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Quickly, the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Reese has been living with Taylor and Karlie for just over two months. As for her parents, they were charged and convicted of child abuse, and spending time in prison. Taylor and Karlie has worked hard and gotten their foster license and became the official foster parents of the young girl.
Reese's physical wounds luckily healed quicker than predicted, with the exception of a few sad scars, but her emotional wounds were still fresh, and Taylor and Karlie were well-aware of that. Most nights, she awoke from a terrifying dream and ended up staying up the rest of the night. Despite the desperate protests from the teenager, the couple had been bringing her to therapy.
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One Saturday night, just after 2:00 a.m., Reese awoke from another nightmare in a cold sweat. She tried her best to keep quiet, as she had just woken up Taylor last night. She squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to forget the dream and for sleep to come, but it was hopeless. She sighed and got out of bed and tip-toed downstairs to the kitchen. Her shaky hands held an apple in one and gripped a glass with the other as she filled it with water. Just as she was about to sit at the bar, a banging noise coming from outside, scaring the life out of the girl, made her jump. Before she realized what was happening, the glass shattered on the floor in a million pieces. Immediately, the teen bursted into tears, and began scooping the glass up with her hands, frantically trying to clean up the mess. She sank to the floor with her head in her hands.
Bounding down the stairs, Taylor ran into the kitchen and flipped on the lights. Not far behind, Karlie held her phone, ready to dial 911 in the case of an intruder. "Oh, honey." Karlie was first to notice the child in the kitchen curled in a ball by the mess. "Sweetheart, what happened?" Taylor sat next to the little girl on the floor and pulled her into her lap. "I just wanted a snack but I dropped-" the teen choked on her sobs and the two older women's hearts broke. "It's okay, my love. Let's get this cleaned up, and you can have your snack." Taylor said gently. "I- I can clean it. I'm so s-sorry. P-please don't hurt me, please don't be mad-" Reese stuttered, in a mess of tears. "Reese, we're not mad at you. It was just an accident, hon. And we would never ever hurt you, okay?" Karlie knelt by the child and gently grabbed her hand. "Oh, honey, did you try to pick this glass up? You have some cuts on your hands." Reese just nodded. "Kar, why don't you take her upstairs and get those fixed up, and I'll clean this up." Taylor suggested. "I'm sorry," the child repeatedly whimpered. "Shh...it's alright, beautiful. Go get cleaned up with Kar." Taylor comforted. Karlie gently grabbed the small girl from under the armpits and settled her on her hip while Reese buried her head in the woman's neck.
"How is she?" Taylor asked entering the master bedroom. "She's fine, just scared. I got her back to sleep, luckily." Karlie replied. Taylor went over to the bed to inspect the sleeping girl. She gently ran her hands over the cotton bandages covering her hands. "Poor thing. I hate to think about what she went through at her old home. How could someone hurt a child like that?" "I don't know, Tay. All I know is, we have to make sure she knows we would never ever do anything like that to her." Karlie smiled at the sleepy teen and brushed some hair from her face.
