The Pearls (3 page)

We met when I was nine years old. I got caught again by social services and they were bringing me to a new foster home. I never stayed in one too long. Most of them were mean people or dirty ones. Sometimes they looked good, like normal good people. Then after a week or so I would hear the “dad” or the “big brother” coming. I always heard them coming though; I hear everything
exceptionally well. I am incredibly fast too. As soon as I would hear the step pause at my door, I would be out the window and down the street by the time they got the door open. So when I was nine they were bringing me to yet another foster home.

I left my first foster family at six years old. It’s the home I miss the most. I had been there since I was a baby; I had a good Mommy and Daddy, even a big sister Carla
and big brother Pete. But when I turned six everything changed, and I learned not to trust anyone. Pete stopped going to my sister Carla’s room and one night came to mine. I thought he wanted to read me a bedtime story, boy was I wrong.

Pete was
sixteen then, he was a really good brother always playing with me and he never picked on me like my friends big brothers did. He said he wanted to play a game. We played games all the time; he was very good at playing games, with my sister and me. So tonight I thought was no different.

Pet
e wanted to play doctor so I went and got my little doctor kit out of my toy box. He started by taking my temperature and listening to my heart, and then gave me some fake medicine. Then it was my turn to take his temperature and give him his medicine. Usually we both pretended that the medicine put us to sleep and we would lay there until he would start to tickle me. Tonight was different.

I
t was his turn to be doctor again, he started to rub my tummy, then my legs, and he told me he needed a better look at my legs, told me to take off my pajama pants. I didn’t want to do this I have never been in just my underwear around Pete, Mommy always made sure the door was closed, said it was not right for boys to see me in my under clothes. Mommy also warned me of bad men who sometimes do bad things to little girls and to never let anyone touch me in my private place. She told me I should always tell her if someone touched me or tried to touch me. But this was Pete he was my brother I trusted him.

So I took my pajamas off, and sat there in my underwear. He then said it was my turn and he took off his pants, he had no underwear on. I
opened my mouth to scream, I have never seen a boy’s private parts and well they look kind of scary. He saw that I was about to scream and clamped his hand over my mouth. He told me if I screamed I would wake Mommy and Daddy up, and they would be very mad that I was awake playing with my toys, instead of sleeping.

I didn’t like to be in trouble so I didn’t scream. He grabbed my hand and told me that it was my turn to be doctor and that I needed to check his private area closely
, make sure it was ok. I got really scared and grabbed my pajamas. He moved to get up and lock my door; I had my pajamas in hand and was out the window and down the street before he even turned around.

The police found me at my school the next day. I loved school it was the one place I always felt safe, not to mention
, I love learning new things. When the police found me they put me in the car told me they were taking me home. I tried to tell them what Pete tried to make me do, but they didn’t listen. I ran away every night till they just took me to a new home.

So when I was nine they took me to another foster home. There were ten kids in this house, all foster kids. They put me in a room with three other girls. I made sure I was by a window that opened and I always kept everything in a backpack next to my bed.

About a week of me being there I noticed Justine and there was a feeling I don’t know how to explain, but it felt comfortable, like I was supposed to be near her at all times. She was the first person I let near me in 3 years. We didn’t talk a lot at first, I didn’t like to talk and neither did she, and we just sort of migrated to where the other was. Justine moved herself in the bedroom I was in a few days after we met. Things were good for about a month. We went to school and came home. The Foster parents there were nice the Mom cooked every night.

One night I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I looked over at Justine and she looked so scarred. The steps stopped at the room she used to be in and the door opened. Justine saw me looking at her and whispered harshly at me “turn over and close your eyes
, don’t watch”. I panicked then unsure what to do. It was the first time I had someone else I cared about and who cared about me. The footsteps came out of the other room and headed towards the bathroom. I waited and listened. Then I heard them again headed our way. They paused in front of our door and I bolted upright, grabbed my bag and was at the window. As I got it open Justine was right next to me. I looked at her silently asking if she was coming too. She nodded and we jumped. We have been together since.

They tried to separate us a few times but we always found each other. We just kept running away from the houses we were left at. Once I turned ten they just put us in a group home for girls.

The other girls there hated me. They called me names and always pulled my hair in line to the cafeteria. Justine always told me they were just jealous of me, that I should just ignore them. There was one girl, Lacey; she made the ignoring kind of hard to do.

Lacey was fourteen and very pretty. She had long blond hair and bright green eyes. She was really skinny and tall and looked a lot older than she was. Lacey liked to pull my hair and rip my clothes up. She would trip me after I got my meals and was just always so mean to me. Justine watched this all happen and saw how I was starting to get ready to leave. A week later
, after school, Justine has her hand in a cast and Lacey was all bandaged up. Justine and Lacey both said they fell, but Lacey never messed with me again, Justine never told me what happened.

Justine was still moaning and had her eyes closed.
Zoe started to rub her shoulders and asked “Bad night huh?” All she got was an “Ugh”. She crouched to her feet and put her hands under Justine’s arms to lift her up. She slowly stood and Zoe started to lead her to the living room. Zoe plops Justine on the couch and moves the cool cloth to her forehead. She covers her with a blanket and goes to get her coffee and a bottle of water. As she closes the fridge she notices the Tylenol and pops two in her hand. She hands Justine the Tylenol and the bottle of water. Justine pops the pills in her mouth and then chugs the whole bottle of water.

“You
want to talk about it?” Zoe asks

“Nope” she snaps back.

“You know one day we both need to talk about it, I don’t think holding it in anymore is doing either of us any good.” I try to plead with her.

We never talk about our pasts.
Zoe was never once touched or hurt but she thinks Justine was. Zoe thinks that night they both ran was the first time Justine had the courage to do so. Justine never let her go after that, never asked why or how or where they would go. She just went.

“Crap it’s almost 2:30
, I need to get ready for work, you going to be ok?” Zoe asks

“
Yes I’m good just get to work don’t be late again because of me”

“You’re late again, Zoe” Mr. Pritchard is always on her case.

“Sorry sir, I will try
not to let it happen again”. Zoe apologizes

Mr. Pritchard
was marking this all down on his little notepad as she was walking to her station at the sorting belt. Zoe worked the 3-7 shifts at the local shipping station here in this little town. Justine and Zoe moved out here away from big city after Zoe graduated high school.

Justine
was kicked out of the home once she turned eighteen. She got a job, a small apartment, and stayed close to the home for Zoe. Zoe was still in high school then and had a small part time job at a fast food place. She always went to Justine’s apartment afterwards. Half the time she just stayed the night there. Sometimes the house would call Justine and make her bring Zoe home, the other half they just didn’t think they cared anymore.

One night
Zoe just moved in with Justine and never went back to the home. Justine said she had to finish school though, that she was too smart to waste it. Zoe was ok with that, she still loved school. It was easy for her. They wanted to make her Valedictorian, but no way was she going to be up on that stage giving a speech. She skipped school for a couple days just so she didn’t qualify for it. Zoe hated being the center of attention.

After
Zoe graduated they moved out here away from the big city and all the people and they both got jobs at the shipping company, sorting packages, and the local diner. They worked alternating shifts at both places and Zoe also went to school at a small music school outside of town.

Justine got
her a guitar one year for Christmas and she has been playing it ever since. The teachers at the school tell her that she is really talented and should put a demo together, yeah right! No way would she want that kind of spot light on her. Zoe just loved to play and learn new notes and ways to play.

She felt
like the kid in a movie she saw. In the movie the kid was given up and he found music, eventually the music brought him to his parents. For her the love of music and the whole orphan thing really hit home, but that kid had way more balls then her, she felt parents didn’t want her so why should she go looking for them? The crap she went through as a kid, never loved, never having a home, and then the thought that she could just find them and live happily ever after, not possible in her eyes.

Zoe
wants a family of her own one day though. She would love to have kids and a man that love her and their children. She could see it sometimes, in the customers who came to the diner. She knows there are good people out there somewhere, but she felt like she has met more bad ones then good. But she sees it in couple’s eyes, the looks they give each other and the light in their eyes when they look at their children. Old or small it doesn’t matter; the old couples are her favorite. After so many years with the same person they still have that love behind their eyes. Zoe can’t wait for that day, she just hopes she can let someone in long enough for that to happen for her.

Justine doesn’t want
a family. Zoe doesn’t think she does anyway. Justine is very evasive and seems like she is always looking for the exit. She hates confrontation and talking. When she has to serve these particularly happy couples she looks at them with hate in her eyes. Zoe thinks their happiness brings forth her nightmares, her drinking, and the bad nights.

Justine is beautiful
though. She is tall and has long black hair and beautiful grey eyes with black fleck. Her pupils look like they are a firework and all the black are the twinkling lights left over. She has curves that most women would kill for. Justine doesn’t see how beautiful she is though. She is almost as fast as Zoe is and has similar hearing to her. She can see things though that Zoe cannot, especially at night, she has the best senses at night. Zoe always makes her drive her to the diner if she has a really late shift there. Justine sees everything.

They
love to go on runs together although they usually end up in a race and Zoe always wins. Justine is fast but not faster than Zoe. Zoe feels very close to Justine, she is a lot like her in a lot of ways and she feels safe with her. Zoe doesn’t have to hide her oddities with Justine; she feels she can be herself with her.

They both love to goof off and be silly when they can. They often go to the local park and have races
across the monkey bars. Local kids look at them funny but then eventually join in their fun. They have a sisterly relationship and sometimes they like to pick on one another.

They both know they are different from other people. The flecks that are in their eyes are unlike any they have ever seen. When Zoe was a kid the Camden’s rarely took her to the doctor because she never got sick. Zoe always held back in school with her running and never told anyone how far she could see or hear.

Once she met Justine she didn’t have to hide. They were very similar from the begin
ning. Zoe has white blond hair and as tall like Justine. They both have curvaceous bodies and are about the same size. Most the time they share clothes, but Justine likes the black Goth look and Zoe is more jeans and tees. From behind the only difference is the hair.