Amongst the Chaos

Police Station

"Well that's alright, I'll make sure she gets seen to but for now I believe what Ms. Romano needs is some rest"

I'm both relieved and slightly worried about what Mrs. Hart said, will she take me to the hospital? will it happen all over again? I don't think I can go through something like that again.

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"In you go, sweetheart" Mrs. Hart said leading me into her car. I slowly and carefully slid into the passenger seat. I waited for her to get in and start the car but she just got in and stared at the steering wheel.

I didn't know what to say or do so I focused my attention on my shoes.

"I'm sorry Theodora" what? why is she apologizing?

"What?" She looked at me, the sadness evident, I could see it in her eyes.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you, but I'm here now and I promise you I'll try my best to find the perfect home for you"

Home I wonder what that is like

"I'll take you to the station where I can get a doctor to take a look at you" I whipped my head around her, no one will want me if they see how broken I am on the outside. At least I can hide it when it's on the inside.

"No, it's okay" I tried to lower my high pitch squeaky voice when she looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Theodora, if you're hurt you need to be seen by a doctor" She put the key in the ignition and started the car. Pulling out from the driveway, and out into freedom.

"I'm fine, I just hurt my ankle when I tripped out of the closet, I got scared and hid in there when I heard all of the police downstairs." I'm an expert at this point of hiding my pain from others. I don't want other people to worry about me, I don't want to burden them.

"Are you sure Theodora? because if you are hurt or in pain it could get a lot worse if it is left untreated" She looked at me suspiciously, trying to scare me into telling her but that was not about to happen.

"I am sure, that police officer was just exaggerating, I'm fine" I gave her a small smile I had become accustomed to giving people, to assure them more than myself because it is never a genuine smile.

"Okay then, we will head to the police station where I will speak to some officers and then I'll get to work on finding you somewhere to stay." She spoke softly to me, which I appreciated. I gave her a quick nod and looked out at the passing houses.

I always loved where we lived in Westport in Washington, it is gorgeous, I love water and the sea. I don't know where I'll end up I just hope it's not with anyone worse than Steven I don't think I could handle that. I do hope though that wherever I go I'll be near the sea.

It only took us a couple of minutes until we arrived at the very boring and familiar police station. Whenever Mom was sober enough she wouldn't want me there at the house so she just left me here. It happened a few times so I know some of the officers there. They always give me looks filled with pity and I hate it, I hate how no one can look at me without giving me some sad smile laced with pity or sympathy.

I walked into the station holding Mrs. Hart's hand, and it was Tony at the front desk, I'm normally terrified around men thanks to Steven. I mean I'm terrified of people in general but men especially however, Tony is one of those people who immediately makes you feel comfortable and he also manages to make me smile. His face always lights up when I laugh at one of his really corny jokes maybe because they're just that bad no one laughs at them.

"Hello Tony" Mrs. Hart sounded exhausted and I felt bad, Tony looked up from the computer once he heard a voice, he first notices Mrs. Hart and once he stood up and saw me he directed his full attention onto me.

"Well if it isn't my favorite little troublemaker" I gave him a small smile, I'm too tired to do anything else. He walked around the desk and kneeled in front of me since he is extremely tall. He calls me a little troublemaker because he always made up these absurd stories about why I was in the police station in the first place. I appreciate it because it means I don't have to think and dwell on the actual reason I was there.

"Come give your favorite person a hug" I giggled at his childlike behavior and proceeded to give him a small hug, he nearly crushed me in his embrace I had to hide the sheer pain I felt from the pressure on my all of my cuts and bruises.

"I believe I'm her favorite person Tony" I nearly forgot about Mrs. Hart until she and Tony began bickering over who I liked more. You wouldn't think these two were adults with how they interacted with each other.

"Okay Theodora, I'm going to sort out some paperwork and make some calls. Do you mind waiting out here and Tony can get you a drink and something to eat?" I gave her a quick nod and she scurried off out of sight.

I was sitting in one of the chairs that lined the wall with my head resting on my knees. It was only then I registered how tired I was, after all, It's now around four in the morning and I'm still in my pajamas with a small hoody covering my small frame. I felt myself nodding off that is until someone lightly tapped my shoulder, I shot up and looked around until I registered that it was Tony standing in front of me.

"Hey it's okay it's just me" He gave me a reassuring smile, he handed me a sandwich and what smelled like tea.

"I don't know if you like tea or not but it always helps me relax especially after a stressful day" Jeez I'd need gallons of tea to calm me down since apparently stress is all I know. I took it giving Tony a grateful smile.

"I'm afraid I have a lot of work to do so I can't share all of my new hilarious jokes with you" he has a playful sad smile on and I wipe the nonexistent sweat off of my forehead pretending to be relieved.

"That's just mean, plain mean" He shakes his head and walks away

He is seriously a child trapped in a grown man's body.

I manage to eat one of the two sandwiches so I decide to save the second one for later, I always try to save some food because with Mom and Steven I never knew when my next meal was. I still don't feel like it's real, Mom is gone and Steven is arrested. Then a thought pops into my head, oh god, what if he's here? What if he sees me and beats me again for being here, he'll think I told someone and he'll kill me"

My breathing becomes erratic and tears start streaming down my face, I feel a panic attack coming on so I just pull my knees up to my chest and tuck my head in trying to calm myself. It takes me a while but soon I drift off into a dreamless sleep...thank god.

I'm woken up when I feel someone shaking my shoulder, I flinch back but it was just Mrs. Hart. Thank God she didn't notice because she wasn't looking at me when she was trying to wake me up.

"I'm sorry to wake you but I have great news!" She is practically jumping for joy and it has me wondering how good the news is.

"I found you a home!"

A home?

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A/N Sorry for the boring-ish chapter I wanted to give an insight into how Theo's life was like before, with the visit to the police station and her current state of mind.

I hope you are enjoying the story so far and if you are please let me know in the comments or feel free to send me a message, as always I appreciate all of you who read and enjoy this story it means a lot to me!

Until next time,

A.O xx