shake the feeling that someone's was outside the window.
I took my pistol as I heard jiggling of trying to crack the window open. When the person came through the curtain over the window, I put my gun down, and I was not surprised that it was Matteo.
"Do you know how much fucking trouble you're in?" He came closer and I stepped back. I was not going to let him mesmerize me.
"Matteo. What are you doing here so late?" I folded my arms over my chest, and I knew now that he was not alone. Dante came, and his eyes frantically searched for Sky.
"Relax lover boy. She's a sleep." I rolled my eyes, and Matteo started pacing as he rubbed his temple.
"Do you want me to fucking apologize, okay fine! I'm sorry." He practically screamed at me, "Can we just go home now?" He took his fingers under my chin to make me face him. I hate it when he does that.
"Whatever." I gave in, and I saw a small smile on his face. It still doesn't mean I forgive him, though.
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A/N
That was a lot in one chapter. New character, guys, Zoey! I see wee also saw Kyla's caring side. Well, I also kind of wanted to raise awareness about kids who are faced with abusive parents or are neglected. It's an issue that is often addressed, but some people do not really care about it. Anyway, don't forget to vote and do anything you can to those parents