Never Neverland

Chapter One/Introduction

My day started as it usually does. Chaos throughout the house, the boys running up and down the stairs with something of either mine or Tobi's in hand. Since we're the only two girls in the house, they enjoy tormenting the shit out of us.

"GIVE IT BACK YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Tobi yelled running through the hall.

Tobi Quinn Hartmin. My closest ally in this house. She's only a year older than myself. She was given up at birth. Parents were real young, and decided that they couldn't care for a child of their own when only children themselves.

We made a pact that if we never get adopted out of this infernal foster home, we'd live together somewhere in Brooklyn. Out of every couple that comes to visit every other week, they never gave us any attention. So far, our pact might just end up a reality.

"YOURE ONLY GETTING IT BACK OVER MY DEAD BODY!" JC responded.

"DON'T COUNT ON IT!" Tobi yelled back.

JC Wilcox. Acts like a brother, but I mostly hate his guts. He's the newest in the house, only being here for a little over six months. He's a year younger than me. He's a complete ass, and never knows when to shut his mouth.

He was forced into the foster life. His parents were in a fatal car accident when he was two years of age, leaving him to live with his grandmother who passed away only two years after that. Ever since he's been tossed from home to home.

Trailing behind him was William Armstead, the youngest at only eight years of age. Poor little Will was left at the doorway of the nearby hospital at only three hours old. Will to me is like a baby brother. He doesn't cause too much commotion, but yet he's not entirely quiet either.

Kathey grabbed the boy at the tail end of three by the ear. That boy was Marshall Gunn, the oldest out of all of us at a whopping 17 years of age. He acts younger than the 8 year old.

Marshall was "given up" at ten years old, but it was more so the court of law forcing him into a foster home. His father was never in the picture and his mother was arrested for drug paraphernalia while on parol. Marshall was always a troublemaker. Well, coming from a home like that I'd guess that's basically what was bound to happen. He's been in this home for a little under five years, and on his next birthday he's being set free.

Then there's Kathey, or, Katheryne if you must. She's our ruthless foster mom. Four years after her only biological child went off to college she started taking in foster kids. Call it empty nest syndrome if you want, but everytime I've asked why she's taken in so many kids over the years, she's always answered the same way. "I just want to give kids a home where they feel comfortable. If that means putting down the law, then so be it. Growing up I had a friend who was in and out of foster homes because both of her parents were drug addicts. She was always so miserable. I wanted to give kids like her a better home." That's what touched me the most about her. I trust her. She's probably the best Foster mom I've had.

And finally, there's me. Hannah Elise Larkin. The closest I've ever been to adoption was when I was four years old. I would go on weekly visits to an older couple who never got the chance to have a child of their own. We were a week away from signing the final adoption papers when suddenly they learned they were pregnant and decided to back out.

I never knew really why I was given up. I was told that my mother had passed away during child birth and my father didn't want me because he couldn't handle being a single father. He ended up not giving me a name at all other than my last name, which wasn't even his. It was my mothers maiden name. I went into the system as Baby Girl Larkin. I entered my first Foster home at three days old where I was originally named Ella Mae but later wound up back at the orphanage. There they already had a little girl with the name Ella Mae and I was back to Baby Girl Larkin.

I entered my next Foster home at four months old where I was named Hannah Elise. This time, the name stuck. I was at that home until I was a year old and was back at the orphanage.

I didn't go back into a Foster home again until after my close adoption. It was a very unhealthy environment. There were ten other kids in the house and a ton of pets too. Don't get me wrong, I love animals. Kathey has a cat who I love very much. But when I say there were a ton of pets, I mean there were a ton of pets. A fish tank that never got taken care of, four large dogs and two cats. Plus rodents galore. ONE KID EVEN HAD A PET TARANTULA. LIKE SORRY BUT A FOUR ALMOST FIVE YEAR SHOULDN'T BE ANYWHERE NEAR A HUGE SPIDER LIKE THAT. And my Foster brothers wonder why I have eurakniphobia.

I wound up here, my current Foster home after six long years in the other hell hole. Kathey took me in when I just turned ten years old. I always hoped that she'd adopt me eventually, but I don't foresee it happening soon. I love Kathey so much. She's the only Foster mom that has actually treated me like one of her own. I've been here for a good five years now, and the longer I stay the more at home I feel.

You'd think that because we live right outside of New York City that I'd be dying to take little trips everyday but I don't. Why? Because I go to school right in the center of NYC. And I pretty much hate everyone.

Don't get me wrong, I love the city, but the people here aren't always the friendliest. I like to think of my life as Annie, because it's probably most similar to the way my life has gone so far. Except I haven't been adopted yet.

So, enough with the backstory. I'd like to tell you how I did get adopted.

It all started when I had recently gotten into a little musical called If/Then. I never shut up about it. It's all I talked about for nearly a year.

I loved it so much to the point where I would listen to the soundtrack 24/7, sing the lyrics everyone of the songs, and basically act out the whole thing in my bedroom. I even did a paper on it in my journalism class. It was probably the best thing that happened to me since I actually got into Broadway.

I ended up seeing the show for my fifteenth birthday, but the standby for Idina went on that day. BUT! She was equally as amazing. She brought something else to the character that I loved so much. I think Jackie was her name. She was phenomenal.

Ever since then I told everyone that the best day of my life was October 2nd 2014. I went on and on about it for months. Everyone told me to shut it, because they've all heard it before.

"The best day of your life was your fifteenth birthday because you say if/then or whatever it's called. I know. You've told everyone already." -All of my friends.

Even Tobi told me to shut up about it, and she never says a word about anything I talk about. She usually puts up with it. I guess I didn't realize how much I actually said something about it.

I talked about so much to the point where one night at dinner I was sent to eat in my bedroom because no one wanted to hear my nightly dinner conversation. About the same thing. I was grounded for a week. I had zero regrets.

It was then when it started to die down. I began getting into other musicals and plays and even auditioned for some stuff around town. I never landed anything, but I gave it all I had.

One night though in January of 2015, I read on my laptop that If/Then would be closing March 22nd 2015. I had a break down in the middle of "family time" - a little group thing we did after dinner where we'd talk about our day and stuff. I kinda just got weird looks from everyone. Except Kathey, because she was the only one who cared for my emotions.

I went to bed early that night. Tobi and Kathey sat next to me on my bed. They didn't get it though. That musical changed me and the news of it closing crushed me entirely. Nobody really got why I was so upset.

But then of course when I woke up the next morning with my eyes mascara stained because I was too emotionally unstable to take it off the night before, the boys did nothing but make fun of me.

Every time Kathey would tell them to shut it, they would say something else and laugh anyway. I ended up punching Marshall in the gut that day just because he wouldn't quit pestering my all day. And again, I got grounded. But for only two days because Kathey said he deserved it. Marshall got grounded for a month, and the rest of the boys were grounded for two weeks.

And that there is why I love Kathey. She's like a real mother to us. We get treated the way she treated her own son. And I wouldn't have it any other way.