Highest Rank: #370 in General Fiction
The story of eight year old Madison 'Maddie' Joyce Ryans, who would give anything for a family and a home. And how Katherine Rae Dawson does everything to give Maddie that home and family.
"Maddie, honey, I'm so sorry. I wanted to bring you home today, but I have to have that paper filled out the right way. They can take you away if I don't have that."
I was heartbroken at what I was hearing. I was ready to go with Kate today. I was nervous, but excited! It was a little hard to fall asleep last night. I kept looking over at the pink duffel bag that had my stuff in it. I was gonna let the house keep most of it though for other kids, like the CD player, the extra pens and pencils I acquired over the years, books, and most of the clothes. I decided to keep two outfits, but give the rest back for other girls.
I had put the stuff I was taking with me into the duffel bag last night. Which was my socks and underwear (Nobody would want those handed down!), the two outfits I was keeping, my notebook, my CD's, my hair brush and toothbrush, and my stuffed animal from 'Build-a-Bear'. I got it for Christmas from Santa two years ago and I loved it.
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I had come down this morning and asked Miss Caroline when it would be time for Kate to come. She said it would be sometime around noon or so and all I did this morning was wait and wait for her. Then ten minutes ago she called Miss Caroline and she handed the phone to me. The first thing I did was ask Kate when she was gonna be here. That's when she told me about the paper.
"How long is it gonna be?" I asked her. I heard a sigh on her end as she answered, "Two days at most. It shouldn't be any longer than that." Kate told me. "I'm so sorry Maddie." I tried not to be sad. She was just doing the right thing. "It's okay." I told her, trying not to cry. I really wanted to go with Kate today. "I promise you Maddie, I'm gonna come back. I'm not gonna leave you." she assured.
The conversation went on for a few more minutes before we hung up. "I'm sorry Maddie." Miss Caroline said to me. I kinda ignored her and went back up to my room. I thought it would have been the last time I saw it, but I guess not. I put my duffel bag over in the corner of my room and kinds sulked for a bit. "Yo." I heard by my door. I looked up and saw Dana. "Hey." I said with a half smile.
"I heard what happened. Sorry bud." Dana said sitting on the bed next to me. "It's okay. She had to do it." I told her. "So...as long as your here, you wanna hang in my room?" Dana asked. She always knew how to cheer me up for the most part. Dana's room was awesome, she had her guitar, and she had most of her stuff from her old house. Dana was neglected by her family after she entered high school, and the police brought her here.
"Sure." I said half-hearted as I went to her room with her. "Wanna sing with me?" Dana asked as she pulled out her guitar. "Sure." I answered. Dana was the one who taught me to sing and sing better. She was in a band in middle school and was the female vocalist. I was five and she was thirteen when I started learning to memorize songs and sing better.
"What you wanna sing?" Dana asked as she tuned the guitar. "All-American Girl." I answered with the Carrie Underwood song. "Yeah, that's my favorite. You do really good with that song." Dana said. It was the first song I learned beginning to end and I was in love. "Okay, go ahead on your cue." Dana said. She started playing her guitar and on the cue I started.
Singing with Dana made me feel a little better. "So did she say when she's gonna come?" Dana asked. "She said it shouldn't be more than two days. She just had to get the new form, and send it through e-mail." I told Dana. "Well that's good. She's getting on it quick, so she obviously cares about you." Dana said. "Yeah, I guess your right." I said with a half smile.
"So what now? You wanna go outside? Found a new tree with a great view." Dana suggested. Dana and I loved climbing trees. We took turns finding places in various trees with cool views. In some trees there were nooks where you could sit against the trunk or even lay down, if you were in the right position.
"Sure, let's go!" I exclaimed. "Race ya!" Dana said as she went out of the door in front of me. I made it to the stairs first and raced down. But Dana beat me, only because she slid down the railing. "Cheater." I gasped as I reached the bottom after her. "No, just creative." she teased. "Come on."
We went trough the back door and slipped out. Nobody else was out from what we could tell. "It's way back, come on." Dana said as we hiked through the over grown grass and weeds. It was near the back of the property by the wooded lot line. "This one." Dana said as she mounted the trunk of a large oak tree. After she had gotten a few branches up, I went after her. After about five minutes of trial and error, I made it up to where Dana was.
"Woah!" I exclaimed. It did look really nice from up here. The sun rays split through the branches and leaves, making it awesome. "Come here, it gets better." Dana said as she pulled me up to her branch. "Hope this doesn't break." she muttered as I sat on the branch next to hers. "It's amazing up here." I whispered. "Yeah, pretty sweet." Dana said. We sat in silence and watched everything. Cars going down the road, birds fly across the sky, two squirrels chasing each other on the grass.
