Little Morgan Gallagher

30- Dungeons and Dragons

I slammed on the brakes outside my house. We all jumped out and Mickeys cousins carried him inside, following me as I burst through our front door.

We got him into the kitchen just as Ned walked through the door dressed in scrubs, Mickey looked back and spotted him. "Are you kidding me?" He groaned at the sight of Ned, clearly still in a lot of pain.

"Stay there," I ordered, grabbing a towel. "Jesus," Ned muttered when he saw he scene. "Just one fucking old lady huh?" He snapped at me.

"How the fuck was I meant to know she was gonna fucking shoot you Mick! Shut the fuck up!" I snapped back, pressing the towel hard against his wound. "Ow!" He screamed as I did so.

"Well, if it isn't the toughest, badass this side of the Chicago river," Ned smirked, pulling on surgical gloves. Mickey flipped him off, "Fuck off!"

We got Mickey onto the counter as Ned got working on getting the bullet out. Mickey was yelling in pain as I watched the scene, biting my nails. That had to hurt.

I let Mickey grab my hand as Ned pulled out the bullet. "You're almost done Mick," I tried to reassure him. He squeezed my hand unnaturally hard, "OW MICK!" I yelled as pain seared through my hand at how hard he squeezed it.

Then it was out, Ned was holding the bullet in his forceps. "Done," he said smiling, slapping Mickeys ass which made him yell in pain again.

That's when Fiona came in the back door, covered in dirt from trying to dig up Aunt Ginger. Her face dropped looking at the scene.

"Morgan, what the fuck!"

I looked at her with an "oh shit" look on my face, "I can explain this," I said quickly. Then Fiona looked directly behind me, "who the hell are you?"

I swung my head around to see a woman standing in our living room, dressed nicely and looked professional. "I'm Britney Sturges from Child Protective Services," she said.

Oh fuck.

Fionas face dropped again. "She just walked in," Carl shrugged. To make everything better, Debbie burst in jumping up and down.

"Oh my god! I totally almost drowned a slut! She was kicking and scratching but I held my breath and hung on until she passes out! You do not F with Debbie Gallagher!"

***

It wasn't long before me and my siblings were walking down the front steps of our house behind the woman from CPS.

     We were walking to the car when Jimmy pulled up. "Whoa whoa whoa what the hells going on?" He said.

     "Department of family services is taking us away," Debbie told him. "Wait what? Can they do that?" He asked.

     "It won't last Debs" I told her. "Exactly," Fiona agreed, "what was it last time a week?"

     "Twenty bucks says we're back in five days," Lip added.

     Fiona sighed, "can I get their placement addresses from you now?"

     "Not until the intake interviews are complete," the woman replied as me and my siblings climes inside the mini van, closing the door behind us.

"You guys okay?" She asked after we had driven away.

"Oh yeah, ain't our first time at the rodeo," Lip answered, "Because Liam is still cute and little he'll go to some loving home with people who want a family but waited so their egg batter rotted so can't have their own."

"Then Debbie and Carl will be placed together because the state always tries to keep siblings together," I added, squished in between my two older brothers.

"Then Lip, Morgan and I can handle whatever foster nut jobs we end up with. And usually Morgan is placed with one of us because of that sibling thing and she's not sixteen," Ian explained.

"Well this times going to be a little different," the woman said. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. "I've placed Liam and Carl together but Debbie has to be placed separately. Then Philip, Ian and Morgan, you're going to a group home."

***

     First stop was our group home, and it looked seriously dull. We said goodbye to our younger siblings, I hugged both Carl and Debbie tight and kissed Liam. Then we made our way to the steps.

     "Good evening lady and gentlemen. My name is D'Andre and this is Gunderson House. A level-14 group home, housing underage D&D's in the Chicago system," the man announced to us on the steps.

"Is that Dungeons and Dragons or.." Lip said sarcastically looking down at his phone. The man snatched his phone from him, "Delinquents and Deviants. Follow me."

     We followed him up the steps. "This will be your primary residence until we figure out which one you are. Your wallets and cell phones will be in my care until you've proven to me that you can follow the rules."

     "So this is like prison?" I asked. "It's up to you," he answered, turning to Ian and Lip, "Your kid sister always a smartass?"

"Nah sometimes I'm asleep," I piped up.

He threw me a dirty look as we made our way into a room with lots of bunk beds. Literally like prison. "You will be given an opportunity to earn back your money and cell phone privileges."

     "Gee thanks," Lip said sarcastically. "You would do well to keep your mouth shut and your eyes open in here," the man snapped at Lip, "you and your kid siblings."

     I sighed and rolled my eyes, as the three of us gave looks to each other. What the fuck was this.

***

We were sitting on our bunk beds. I sat on the top bunk with my legs crossed with Lip and Ian was on the bottom. I was lucky enough to have a bed next to theirs.

"You two have been in a group home before. Is it always like this?" I asked my older brothers. "Nah last place we were in was an actual home," Lip said. "This is more like a fucking labour camp," Ian piped in from below us.

Lip hopped off the top bunk, "give me your cash guys."

     "What?" I asked, puzzled. "Give me your cash, now come on."

     I pulled out my money from my sock and handed it to Lip as we were approached by two boys. "Hey check it out, it's that chick from the movie brave," one of them said to the other, pointing at Ian.

     I glared at him, "and there's that deformed kid from the hunchback of Natre Dame," I snapped, causing him to look up at me on the top bunk. "She your girlfriend?" the other boy asked Lip.

     "No, little sister. I'm Lip, kid brother Ian, kid sister Morgan," said Lip.

     They glared at us. "You done here?" I snapped at them. They glared back at me.

     "Might wanna teach your little sister some manners, coz as long as you show respect you gonna be fine," he told Lip, then walking away.

     Ian smiled at him, "you're like a fucking cockroach. Able to live anywhere and feed off anything."