Not Alone

Not Alone

Prologue:

                 I was alone. I had nobody. No friends. No family. Nobody that cared about me. I was totally and utterly alone in this world.          

                My name is Mary. Well, that’s the name I was given when I was found. I have no idea what my real name is. I don’t really know anything about my life before I was found, which was when I was about ten.

                I don’t even know how old I am. I was found abandoned in a park with no memory at all. A police officer was patrolling the park when he found me on a bench. I don’t really remember what happened that well, but I know they took me to the hospital because I had some injuries, and after that they sent me to a foster home.

                I’ve been there ever since. They didn’t really know what to do with me since I couldn’t remember anything and nobody claimed me, so they just gave me a name and determined that I was about 10 years old.

                My official birthday is the day they found me which was May 3rd. That was 6 years ago, and since then I’ve been taking care of myself, as well as the other kids at the home.

                The woman that runs the foster home, Ms. Wells, was awful. She didn’t care about any of us at all, and since I was the oldest, it was my job to make sure these kids all had food and clothes. They looked up to me, and I couldn’t let them down.

                Ms. Wells never gave us any money for food or clothes, so I had to work from the time I got out of school until midnight. Sometimes I even had to work all night at the diner, but I would get extra money which was good.

                I was almost never at the house. I made sure that Dylan called me after school to tell me that everybody had gotten home safe. They all had to ride the bus, because after school I had to walk to the diner which was about 15 minutes from the school.

                 Then when I don’t have to work, I go to the store and stock up as much food as I could afford. It wasn’t much, but I made sure they would never go hungry. That meant that sometimes I would go without food, but I’m used to it by now.

                They are all kids, and they need the food more than I do. Jeremy, the youngest, sometimes refuses to eat until I do, but even though he is young, he understands why I do what I do. That’s why when I have extra money and use it on special clothes or toys for them, he throws a fit saying I should buy something for myself.

                There are four kids here, and the other kids understand, too, but I am not as close to them Jeremy. They just live their lives separate from me and I’m alright with that.

               Dylan was the next oldest at 13, and he helped out as much as he could, but there wasn’t much he could do except make sure the other kids were alright while I was gone. I wasn’t too close to Dylan, but I don’t think anybody was.

                Dylan came here after his parents and sister died in a car accident. Dylan was the only one in the car that survived, and I think he still feels guilty even though it happened when he was only 7. He has been beating himself up about it for all these years, so he has a hard shell around his heart and he doesn’t like to get close to people.

                That’s probably why he hasn’t been adopted. He was a cute enough kid with black hair and hazel eyes, but he refuses to talk to any couples who come looking to adopt. I don’t think he wants to replace his parents, but I think he is finally starting to realize that it’s time to move on with his life, but he will always remember his real family.

                Then there is Amanda and Ashley who were 8 years old right now. They were brought here when they were only 3 and their mother died and their father was nowhere in sight. They didn’t really remember their mother, so they weren’t as depressed as Dylan.

                I’m sure now that they are a little bit older and better-behaved than they were when they got here, they will be adopted soon. Who wouldn’t want two adorable blonde blue-eyes twins. They would’ve gotten adopted sooner if they hadn’t wanted to stay together.

                I don’t blame them though. If I had somebody that was always there for me, I wouldn’t want to be separated from them. I would want to always be with them. It’s too bad I don’t have anybody like that.

                The only person that I was close to was Jeremy. Jeremy was the youngest living here, and my best friend. It might seem weird to have a 5-year old as a best friend, but Jeremy and I just understand each other.

                Jeremy was brought here when he was a baby, and I still don’t know what happened to his parents, but it doesn’t matter. I practically raised him, and I would protect him with everything I have in this world.

                When I’m old enough to leave here, I will take Jeremy with me. It’s not like he would let me leave without him anyways. He was attached to me and that annoyed Ms. Wells. Immensely.

                She didn’t like that there was another child living in the house when he could’ve been adopted long ago. He was the cutest boy, and many people wanted the bubbly blonde little boy with big green eyes.  Jeremy had many offers to be adopted, but he refused every time to leave.

                I didn’t understand why he didn’t want to go until one night after he refused yet another couples offer, he told me, “I will never leave you Mary. I love you.” Then he fell asleep in my bed like he usually does.

                That was when I decided that I would take him with me whenever I got out of this place. If he wasn’t going to leave me, I was never going to leave him either, no matter what happened.