Chance for a Better Life

by Kix

Chapter One; Bonding- Lily

Author's Note:

Well, hopefully this story will stand up to your guys' expectations. Also I changed PoVs. Can't give away top secret details can I? Also, I think this is the first story I wrote that had the cover art ready before the story was lol.

Seeing the woman’s anger as she goes silent after what I revealed scares me, a lot. Enough to where I’m trying to hide in the seat. I can’t help it; as much as I don’t want to, my body remembers the fourteen years of abuse it has gone through. “Relax Lily, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

It takes a few minutes but I calm down enough to eat, though throughout the meal both of us are mostly silent. Chrysalis lets me taste her sweet and sour pork in an attempt to break the silence. “I think I’m addicted. This stuff is good, though they give you a lot.”

“Hey, you don’t have to try and eat it all in one go. If you can’t finish it, we’ll take the rest to go.” Looking up at her with my cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk’s full of acorns only causes me to blush a little as she laughs. “That’s the best thing about Chinese; they give you a ton of food, and you can take home what you don’t eat.”

“Well, I am starting to feel stuffed, and we have room in the backpack.”

“Okay Chrysalis, thank you for such a wonderful meal. Can’t wait to do this again.” My usual smile returns as we get up and the meal is paid for, the leftovers secured as best as they can be in the bag and we head on out.

“So, what is going to happen to... me and Moonshade?” All through the ride, I can’t help but think of all kinds of different outcomes. Some good, some… well… These thoughts have only risen in frequency and strength the closer we get to her home. “I can tell you care about us, but I can’t help but th-”

“Sh, don’t dwell on that for now, please. Trust me, we’re working on getting you the best life you deserve. When you talk with Posey tomorrow, tell her nothing but the truth. Don’t lie or leave out anything, no matter how bad it was, okay?” the teal-haired woman says with a smile as she holds me tight in a hug, “Here’s my guest room where you’ll be staying for as long as you’re here. Bathroom is two doors further up the hall and to your left. For now, feel free to use my soap and whatnot, but please, use your own toothbrush.” With a smile she disappears into the bathroom, leaving me to put away the other two pairs of clothes I have.

The bedroom's door opens suddenly as I sit on the bed, working on calming myself down. "Here, so you don’t have to sleep in just your underwear.” The offered sports jersey quickly encompasses my frame as a makeshift gown. Smiling, my arms yet again wrap around her waist. “Night, Lily.”

“Chrysalis, think you could uhm…… think you could….. sleep with me tonight? Ever since the ride here, I’ve…..”

“Sure thing.” A smile forms on her lips as we crawl into the bed together. Chrysalis stays on the right side, near the edge. I guess it’s a precaution for me.

***** ***** *****

The sound of an unfamiliar clock goes off seemingly in my ear, causing me to wake up. The blurry sight of an unfamiliar room and the presence of an adult in the bed causes me to scramble madly off in panic, which results in me landing bruisingly hard on my side onto the wood floor. Don’t….. please don’t tell me that they….. please don’t let it have happened again. With my sight still blurred a little, I curl up against the far wall, my back in the corner as my heart beats hard and fast, almost like a drum in a high tempo song. Sweat drips off my body as I bury my head in my knees, my eyes shut tight as I begin to tremble a little. The thought of something happening to me again makes me want to vomit.

“NO, GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!” A soft touch on my shoulder brings me to blindly throw a punch as I try and escape from the person. Surprisingly, the fist actually connects with the person, though I doubt it hurt.

“Hey, hey, calm down, you’re alright kiddo. You’re safe here. No one hurt you.”

It takes some time, but I recognize the voice as I nervously look up. As my vision clears, I start to eventually remember what happened yesterday. “Chrysalis! I’m so sorry, I… I had a… and there was… I didn’t… please don’t…” The shame that I hit someone who is only trying to help and the fact I acted like I did breaks the dam as I babble on while hugging her tight, my face buried in her shoulder.

“It’s okay, Lily. I’m not mad at you, I’m angry at your parents. If anything, I should be apologizing. I should have seen that something like this could have been a possible outcome. If you want to talk about it, I’ll listen.” The onyx-skinned woman sits down next to me with a smile while holding me in a comforting embrace.

“What… what about you? Don’t you have to go into work soon?”

“Good thing about being the boss, you set your own hours.” Her smile and laugh brings a shadow of a smile to my own lips as the tears end with a sniffle.

“Ok.” Taking a shuddering breath I wipe away the tear stains as I try and force myself to relax. “It… it wasn’t just my parents who abused me and Moonshade. Sometimes they’d… make the two of us do things to each other while they watched. Sometimes they’d invite friends over. And sometimes they’d… they’d lend us to their friends for a night or two.” Just giving the basics nearly brings back the flood of tears as I hold her tight.

“They won’t hurt you ever again Lily, I promise.” Her voice is tight with barely controlled rage as she strokes my hair in an attempt to be in a calming manner. Her shaking body and the tightness of her words unconsciously makes me scramble away from her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that. Go ahead and take a shower, get yourself ready for the day.”

Once the shower is nice and warm I jump in and just stand under the cascading drops, trying to let the spray sluice through my worries and issues. “Hey, you’ve been in there for an hour! You’re gonna run out of hot water soon, or you’ll prune! Besides, we have to get going, girl!” Chrysalis’ shouting snaps me back into reality and with a smile I dry off and get dressed before finishing making myself presentable for the day.

Once we’re dressed, Chrysalis gives me a look over and frowns before rifling through a closet, pulling out a leather jacket, pants and gloves. “It’s pretty chilly out there today, so if you still insist on wearing that outfit I’m gonna have to let you borrow my old leathers.” The leather pants and jacket are a couple sizes too big on me and are definitely worn, judging by the discoloration in some spots. The gloves as well are a bit bigger than they should be.

As I’m standing there goofily smiling while trying to get the bottoms of the pants to where they won’t trip me, a flash goes off unexpectedly. “Stand up, I gotta take a picture of how goofy you look.” Holding the large helmet in the crook of my arm, a couple more pictures are taken. One has me standing straight while in another I have my tongue out and an eye closed with my free hand poking my cheek. In the last picture I’m serious and posing as if I’m a model, both balled fists are resting on my hips, the helmet on my head with visor lifted to show off my smile and my feet parted a little. “Okay goofball, we need to get going.”

All through the ride I laugh not only at the nickname but at my excitement for the ride itself, which ends just a little too soon for my liking. “Okay Lily, I gotta get going, just stay positive and tell the truth. Posey’ll take good care of you, I promise.” In a surprise move Chrysalis leans in and plants a soft kiss against my forehead. Once we break from the quick hug I head into the hospital, feeling slightly anxious.

“Hey Posey, I’m here.” That sounded way too hesitant and meek.

“Hello Lily, I just got done checking in with your friend Moonshade. Do you want to see her real quick before we start?” the light yellow-skinned woman asks as she stands up from behind her desk.

“Oh yes please, I’d love that. And I’m sure Moonshade would as well.” I hope whatever happened to her isn’t too bad.

“Alright, follow me. It’ll need to be quick though, and try to be careful please. She has a broken ankle and dislocated shoulder.” The door opens with a nudge of her hip, but she keeps herself in front of me. “Morning Moonshade, sleep well? I know it isn’t the best, but it’s something. And I’m glad to hear you want to give them a chance. By the way, you have a visitor.” The woman’s news causes my stomach to sink as I can’t stop my wild imagination, but the sight of my friend more than lifts it as I rush in.

“LILY? Is that… is that really you? How did you… when… ow, careful.” I laugh at her confusion as I hug her tight, a few tears falling to land on her shoulder as I relax my tight grip.

Before I let go I give her another, gentle squeeze and smile. “I got here last night, thanks to that woman, Chrysalis. She… she went after them pretty hard. Unfortunately I can’t stay, gotta go and talk to Posey.” I wish I could stay with her. Don’t worry Moonshade, I’ll try to visit again soon.

“What... what happened to her?”

“She got scared and tried to run when confronted by a police officer. He grabbed her wrist as she stepped badly on a slick rock. Now, we need to figure out what we are going to do with you. Did you like staying with Chrysalis last night?”

“Yes I did, a lot. Though this morning, I… sorta freaked out on her. Then I told her about… what me and Moonshade went through.” Just thinking of the events of earlier lowers my head as I look at my feet. All Posey does is wait for me to recompose myself. “My… my parents made the two of us… do things together when they... felt the urge. They also… invited their friends at times to join in and… a few times they have... they let their friends take us home for a day or two.”

While I’m speaking, Posey mostly pays attention to me, though she does jot a few things down on the paper in front of her. “I’m not going to push for now, but soon you will need to actually go into detail about each and every incident. For now, I’m going to need to get your physical and general information. Once you get into the foster care system, you won’t be able to stay with Chrysalis until she gets certified to foster. But I promise that I will do my best to keep you and Moonshade together.”

As she finishes, she picks up the phone and arranges for the physical exam before taking me to the office. “Unfortunately, this will take most of the day due to the wait. Let me know if something goes wrong, okay?”

“Alright, and please don’t be too mad at Chrysalis, even if she did something wrong she did it for the right reasons, and I’m glad she did.” Posey’s return smile before she leaves feels sincere as I’m left on my own.

As she warned, most of the day was spent going through lots of procedures, including drawing blood. It’s around four in the afternoon when I’m returned back to Posey’s office. “... You think you’ll be alright caring for her, Celestia? You know she’ll need a lot of attention and help.”

The door opens after a few knocks, revealing Posey and a white skinned woman with pink, green and blue hair. “I know Posey, and I think I might have the solution.” She turns to me. “Hello there, I’m Celestia.”

Taking the woman’s hand nervously, I look over at Posey for reassurance as I answer, my voice low and the words somewhat mumbled out. “Hi, I’m Lily Bloom.”

Comments

[DarkLove1523]

Cute. Can't wait to see more.

[Kix]

7012174 glad you like the chapter, I definitely enjoyed writing most of it

[badninja]

Good into! I get the feeling that Lily Bloom is going to have a lot of troubles with what happened to her. Moonshade has her anger issues but they can be worked through now how these kids begin to heal?