Grasp My Hold

eight

"Hey, sweetie," a small voice says as Ally struggles to keep still in her seat.

Although she was in a lightly colored room with nice funiture and she was hugging a stuff animal while sitting in the most comfortable seat in the world, she was scared.

Grace wasn't here with her. She wanted to cry. She was scared. What if her father was here to talk to her? What if she was put into the foster system and she never saw Grace again?

"Woah, are you alright? Do you need some water?"

Ally recognizes the voice and looks up at the women, her eyes widening. "Noel?"

The woman smiles, pushing her hair back. "Long time, no see, huh?"

Ally looks at her social worker in awe. The last time she saw Noel, she were a bright, nervous woman. Their last seeing was Ally staying silent and being distant, not answering any of the questions she were asked. Now, Noel looked worn out, though her eyes were still bright.

"Ally, are you alright?" The woman asks, placing a checker in the board as they played Connect 4. "You're not on your game today."

She shrugs, leaning against her palm on the table.

Noel sighs, putting her red chip down and looking at Ally, frowning. "I see you wanted the black pieces today. You always choose red; it's your favorite color."

She shrugs once again, sipping at her juice box. "I like black better now."

"Oh." The woman says, nodding a bit. She moves from her spot in chair and over to Ally's chair, crouching down to face her. "You can always talk to me, girly. I'm here to help you. Anything on your mind?"

"... I want another sandwich."

Noel gapes a bit, not expecting that. But she simply nods and stands. "Well, I only brought you one, but we can go get another. Subway is just up the street."

Ally moves from her spot while Noel grabs her purse. When she's meeting the young girl at the door of the huge room, she starts, "You know, you've been really hungry lately. Have you---" She sees a red drowning shape on the back of her dress and freezes for a moment.

Her eyes widens, realizing her problem: she was starting her first menstruation!

"Oh, Ally, sweetie, are you not in the mood because you're starting your... cycle?" Noel asks, smiling a bit.

"What?"

"You probably weren't sure what it was," Noel chuckles, going towards the girl. She crouches a bit and gives her a small smile. "You're... erg, bleeding."

Ally's eyes widen and she looks in the back of her her. "What?!"

"Hey, hey, calm down. C'mon, I'm gonna take you home and you can change your clothes and I'll get you some important supplies for this. Maybe you could get your sandwich another day."

Ally frowns, her eyes tearing up, but she hesitantly nods, sniffing.

Noel frowns and grabs Ally's small hands, but she won't meet her eyes like usual. "Ally, are you sure you're okay?"

Ally nods, wiping her eyes to stop the tears from falling. She couldn't let her know. "I-I just wanted a sandwich."

"Umm, well, you know what? We can go get your sandwich as a congratulations right now because you're a really big girl now. You'll just have to wait in the car because blood isn't really pleasant."