Home - An Adopted by Six Fanfic

Chapter 3

"When exactly was the last time you ate?" Courtney asked as we were eating dinner. "A week or so ago," I replied casually. "I'm sorry, a WEEK!?" Brittany exclaimed. "Well, if you count the crackers I had the other day than only about two days-" I started to say. Everyone else started to whisper among themselves and I started to shrink back slowly. I hated it when other people talked about me. Especially when it seemed like they were judging me. "Hey, it's okay," Mallory said, startling me. I started to panic. "But they probably hate me now and-" "Shh, it'll be fine. No one hates you. They're just worried about you," Mallory interrupted. "You sure?" I said, sounding hopeful. "Yep! Now go on and eat your food. You must be starving." I laughed knowing she was right and ate up every last scrap of food on my plate.
--@--

"NICOLE!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?" I yelled. We were playing hide and seek and Nicole was the only person I still had to find. "Have you checked the other girls' dressing rooms yet?" Courtney suggested. I ran over to Sam and Brittany's dressing room first as it was the closet and there she was, hidden in plain sight under the counter. "Found you!" I exclaimed. "Did I win?" Nicole asked. "Unfortunately, yes," I sighed. "Either way, you're it!" With that I ran off and started to find a hiding spot. I decided to go into a closet in the costume room. While walking in I motioned for the costume people to be quiet and after waiting for a while, Nicole eventually found me. Mallory ended up winning the round and we played a few more rounds of this before the show was over.

Once everyone was ready to go home, we decided that Mallory would take me for the night. She drove us to her apartment and showed me where everything was. I just wore my normal clothes to bed as I didn't have anything to change into and her clothes were all too big for me. Today was actually pretty fun, even though I kind of missed my own house. Maybe I could walk there sometime. It's only about a twenty minute run from Mallory's house. I decided I would get a little bit of sleep first and then walk to my house. I set an alarm for early in the morning and then drifted off to sleep.

--@--

I woke up from my alarm at 4am and quickly silenced it before it woke anyone else up. Mallory would have probably let me go anyway, right? I was about to look for some clothes to change into before remembering I didn't have any with me. I made a mental note to myself to go grab some once I arrived. I put my shoes on and left the house, preparing to brace the cold.

@--Mallory's POV--@
I woke up around 8 and went over to the guest room to see what Zoe wanted to eat. When she wasn't there, I looked at the living room, made sure she wasn't in the bathroom, and basically looked in every other room. When she wasn't in any of them I sent a message to the alternates group chat.

Mallory: I may have lost the child...
Keirsten: I'm sorry, you did WHAT!?
Mallory: Yeah... she kind of just disappeared
Nicole: How can a child disappear?
Mallory: How am I supposed to know?
Mallory: @Courtney any help here?
Courtney: I mean, they are right. How do you lose a ten year old child?
Mallory: She's 11
Courtney: Same difference
Mallory: Well can anyone come over and help me out plz?
Nicole: Be right there

I put my phone down and sighed. Time to start figuring out where Zoe went. I heard a knock on the door and quickly opened it to find that Nicole was here. "So how exactly did you lose the child and any idea where she may be?" She asked. "She just wasn't here when I woke up and I don't know where she'd be!" I said in exhaustion. "Okay, calm down." I took a few deep breaths and waited for her to continue. "Where was the last place you saw her?" "Umm last night right before she went to bed," I recalled. "Great. Any idea where she might be?" I tried to think if she had said anything last night but I had no such luck. I shook my head no and looked away in embarrassment. "Do you happen to know where she lives or her phone number?" "I have her number but she won't reply." We went through a few different alternatives but none of them seemed to work. "I guess you really did lose the kid," Nicole stated when we were done. "Sam's gonna be pissed." "Not helping," I groaned. To be honest, I was really worried about what everyone else was going to say. I could say I left Zoe here but then they would yell at me for that. There really was no hope anymore.

I entered the theatre and saw Courtney signing in. "I assume you didn't find her?" She asked. I nodded in reply. "Please don't tell anyone though," I begged. We walked upstairs together and split up once we reached our dressing rooms. "Did you-" Nicole began and I quickly shushed her as Sam walked into the room. "Hello! Just coming in to check on Zoe," she cheerfully said. "Where is she exactly?" "In the bathroom," I quickly lied. "Mal lost her," Nicole interrupted. I shot her a glare and prepared for the long lecture coming ahead.

"YOU LOST HER!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HER?" Sam yelled as I flinched at the sound. "Woah, woah, woah. Calm down Sam," Nicole helped. "It wasn't her fault." "SO THEN WHOSE FAULT WAS IT? THE CHILD'S FAULT?" "Actually, yes. She ran away and we tried all we could to find her but we had no such luck." I was surprised by the calmness Nicole was showing. I looked down in embarrassment as I felt hands wrapping around me. "Sorry for yelling," Sam apologized. I gave her a small smile to show that I accepted her apology and she continued, "Seriously though, we'll all help." "Thanks," I replied meekly. Sam left to get ready for the show and I waited for Nicole to apologize. "I'm not going to apologize," She said. "It did help. It may have been embarrassing but it did." "Why do you always have to be right?" I wondered aloud. "Just to annoy you," Nicole jokenly replied.

—@—

The show was over and Nicole, Sam, and I went to search for Zoe again. We had been searching for about an hour when we heard something.

A very familiar sounding scream.

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