6 February 2013
Chapter One The paint was peeling off the blue front door and the glass was broken. Graffiti covered the house and the garden was a forest, I felt miserable. Bea looked at me, “ Maybe it won’t be that bad,” I tried to comfort my 5 year old sister, the only family I had left. “You always say that.” She replied with a slight lisp, caused by the two missing big teeth we were waiting to appear. Bea was adorable, her dark hair was soft, short and pulled into messy pig tales. Her big brown eyes and cheeky dimples made her look angelic, in her pale pink skirt, striped tights, yellow wellington boots and light pink fairy wings she looked so cute. My eyes started watering and while tugging on my hand Bea said “ Don’t cry..” she was interrupted by the grumpy social worker “ Girls welcome to Bridge House.” Then the door opened and out came a middle aged woman, wearing an outfit that looked like it was picked by someone with a blindfold on in a charity shop. “ You must be Bea and Amber, come in,” her voice was whiny and high pitched. The inside of the hall way was dark and dirty as was the rest of the house. Me and Bea had a small room to our selves, with one bed and one mattress. No heating, so we shared the bed together. We had done this a lot over the 2 years we have been in care. It was warmer and it felt safer. At about midnight I woke up, hungry. We had missed dinner and I had given Bea the apple from my bag. I slipped out the room and found the loo, I stood and looked in the mirror. I looked like mum, pale skin, dark, wavy hair that fell to my ribs and pale grey eyes. Then I shuddered imagining mum’s broken body, bloody and bruised. Her boyfriend had killed her, after she stopped him strangling me. Tears slid down my cheeks, Bea had seen it all huddled in a corner, at three years old I don’t think she remembered much. After that we were taken in to care. People wanted to foster Bea, but not me. I had thought about letting her go, but always kept her with me. I was selfish, she could had a better life. I heard footsteps in the hall below and ran to our room.
Chapter Two Turns out the footsteps I heard bellow had been someone arriving, at the middle of the night. It was a teenage girl, she wore battered jeans and a checked shirt, with some black converse that had had better days. She looked like she came from some Asian country. “Ok, Fu you will have to share with Amber and Bea, as this was very short notice,” High-pitched lady squawked. I sighed and shovelled the bland cereal down my throat and encouraged Bea to hurry up. We ran upstairs to find Fu sitting on the mattress. “ Do you need any help unpacking?” I asked politely, “ No, it’s fine thanks” she replied cheerfully. “Ok, um. I’m Amber and this is Bea, we only arrived yesterday, this is our 5th foster home. You?” " Umm this is my 1st I'm Ning Fu, how did you get through 5 care homes ?" She asked, "Abused, Fire, I didn't start it before you ask, Fighting, Stealing food to give Bea as she was starving, oh yeh and I stabbed a social worker who was trying to kidnap Bea in the leg with a bread knife. He was mad though," I tumbled out in one breath. "How did you get moved here ?" I asked. Ning shuffled "my mum died in a fire last night" I sighed " I'm really sorry Ning" Bea ran over and hugged her "a horrible boyfriend killed my mummy, after she saved Amber from him, mummy was really brave" Bea sniffed and Ning stroked her head, "what about your dad?" Ning asked, I shifted on the bed " We don't have one, I never knew my dad, or Bea's," Ning gave me a reassuring smile, "Me too, anyway I think that in someways we are better off without them" Ning said softly, Bea smiled " that's what mummy used to say" Ning still stroking her her smiled at me, "She's a darling, you look after her well." I smiled at this "Don't you have any siblings ? " I asked, "No I don't, though I used to look after the kids at my school." Ning smiled at the memory, then the shrill voice rang up the stairs, "Get dressed, school bus in 10" damn I had forgotten about school. I groaned at Ning and she asked "don't you like school." "I like school and enjoy learning, but it's the people in it." Ning smiled " I totally agree!" I pulled on a pair of dark grey jeans and a old Rolling Stones tee. I slipped on my red converse and shook out my hair, "Done." Ning came into the room wearing the same jeans and converse but a purple polo-shirt she smiled then asked "do you need a hand with Bea?" I nodded, "Yes please, come here Bea." Bea who was drawing on the wall with bright purple crayon grinned at us and ran to the bed. She sat down and picked up the outfit I'd laid out, pink jeans and a yellow duck top. The clothes we had had been bought with the small amount of money I was given and occasionally bought with the money I had that mum had left for us in emergencies.
CHERUB• FanFic • Opuss № I