KJ's POV
As I start the Kawasaki and peel off the property, I feel my chest loosen, finally away from the house. There's no way that Vin could know what that house means to me, but also no way that us living there could be a complete coincidence. It wasn't near the city, so work couldn't be the answer, and it definitely wasn't close to my job.
My job, speaking of which, was at a group home for troubled youth, located on the edge of the city. The kids there were drawn in from either broken homes or placed their social services when they were unable to function in a typical foster home set up. For a lot of the kids, that was the last spot before prison or death.
In all honesty, I didn't know how I acquired the job, since I never applied, or even wrote up a resume, but the stars aligned I guess because they offered me the position, no questions asked. I don't even know the name of the place.
Just another odd ass thing happening in my life recently.
"Your destination is on your left..."
I slow down and pull to a stop in front of a plain looking two story home, located at the end of a city block. I pull off my helmet and look at the sign in the front yard. CHRIST ALMIGHTY. This is the place.
"Hello!" a short but solid built woman emerges from the house, "Hi there!"
"Hello," she offers her hand and I shake it, "I'm--"
She cups my hand and shakes it enthusiastically, and probably way to long, "KJ Micheals! You must be! They said I would know you when I saw you and oh my did I see you!"
"Yeah," she lets my hand go and I find a way to wipe her sweat from it.
"Do you mind pulling around back to the parking lot? The back door should be unlocked."
"Sure thing," I move my bike and enter through the back door to the house. I come in on what must be the kitchen and dinning room, morphed together most likely over the course of several remodels.
"Come this way! Come on!" the bubbly woman from earlier waves me down the hall, showing me a small room, "This is your office."
I take a look around the room, just big enough for a desk and some chairs, "This is it?"
"Yes ma'am!" the woman exclaims. Her energy was starting to make me sick a little, "Feel free to move things around however you like! You're the only one that'll be using this space. Here's your key, make sure to lock up every evening when you leave you're expected to be here eight to five exactly but you seem like the prompt type and blahblahblahblahblahblah......" She drones on behind me and I tune it out, bored.
"Hey," I cut her off, "What was your name, again?"
"Oh! Oh, my goodness I never told you did I?!" she reaches to shake my hand again, "Lea. Like 'pea' but with an 'L.' The kids call me Mama Lea but you can call me whatever."
"Okay, nice to meet you, Ms. Lea," I nod and she blushes.
"Such a gentleman," she gestures to my desk, "Those are the case files of the teens you'll be working with. Since you're new, we've saddled you up with two to start, Charlie and Ella. Any questions?"
"No thanks," I take a seat at my desk.
"Okay! My office is two doors down if you need anything!"
She exits the office and I take a look around at the drab tan walls. This is not gonna work.
I shift my desk so that it's against the wall, opening up the small space, and move the chairs to all face inward. Still, the walls seem empty and depressing.
There's a knock and I answer it, "Hello?"
I open the door, revealing Ms.Lea and a thin girl with long, straggly dark hair, hiding most of her face, her head bent to the floor.
"KJ, this is Charlie, one of the girls your working with. You got around to reading those files right?"
Hell no. "Yes ma'am," I offer the girl my hand and she shakes it, "Nice to meet you, Charlie."
She doesn't respond and Ms.Lea taps her, "How about you have a seat, Charlie? KJ? A word?"
Haven't you said enough of those? "Yes ma'am?" I step into the hall and she gives me a pain smile, "You don't mind seeing her right now do you?"
She's already in my office? "Sure, no problem," I smile, "I'd love to."
"Oh great! Love the room by the way. Really opens the space up!" there's a crash and she takes off to solve whatever problems have arisen.
I head back into my office where Charlie is and take a seat, "So... Charlie..." I dig out her file and crack it open. "Been in the system since thirteen... West side huh?"
She doesn't respond and I continue reading the file to myself... Symptons of PTSD... Selective mutism...
"You aren't gonna talk to me are you, Ms. Charlie?" I look up at her and she lifts her eyes for the first time, revealing a plain but cute face. She shakes her head.
"That's okay," I keep reading her file, "You don't have to talk to me."
I grab my bag and pull out my sketch bag, ripping a clean page, "You like to draw, kid?" I notice the faintest spark in her cold eyes, "You do don't you?"
"You've been in the system a while right?" I hand her the page and a couple pens, "I'm gonna skip the basic stuff, like 'draw your feelings' or whatever... Draw where you'd rather be right now."
She starts drawing and I sit back and grab the other file on my desk. ELLA MORTIZ. Seventeen years old... Been in the system since she was sixteen... Flight risk... I examine the photo with it, pictured is a dark haired girl, long, wavy, tendrils framing her heart shaped face.
I finish the file and turn my attention back to Charlie, "Finished?"
I look at the drawing, seeing that it's clearly a person. Under cut hair. Pierced septum. Eyes that seem to hold the devil in them ... Oh?
A girl person....
"No chance of you telling me who this is right?" I ask and she blushes. There's a knock on the door. I open it and see take in the live action version of the drawing in my hand right now.
"You're the new therapist?"
"You're Ella Mortiz?"
Layne's POV
I take a few photos of the documents before me and exit their room, making sure to put everything back in place, as if I was never there. I debate bringing it up to Dil, since obviously Dru wanted me to know, but decide against it. There's no way they'd let me go out there to see her.
I didn't even know if I wanted to see her myself.
Five years had gone by already. No calls. No texts. Not even a postcard. I'd dissected my journal to the point of insanity, reading in between every line, trying to get as much out of it as I could. None of what I'd found had explained where she was, considering that we were, from what it seemed, constantly together.
Then suddenly we weren't. I also thought it was weird that the journal stopped so abruptly. There was almost an entry for every single day. Then it stops, a fourth of the pages of the notebook unused. It didn't add up. I was clearly missing something.
When Dru and Dil come in I'm stretched out on the couch. Dru goes to start dinner and Dil sits in the arm chair closest to me, "Can we talk?"
"Can we?" I snipe. I start to tear into him but he raises his hands, "Can we talk peacefully?"
I sit up, "What do you have to say, Dillion?"
"I'm sorry," he exhales, "I haven't been completely honest with you, clearly. I did fire Mira for a moment, but Aunt Saf hired her back. She said that our apartment needed a woman's touch."
"And I'm not a woman?"
"You're in your room most of the day," Dil says, "So yeah. She comes to clean every Tuesday at eleven."
"When I'm supposed to be out jogging?"
"Layne," Dru gets my attention and shakes his head. Fine. I back down, seeing that Dil is clearly trying with me.
He runs a frustrated hand through his curly hair, "I'm just trying to protect you, Layne."
"I don't need protecting," I stand up, "I need to be able to trust my brother."
I exit the room and go back to mine. Wait... I have a name...
I sit down at my laptop, pulling up Google. Kaylie Jane Parker. I garner a bunch of results, none of them her. I check my notes on what her new name is. Kaylie Jane Micheals. I garner even less results. Hmmm.
KJ Micheals.
Bingo.
I read her Facebook profile. She graduated from some school in Colorado. Single. Living in California. Well that's odd.
I go through her pictures. Her on a mountain. Her at a party, reclined against a wall. Her cozied up with a guy with a buzz cut.
I check the bio and see that her profile was made only five years ago. Which explains why I'm not in any of the pictures. Not that I wanted to be in them.
"Alayna?" My door opens and I quickly minimize my screen.
"Aunt Saf," I stand up and she approaches me.
"Are you busy tomorrow? I need help with something," she asks.
I can tell from her tone that she isn't asking. "Anything for you. "
"It'll be good for you to get out the house," she goes on, ignoring anything I have to say, "Be ready at 8 tomorrow so we'll have enough time."
"Time to what?"
"To go back into town," she states, "There's a town market and I need to be there to sponser."
"We're going back home?"
"I just said that," she huffs, "See you tomorrow."
"Yes ma'am." And see me tomorrow you will indeed.