Adopted by Heathers- The Threequel!

Chapter 3

Veira's POV

Catlynn and Red told me that they were going to try and foster me. I don't know what that means, but Red said it was a good thing. It's probably not a good thing. I've learned not to trust grown-ups that much.

I was going to meet the rest of Catlynn's family soon. They all seem nice, different from how Mommy and Daddy used to be. But I'm still going to be careful.

Daddy always used to talk about "wanting his damn daughter back." I never understood what he meant by that, wasn't I his daughter? But now I know what he meant. He wanted Catlynn back, and she didn't seem too upset or scared by that. Why wasn't she scared by that? Daddy was tough and mean.

"Hey, Oliveira." Red said, coming out of her bedroom and holding Levi in her arms. "How did you sleep?"

"Good!" I said, trying to sound cheerful. If there's one thing I've learned, is that sounding scared is going to get grown-ups mad. Red smiled and said, "I don't go to work, so I'll be home all day today with you and your siblings, doesn't that sound fun?"

"Does Catlynn go to work?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's a doctor!" Red said. Catlynn came out of her bedroom and said, "Gotta go, love all of you!" She quickly kissed Red and left the house.

"When's Catlynn gonna be home?" I asked. Red smiled and said, "Later today, okay? She doesn't work nights or weekends."

I nodded a little. "Okay. Can I have candy?"

Red laughed and gave me a cookie that was on the counter. "Here you go, Veira. Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah!"

"How old are you?" Red asked.

"Six! I'm six!" I said cheerfully. Red smiled and said, "Six, huh? That's young." I nodded and then Red said, "I'm going to change your brother's diaper, I'll be right back, okay Veira?"

"Okay!"

_________

Daddy was at the door. Catlynn didn't like that Daddy was at the door and she yelled at him. Red stopped Catlynn from smacking Daddy and Daddy got mad.

Daddy hit Catlynn, just like he would hit me.

"You're coming with me." Daddy said, grabbing my arm and taking me away to his car.

"Oh no, she isn't!" Red said. Daddy laughed and hit Red too. And then Red started crying. Catlynn didn't. Catlynn marched right up to Daddy, even though she had tears in her eyes.

"Give her back."

"No. She's mine, Catherine." Daddy said. Why does Daddy keep calling her Catherine? And why does Catlynn get so upset over it? I want answers.

"Don't. Call. Me. Catherine." Catlynn said.

"I will call you whatever I want, young lady!" Daddy yelled before hitting Catlynn again.

Catlynn yelped, grabbed my arm, quickly locked the front door, and ran into the bathroom with me in her arms.

_________

Red's POV

"Catlynn? Red?" a small voice said from my bedroom door, waking me up.

There's only one person that could be. Veira. I sat up, looked to my sleeping wife next to me, and whispered "Veira, why are you awake? Did you have a nightmare or something?"

Veira nodded and I allowed her to crawl in bed next to me. "Do you want to tell me what the scary dream was about?" I asked Veira as Catlynn started to stir from next to me.

"W-what?" Catlynn said groggily, sitting up to grab her glasses from off the bedside table. I wasn't really paying attention to that, I was more focused on Veira telling me what her dream was about.

"So, in my dream, Daddy came to the door and wanted to take me away. Then he hit Catlynn and Red stopped him. He hit Red, too, and then he called Catlynn 'Catherine' for some reason, too. And then Catlynn dragged me away and Daddy hit her again."

The minute she started to talk about what her dream was about, I grabbed Catlynn's hand and started rubbing her knuckles, just to make sure she wouldn't spiral.

But it didn't work.

My wife started crying, but tried to hold it in so Veira didn't see her, and she started hyperventilating. I panicked, picked up Veira, and carried her to her own room so I could calm down Catlynn.

Veira seemed to have calmed down enough to sleep, either that or she realized what was going on.

I ran back into my own bedroom, launched into the bed, and took Catlynn in my arms.

"Hey, hey, hey, babe, you're okay." I whispered to my wife, kissing her head and holding her tightly.

"Oh my God that man...that man's gonna kill me." Catlynn whispered.

"Shhh...shhh...Kit...no, he's not...you're safe. You're safe, I'm safe, Leni's safe, Levi's safe, Veira's safe...we're okay. We're all going to be okay." I said.

Catlynn seemed to calm down a little, then she took a deep breath and said, "I'm a mess."

"What- no. Sweetie, you're not a mess." I said.

"I can't raise a third child if I'm going to act like this. What's gonna happen in the future? I can't go breaking down like this every single time Veira has a nightmare! I'm sorry, but it's true. You were right, Red. I can't handle a third kid, especially my dads biological child."

"So...."

"I might have to put Veira in the foster system."