□2□

"Wake up sunshine!" I heard a quiet voice. It seemed so far away to me. Annoyed, I mumbled something incomprehensible and made myself a little more comfortable in the back seat. I had my head rested on my arms and my legs slightly bent.

"What's taking so long?" came another deep voice, which was unknown to me. It was definitely a man, you could hear that clearly.

"She just doesn't want to wake up," Jared answered. Shortly afterwards, the door was opened at my feet and someone suddenly pulled me out of the car. I gasped in shock and immediately opened my eyes wide. I thought I was about to make contact with the ground , but this shitty thing - which felt the need to wake me up as roughly as possible - placed me firmly on my feet and waited until I had regained my balance before letting go.

"What do you think your doing?!" I snapped angrily and looked at the stranger in front of me, another closet. Then I let my eyes wander a bit. I was surrounded by forest, only one road went past the small house in front of us. A young woman came running towards us from the house in question. I saw a worried expression on her face from a distance.

"I heard a scream. What happened?" she asked almost in panic. It was only when she came to a stop in front of me that I noticed the scars on one side of her face. It didn't look bad on her, it just enhanced her beauty in a different way.

"I had to wake Aurora up somehow," came my wake-up caller again. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked a little pissed off.

"But there's definitely a gentler way to do it. Besides, we don't want to scare her off like that. She should feel comfortable here." the woman admonished him. Suddenly the man no longer seemed strong or self-confident. I watched what was happening the whole time, but didn't say a word. Jared and Embry were also silent.

After a while I cleared my throat briefly to get their attention.

"Um, could I perhaps find out who you two are now?" I asked exhausted, because I was still tired and didn't want to watch an argument.

"Oh yes of course. I'm Emily and this is Sam. We adopted you." the young woman explained to me kindly. "Sorry about Sam, he doesn't mean any harm but he's not very patient." She added after I had taken a closer look at the two of them.

I took a deep breath. At least they were better than the last families I came into. Emily seemed pretty nice to me and apparently she's the boss of the house. Sam, on the other hand, had already scored some negative points with me.

"Shall we perhaps go inside first? I'll show you everything and then we can eat something." Emily suggested. I nodded immediately because I was starting to feel a little cold out here. A quick look at the sky told me that it was probably going to rain soon.

I followed Emily inside while the boys stayed outside. I glanced at them briefly. How could they stand in the cold in shorts and a t-shirt while I froze my ass off in my jacket and long jeans? That wasn't normal.

So Emily gave me a quick tour of the entire house, including of course showing me my room. She had set it up for me and asked how I liked it. I had to admit that she really had good taste. I wouldn't have believed her to do that, after all, we were here at the end of the world and I could bet that modern furniture was a foreign concept to most people here.

My room wasn't particularly big, but it was enough. There was a large four-poster bed in it, which made you sleepy even from far away. Then there was also a large wardrobe and a mirror next to it. There was also a window with a kind of bench on the windowsill and a desk next to it. A door led into a small adjoining bathroom.

So it was possible to live here. I still remember what it was like in my second 'family', where I lived in a storage room that only had room for a small mattress. Even though they owned a huge house. Well, when I was kicked out of there only half the house was standing. But in my defense, they wanted me to cook and I was barely around five years old.

"Muffins are ready!" Emily called from the kitchen. She quickly decided to bake some. I offered to help her, but she politely declined. She said I should just relax a bit and get used to everything .

So now I was sitting at a table with the three anabolic steroid guys. Jared waited anxiously for the promised muffins while Embry chatted with Sam. Somehow I felt out of place, which is why I was happy when Emily finally came through the door.

As soon as she put the muffins on the table, Jared quickly grabbed one and was about to take a bite, but he had done the math without Emily.

"Hey, Lady's First! Aurora, would you like one?" she first admonished Jared, slapping his fingers, and then turned to me with a smile. I nodded silently and took one of the monstrous muffins. You could win me over with something like that, I loved chocolate. Still I eyed the chocolate bomb skeptically before biting into it.

I noticed Emily staring at me intently, waiting for a reaction from me.

"They're brilliant!" I finally said. Emily smiled contentedly while the three guys started laughing like crazy. I actually didn't want to be so nice to this 'family', but Emily was the kind of person you just didn't want to hurt. I just didn't like to trust in such friendliness and warmth. Every time I fell for it only once was really real. But in the end I always had to suffer. I always got the short end of the stick.

"Aurora, I have to tell you something," Sam suddenly said, who hadn't spoken to me yet. He had a deep voice that sounded friendly on the one hand, but also somehow dominant on the other.

I lifted my head and looked him in the eyes. He smiled slightly when he noticed my muffin-stuffed cheeks. I swallowed quickly and waited for him to continue talking.

"Well, since you're still going to school, we decided to enroll you in the one on the reservation. The other boys go there too, so they'll always keep an eye on you," he explained to me. I knew I had to go back to school, but I didn't mind. I've always been good at itschool without having to put in any effort. But I didn't think it would all happen so quickly.

"If I have to," I replied, pretending to be uninterested. Somehow it scared me, after all, I didn't know anyone else here. But on the other hand, I've managed very well on my own so far.

"Well, that's gonna be something," groaned Jared, annoyed. "She was already unbearable during the journey here!" He continued to complain, to which I just gave a cheeky grin and shrugged my shoulders.

Sam didn't seem to like Jared's statement much, but when he realized that I didn't really care, he turned away from Jared as well. Sam stood up without further ado and put his arms around Emily's waist from behind before pulling her close and placing a few kisses on her hairline. I turned my face away, slightly disgusted. Somehow I found it hard getting used to seeing my parents like that - for 3 years. In general, I felt uncomfortable watching other people kiss.

"I'll go up to my room then," I announced. I didn't wait for permission or anything like that, but got up straight away and went up the stairs. I could hear Sam sighing before I closed the door.

My feet carried me to my four-poster bed of their own accord. I just let myself fall in and closed my eyes for a moment. Such a crap! I was just getting used to all this family shit, it couldn't be true. Well, I was probably just exhausted from my stay in the basement and all the beatings.

Looking at my window, I noticed that it was already getting dark outside. I adjusted myself and looked for my travel bag, which I had almost forgotten. But apparently one of the boys - most likely Sam - had brought it up, because it was in front of my closet.

I walked over and looked for the bandages and ointment I had packed. Nobody would miss it at the orphanage anyway.

I quickly found it and went into the bathroom with it. I locked the door for safety before taking off my shirt and slowly undoing the bandages. I cut it with scissors so I wouldn't have to keep reaching around my body while unwinding it.

I couldn't prevent a painful gasp because the dried blood had stuck the bandage to my sensitive skin. So I became a little more careful and took my time.

After I finally made it turned something to examine my back in the mirror. There were almost no mirrors in the orphanage, for whatever reason. We only had small ones where you could just see your face. That's why I hadn't been able to get a glimpse of the extent of my beating until now. But when I realized how bad it looked, a silent tear rolled down my cheek.

Numerous welts, most of them with crusty blood or just red. It looked terrible. It would definitely take forever for everything to heal. Hopefully there wouldn't be any scars, as I wasn't particularly keen on having to explain myself.

To quickly get rid of the sight, I grabbed the ointment, smeared it on a large compress and placed it on the affected area.

When I heard a knock on my door, I jumped. The timing couldn't have been worse! I frantically finished my work and put my shirt back on before rushing to the door.

"I wanted to ask if you would like to have dinner?" Emily asked gently when I opened the door for her.

"Eh, no.I'm feeling pretty tired, so I guess I'd better go to sleep." I explained to her with the same kindness. To emphasize my point, I stretched briefly and yawned heartily.

"It's a shame, then you would have gotten to know the other boys, but it's alright. They won't run away from you." she said and was already turning to leave, so she added something else. "Sleep well, Aurora." Then she walked down the hallway and finally disappeared down the stairs, when I listened closely, I noticed that it was louder than before and that there were a lot more voices to be heard. Apparently the 'other guys' were already there. I could bet they were the anabolic steroid types too.

But that didn't matter to me. So I closed the door and went back to my bag to take out my sleeping clothes - consisting of a top and sweatpants. Afterwards I disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes and finally went to bed.

I hated having to sleep on my stomach, but I had no other option with my sore back. So it took quite a while before I could fall asleep.

----------♡----------