Chapter 20

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When left my home town 12 years ago, I was 6 years old. My parents had just been killed, I was little, scared, and completely confused. No one told me anything, no one really reassured me. And I get it, there was nothing to say, there weren't many leads, everyone was shocked, and I was still a kid. I didn't really know much at all back then.

They just told me that things would be different, they'd do their best to keep me safe, and that I was being sent away for my own protection. At the time, I was young and they were adults. Of course, I listened. I did whatever they told me to.

Now, so many years later, I was back where everything started. Hopefully, this same place will be where everything ends. But, one can only hope.

After 30 excruciatingly long minutes in the car that the local witness protection branch had provided us, we finally arrived at my old home. It as mine now, everything my parents owned had been passed to me, officially ever since I turned 18.

I, however, was not prepared for what was waiting for us when we got there.

There were hundreds of reporters. Cameras were flashing, they were all impatiently waiting for us, for me specifically. I didn't know how to deal with them, I haven't been placed in a situation like this in so long.

How did they even know I was going to be coming home today? As far as I was concerned, we came here in secret, in the cover of night. No one was supposed to know I was coming back.

"It's probably the people who have been sending you death threats for the last couple of weeks. They know things about you." Blake told me.

"But what do we do?" I ask. I was really excited to finally be able to see my home, and these reporters were ruining what was supposed to be a very special moment for me.

"We can't go in right now, obviously, or else we'll get trampled. There's not enough security, and until we can prepare the house, It's risky to appear on t.v. It's most likely just a rumour they're following up on." Blake stated, and even though I didn't want to believe him, I knew that he was right.

"Let's go talk to witness protection here. They will deal with this situation. They are aware that we're here, right?" Talia's mother asked.

"Of course. We called ahead."

"One never knows with you, teenagers. Always distracted by one thing or another"

"Excuse me!" Blake exclaimed, suddenly surprised.

"You may be an agent, Blake. But you're also an 18-year-old boy." Talia's mother wasn't wrong and I'm certain Blake knew that. It was funny to see him get treated like the teenager he is. All the other girls also thought the same thing seeing as the all started laughing.

Blake drove us to the local HQ. Suddenly, all the memories I spent a dozen years repressing were coming out. This is where they first took me when I woke up that terrifying morning.

After a process of making sure we were who we said we were, and multiple calls to Xavier, they finally let us through. We, however, still had to sit there and wait to have a meeting with this branches' director. I think he's less of a 'people person' then Alan.

"My, my! How you've grown little Carolina." I'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Miss Leonard!" I exclaimed and ran up to hug her. She's my caseworker. The person who was put in charge of me. If I ever had any problems, I went to her.

In the beginning, with my first new family, I would call her almost every single day. I didn't know my new guardians, and over the 2 months I spent here at HQ, she was the closest person to a parent I had.

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