you cannot reach this number ʳᵃⁿᵇᵒᵒ

13

"hey, jens!" i cracked a weak smile to the young girl in the play room.

the young girl muttered under her breath, "hi, boo."

it was weird, how different the delacruz sisters looked from each other. coraline's natural raven hair and darker skin was directly opposing jenna's blonde locks and pale complexion.

they were half-sisters after all. the eldest of the two being latina, and the youngest being caucasian.

i now sat across from jenna, as she played with an activities' table. the side that she sat on held a stack of paper, crayons, and stencils.

"what'cha drawing?" i tapped my fingers on the opposing side of the table.

she stuck her tongue out slightly, pressing harder on the red crayon. she set the crayon down, and tore the sheet out from the pad, and passed it to me.

"its you and corey!" she smiled widely, before faltering slightly, "you can keep it."

i tried my hardest to smile, and folded the paper carefully before putting it into my back pocket, "thank you jenna, i'll be sure to show corey when we see her again, okay?"

she pouted, "will we see her again?"

my breath hitched in my throat. it hurt, it hurt so bad hearing the young girl's shaking voice. she'd gone through so much in the past year, from the move from her mother's house to the foster care system, and now her big sister being missing.

no child deserved this.

still, i nodded, "we will." i bent over, and rest my head on my cross arms that sat on the table. "we'll see her, and we'll give her a big big BIG hug when we do."

jenna smiled, and i did too. unfortunately, the social worker came into the room.

"hey jenna! visting is over..." she smiled at the little girl as she ran up to her. when she looked up to meet my eyes, she was shocked slightly, "oh! hello, i didn't think you'd come today."

i swallowed my breath a little before speaking up, "neither did i, honestly..." my voice trailed a small bit, "though i think i'll try to come more."

she smiled and waved goodbye. jenna, however, didn't follow. with open arms, she ran to me and hugged my legs (it was all she could reach).

tears pricked at my eyes, and i kneeled down to hug her back.

"promise we'll find her?" she pulled away, holding out her pinky finger.

with a small smile, i linked my pinky with her's, "promise."