Dear Diary, [S.M]

October 15, 2016

I watch as Courtney and Shawn splash each other with the freezing ocean water.

Living in California means you get to go to the beach pretty much every day. The season doesn't really matter.

There are a few people here. Most of them are teenagers but there is one family here. It's a woman and two boys. One of the boys has blond hair just like his mom. The other has dark brown hair, almost black, like mine. The little blond boy has the same eyes as his mother as well. I can't see the brunet boy's face so I can't tell if he has the blue eyes as well.

The brunet boy turns around and I see his face. I almost gasp out loud when I see his big brown eyes and his light freckles. I jump up and run over to the family.

The woman looks at me like I've lost my mind. The blond boy looks a little scared if I'm being honest, but he looks about 10.

"Vince?" I ask. The 13 year old brunet boy turns his head quickly at the mention of his name. My eyes fill with tears at his expression. He looks shocked but completely happy. He remembers me.

He throws his arms around my shoulders and I hug him tightly.

"I thought I'd never see you again." He cries.

"Well here I am." I say into his shoulder.

I pull away and notice that none of them are wearing swimsuits.

"Did you adopt him?" I sniffle.

"No. I'm the one who takes care of the boys in my orphanage. I though he could use some fresh air so I took him and my son to the beach today." She smiles.

"Can I adopt him?" I ask.

"How do you know him?" She asks me.

"I'm his sister." I say and hug him again. "We were separated because I was out in an all girls orphanage and he was placed in an all boys orphanage." I explain but she probably already knew that.

"Can I take him to meet my friends?" I ask her.

"Of course, go ahead." She tells me.

I take Vince's hand and lead him to where Shawn and Courtney are splashing each other. They stop splashing and their laughter dies down when they see me holding this 13 year old boy's hand.

"This is my brother Vince. Vince, these are my best friends Courtney and Shawn." I introduce them.

"He looks just like you." Courtney says.

"We both look like our mom." He says with a smile. I frown at him. He is a little bit taller than me but that's only because I'm so short. I'm only 5'3.

"Yeah our dad had blonde hair, tan skin and hazel eyes, nothing like us." I chuckle. He was a big contrast from our mother and us. We all have almost black hair, dark brown eyes, and pale skin.

Vince got a little bit of our dad's genes with his freckly situation. He had freckles everywhere. On his face, arms, legs, he even has one little freckle on his lip. You can't see it unless you are really close to him but being his sister, I noticed it.

For the rest of the day we all splashed around in the water and joked around with each other. Vince told us some stories about being in the orphanage and I shared some of mine. I told him about my plan to adopt my best friend, but she was taken from me before I got the chance.

And now I'm sitting in an office with Shawn and Courtney by my side. We had a consultation with Vince but the guy wanted to talk to us without him in the room.

"How do you know Vince again?" The guy asks me.

"I'm his older sister." I say.

"Were you in the car when it happened?" He asks. It took my by surprise when he asked that. It knocked the air out of my lungs and I could make a sound for a whole minute. I just sat there and stared at him, breathing in and out.

"Yes I was." I finally answered.

"And what were your injuries?" He asks.

"I had a broken arm and I got 7 stitches near my left eyebrow." I explain. I have never told anyone about this other than my therapist. Shawn and Courtney just sit and quietly listen.

"But he wasn't in the car?" The man asked.

"Why are you asking me this? How does this have anything to do with me adopting him?" I ask, getting frustrated.

"We need to know its a stable home for him. He worked so hard for a long time to be okay again and we would like to know that he'll be okay with you." He tells me.

"No. He wasn't in the car. He was at his friends house." I say.

"Is this your boyfriend?" He asks gesturing to Shawn.

"Oh no he's just my roommate." I smile.

"And you have an extra room for Vince to stay in at your apartment?" He asks.

"He can stay in my room. I'll sleep on the couch until I can turn the office into a bedroom." Shawn says, jumping into the conversation for the first time.

"Okay that's all we need, here's the paper work, you can finish it tonight and turn it in by tomorrow morning. You can take him home then. Also, we will have frequent check ups to make sure he's in a good home." The man tells me handing me a folder full of papers.

"Of course, thank you very much." I tell him and take the folder, leaving the room.