Chapter two: "Goodbye and good riddance."

My eyes fluttered open at a beeping sound and I adjusted my eyes to the lighting of the room.

A hospital. I was in the hospital. I sat up but was gently pushed back down to lie down again.

"I'm sorry miss but you have to stay down. Doctors' orders." I looked at the nametag of the nurse that sat on her white doctors’ top and saw her name was Nurse Morrison.

I nodded my head and got comfortable in the bed. Not knowing what else to do I looked around the hospital room that I was in. It was plain. It had a small round table with a flower atop and two chairs on opposite sides of each other. There was also a monitor next to the small bed I was currently rested in and a window that was covered by white curtains, blocking me from the view of curious eyes outside the room.

I thought back to the previous events that got me to this state.

John is gone, that rhymes. In this circumstance, I should not be making silly jokes like this but then what else do I have to hold onto when everything is suddenly going to be taken away from me. I am going to a new family. I sighed at these two thoughts. John would have never turned himself in. Never. The fact that he did this was so surprising that I could not believe it. He was high and drunk. Don't know what off, maybe marijuana? Cocaine? Whatever it was must have been so strong as to have John do something that would probably never occur, not even in his next lifetime if in the same situation.

I tried some of them and they worked for a while. I was able to forget about everything for a good while imagining things that would probably not happen, but when John found out he was furious and beat me to a pulp, so I didn't touch them again. Well, I do when I really need an escape but that's not the point. The only good thing about it was that I was able to forget about how messed up life was for a while.

A new family. Now, this is something even more extraordinary. Why would a family want to take someone like me? If they knew what I have been through, if they knew how broken I was, if they knew I am sure they never would have allowed to take me in. I mean wouldn’t a family normally want a child that is fully healthy and happy because I can assure you that if that is what they are hoping I am then they would be really disappointed. They would even try to return me or whatever if that is even possible.

The door to the hospital room I was in opened and several people came in. One was dressed in a doctor’s attire, two were dressed in police uniforms and the last one was dressed in a formal suit.

"Hello, Miss Moneece." The doctor said approaching my bed and checking up on the monitors.

"It's Avery." I corrected him.

"Ah yes, sorry, Avery. How're you feeling?" He asked taking a folder that hung on the edge of my bed and filling out some sheets.

"I'm good. Can I go home now?" I asked.

"This is where I come in." The man with the formal suit said. He had a large binder in his hand and used his slender fingers to flip a couple of pages before resting on one.

"My name is Mr. Griffin, I'm a social worker. The police will question you on this later but as you've probably heard your father is in prison."

I said nothing and just stared emotionlessly at the man.

He seemed a bit unsettled when I did this, but this is how I normally look so he is going to have to deal with it. I can't risk showing any emotions, I just can't.

He continued dismissing my lack of speech. "Well, you will have a new family that will be fostering you. They are a very nice family and quite well known too. You will have siblings and parents. Mr. and Ms. Daly will be your parents. They are the founders of Daly Designs."

I nodded my head. I knew who the Daly’s were, everyone, did. If someone didn’t then they would have been living under a rock. They created the most expensive clothes ever yet were one of the best in the fashion industry. Whenever they released something no matter what the price, they were sold out immediately. Like literally. They had models lined up from all over to display their creations in fashion shows which always turned heads from how amazing they were. I’d say it took quite a lot of practice to be able to come up with the clothes they produced, and the fashion industry was a hard thing to conquer so them being as successful as they were said a lot about their work.

Not knowing what else I could have done nodded at the social worker and shifted my gaze to the police officers.

They both stepped forward. "I'm Officer Mickelson and my colleague is Officer Davidson. We are just going to be asking a couple of questions. Please answer honestly and we'll be done soon."

They asked many questions like how long this has been going on, what he did, what pushed him to do this etc. Even though I was reluctant to answer the questions I answered truthfully. They told me that he was sentenced to about 50 to 55 years in prison for child abuse and other things that I had no clue about.

When they left, I was thankful as it was getting tiring. Unfortunately, I could not go back to sleep since the doctor and social worker still wanted to talk to me.

"Your new family lives in South Carolina so tomorrow you will be taking the plane there and you'll be living with them until your 18 and you'll be able to decide your path after then." The social worker said. He also gave me details of the flight and things that I will need to do. I listened patiently until he was done talking.

I was also assigned a worker that would accompany me home and accompany me to the airport the next morning.

The doctor then came in and told me that I was soon able to leave. He gave me an ointment that I should put on after showers so that the bruises and scars can heal faster, but he warned that some scars will not be able to erase themselves from my body.

I guess I will have a permanent reminder of how much of a let-down I am.

I sat down on my bed and looked around the room. Tomorrow I would be leaving England, my home, to go to South Carolina, my new home. I will be meeting my new family soon.

I am torn between being happy and scared that changes would be happening, that what I dreamt of day and night would finally be happening. I’m happy that I'm gonna leave this horrible place, I'm happy that I'll be able to start afresh. But I cannot help but feel scared too. What if they don't like me? What if they treat me just like John did? I shudder at the last thought and shake my head.

I doubt that would happen though, I mean, they were the Daly’s and I would not have been put with them in the first place if that’s how I’d be treated.

"Well let's get packing," I said to myself.

I found an old black suitcase in the basement where we kept things that we rarely used and cleaned it since it was full of dust. I then gathered all my clothes which wasn't that much just four different pairs of black jeans, black leggings, three black jumpers, two oversized, and the last one was oversized and swallowed my petite figure, a few tops, a pair of boots and runners and a toothbrush. I also put in the ointment the doctor gave me and a box that was full of memories when John, Mom, and I lived happily as a family.

Those days are just distant memories that happened when there was such a thing as living a happy life with a happy family. Now those memories were just torturing to think that life could be happy, but have it vanish in the blink of an eye.

When I was done packing, I laid down in my bed and let sleep take over.

I woke up early the next morning disheveled. I wasn’t able to get to sleep until late last night, nervous about what was to happen. I got up from my bed and took a cold shower getting ready for the long day ahead.

The doorbell rang just as I got downstairs letting me know that the worker was ready to take me to the airport.

I opened the door and was greeted by the smiling face of the kind lady who took me home yesterday. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” I said quietly.

I followed her outside to her car with my suitcase and she took it from me loading it into the boot. She opened the door for me at the back and I muttered a small thank you not quite ready to believe this was actually happening. As we drove away, I looked out the window to my small house that only bred bad memories conflicted on how I felt at that moment leaving everything behind.

Almost two hours later we got to the airport and she helped me unload the car and I took my suitcase. Again, I followed her inside not making a sound as she checked everything for me but soon it was time for me to go.

She stood before me with an encouraging smile. “Ready to go?”

“Not really,” I said candidly.

“You’ll be amazingly fine.” She said with a smile. “Bye Avery.”

“Goodbye.” And good riddance, I thought.

"Boarding door of the plane to Carolina is now open. Please make your way over." The airport intercom stated.

I took out my boarding pass and showed it to the desk. They checked it and I was let into the plane.

I looked for my seat and quickly found it. Ms. Daly paid for a first-class seat and I sighed looking out the window as I sat down comfortably. This was, in all likelihood the most comfort I’d been in, in years.

There were loads of food to try and there were sweets too. I have a very soft spot for sweets.

I closed my eyes and went to sleep for the fourteen-hour duration of the flight after eating.

The flight went by smoothly and I had a great sleep, one of the best.

I sat up stretching my arms then got up exiting the plane along with the rest of the passengers. The airport was packed with people and were all wearing summer clothes and saw that I stood out against them all with my black jeans and a dark blue band shirt.

Tomboyish, I know, but there’s not much point in trying to dress nicely when all everyone’s going to see is a small broken girl who got abused by her druggie father.

I located my luggage and looked around the many people holding signs. The social worker said that since Mr. and Ms. Daly were busy with the company doing work, probably coming up with more breath-taking designs, their driver would come to get me instead.

Looking around at the crowds of different people I soon found my name in a very bright red on a whiteboard. The man holding it was dressed in all black just like me but his was a suit mine was just a scruffy outfit. I made my way over to the driver.

He looked me up and down before asking a question. "Miss Avery Moneece?"

I nodded my head and he took my luggage leading me towards the car. It was a navy Rolls-Royce and I almost showed emotion when I saw it. This car probably cost thousands.

The driver opened the door for me just as the worker had done before, and I went inside. I watched as he put my bag in the boot of the car before sitting down in the front. He began driving and I fell asleep.

Soon I'll have a new life. A new beginning. A new start.