Texto de ficção original - inglês

Crossed Paths

Olivia is not scared, fear is a feeling that she didn’t feel for a while now, she is sad, maybe, her mom just died after all, and her sister is God knows where, with a “new family”, her sister doesn’t need a new family, she already has one, even if is just a sister now. Maybe angry is the right feeling. Angry with her mother that left them alone, angry at her uncle that didn’t come visit his sister while she was dying, angry at the foster care system that decide her sister was better off with a new family, and mostly angry at the social worker with her fakes smiles and empty promises, that are just ignoring her right now.

While her sister is a lovely child and got a placement with a foster family very fast, Olivia, that was already a teenager and not a lovely one, was going to be send to a group home, but they are going to the social worker office first, for some reason that the social worker didn’t bother to explain.

The building is an ugly gray thing, with long hallways, also grey, but while they walk through the maze off walls and doors that looks just the same, Olivia sees a room with colorful drawings and toys, that seems familiar, like a long forgotten memory, but there is not much time to think about it, because her social worker finally finds her office and asks Olivia to wait in one of the chairs outside de room.

There are six chairs outside the office, three off each side of the hallway, with two girls already sitting in front each other in silence. Olivia decide sit close to the older one, that looks like about 16 or 17 years old, with auburn hair and big blue yes, she has a plastic bag at her feet, filled with her belongs, Olivia presumes, and lost in thought.

The other girl is much younger, about Rachel age, around 10 years old, with long blond hair and a bored expression in her face. She has a small suitcase, like Olivia herself, and keeps swinging her feet in the uncomfortable plastic chair, like she is about to bolt and leave the place at any minute.

None of them seems approachable, so Olivia remains in silence too. After a few minutes that seemed like hours in the uncomfortable silence the social worker shows up with a little more sincere smile in her face and some files in her hand. “Good news girls! I found a placement for the three of you, you won’t have to go to the group home”, she says.

“Together?” the younger girl asks, seeming concerned.

“Yes” the social worker answered, and after noticing the concerned faces of the girls, added with less enthusiasm “I don’t know how you manage to fight in this short period, but I’m sure you will get along in time, just wait here for a few more minutes while I get some forms and we are going to your new house”

“A least she said house, not home”, the younger girl said going back to her bored face.

“Why is it a bad thing that we go to the same house?” Olivia asks.

“First time in the system?” the blond girl asks, and Olivia nods, but do not obtain any further answers from the girl.

“Usually families that take to many children are not very nice, especially if they take more than one teenager”, the older girl offers instead.

“And a problematic child” the youngest complements, crossing her arms with a mix of anger and sadness in her face, but it last only a few seconds until she offers “I’m Emma, by the way, Emma Swan”.

Olivia, also introduces herself and looks to the older girl, that only says something after Emma asks “And you?”

“Brennan, Temperance Brennan”.