I woke up and found myself strapped down to a seat. I did a quick scan of my surroundings and realized that I was on a plane. Confused, I started to scream my lungs out only to have a hand covered my mouth.
"Hey calm down, you aren't being kidnapped or anything." A newly familiar voice said to me.
I turned my head to see who the person was and saw that it was the guy from earlier who I recognized as Nate. Suddenly everything came back to me, I remembered that I had run away from the homes. I also remembered me being in the alley behind the bar until Alphonso and two other guys came along. He had convinced me that he wasn't dangerous and that he wanted to help.
The last thing I remembered was that I trusted him and had followed them to the car. Alphonso had given me his jacket to wrap around myself because I was freezing. He told Miguel to turn on the heater in the car then proceeded to have a conversation with me. I remembered thinking, 'What is this? Twenty questions?'
Alphonso had asked my name and about my family, I had told him everything about what had happened. I wasn't sure why but I somehow confided in and trusted him.
I must have fallen asleep because I surely couldn't remember getting out of that car or getting on a plane.
"Where the hell am I!?" I yelled once Nate had removed his hand from over my mouth.
"Damn! You sure got a loudmouth on you" Nate covered his ears before he answered my actual question.
"You're on a plane obviously. We're on our way to New York." He replied.
"What?! New York?!" I shrieked which caused him to wince and covered his ears again.
"Stop shouting! The boss and his family live in the States, not London." He uncovered his ears and looked at me annoyed.
"Then where is he?" I looked around.
I could tell that we were definitely on a private jet or something because the only other person I saw other than Nate and I, was the other guy from last night-Miguel.
"We're on his private plane, he's in one of his cabins. Don't worry he'll be back out soon." He reassured me and I sighed as I tried to relaxed.
Like Nate had said before, Alphonso had returned from his cabin out to where we were. He asked me if I needed anything to eat or drink and if I was okay. I had wanted to say no but as much as I hated to admit, I was starving.
A few minutes later, we had landed and a car was there ready to take us to his house. We were soon pulled into a driveway of a beautiful two-story house and it was gorgeous.
"Alright, this is it. We're here." Alphonso had informed me. "It is just me, Kath and our son Dominic. Kath is excited to meet you, she has always wanted a daughter but that is a story for another day."
"It is beautiful." I told him sincerely.
"Come on, I believe you'll be more impressed with the inside." He said as he helped me out of the car.
As we entered the house, we were greeted by a very pretty lady with her light brown hair in a low ponytail. She had a very warm and friendly smile and judging by the way she had come and greeted her husband, you could tell she was very much in love with him and him with her.
She turned to me with a genuine smile.
"Hi, you must be Kathleen."
I nodded before smiling back at her. Something about this woman's smile and demeanour just melted me. "Hi."
"Oh my gosh, you're so beautiful." She said to me.
"Thank you, so are you." I smiled politely at her.
A young guy came into the living room area where we were. He looked as if he was in his late teens or early twenties and was really good looking.
"Hey Dad, you're back early." He smiled as he came up and gave Alphonso one of those manly hugs.
"Yeah, I got that deal sorted early." Alphonso replied.
"You got it? That's great Dad." He smiled before he noticed me.
I looked down to avoid eye contact with him. I didn't do well with meeting new people at first, especially guys.
"Who is this?"
"This my dear son, is Kathleen. Your new sister." Alphonso said to him.
At that Dominic's smile fell from his face and was instantly replaced with a scowl.
"Dad, you've got to be kidding me. Are you serious? I can't believe you. You are crazy you know that?Other normal people that go on a business trip overseas would have just stick to bringing back a souvenir or something like that for their family. You go and you brought back some strange homeless kid?" He scoffed then narrowed his eyes at me before walking out of the living room.
Upon hearing that my face paled, and my eyes welled up with tears. I felt hurt by being called a homeless person. I knew within that moment that not everyone in Alphonso's family would welcome me with open arms.
********************************
It was hard getting accustomed to the changes and my new life. I had been in the Luciano's home for two days and I couldn't have been any more awkward. As a result of my experience with losing my parents and then what had happened at the home, I didn't have complete trust in anyone. Alphonso had been kind to me and took me into his home, his wife too had been extremely nice towards me but I remained skeptical. Something's just seemed too good to be true and I kept waiting for the moment when they would eventually turn on me. Three days following my arrival in New York, Katherine took me shopping. Even though I told her that I had some clothes with me, she still insisted that we went shopping and it was the weirdest thing ever. In the past, I had only ever gone shopping with my mother before she started allowing me to shop with my friends. Katherine tried her best to make me feel comfortable around her the entire time. She even asked my opinion on certain outfits that she thought would look cute on me. Each time she picked out an outfit and showed it to me, I would smile and nod. I honestly had no idea how I should react to these people, I didn't know what to say or do. They were kind enough and accepted me into their homes without hesitation and I was extremely grateful for that. When I ran away from that foster home, I had no idea where I would go or that I would ever end up in another country. I wanted more than anything to just forget about everything that had happened and try to adjust but that was easier said than done.
I knew the transition period wouldn't be easy.
I had realized that the Luciano family had lots of money judging by the size of their house and the number of cars that I had noticed. Their entire home screamed money and the fact that they had a helper and cook. What Alphonso and Katherine did for a living, I had no idea. I had only been with them a few days and I hadn't exactly felt that close to them enough to start a conversation that would lead to me asking.
They allowed me to have all the space I needed when I decided to spend most of my time in the room they had given me. However, whenever it was time for meals, I would be notified and requested to join them
at the table. Table time for Alphonso and Katherine meant table talk. They would use this opportunity to try making small talks with me and engaged me in general conversation. Those conservation usually consisted of me just occasionally smiling, nodding, and saying a few words to be polite. Dominic on the other hand used these moments to grill me about my personal life and how stupid I was trusting a complete stranger and following them to a different country. Once when he asked about my family and I told him about the tragedy, he seemed genuinely sorry for what happened to me. He told me that he was sorry for my loss and quit with his questions for the evening but that was it, his reaction to me living with them was still not friendly or welcoming. I had concluded that maybe Dominic was just one of those spoiled rich entitled kids who were jealous of the fact that his parents were giving attention to someone else.
Being with the Luciano's for the few days had allowed me some time to come to terms and mourn the loss of my parents in private. It was like ever since my parents' death, I had been instantly thrown into foster care. I never had much time to myself to finally let out all of what I felt. I had surprisingly felt a little peace living with them despite Dominic's cold shoulder. I even prayed that things would eventually get better because I had a feeling that it would come to an end. After all, I was a ward of the state. Surely, they must've noticed that I had disappeared and I was certain that they reported it. If the states cared, how long would it be before I had to be brought back? I knew for sure that if they found out I was in New York living with the Luciano's, the Luciano's would be in trouble for housing me instead of turning me in. I prayed to the heavens that, that would never be the case.