Keep Her Safe by QB Tyler

It looked cozy from the outside; a portable green bungalow surrounded by oriental scrubs and green pines. A perfect home to raise kids. But it always unusually quiet, for a children's home.

I bet those children in there are being drilled like in the military- people would say, but in whispers of course.

She paddled her almost rusty bicycle with agility, laughing at the faces of the passerby as they stopped and glared annoyingly at the bicycle because of its rusty sound.

She wished their annoyed faces were the best of her worries, then her heart wouldn't be drumming against her ears as it was doing at the moment. A quick glance at her wrist watch, made her press harder on the paddle, her thick ebony curly hair flew every which way, a handful of strands falling on her face and obstructing her view.

"Damn Caroline" she cursed under her breath, stopping to pack part of the curly mess on her face with her hand scrunchie as they were too thick to be handled at once.

Going as fast as the piece of rusty iron could carry her, she turned into a familiar neighborhood as she neared the little bungalow, rows of oriental scrubs greeted her, she scanned the vicinity with an expert eye, satisfied that her foster father's beat up Sudan was not in sight, which could only mean he was not at home, she heave a sigh of relief, and packed her rusty bicycle neatly next to a scrub, pulled out a tote bag from the carrier and rushed up the front pouch.

As she opened the door and stepped in, a frown formed in her face as she took in the silence that greeted her, she checked her wrist watch once again she was just right on time and almost evening, in about two hours time the sun will be going down, which made her wondered where her foster siblings were especially Josh and Anna, the youngest kids who always stand at the door to welcome home with one prank or the other, after she had fallen into their trap, they would laugh hard, completely innocent of the number one rule in the house; no noise. Her heart flutters seeing their face, they are always radiant with hope, and joy, and she wishes them to hold on to that, as those virtues were gradually slipping from her grabs.

She made her way into the kitchen in search of the children, she was greeted with the same silence, she decided to go further into the room she shared with other older kids, but since they were no more, as most of them had finally reunited with their family, or had a really home that were willing to adopt them, she had the room to herself. She stopped to pull out her patched up sneakers, looking at the shoes, she made a mental note to sew up the new tear by the side later in the night, when she was back from her part time job and had finished the piled up house chores that would await her.

"Jane" a husky voice called her, she immediately looked ahead and gulped, wondering where she had come from.

"Ma Kristine" she responded

" That university of yours keeps you out for hours, who do you think will do all the house chores around here, you should stop going" the fat woman said, angrily.

She was used to this talk, she wasn't afraid of her because all she does is talk and talk. If the talk of pulling out of the University came from her foster father, she could quiver in fear, knowing very well he'd make her do it. But for some reason the cunning man wants her in school, which remains a surprise to her, as he never wants anything good for her. He did not even let her move out of the house even when she turned legal age, it's like she was trapped here, it doesn't matter anywhere she had tried running off to, he'll always find her. And she had stopped trying to run off, she had learnt her lesson; weeks of slashes and whips and starvation had taught her to discard the thoughts of running away.

" I'm sorry, Kristine" she apologized with her eyes on the ground, it was one of the norms they were taught, anytime they get scolded they had to apologize, doesn't matter if they are wrong or not.

"Come here, you wisps"

She moved closer to the fat woman.

" You see this number, you'll ring it up once you get to the outpost of the town, the person on the phone will direct you where to meet with him, he'll give you a bag which you'll bring to me" Kristine instructed.