I FUMBLED NERVOUSLY with my fingers as I made my way through the busy airport, carrying nothing but a small backpack on my back filled with the last belongings I had left from the fire that had taken my parents.
Not a lot of stuff survived, but I guess me being alive was good enough.
"Oh my god, dad," I heard a loud voice exclaim as I made my way down the escalator heading towards the baggage claim. "She's not five anymore, I'm sure she can spot us without a sign!"
Looking up from my feet, I pass a few people getting off to grab their belongings before a head of platinum blonde hair invades my vision as she reaches over to grab the sign reading "Welcome home, Eloise!" out of her father's hand to chuck it halfway across the airport as a cheeky brunette just giggles and watches her father scold her older sister for being inconsiderate of the rest of the people in the airport who had to dodge the flying sign.
"Lizabeth!" Alaric exclaims, shaking his head at his eldest daughter before apologizing to the people around him.
Despite the sadness still eating away at my heart, I can't help but smile at the only family I had left bickering back in forth in the middle of the airport. I hadn't seen them since I was a kid, but the familiarity felt so good after spending a month and a half at my old neighbor's house while everyone figured out where I would go after my parent's funeral.
"Eloiseee!" Josie, the brunette, squeals loudly as she's the first to spot me. I smile and open my arms wide as she engulfs me into a tight hug, swaying me back and forth as she giggles. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
I take in the scent of her strong lavender perfume, feeling calm as she lets me go and moves to the side so her sister could have a turn with embracing me.
"Come here, my dear cousin." Lizzie smiles down as she hugs me and swats her father away. "Wait your turn, old man!"
Uncle Alaric just laughs and shakes his head, watching as Lizzie pulls her sister into the hug so that they both could embrace me at the same time.
He didn't seem to mind being pushed out of the hug, he was just happy to see us all together again. Despite losing his brother and sister-in-law, Alaric focused on keeping their only child safe with him instead of allowing some random family to take me in.
I was his family, and he was not about to let me slip into the foster system.
"Alright, alright, you've had your turn." Alaric pulls his two girls away and chuckles as they mumble nonsense under their breath as he wraps me tightly in his arms.
I smile and lean into his hug, feeling like a weight was slowly being lifted off my chest as he kisses the top of my forehead and guides us all out of the airport.
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I PEERED OUTSIDE the window of my uncle's SUV as he drove through the terrain that made up Washington State. It hadn't been raining that much in Seattle, but the more we got closer to my new home the more it began to rain. It was much different than Sunny California, and at first it made me sad that I was trading in palm trees for pine trees, but the more the rain collected on the windows the calmer I became. There isn't any wild fires here like California.
