The Lust That Hides The Love

Sixty-Lost and Found

Sugilite's Pov

"Fine then, truth or truth." I compromised. Amethyst snickered.

"Really? That's what you wanna do?" Alright,  it wasn't my best idea, but Ames, Alex, and I were bored as hell and nobody felt like getting up to play truth or dare. Alex and Olive had finally gotten a card table and some folding chairs, and we spent the whole day there.

"Come on, I think it's a great idea," Alex said. Amethyst snorted again.

"Fine then, you go first." Alex rolled her eyes and looked at me.

"Sugilite. Truth or deeply personal truth?" I laughed.

"You know what let's go for deeply personal truth." I was in a good mood, so I didn't think anything would go wrong.

"Hmm..." Alex leaned back and thought. "Alright then. This might be a little too invasive, but I've seen the mess that raised you. How come you guys didn't get placed in your Mom's custody years ago?" I laughed a bit.

"Jesus, you don't hold the punches!" I took a breath. "Well, we didn't get involved with DCF until Amethyst was in third grade. So I was about..." I thought for a moment. "Twelve, maybe still eleven. And by then I already knew that if we got taken away from him we'd probably get separated. I didn't really have any contact with my Mom, so I didn't think she'd even be an option. So I got pretty good at cleaning and covering stuff up. I used to make sure he showered and had coffee to help him sober up for work, I used to schedule all of our parent-teacher conferences and appointments, and I used to pay the bills."

"Jesus, at twelve?" I nodded.

"Yeah. Plus he used to clean himself up to go to school crap. By the time Amethyst hit middle school though he stopped trying. It's only gotten really bad since then." Amethyst and Alex were quiet. Suddenly, Olive walked in.

"Hey Olive we're playing truth or truth come join us!" Amethyst practically shouted to relieve the tension. Olive scoffed.

"Yeah, sure. What are you gonna ask me? Who I had a crush on in third grade?" She snickered and turned to go into her bedroom.

"Why did you lie to me that night after you went home with Marcus?" Alex asked. Olive froze, still facing her door.

"That was almost three years ago, Alex. It doesn't matter anymore." She went into her room and slammed her door behind her.

"What was that about?" I asked, turning back to Alex. She shook her head.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." She looked at Amethyst. "Your turn to go." Before Amethyst could say anything, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it."

Alex got up and opened the door. Amethyst and I both watched, and I could feel my gut sink as soon as I saw our social worker step through the door.

"I'm in a lot of trouble, aren't I?" I asked as she walked over to the table.

"Yes, you are." I sighed. "But not as much trouble as your mother and her boyfriend." Amethyst and I looked at her.

"Would you like something to drink? Or a seat?" Alex asked, gesturing to an empty seat. Our worker sat down.

"A glass of water would be lovely, thank you." Alex nodded and went into the kitchen.

"What do you mean?" Amethyst asked.

"Well, the school contacted your mother about your absences. When she gave no explanation and didn't seem worried the school contacted me. I spoke to your mother and Eric. They told me they didn't know where Amethyst was since you'd taken her. I spoke to another young lady, Nikki, and she pointed me in this direction."

"What's gonna happen now?" Amethyst asked.

"Well, we're going to have to send you back to your mother's house. I've already spoken to your teachers about you staying after school to catch up on missed work. And I'll be sure to keep an eye on you for the duration of the investigation."

"Investigation?" I asked.

"Well, most parents would show some signs of worry if their child wasn't in heir home. But seeing as they never contacted the police or made any attempt to get you back, we have a reason for suspicion." She looked at both of us, then back at Amethyst. "Why don't you go pack your things and the three of us can ride back to your Mom's?" Amethyst nodded and went to get her stuff.

"I'm really sorry I didn't call you. But we went to get Amethyst for a nice day out and Eric was about to hit her and-"

"Sugilite, it's okay." She put a hand on my shoulder. "I know how you feel. If I could, I'd be taking every kid I work with home with me. The hardest part is having to bring them back to a home I know isn't safe for him. But after this investigation, we can help all seven of those kids. Even if all that means is we get one, or two, or even three of them out. A lot of the time situations like this improve when we get some of the kids back with other biological parents. Of course, a lot of these kids are unfortunately with the only biological parents, or the only ones fit to raise a child. But slowly and surely, if we can get a couple of the younger kids out, it'll create a safer environment for the older kids." She glanced up to make sure Amethyst had gone into the bathroom before lowering her voice.

"I'm going to be honest with you. We're probably not going to be able to get Amethyst out of the house. And it probably doesn't seem like it, but sending her back to your father's house isn't an option." I sighed.

"I know." She smiled.

"Nothing bad is going to happen because of this. If anything, you bringing Amethyst out of the house brought our attention to some severe issues. I can't thank you enough." I smiled.

"What should I do?" I knew there wasn't much I could do. But I still needed to protect my sister.

"If you ask me? Go to school. You're studying law. In a few years, get yourself a nice apartment where the two of you can live. I know that by the time you can afford to, Amethyst will most likely already be eighteen. But even then, being together will be the best thing for you. But on the off chance you can get an apartment and a stable job before then and you want to fight for custody, I'll be right behind you." She grabbed my hands. "I know you can do it." I smiled again.

"Alright, that's everything," Amethyst said, looking around. Alex finally came back from the kitchen with a face that told me she'd been listening the entire time.

"It was a pleasure to have you here." She wrapped her arms around Amethyst.

"Thank you so much." I got up and hugged Alex too.

"Thanks." I pulled away and hugged Amethyst. "You ready to go Ames?" Amethyst sighed.

"Yeah, let's go."

To put it simply, Mom and Eric were less than thrilled to see us. In fact, it looked like if the social worker hadn't been there, there would've been a fight.

"I see you're back." Mom said, looking at the social worker.

"Yes, I've brought Amethyst. We've decided she'll stay here for the duration of our investigation." Eric crossed his arms.

"I don't know why you need to come digging shit up just because she ran away." The social worker narrowed her eyes.

"Well, ordinarily parents are worried when a child goes missing and I don't have to. We'll be speaking later this week." She turned and left swiftly. Mom turned to me.

"Why the hell did you take her?"

"So now you're asking?" I scoffed. "Listen, I'm not gonna stop until I know my sister is safe. So you'd better make sure she is." Slamming the dor behind me, I left.