Ruth's point of view
I woke up the next day on the hard floor, no sign of the Lovell's anywhere. Except from the note on the table, that they've scribbled down in a rush.

We called you in as sick for a week, we've booked an appointment with the foster care system on Friday.

Not even a name written down on it. I sighed as I placed it back. I knew what that meant, I knew that they wanted to hand me back, only so they could take in another child to neglect. To be honest, my time here was running out. Six months was the deal for most foster families, and that was in two weeks for me now.
I tried to stand up, every bone in my body aching. Biting my lip, I forced myself to get upstairs, tears building up by the pain I was experiencing. Finally, I sat down on my bed, sighing. I picked up my phone from my right pocket, only to see that the glass was shattered. It belonged to the system, so taking it away from me wasn't allowed. But, destroying it by making me fall was their solution of the case. I blinked away the tears of pain. Only three days until Friday. I can manage this.
Snap your fingers 21 times on each hand, and you'll be outta here by the end of the week.
And so I did.

I opened the door on Friday, my hands shaky, as I smiled to greet the important-looking people I'd been seeing a few times every year, even though doing it hurt. Mr Chang and Ms Clarke smiled back, and stepping inside in their fancy clothes.
"Hello, Mr Chang and Ms Clarke, it's great seeing you two again", mrs Lovell said, shaking their hands a bit nervously. Rachel put an evil smile on her face when she turned to me behind her mother's back, miming something. Something, I'd rather ignore than discovering. Mrs Lovell walked over to me, determined-looking. "You better not say anything about the bruises, child, or we will make you regret it", she whispered in my ear. I gulped.
My bruises had turned from a blue and lilac colour to this disgusting yellow one, and her and Rachel had spent the last hour covering them up on mr Lovell's orders. I'd been sat down in a chair, while they violently smudged makeup on my face, muttering little sentences to eachother. I couldn't help sitting there without feeling a bit fancy, almost important, although it wasn't in the best way.

We all sat down on the table, Ansel and Warren almost making me fall over by putting their legs out, and mrs Lovell desperately trying to cover it up.
"Oh well, boys, let's not play at the dinner table", she said, arrogant and smiling. Inside, I couldn't help but laugh. They were 17 & 15, not 8 & 6, so her pathetic action was as see through as Harry's invisibility cloak. Only that Harry's actually worked being, you know, invisible. She completely failed that.

Mr Yang picked up a folder with my papers in it, smashing it down on the table. Ms Clarke quickly took a part out, writing something down. She turned her head to me, smiling a painful smile.
"Ruth, so I hope you understand why me and mr Yang are here", I nodded as she spoke, looking right at her, trying to shut the others than them out. "Well, just to be clear, mr and mrs Lovell have sent us a notification saying that they want to end their fostering period of six months a little earlier due to personal demands", ms Clark continued, carefully flipping through her papers, exclaiming an "aha!" when she found what she'd been searching for. "In the remark, you've written 'due to needing to focus on your own children' and that 'Ruth's been behaving badly', for instant...", but mr Lovell cut her off, sitting right beside me, he grabbed my arm.
"Yeah! She's been all over the place, not doing what she's told! A few days ago, she came home an hour late!", he shouted, shaking me.
26 minutes, I thought, it was 26 minutes.
Count the flowers' leafs, or they'll keep you.
I started, putting each finger down for every one, opening them when there were no fingers left to put down.
Ms Clarke just nodded calmly at his statement, moving her head to mine again.
5, 6, 7, 9...
"How are you feeling about ending this fostering period two weeks early, Ruth? Would that be okay? You'll be in the placement home for a little longer, just so that you're aware of that", she said, looking right at me.
"Ye-yeah, of course", I spoke quietly, blocking mr Lovell's staring out.
"Well then, we'll just have you all sign this paper here, and then you'll have to come with us Ruth", mr Yang said, handing an important-looking paper to mr Lovell.
Finally, 23 leafs.
Just as he was about to put the pencil to the paper, he paused for a bit, looking up at mr Yang.
"We're still getting paid for this month, right?", he said, quite aggressively, desperate eyes.
Mr Yang nodded, but hesitated for a moment, continuing with talking.
"Well, it's not the full payment. We can guarantee your family half the salary, mr Lovell", and mr Lovell angrily scribbled down his autograph, snorting.
"Bullshit", he mumbled, only so loud so that I could hear.
I wrote down my name.
Ruth.
No surname, my decision. I didn't belong anywhere, not right now. And definitely not after writing this.
"Ruth, you'll need to write your surname too", he said. I sighed and scribbled it down as ugly as I could, to message the filthy word that I wasn't its.
Leighton.
Mr Yang continued to go over to Mrs Lovell, she angrily writing it down too.
"So, Ruth, have you packed?", I nodded as Ms Clarke asked that, calmly walking upstairs, my step siblings making a little fellowship. As I grabbed my suitcase and put my broken phone in my back pocket, they took it right in front of me. Rachel smashing it in the wall, to keep it quiet, Ansel kicking me in the stomach. I winced.
"Keep quiet, you little freak. It's your fault we won't get enough money this month. It's your fault!", he whispered strongly in my ear, as Warren joined him, by kicking me on the shin. One of the absolute most painful place, for as I knew. I bite my tongue, to keep my scream inside, only to make it start bleeding. Shutting my eyes by the dreading pain, they left.

A minute later, after I'd been searching for air, I pulled my backpack over my shoulder, took the phone and put it in my front right pocket. It didn't any better than earlier today, everything was smashed now. I kept the tears inside, I couldn't let them see me vulnerable. Not again. I dragged the light suitcase down the stairs, it didn't contain much.

The Lovell family stood there in the hallway, looking lovely and all. I quickly thanked them for my time here, standing right by Ms Clarke. Walking outside, into the car they'd come here by.
Throwing my bags in the back, taking a seat myself. I picked up my phone, texting Georgia.

<- Hi!
I'm leaving my foster family now, thank you for helping me out in school the last few months.
I'll still come there though, I just wanted you to know.
R

Ms Clarke looked back at me, concerned.
"Oh, your phone's broken. We'll fix that", her strong New York-accent cutting through my thoughts, but as I looked back, she was looking through her papers again.
This was going to be a fifteen minute eternity and quiet ride to the placement home.

As I was about to open the door, I paused for a moment.
Open & close the door seven times before entering, or you're room mates will hate you.
So I did that, until a hand grabbed mine, stopping me.
"What are you doing? Come on, let's go on in", mr Yang said, opening and dragging me inside.
You only did it 4 times.
I took a deep breath, looking around. Three girls sat in there, everyone on the bunk bed to the left. The girls looked up angry, barely bothering, sighing while turning back to their phones.
"Hi, this is Ruth everyone. You'll get the top of this bunk bed right here, Ruth", and I left the suitcase on the floor, climbing onto the top bunk. I sat down, sinking down into the hard mattress. I sighed, looking around in the room. Mr Yang put his hand on the ladder, his eyes, somewhat, emotionless.
"You'll be okay then? You've already met mrs Abbott already, so me & ms Clarke are leaving now. We'll be back when we've found a new foster family", he said, and I nodded right by the start, because I knew what he was about to say. The basic information. What he has said every time they'd dumped me off here.
He nodded, and awkwardly left the room. The girls started laughing under me, my cheek began to burn. Why were they laughing? Because of me?
You didn't open and close the door seven times.
They stood up, handing me a plate.
"And he didn't even notice! I promise you, he has a fucking IQ of 1", the brown girl said. "I'm Becca. That's Quinn", Becca said, arrogantly pointing at the girl with dyed black hair, extreme blue eyes, standing next to her. The third girl, now on the floor, had really blonde hair and was laughing at something on her phone. She looked up at me, like she couldn't care less.
"I'm Nico, but if Abbott calls for Nicole, that's me. Nico's much cooler. Call me Nico or you will regret it", I nodded at her statement, afraid, and they kept on talking. They seemed a bit gone, I couldn't help but think that. The plate in front of me was gone.
Suddenly the girls opened my suitcase, before I'd even blinked. Nico threw the only picture I had of my parents onto the floor, making the glass shatter everywhere.
"Hah! You still think they'll come back after you? Bullshit", she shouted into blank space. I could feel the tears building up behind my eyes, and as soon they would start falling down, I was crushed. "You want help? Get these", she gesticulated at the plate with some sort of cookies on them. "The guy three doors down puts stuff in them", she sluddered. Inside, I knew what that meant.
"Pl-please, s-s-stop!", I whimpered, while my clothes we're thrown around all over the place. Becca stood up, looking at me, high-hatted.
"Ruth, right?", she said.
"Y-yeah", I uttered, now crying.
"Stop believing in fairytails. They don't happen, freak. Don't disturb us. Go to sleep", her mouth moving slowly, saying every word as clear as she could. She knew she had the power.
Because she did.
I put my head on the pillow, hugging my backpack, crying.
Their loud conversation in the background.
Tap the backpack 78 times.
I didn't even need a reason, as the tears flooded down my cheeks.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9...
---
Hi!🌬
Okay, first of all. Thanks for all the amazing support! 100+ reads in what, like a week?! That's unbelievable!🌚 + sorry about that this is a filler chap kinda, the next one will be much more exciting!
And, yeah, secind one; I'm Swedish. Which means, no, I'm not a native English speaker. I've been learning English since six years back, and I'm still learning. Therefore, you will find weird sentences or grammar stuff that just doesn't make sense. If so, please tell me.
Third one; No, I haven't seen Hamilton & I am quite new to the fandom. About three months ago I joined this heaven. Any gr8 instagram, wattpad stories or twitter accs I should follow?
Also, okay, okay, I'm gonna flop around a bit now but, guess who went to tatinof yesterday?? hopefully some of you like dan&phil, bc lemme tell you, the five and a half hour drive x2 to and from Stockholm was definitely worth it🌊
Thank you for actually reading this, maybe leave a comment or a vote? It would mean the world!💓
Sincerely,
C

Published; 6th of December, 2016