The Calm

Chapter 2

= Zahara =

I look at myself in the mirror picturing me in a place where I actually want to be. I fight with my hair to get it all up and in one hand so that I can tie it off in a messy bun.

"Zahara, are you ready? The family is here."

I look over at this lady I have only known for a few weeks. This foster home was one of the best I have been to, and after two agonizing nights in the police station, they shipped me here. After a few weeks of being here, a woman apparently spotted me and wants me to live with her. I thought Joy's house would have been the last one I would have seen. Parents usually want the small kids. It is how it will always be.

I quietly follow Mary out of "my" room, and into the living room. Sitting on the couch with their backs facing me is a family of four. A mom, a dad, a boy, maybe my age or a year older, and a little girl. She reminds me of Zaria automatically, and I take her in longer than the others.

"This is Zahara, Zahara, these are the Smiths. They will be your new family." I muster up the best smile I  possibly can, but I feel it come out as a sad smirk.

The woman gets off the couch and walks towards me. She must be in her early thirties. She has a very young face. She comes up to me looking at me, as if she is studying me. "Hi Zahara, I'm Anna." Her voice is so.....sophisticated? I smile weakly at her, but it catches me by surprise when she hugs me. "You are a beautiful young woman." She smiles at me. "Ready to go?" Ready as I will ever be. I just nod my head.

"Zahara, all your things are in the kitchen." Mary, starts to head in that direction and I follow her. We walk in and I grab my bags from off the kitchen table. Mary rolls my suitcase around that she insisted I have. It is an old one of hers. As she hands me the handle, I realize her hand is shaking. I look up at her and tears are in her eyes. I place my bags on the floor and bring her into me for a hug.

I helped her with the other children. I think until the Smiths came to adopt me she had forgotten that I was one of the orphans. In about four to five weeks of being here I formed a bond with this woman. She has acted like a mother towards me better than any foster mother I have ever had. I finally have to break the hug, or I know that she will hold me here forever. I pull away from her and I pick my bags back up again. When I turn around, I see Anna standing in the doorway holding her heart. She really should not feel bad for me. I walk past her out the kitchen and I head towards the door with the rest of the family following me.

"Zahara WAIT!!" I turn around and all the younger ones in the orphanage come up to me. I bend down to their height and they all hug me at once. After a while I stand up. Emmanuel, the youngest of them all, breaks through and reaches up to me. I pick him up. He is my favorite. He wraps his arms around my neck, and I hug him tight.

"You can't have her!" He squeezes my neck tighter. It makes me laugh, because all this time I thought he never liked me. I put him back down and Mary has to help me unhook himself from my neck. She holds him and he turns away from me.

It seems like days pass before I make it to the car with my new "family". The man puts my things into the trunk and closes it. I am put onto the third row of their family van and when I look through the back window, the whole orphanage is standing outside watching. They look so sad.. I have never seen them act like this before. The van starts to take off and I just watch as they get further and further away. I keep looking even when they are out of sight.

"Hi, I'm Leslie." I turn around and the little girl is looking at me over the seat. I smile at her without responding. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen." She seems to be shocked by my voice, but then snaps out of it.