Soul Searcher by D.M. Richardson (novel24 .TXT) 📕

It turned out the woman was the minister’s wife. She had come in early before the church opened to make sure everything was ready for her husband and the worshipers. She called her husband telling him a small girl had been abandoned, and apparently didn’t know her own name. I didn’t bother to correct her.

The minister showed up ten minutes later and took me to his office. He tried talking to me. To get me to answer his questions. But I couldn’t bring myself to say a word. I just stared at the carpet beneath my chair. After an hour he gave up and called the police.

About twenty minutes later a woman officer showed up. She had bright red hair, pale skin with freckles, and a sour look on her face.

“Call me in on a Sunday cause some kid forgot her address. This is ridiculous.” she was talking low as if to herself. I guess she didn’t realize we could both hear her. The minister’s face turned a slight shade of red. He explained the situation while I traced the pattern of the carpet some more. After he was done she sighed. “Well it looks like I’m not the only one getting called in today. Come on kid let’s go. I’ve better things to do on my day off than baby sit you.” I grabbed my bag and hurried after her.

The drive took a long time. At least it seemed to in the silence. It was probably only about ten minutes. Her with her eyes never leaving the road and mine watching the world pass by around us.

We reached a single story building. The big sign next to the road said, ‘Green County Social Services’. The building was made of brick with big windows and a large glass door out front. We pulled into a parking space just as a tall man reached the doors and put a key into the lock.

The officer got out of the car and walked toward him. I hurried to catch up with her. We got to him just as he opened the door. He turned when he noticed us, and looked down at me. Our eyes met and I got that same feeling of pressure at the nape of my neck. I watched as he played with a little girl about my age. I saw him kiss a pretty blond woman with kind eyes. I watched as he talked to kid after kid while he sat at a desk. I didn’t know what some of it meant. But I knew he was a good man, and more importantly I could trust him.

“Here she is. She’s your problem now.” Without so much a word to me she walked back to her car and drove away. All the while the man stood glaring after her. He turned to me and I dropped my eyes to the ground.

“After you young lady.” he gestured through the door and I walked in. It was really quiet with no one there. There was a front desk behind a glass window with a hole in it to speak through. The window went from the ceiling all the way down to the desk top. Behind the window I could see two rows of cubicles. He walked past me and opened a door right next to the desk with the window. He waved a hand and I walked through it stopping just inside to wait for him.

He walked all the way down to the last cubicle on the right. There was a desk with an office chair on one side and a squishy chair on the other side. On the wall behind the desk there was a quark board with lots of small notes pinned to it. On the desk sat a computer, a printer, and a framed picture of the pretty woman and little girl.

“Please have a seat. My name is Jack Harvest. You can call me Jack.” I sat on the squishy chair and watched as he opened his briefcase and pulled out two McDonald’s bags, and opened a mini fridge behind his desk and put two sodas next to the bags. “I hope you don’t mind but I got us some breakfast. If your not hungry that’s fine, but if you want some it’s yours.” as the smell of the food reached me my stomach growled. I remembered that I hadn’t eaten since the night before my birthday. He chuckled and passed me a bag.

I looked in it to find a McMuffin and a hash brown. We ate in silence. It wasn’t the tension filled silence that I shared with all of the other adults. This silence was comfortable.

I was almost done eating when he opened a soda and handed it to me. I took my first drink while he opened his own. When we were both done eating and settled comfortably in our chairs that he spoke. I had my soda sitting in my lap and I was looking at his calendar.

“So my boss told me you couldn’t speak. Is that true.” I shook my head. He nodded. “That’s what I thought. Do you just not want to talk?” I shrugged. He nodded and tried again. “He also told me that you couldn’t remember who you were.” I scowled at him and he chuckled. “Okay well then do you know your name?” I nodded. He got a mischievous look in his eye. “I bet you can’t spell it.” I scowled harder and grabbed the pad of paper and pen that had been sitting on his desk. After I was done writing I put the pad back on the desk. He grabbed it and read what I had written. “You have very nice hand writing Rayne Nichole Woods. That’s an interesting name. Do you know how you got it?”

“My mommy said it was because I was born in a thunder storm.”

“Wow that’s quite a story. How old are you Rayne?”

“Six” He grabbed a pen and wrote something down on the pad.

“When’s your birthday?”

“June sixteenth” he wrote something else down then looked up at me and then over at the calendar his eyebrows raising higher by the second, and a look of comprehension spreading across his face. By the time he looked back at me though he had smoothed his features as though he hadn’t just figured out I was abandoned on my birthday.

“How did you end up at the church?” I sat in silence for a few minutes staring at my soda. He just sat there looking at me. He didn’t push and he didn’t get impatient. He just let me take my time. That’s what made my decision. I told him how my parents had told me we were going to the fair, and how my mom had driven me to the church instead. He listened quietly.

“Do you know your phone number?” I nodded and told him. He wrote it down on the pad then stood. “Will you wait right here for me for a minute? I need to go make a phone call.” I nodded and I watched him walk to the front desk. He stood with his back to me as he dialed the phone. He waited for a moment and then began speaking. He kept his voice down so I couldn’t make out what he was saying. After about five minutes of talking he hung up the phone and came back to his desk. I didn’t bother pretending like I hadn’t been watching him.

He sat back down behind his desk and folded his hands. He didn’t say anything for several moments. Just stared at his hands.

“Okay Rayne what I’m going to do is find another home for you. There are a lot of nice people who take in kids. They’re called foster homes. You’ll be happy there.”

“Do you know why?”

“Why what?”

“Why my mommy and daddy didn’t want me anymore?” He looked me in the eyes, silent for a slow count of ten. He took a deep breath.

“Your mommy and daddy didn’t know what a good thing they had. They didn’t appreciate you the way they should of.”

“Was it because I was bad?” A look of compassion settled on his face.

“No. No it was not because you were bad. This is not your fault. It’s theirs. They were not good parents to you.” I nodded and curled up in my chair while he made more phone calls at his desk. After only a couple minutes I fell asleep to the sound of his soft voice.

Several hours later he woke me with a soft shake to my shoulder.

“Hey sleepy head a new family is here to take you home. I’ve known them for a long time and I believe they are really nice people okay. You’ll be happy with them.” I nodded and grabbed my bag. I followed him out the front door to see five people standing next to a minivan. He introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. Richards. The three other people were kids that were also living with them. They were all older then me by a few years. Jack said goodbye and I climbed into the van.

The Richards lived in a four bedroom house five miles from the social services office. They looked like a happy family. We all had dinner and spent the evening watching TV. I was to spend the night with the youngest girl. Her name was Katie and she was ten. She seemed really nice but when it came time to go to bed she got really nervous and kept glancing at me with a worried look. Right before we were supposed to turn the lights out she sat on my bed with me.

“Not long after the lights go out Mr. Richards is going to come in here. He’s going to lay down in bed with you. Remember it’s easier if you don’t fight him. Okay?” she was whispering and though I heard her words I didn’t understand what she meant. She climbed into her bed and I laid down in mine. She gave me a reassuring smile and turned off the lamp.

I was dozing when I heard the door open. I was wide awake at the sound. I lay perfectly still suddenly scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen but Katie’s words kept coming to me ‘It’s easier if you don’t fight him’. Fight him for what? What was he going to do? I felt the bed dip as he sat down on the edge. I felt him lift the covers and slide in next to me. When his hand touched my shoulder I jumped.

“Shhh it’s okay. Just relax.” I looked at him in the dark and his eyes were in shadow. When he reached down and touched my leg I did the only thing I could think of. I brought my foot back as hard as I could catching him squarely in the groin. He howled and clutched where I had kicked him. I climbed over him and off the bed. I grabbed my bag and my shoes and ran out the door. I ran so fast I almost fell down the stairs. Catching myself on the banister I took the stairs as quickly as I could, and out the front door moving faster than I ever had in my life.

I ran across the front yard as quick as I could never slowing as I heard Mr. and Mrs. Richards yelling for me to come back. I ran to the road and ran back the way towards town. When I heard a car start I ducked into the woods at the side of the road still running. My bare feet getting bruised, scratched and bleeding from the rough forest floor. When I saw headlights heading my way I dropped to the ground. I held my breath as I watched the van crawl