"So Kathleen, I was hoping we could make some progress today," Mrs. Lindo my therapist said to me.

The only response I gave her was rolling my eyes then I sighed irritatedly as I gave her the silent treatment as usual. One would have thought that for someone who was supposed to be so smart, that after over eight months of her trying to 'break down' my walls she would've gotten the idea that I did not want to talk to her or anyone for that matter.

I had been assigned a therapist with who I had to have sessions three times a week for the past eight months since I had been placed in foster care- a group home called, 'Sunshine Home for Girls'.

Eight months earlier, my home had been broken into by armed burglars who shot and killed my parents. It wasn't easy having experienced something like that, especially being a young teen. I was only thirteen years old for Christ's sake. The police had only caught one of the guys that had been in my house that night. The sad reality was that the guy whom I witnessed shot my parents, was still on the loose. His friend had been extremely loyal throughout the trials and never ratted him out.

I wish that I could have friends like that. Loyal to the bone.

Even when the judge had sentenced him to life imprisonment, he still never gave up the name of his accomplice. I was the only one who knew what the guy looked like and even though I had described him and the police had said that they would have a sketch artist worked with me and everything, the justice system failed and nothing more was done to find the murderer.

Both of my parents were unfortunately orphans as well as the only child. My mother was from Australia, which meant that I didn't have any close family members that were available to take me in. Also, since my mother moved to London years ago before she even met my Dad. When I thought about it, the government didn't do much to find any of my family or relatives for me. When no next of kin, relatives, or even family friends showed up willing to foster me, I was sent to live at the Sunshine Home by social workers.

During the months I had lived at the Sunshine Home, I never once talked to any of the other kids there. Ever since my parents' death I haven't talked much except for the times I had to testify in court and when it was extremely necessary when I needed something from any of the sisters who ran the home.

Known as the 'silent kid' or what others referred to as 'the black sheep' had many downsides. Because I hardly spoke and stayed to myself, I became the target of bullying. I was seen as the freak and when the bullying got too much for me to handle, I started to get into fights with some of the girls. I mean some of these idiots didn't understand the meaning of wanting to be left alone. They eventually got on my nerves and I snapped. I finally decided to stand up for myself and fight back.

Not a day went by without me getting in some kind of fight. When I couldn't win using just body strength and my fist, I resorted to using weapons. The chairs, tables, pencils, and any other objects I found became my best friends, I used them as my weapons to help me win.

Two girls I had fought even had to receive medical attention, I hit one of them in the eye with a flower vase and the other got stabbed in the neck with a pencil. I was never a violent kid growing up but becoming aggressive was the only way I was able to cope with the loss of my family.

"Kathleen, I know it isn't easy to talk about your feelings and what happened but you have to realize that we are only trying to help you," Mrs. Lindo spoke to me gently.
" I know talking much isn't going to change what happened or bring back your parents, but I know it'll help you to unload some of those traumas and that anger you bear within. Please just talk to me, I'm here to help you."

There was some truth in what she was saying but my reason for not wanting to talk was to avoid thinking about my family. Talking would've brought back all those memories, hurt, and pain that I felt. I was in denial. Avoiding the issue altogether for the past eight months was my way of not being able to accept what had happened. I felt that talking about it would make it more real.

However, it suddenly dawned on me that if I refused to talk any at all, they would continue to make me have these therapy sessions. As much as I hated talking to anyone, I hated being forced to talk and the therapy sessions more. I figured that if I started talking sooner or later they would eventually leave me alone. I decided to give my theory a test.

"I miss them," I sighed.

Mrs. Lindo smiled slightly now that she had finally gotten a response other than an eye roll out of me. She glued her eyes to my face then nodded, I took that as a sign to go on.

"I miss them so much." I continued as I added a couple more words.

After about thirty minutes of talking, Mrs. Lindo had finally cut our session short. She commended me on my first progress and gave me some advice. I hated admitting it, but I felt a little bit lighter after finally talking about my feelings. I thought to myself, maybe this whole therapy thing wasn't so bad, and figured I should give it a try. Because why not?

There was nothing to lose

****

It took some time for me to adjust, breaking down and opening up to Mrs. Lindo about my feelings before I was able to see that the more you bottled up your emotions, the more it affected you. It was not easy at all and there were times when I relapsed but each day it got a little easier for me to talk about things with her.

After weeks of therapy, Mrs, Lindo had gotten through to me in some ways. I eventually decided to open up to her completely about everything. The more we talked and she counseled me, the more I began feeling a whole lot better-- which was the first since my parents' death.

Things would never be the same again, I knew that and I was determined to try and move on. I knew my parents wouldn't want me to be unhappy and I was determined to try making the most of life once again in hopes that wherever they were, they'd be proud of me. However, whenever one has a plan the devil will always try to sabotage it. There was this girl who was the biggest bully in the home and when she saw that I was trying to make progress with life, she decided that it would be funny to start picking on me. I had been trying hard to avoid this girl all the time but she just wouldn't leave me alone. I finally had enough and smacked her over the head with a chair, needless to say, I cracked her skull and knocked her out cold.

Even though I was the one being picked on and surprisingly other kids at the home stood up for me saying it was indeed provocation and self-defense, I still got yelled at and locked in my room the entire day for being a 'bad kid'.

I made up my mind and I did the only thing that came to my mind, I decided to leave. I packed my knapsack with a few clothes, my family's album, my mom's jewelry that I was allowed to keep after everything happened, and the small pocket knife which belonged to my father. I made sure my bag was packed with snacks and water that could keep me going for a few days at least. And the very next morning at dawn, I did what my angry young thirteen-year-old mind told me to do-- I ran away from Sunshine home.

I had no idea where I was going to go, I had no money since the money that my parents left for me along with that made from selling the house, was in an account for me which I couldn't access until I'm eighteen. I, however, knew that I had to get away, I hated being yelled at, being provoked, picked on, and worst of all having no right while being at the home. It was time I go out on my own.

******
There I was between two dumpsters in an alley behind what I believe was a bar. The rain had started pouring down hard over the past hour and the sky had gotten dark. I was tired, scared, cold, and soaked even though I had been trying to avoid getting drenched. My hair kept sticking to my face and neck and I drew my jacket tighter around me and leaned my head against the side of the dumpster.

I had somehow fallen asleep because I was soon awakened by footsteps and voices which seemed to be coming very close to me.

"Sir it's a little girl," I heard a man said.

My heart pounded in my chest due to how scared I was. I was sure even they heard it by now. Who the hell were these guys and what the hell did they want? I kept my eyes tightly shut hoping that they would soon be gone and left me alone.

"What the hell is she doing in a place like this?" I heard another voice asked.

"Should we wake her or take her in or something sir?" Another new voice asked.

At this question, I couldn't pretend that I was asleep anymore. There was no way I would allow these guys to take me anywhere. I wasn't stupid, I was quite aware of things that could happen to a thirteen-year-old girl like me. I quickly shot up from my position on the ground with my knapsack and tried to run but due to my leg being cramped from sitting in the same position for hours, my legs gave out on me and I fell back on the ground.

I looked up and saw three men, they were all dressed in jacket suits which were no doubt expensive. Two of the men seemed to be younger, probably in their thirties. The other man was more elderly, he looked as if he was in his fifties based on the physical details I was able to see considering it was dark.

"Look who is awake," one of the younger guys said as he looked down at me.

"What do you want!?" I growled as I tried not to sound as scared and frightened like I was.

"What are you doing out here alone?" The elder man asked as he slowly approached me.

"What is it to you?" I cautiously stood up, surveying any escape routes. There was no way I was sitting on the ground anymore in case any of them tried anything.

I'm just concerned." He held his hands up as if to say he surrendered or to reassure me that he meant no harm.

"Why? Are you guys cops?" The man laughed, obviously thinking that I was trying to be funny.

"Hardly!" the elder man stated with a snort.

Well, who the hell were they then if they weren't cops? And why weren't they leaving me alone? I knew this was time to be extremely cautious and discreet. I slowly slid my hand in my back pocket, then retrieved my father's pocket knife.

"Well stay away from me!" I snarled as I held out the knife threateningly towards him. My actions caused him to pause while they all looked at me in surprise.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," he said as he held up his hands--palms out.

"Then what do you want from me?" I narrowed my eyes at them.

"We're just trying to help," he tried to reassure "It isn't safe for a girl your age to be out alone in this area at this time of night."

"Yeah, well you can't help me." I scoffed at him.

"Why aren't you home?" He asked me.

"I don't have a home," I replied still not putting away the knife.

"How come? What about your parents, your family where are they?" He asked which caused my breath to stopped in my throat for a while at the mention of them.

"They're dead," I responded as I tried not to show any emotion so that they could be used as a weakness against me.

"Sorry to hear that, what happened? What about your other family?" He asked.

"I don't have anyone! Why are you interrogating me?" I asked fed up with their lingering company.

"Alright. I'm Alphonso Luciano. Maybe I could help you then if you put away or give me that knife and come with me" he held out his hand.

"Yeah right, so you could use that as an advantage to hurt me, kidnapped me and who knows what else!" I scoffed at him.

"Kid, listen none of us are going to hurt you okay? If any of us had any intention to hurt you in any way we'd do it already." he moved his jacket aside and revealed a gun tucked in his waist.

I looked at the other two and they followed his action by also revealing guns tucked in the waist of their pants as well. That was when my heart started to pound harder, my legs were wobbly and I was even more scared for my life.

"Believe me, kid, none of us is going to hurt you," Alphonso said to me, "However, I can't guarantee that the next set of men that may pass you here won't."

I was beyond scared and I knew that if these guys wanted to truly hurt me, I'd be completely defenseless against them. I mean what good would a little thirteen-year-old with a small pocket knife would do against three well-built men armed with guns?

"Then why aren't you leaving me alone?" My voice was frightened and shaky.

"I want to help. I have a son who is older than you but if he was in this current situation, I would hope that a loyal and honest person comes by and decided to help him. I have a wife who would never forgive me if I just leave you here like this. We could make you a part of our family if you only believe me" he told me sounding sincere.

"Boss, are you serious?" One of the guys asked surprised.

"Nate please," he said to the guy before he addressed me once more. " I'm being honest here. If I'm being correct you probably ran away from a foster family or an orphanage..."

"A foster home... For girls" I told him.

I wasn't sure why I felt the need to tell him that but I did. It was either the fact that this man had a gun or because he did have a point. If he wanted to hurt me wouldn't he do it already? And whether or not I wouldn't be able to do much to stop him, the best defense I would have was to do as he says.

"And you have nowhere to go I presume. Well, what would you say if I could make you my new daughter? Then if you don't like being a part of my family, I'll still help you and you can leave anytime you want." he said to me.

I slowly lowered the knife as I gauged his expression just the same. He seemed visually pleased or relieved to see that I was giving up.

"I'm giving you my word. I won't hurt you," he reassured.

"Okay." I finally nodded.

"You'll come with me then?"

Once again I nodded slowly. "I don't know why I'm trusting you when I've always been told not to trust strangers but if you try to hurt me I promised you... I'll hurt you first."

He smiled at that before he stretched his hand out to me

"Okay deal."

"Deal," I replied as I took his outstretched hand and shook it.

"Miguel go get the car, I have to inform Katherine that we'll be having a new house guest."