Aubrey Garcia's Journey home.

Chapter Five.

(Warnings)

The first thing she heard from inside the house was the sound of a dog barking. Aubrey looked up at Florence, confusion clouding her face. "Oh yeah they have a dog." She glared at him, he knew perfectly well that she hated dogs. Dogs were the worst. There was no convincing her otherwise, no matter how much everyone attempted to 'show her the light.' They're aggressive, they shed everywhere, and Aubrey just didn't have very fond memories of dogs.

Home 3 had had this horrible dog that never seemed to stop growling at her. Seriously, the thing snarled at her every chance it got. Aubrey remembered hearing the echoing sounds of it's rage through the door, the thing sometimes stayed up all night just to terrorize her. She shuddered at the memory. It wasn't exactly pleasant. She remembered begging her case worker for weeks to bail her out of that hellhole, to move her far away from that creature and all the nightmares associated with it.

Her old case worker was kinda... a little... unstable. She had a tendency to blow things way out of proportion all the time and she would yell at Aubrey very often. It was kinda fun to antagonize her, until she had her worst ever 'tantrum' and hit Aubrey with a book. Another reason that Aubrey's case worker lost her job. The woman was almost as bad as some of the foster homes sometimes, though most case workers didn't exactly have the ability to withhold food. The door was suddenly flung open, startling the crap out of her and Florence.

A woman who looked to be in her forties stepped outside. She had raven black hair and soft facial features, with warm coffee brown eyes, tan skin, and a small but defined frame. "Hello Aubrey." She said, and her voice was soft and reassuring. Aubrey sized her up, trying to figure her out as quickly as possible. The woman seemed nice, but Aubrey knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving.

Aubrey's gaze shifted to behind the woman, and a man that looked about the same age as the woman stepped up behind her. He was tall, with light brown hair and dark brown eyes, much darker than the woman's. He had a very similar skin tone to the woman's, but his appeared a little bit lighter. "Ah hello." He said loudly, and a goofy grin spread across his face. Aubrey unconsciously wrinkled her nose, sure that she knew exactly what he was. All cheer, a false bravado, and irritation. The woman fixed her coffee brown orbs on Aubrey, "Come inside, it must be cold out there."

Aubrey cautiously stepped inside, her eye's sweeping the entirety of the house. It was a bit bigger on the inside, with a small kitchen that was connected to the living room. A show was still playing on the television, the volume lowered to the point where she couldn't hear it at all. She quickly took note of where are the exits were, as well as where food was stored. Aubrey felt much more comfortable with the knowledge that she knew that if she needed to, she could access food. In house 5 the family had withheld food as a punishment, which did absolutely nothing to combat how underweight she was.

Then she noticed another figure in the kitchen. He had dark brown hair and sky blue eyes, a tinge of pink under his tawny skin, and looked to be about her age. She stared at him for a moment.

"Oh." Said a voice behind her, "That's James." The woman smiled warmly at him, as if he was one of her children.

James fixed those sky blue eyes on her, and she internally cringed. It wasn't anything about him in particular, just the way he looked at her. It was a calculating look, the kind someone gave when they were trying to decide if you were going to be any use. After a few moments his gaze shifted on the woman.

"It's time for me to go?" He said it like it was a question.

"For now."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later Mrs. Williams."