ANASTASIA'S POV:
Surprise.
A feeling caused by something unexpected or unusual.
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The death of my biological parents, Courtney and Dylan Smith, was a surprise. The abuse that followed was a surprise. The finding of a second family was a surprise. The death of my adoptive parents, Alexandria and Miles Wolp, was a surprise. The finding out of my adoptive parents leaving everything to me, was a surprise.
Everything lately has been a surprise, but I just can't find it in me to give up or take a moment to grieve my losses. My group and I: Luke, Wyatt, Max, Layla, Jamie, Kayla, and myself, all got emancipations. Emancipations allow us all to live without being put into foster care, and from there I was able to put my baby siblings, Courtney and Dylan, into my care.
The emancipations took a few months to go through the court system, and then it took a couple more weeks to get custody of my little siblings. But now after seventeen long weeks, all of us now legally live by ourselves in our mansion (that we used to live in with our parents), along with Courtney and Dylan.
And being able to live with the people I consider family is worth every second I spent fighting for my freedom.
Seventeen weeks is around four months and a quarter months. We spent over four months fighting for our own freedom to continue living our lives as they were.
Instead of grieving, instead of finding the person who order my parents dead, instead of being together, we were all apart and fighting for the freedom to be together.
The systems our country have in place are messed up.
I shouldn't have to fight to be with my family.
But now, none of that matters. We've started late, but I have the group looking for clues as to who on earth ordered the kills on our parents. I, on the other hand, am stuck with the responsibilities of being the gang leader to 'The White Wolves', as my dad (Miles) named his gang. I was also pushed into becoming the different companies owners/CEO's. Mostly importantly, I have to become mom and sister to my younger siblings.
It's my job now to feed, change, wash, dress, give attention, and love my baby siblings. I have to be their mother/father/sister all rolled into one. It's not fair to them, but I know that I made the right decision keeping them with me.
They'll never be alone in life, and in the end that's the only thing that matters.
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Time Skip - July 2014
It's been almost a month of having full custody of my baby siblings, almost a month of being out of school for the summer. It's been almost seven months of having every single responsibility fall on my shoulders as I don't feel the emotions I've wanted to feel for months.
Everyone else has broken down, I'm not allowed to.
Jamie watched her father die. Layla watched her father die, while Kayla watched her uncle die. Luke, Wyatt, and Max watched my parents die, their aunt and uncle. They need to grieve and someone needs to be there for them, someone needs to not fall apart.
Yes, I watched my uncle die, but at the end of the day I'm the boss. I need to be the mature one, I need to be the one who can get through anything.
And even if it kills me, I need to hang on for just a little while longer.
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Sitting on the small couch in my room, I scroll through my cell-phone. It's seven in the morning and the twins will be up any minute. I've been showered and dressed for the past hour, waiting for them to wake up.
For myself I had decided on wearing lazy clothes. I had no meetings or work events today, I was just staying at home. And for that I wanted to be comfortable. So I decided to wear a simple round-neck, short sleeved, white t-shirt, with olive green cargo pants, and white running shoes.
OUTFIT SHOWN IN IMAGE ABOVE
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Once the twins are up, showered, dressed, and feed, I'll give them to Jamie and Kayla to babysit for the day.
Today is Jamie and Kayla's turn to watch them. Yesterday was Max and Layla's turn, and tomorrow is Wyatt and Luke's turn. It's a system for us during the week.
While I work from nine to six, Monday through Friday, they take turns watching the twins for me, while I stay cooped up in what used to be my father, Miles' office. That's where I do all my work from. That way I'll be close if they need me, but everyone knows not to bother me unless it's an emergency.
"Sissy?" I heard a small voice ask through the baby monitor.
I grabbed the monitor and spoke into it, "Yes, Court?"
"You come get me?"
"Of course, sweetheart."
Clipping the monitor onto my pants, I walked out of my room and into the room across the hall. The twins still shared a room, not wanting to be separated from each other, not that I minded much. I personally thought it was adorable that the twins barely ever wanted to be apart from each other.
Opening the door, I was greeted with the usual sight I see every morning. Courtney was standing up against the rails of her crib, her hair messily tossed everywhere on her head, with her pajama's wrinkled. She yawned as her eyes locked onto mine, and then she waved at me, before throwing her arms up into the air, a classic sign that she wanted to be picked up.
"Hi, baby." I greeted quietly, kissing her forehead as I picked her up and placed her on my hip.
"Hi, Sissy." she smiled.
"How was your sleep?" I asked.
"Good. I had dream 'bout baby doggie. We have baby doggie?" she spoke excitedly.
"Quiet, baby. Dyl is still sleeping. A baby doggie is called a puppy-" she cut me off by whispering loudly.
"We have puppy?"
"Not right now, sweetheart. Sissy's too busy to take care of a puppy, and you guys are too young to take care of a puppy." I spoke before suggesting, "Maybe in a few years?"
"Okay." she spoke unhappily.
I giggled, "Alright, let's go get your bath started before we wake Dylan up. We both know if he doesn't get enough sleep he's like the Grinch."
"Oh, mister Grinch." Courtney giggled.
I walked out of the nursery, quietly shutting the door behind me, before walking to the bathroom.
I had previously put both Courtney and Dylan's clothes in the bathroom, along with a towel for each of them.
Setting Courtney on the bathroom counter, I quickly turned the bathtub faucet on warm and pushed the plug in the drain, so it wouldn't drain.
Quickly undressing Courtney, I placed her on the toilet, holding her so she wouldn't fall through, I adverted my eyes as she went potty, before helping her wipe, and then I placed her on the floor before flushing the toilet.
After helping her into the bathtub, I grabbed one of her favorite toys handing it to her to play with, before grabbing her body wash and beginning her morning bath routine.
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It took twenty minutes before I was able to get her out of the bathtub, onto the bathmat right outside of the bathtub, and then I began drying her off.
It took an additional five minutes to dry her off, before I grabbed her clothes and helped her into them. For Courtney I had grabbed a flower printed baby romper, with a small black cardigan, and some tan baby moccasins that had a small bow on the top of each shoe. The outfit also had a grey headband to push Courtney's hair out of her eyes and towards her back.
COURTNEY'S OUTFIT SHOWN IN IMAGE ABOVE
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After getting Courtney into her outfit, I sighed heavily. One child ready, one more to go.
I picked Courtney back up and placed her on my hip, kissing her cheek softly as I did so, causing her to smile and grab at my bra strap, which had become visible while I was bathing Courtney.
Deciding not to fight the baby who had gotten grumpy after I pulled her from the bath, I let her hang onto my bra strap. There wasn't any damage that could be done anyway by her holding onto it.
"You ready to see Jam, Court?"
"Yeah." she smiled.
"Good. You'll be spending the day with Jam and Kay today, is that okay?"
"Yeah."
I chuckled, "Alright, cutie-pie let's get you downstairs to Jam, so I can get your brother ready."
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After thirty minutes of pure struggle, I was finally finished bathing Dylan.
Dylan was the opposite of his sister. He hated waking up early, he hated baths or getting wet, he hated being around lots of people at once, he hated wearing clothing.
Dylan loved sleeping in, trying to stay dirty, cuddling with myself, staying in just his diaper. It was who he was, and it was adorable.
The one thing the twins shared though, was their love for each other. They were each other's person, there was no one else in the world they'd rather be with than each other.
Today, I gave Dylan a simple outfit. He was wearing a white tank top that was a size too big for him, on the shirt it said 'Pretty Fly For A Little Guy', then he had white and green shorts on that had dinosaurs on them, along with black Adidis vel-cro shoes.
DYLAN'S OUTFIT SHOWN IN IMAGE ABOVE
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After another ten minutes of cuddles and getting Dylan downstairs, where Jamie, Kayla, and Courtney were waiting, Dylan and I entered the kitchen.
I placed Dylan in his highchair, before giving him a kiss on the forehead. Then I walked over to Courtney's highchair, and placed a kiss on her forehead.
Then I looked towards Jamie and Kayla who were nodding, letting me know it was okay to leave.
"Sissy's gotta go to work now, babies." I explained, like I always do.
"Sissy will be upstairs, if you need anything let me know. I love you."
"Luv ya." Courtney smiled, before blowing a kiss in my direction.
"Luv sissy." Dylan grinned, blowing a kiss in my direction like his sister.
"I'll see you guys for lunch."
And then I walked out of the kitchen.
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Hours Later -
I had been working for hours. Lunch had long past, I had taken a break, giving myself the opportunity to eat with my babies.
It was now four in the afternoon, and I only had a couple more hours of work left for the day if all went well.
Suddenly though, Wyatt burst through my door, closing my door behind him with a semi-loud slam.
"Wyatt, what the hell? You can't just come in here while I'm working if there's nothing wrong. And we most certainly do not slam doors." I told him, continuing on with my work, like he never interrupted.
"I know. I know." Wyatt told me, as he plopped down on the chair across from me, on the other side of my desk.
The same chair I first sat in, when Miles and I went over rules all those months ago. God, that feels like forever ago, and it was only around two years ago.
I was such a different person back then.
I was kind-hearted, easy to manipulate, frightened, anxiety-ridden, depressed, suicidal, the list could go on for a long time.
Now though, I'm still kind-hearted, polite, anxiety-ridden, but I'm not easy to manipulate, I'm not so frightened of the big world we live in, I'm not depressed or suicidal, though I have my bad days. Now I'm more of a badass, who holds all the confidence. Alexandria and Miles, Mom and Dad, they helped me step into my greatness.
"Why are you in here right now? I mean, I don't get off work for another two hours, at least. What's so important that you couldn't wait two hours?" I asked the teenage boy in front of me, who was not only like my best friend, but my brother.
Wyatt is always there for me.
He's one of my persons.
"Okay, hear me out." he told me nervously.
"Alright?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Okay, so, not only is this a great opportunity for helping us expand the business and get better, and not only did our parents begin to plan this, but I also think this could lead us to our parents killers, the people who ordered the kill." Wyatt spoke before handing over a document that was written in my father's hand writing.
Skimming the paper, I realize that these were some of the documents my father and his inner circle (Uncle Jake, Uncle Javier, and Mom) were working on before they had died.
"They were going to try expanding in Wisconsin?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing.
"Yeah, south-eastern Wisconsin, right by the boarder of the Wisconsin-Illinois boarder." Wyatt informed.
"That's where I'm from." I told him before I continued to read the documents silently to myself.
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After a few minutes of silence with me reading, I looked back to Wyatt, "So they already bought the plot of land and it's now just sitting there?"
"Yes, ma'am." he said.
"Why wasn't I informed of this?" I questioned softly.
"I don't know, Ana. But when I found this, I figured you'd want to know." Wyatt shrugged.
"Yeah, I'm glad you told me Wy." I looked at him, a small smile formed on my face.
"But." it dropped of my face as I frowned, "You know what this means right?"
"Uh, we're losing money from not doing anything with it?" he questioned.
"Exactly, and if this could help us potentially help us find the person who order the kills of our parents, I think it's worth it to go back to my hometown." I told him, "After all, it can't just be a coincidence that after our parents bought this huge piece of land they all suddenly got murdered."
"So we're going to Wisconsin?"
"We're going to Wisconsin." I confirmed.
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"And that's why we're going to Wisconsin, any questions?" I asked later that evening.
It was night time, dinner had come and gone. The twins were in bed, and the group and I were sitting in what was now my office, discussing why we were going to be moving in the upcoming weeks.
"You really think this could be connected to our parents murders?" Jamie asked.
"I do." I nodded my head, "And even if it's not, it doesn't hurt to cover all our bases. We can't say for sure until we know."
"Alright, when are we moving?" Luke asked, as he rubbed his hands together after he clapped them.
"I'm gonna be trying to find a house near the property, that I can get a hold of, but if all goes well, we'll have been in Wisconsin and back to California by the time this next school year starts." I informed, watching as they all nodded.
Here's to the surprise of a century...
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Author's Note -
Here's the tenth chapter of "Run-Away Little Sister: Hurting". Anastasia's getting ready to come back home.
Let me know what your thoughts are about this chapter. And make sure you all comment, vote (by clicking the star), and share this story with those who might like it.
Thank you for reading!
-michaelaloveswriting
Original Version Published: April 22nd. 2019
Edited Version Published: June 26th. 2022