Disasters Follow Me - A KOTLC Human AU

a new start

The rolling hills sped by Sophie as she leaned her head against the car window. She had never seen the sky so blue before.

"You ok back there?" a soft voice brought Sophie back to the real world and she nodded toward Edaline, trying to smile.

"Only 30 more minutes!" the driver, who was her new father Grady, said as he started to pull off the highway, "And then we'll be at you new home"

Sophie looked at the small stuffed elephant in her lap. Ella. She was the only constant in her life. No matter how many families she would be brought into - and then inevitably leave - Ella would always be there with her soft blue fur and comforting hawaiian shirt. She looked back at her new guardians one more time before closing her eyes and drifting off to the soft sound of the air conditioning.

~~~

"Hey! Freak!", a boy called from the side of the yard "Go back to middle school!"

Sophie pulled her hood up and pulled her blonde hair over her face as a curtain, looking away from the gathering of 12th graders that had surrounded Garwin Chang, her high school bully.

It was bad enough that she was 14 and in her senior year, but the constant harassment was even worse. Did they think she wanted to be the kid prodigy? The freak? Of course not. But in some way, her brain just worked faster and better than others. Not to mention the photographic memory.

Sophie pulled out her phone and stuck in her earbuds and another string of Garwin's insults was layered over the schoolyard like a weighted blanket. No matter how hard she tried, it would always be right on top of her.

~~~

"Sophie? Sophie...we're almost home"

Sophie lurched up, almost banging her head into the seat in front of her and looked around, her eyes still blurry from sleeping. She shook away her memory and pressed it down far into her mind. This was a new start for her. And she would do everything in her power to delay the end of it. The hillside had turned into a lonely street, a forest on each side. She turned her head just in time to see a small sign with the words "WELCOME TO ETERNALIA!"

"You are going to love it here, we promise" Edaline genuinely gushed "The town, the school, I just know you will fit in here perfectly"

Grady pulled down a street lined with perfectly cut trees and Sophie got the first look at her new home. It was a white house, with a slight blue tinge. It was like a perfect picture house, but Sophie could see the little personal touches, like the crazy colored mailbox and the parrot tulips that she recognized from a herbology book she grazed through once.

"This is a big house..." was all she could say. It was a massive upgrade from the tiny flat she used to stay in when she lived in San Francisco. It was almost 3 times the size.

Grady chuckled "I guess so. Most of the people here just inherit their parent's old house so we don't really notice. Plus we need extra space for all the animals"

"Animals?" Sophie cocked her head in confusion "What do you mean?"

"Your re-assigning worker didn't tell you?" Edaline responded

Her re-assigning worker was the agent that had set up Sophie with her new family while she was in Child Protective Services. His name was...Sandor. Yes, now she remembered him. He barely had any hair and his skin was always tinted grey, like he had just gotten over being sick. When she had met him, she was very surprised that such a squeaky voice could come out of such a large guy. Sophie tried to think over their time together and any mention of animals, but shook her head at her new guardians, indicating he had said nothing about it.

"Well that's strange" Edaline continued "Grady and I are animal vets. We foster many at our home. I thought Sandor would have brought it up, just to make sure you didn't have any allergies."

"All I'm allergic to is this weird fruit called limbium. It's used in a lot of foreign medicine, so I think I'm good"

Grady slowed down as he pulled the car into the driveway and brought it to a stop before looking back at Sophie, "Well here is our stop. Welcome to our house, Havenfield."

a/n i know this is a little bit short i promise the next chapter will be longer. please but any tips or recommendations on how to write or make my story better. ty! c: