Paws of Hope

Chapter 4: Run Away

Lillys POV

I wake up Monday morning and groan. Some how I had gotten in trouble all weekend. First it was that I asked about the school stuff I needed. The second was her chocolates went missing again. Didn't find them this time. Third was that I asked if I could wash my clothes. I never really realised it but I only wore about five things. My favorite hoodie that kept me warm, because i wasnt use to this cold yet. Second was my jeans. I only had about three pairs that fit so I alternated between them. The last was my short sleeve shirts. I had about twenty of them but only liked how six of them fit me. I continues to lay on my bed looking at the ceiling. The fan was spining around and I didnt care adjust it. I had only been here a week and I was already one of those foster kids. I hated where I was placed my last home was so different. She had me call her Auntie.

-flashback-

"Momma" I call out while running into the kitchen. "Lilly dear what did I say about calling me momma. Im Auntie" Auntie Lynn said patting my head. "Sorry auntie. I just eanted to show you my drawing" I say holding up a picture. It was in crayon and showed a small stick figure with a large stick figure by a house. "Its me and you" I say pointing to each as I say it. Auntie lynn smiled "its beautiful Lilly" she said as she hung it on her fridge. "Now everyone can see it" she said hugging me tightly.

-end of flash back-

I was only about six or seven at the time but it still felt like forever ago. Lynn never raised her voice unless I wasnt listening. She wad also so understanding and calm. I wished I could go back to her.

"Lilly get out of bed its school" Mrs. Johnson screamed at the bottom of the steps. As i walk down i can hear Mr. and Mrs. Johnson arguing. "I don't want her here anymore" Mrs. johnson said. "Dear she has only been here a week. Give her a chance. Its stressful going into a new home" Mr. Johnson said. "I don't give a f**k. I hate having her here and so does Jenny. She wont even ride home with us after school." Mrs. Johnson says and I have almost had enough. I walk around the corner and look at her. "Ya I walk home because both you and Jenny dont want to be seen with me. I enjoy walking home. Its actually a breath of fresh air away from you" I say as tears fall down my face. Before anyone can say anything I run out of the house. I run right for the woods. Im really hoping that wolf is around. Maybe it will eat me. "Lilly come back" Mr. Johnson yells behind me as i keep running. I go farther and farther into the woods. Soon I'm not sure which way is back. I had turned a couple times so he couldnt follow me. Finally I sat down on a rock and started crying. It was large enough that i curled onto my side and wept. I wished that my parents hadnt died when I was a baby. I wish my sister hadnt died. I wish I had a normal family. All of a sudden I felt a nose. I freeze and take a sharp breath. I slowly turn and come face to face with the wolf. "Just eat me" I say softly. "I dont want to live anymore".

The wolf climbs up next to me and lays its head down on my back. I turn so my face is buried in its fur. I keep crying and holding the wolf. I dont know how long it was but soon I feel asleep. I didnt wake up for a little while because when I did the sun was starting to set. When i woke the wolf was still next to me keeping me warm. "Thank you" I say sitting up. The wolf gives me a small kiss on the cheek and I chuckle. "Well its good to know I have one friend" I say stroking the wolfs soft coat. "I dont know if I have another yet" I say softly thinking of Emma. She had been the only one who had been nice to me. "I wish you could be a person so I could hang out with you but i know thats not a thing" I say laying my head on the wolfs head again. Soon I heard a howl and the wolf looked at me. "Can you help me get home first" I say softly. The wolf nods and i walk next to the wolf. As we get a little closer the wolf takes off in the other directions and I can see several lights. "Lilly" I hear them calling out. Taking a deep breath I walk towards the sound. Soon a light to shown in my face and someone wraps me in a blanket. "Lilly there you are. You had us all worried" Mr. Johnson said as the social worker guy walks up to me. "Lilly can i talk to you" he asks and I nod. "Lilly you know you can't just run away. The Johnsons are here to take care of you. You had them very worried. They called me this morning saying you ran into the woods. These woods are filled with wolves bears and other things that could kill you. You cant be going into them especially at night" he said continuing to lecture me. I sigh knowing that he was probably right but he didnt know about my wolf. He didnt know that this wolf protected me all day and made sure I got home. I would never tell anyone either. They would probably think I was crazy. The next few weeks were good but then it all went down hill again. Soon Mrs. Johnson was yelling at me again for something I didnt do. I couldnt blame Jenny yet but I knew she had to be up to something. I walked into the woods after bed time and my wolf greeted me. "Hey buddy" I say still not knowing for sure if its a boy or girl wolf. "Today was bad again. Mrs. Johnson blamed me for tracking mud into the house. I only walk on the sidewalks and there was no mud. She lost her cool. She started screaming locked me in my room again." I say as the wolf and I walk farther into the woods. "I wish when she got mad she would let me eat. I have free lunches at school but they never fill me up. Mr. Johnson is great. If he is home he makes sure I'm fed well but if he is at work i normally don't eat." I say complaining. "I really wish you could talk back. At least I havent been beaten. But thanks to Jenny I only have one friend at school,Emma. She is the greatest. She is so sweet and kind and always knows how to make me laugh" i say smiling. The wolf gives me a small yip as if to agree. "Maybe sometime I will tell her about you. But I'm pretty sure no one will ever believe me." I say with a chuckle. The wolf nudges me and I look at it. "What?" I say while it nudges me again. I look around and see what looks like an apple tree that is starting to die. I see a few apples on the ground and a couple on the tree. "Is it good?" I ask and the wolf lets out a bark. I chuckle and pull two down. I toss one to the wolf and start to eat the other. I then sit on the ground. The wolf lays down and I lean against it to keep warm. "I wish I could sleep out here with you. " I ask yawning. Soon i was falling asleep. I dont remeber much after that but when I woke up I was in my bed. I sigh as I get up and see that its about 6am. No point in going back to sleep. I think to myself. I get up and walk down to the kitchen. Mr. Johnson is sitting there working on his computer. "Lilly what are you doing up so early" he asks. "Couldn't sleep, I was hoping to maybe have something for breakfast since I didnt eat dinner" I say softly. Mr. Johnson's face frowns as he gets up. "Sit down and I'll make you some food. What sounds good?" He asks softly. "Pancakes if you have them if not eggs are good" I say giving him a halg smile. I wanted to trust him but I knew I couldnt at the same time. "Could I maybe have a friend over this weekend? Or maybe go to their house?" I ask suddenly. "I will have to ask Karen" he said refering to Mrs. Johnson. "She is going to be home this weekend but I'm not" he said and I sigh. I hated when he wasnt home for the weekends. "Ok" i say softly. After breakfast I got dressed and went to walk to school. I was starting to enjoy the cool air. A car pulled up next to me and rolls the window. "Need a ride" Emma says and I nod. "Climb in my cousin Jayden offered to take me today" Emma explains as I climb into the back seat. Jayden was pretty cute. He looked tall but I couldnt tell for sure. He has messy sandy blond hair that went just past his ears. His eyes were bright green and he looked really fit. I couldnt help but stare at him. "Lilly this is Jayden. Jayden this is my best friend Lilly" Emma said and it caused me to blush. I hadnt even known Emma a whole month yet and she called me her best friend.

"Nice to meet you Lilly" Jayden said and I melted. His voice was amazing. I cant even describe the high I felt when he talked. It was weird and I felt funny about it. Soon we arrived at school. "Thank you for the ride" I say smiling. Jayden waves his hand but doesnt say anything. Once he leaves Emma turns to me. "You like him dont you" she says and my face heats up. "No...wel maybe" I say still blushing. Emma laughs "he just turned 18 about a month ago" she says smiling. I still blush as we sit in class. Jenny is running late and it makes me smile a little when the teacher yells at her for being late. Emma and I got assigned a English project to do over the weekend. So we had a little under a week to do it. At lunch we talked about our project and about meeting up over the weekend. "You can come over to my house. My parents won't mind." Emma said and I sigh. "I have to double check with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson about it. Mr johnson is out of town and Mrs johnson hates me."

Emma paused for a second after I said that. "I'm sorry you are in that kind of situation. If I could I would totally adopt you" Emma said and I chuckled. "Yup a fourteen year old adopting another fourteen year old. I dont know if that would work" I say and Emma starts laughing. Just then the bell rings for us to go to PE. "Man now im wishing I had choir or band or something" I say with a chuckle. "Ya but then we wouldnt have class together" Emma said as she dragged me to the gym. We change into our clothes and wait for the teacher. "Alright kids today is fitness test day. We are running a mile and I will be timing you." She said as we all moan. "Oh cheer up orginally you had to do the mile 50 push up 25 sit up and 10 jumping jacks" she said with a chuckle. I think she was exaggerating because she was laughing at our faces. "Alright so twelve laps around the gym equals one mile. Now everyone line up" she said pointing to the one corner of the gym. "Now you can walk if you need too but I would like to see at least jogging" she said pulling out a stop watch. She looked at a couple students before yelling "go". We all took off around the gym. After about four laps most students were walking or slow jogging. Emma was jogging at a faster pace and i was with her. After about six laps only about four of us were still fast jogging and the rest were walking. A couple would get a burst of energy and take off running just to walk after a lap again. We kept this up and soon we were on our last lap. "9minutes 48second for Emma and 53 second for Lilly." The teacher announce. Soon almost everyone was sitting down. Finally the last student crossed the line. "14minutes and 58seconds. Good job Jenny" the teacher said and I smiled. Me and Emma were the first two to finish and two boys come in third and fourth. The teacher talked about how this was actually a practice and that we would be training for the next run in a month. They wanted to know were we were after a month of training. "I know some of you are avid runners so please be nice to the students who dont run as often. With that class dismissed" the teacher said letting us go to change and shower. I pulled on a swimsuit that barely fit me anymore. Showered to get the sweat off and then changed back into my clothes. Emma didnt care she stripped down showered and then changed. "How can you just shower in front of everyone like that" I asked and Emma chuckled. "Im just not all that modest. I go to a workout class and we all pretty much do it" she says but changes the subject rather quickly. "So Jayden is driving me home tonight. Did you want a ride?" Emma asked and i could feel my face heat up. Something about her cousin made we want to be around him. I felt safe near him even though I just met him. By the end of the day I couldnt stop thinking about Jayden. Once I seen his car pull up I climbed in the back while Emma climbee up front. It was a quiet ride to my house. "Thank you so much for the ride. Emma I will let you know tomorrow if they will let me come over on Saturday or not" I say as I climb out of the car. "Your welcome have a good night" Jayden says while Emma play punches him. "See ya tomorrow Lil" she yelled out the window as Jayden drove off. I smiled as I walked into the house, only to be greeted by the social services guy, Mr. Serious.