Chapter 1

 The social worker stops in front of what seems to be a middle-class modern house. "This is it, it's their first time fostering, so try to be a bit optimistic," he asked of her. Jane snaps out of the trace she seems to be in. Jane is taking it all in, the nice house, the sudden change, again. He got out to open the back and grabbed her duffle bag. "Let's go," he told her. She proceeds to get out of the car and they both walk together to the door. He knocks on the door and they wait a minute. The door opens to reveal a woman. She seems like she might be in her mid-thirties, possibly late thirties. Her clothes seem fairly new as well. "Hello Albert, please, come in," she said and opened the door welcoming both Albert and Jane.

 The woman leads them to her dining table. All three of them sit down. She sits in front of a notepad and pen as if there are things for her to note and remember for later. "So I'm Harper. My husband Omar, and I have two teenagers. It's so nice to meet you, what's your name?" The woman asked Jane but Jane didn't respond, she only looked at Albert. "This is Jane, she doesn't talk much," he explained. Albert then begins to explain the basics of fostering a child to Harper. He explained that since it was her first time he was required to go over everything again. She listened carefully and wrote a few things in her notepad.

 "Well, that is it for the moment. Are there any questions?" Albert asked politely. "No, thank you, but I'll call if I do," she told him. "Okay well, it's time for me to leave. Oh and Jane, no more incidents," he warned her. Jane didn't respond, she simply looked at him. He then walked toward the door, with Harper behind him. Once they said their goodbyes and Albert left, Harper went back to the dining table, where Jane still sat. "Come on, I'll show you around the house."

 "And this is your room," Harper told Jane. Jane was a bit puzzled so she asked, "What about the basement?" "What about it? Oh, would you like to put your things there?" "Uh, no, never mind," Harper clearly didn't understand what she asked so she dropped the topic. "If you need anything, let me know," of course Jane wouldn't but that didn't stop Harper from offering. 

 Once Harper left, Jane walked into the room with her bag. She decided to close the door and put the bag under the bed. She didn't want to bother and get comfortable. Then she looked around the room, noting the window and the closet. Jane then removed her jacket, she had a few bruises showing. She took out a bottle of pills, opened it, and took a few. She took a deep breath and then released. Suddenly she heard it, the sound of someone, no, multiple people coming through the front door. Jane sighed, she didn't want to meet the rest of the family this early but she knew she would eventually have to go down.

 She quickly put the bottle back in the jacket and then put it on. A few seconds later, there was a knock on her door. "Jane, the rest of the family is home. I'd appreciate it if you came down to meet them," it was Harper. She waited a few seconds for a response but didn't get one. "They want to meet you." "I'll be a minute," Jane responded and with that Harper headed downstairs.

 After Harper left, Jane went downstairs to meet the rest of the family. She heard chatter in the dining room and headed there. She saw them, the whole family and they did look like a family. She walked in slowly, Harper was the first to see her. Then the rest of the family turned their attention to Jane. The first to talk was the girl, she looked about Jane's age. "Hey, I'm Jess. You're Jane right?" "Yeah," Jane simply replied. "Good, because if not there would be a stranger in our house," Jess joked. The family chuckled, however, Jane didn't even cough.

 "I'm Xavier," the older sibling said. "Hello, my name is Omar. It's nice to meet you," the man stood up from his chair and extended his hand for a handshake. The rest of the family looked at him confused, Jess was going to say something however she was unable to do so, with Jane shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you too," Jane said while the rest of the family was surprised. That was the longest response they had gotten. "Well, why don't we eat? Take a seat, Jane," Harper attempted to make things slightly less uncomfortable. The family began serving themselves food. Harper served Jane, Jane knew she wouldn't be able to eat all that food. She was used to eating very little after all. During dinner, Jane didn't engage in conversation. Jess and Xavier kept asking her personal questions and Jane responded with one or two words until Harper changed the topic.

 Once dinner was finished the siblings went upstairs to prepare for bed. "Your turn to do the dishes," Harper told Omar. "No free pass?" "Nope" "Had to try," Omar said before Haper left. Jane stood up from her seat and walked toward the sink. "Woah, what are you doing?" Omar asked. "Dishes," Jane responded. "Harper wouldn't like you doing the dishes on your first day here," Omar told her but Jane looked at him without saying a word. "I guess you can help a little," he said. They both began doing the dishes. Omar noticed something," you didn't eat much, why?" "Not hungry," Jane replied. Omar knew at this point that she wasn't going to talk much for a while, so he left it alone. 

 The house was silent not a peep from any of the rooms. Jane was the only one still awake, she took it as her chance. She put pillows on the bed and pulled the covers over them. Then she grabbed a few things and climbed out the bedroom window. 

 After walking a bit, she saw the car and got in. "Hey, I was starting to think you weren't coming," Evan, Jane's boyfriend said. "I had to make sure they were asleep," she explained. "Here," he handed her a bottle of beer then grabbed one for himself. They both opened them and took a few sips. "Do you need a refill too?" he asked. "Yeah." He then took out a bottle of pills and gave it to her. "Thanks," she grabbed the bottle and put it in her jacket. "Let's do some now," he pulled out a small bag of pills. 

 "Do you have to leave so soon?" Evan asked her, not wanting her to leave. "We'll talk tomorrow, promise," Jane kissed him on the lips before leaving. Instead of heading to the house where she is staying, she goes somewhere no one knows about, her hideout. She turned on the lights and went straight to training. She trained with a bow, knives, sticks, guns, and a fighting dummy. Then she worked on sewing her red hoodie. She then decided to return to her foster family's house.

 It's the next morning, the kids and the father have already left for work and school. It was just Harper and Jane in the dining room. Harper had asked for a few days, just to get Jane situated. "So I was thinking we could go buy you some new clothes," Harper said. Jane didn't respond. "Let's go," Harper said and grabbed her keys and purse. Jane took a few seconds to decide what to do, then followed Harper to the car. 

 While in the car, Harper tried to make conversation with Jane. "So, how are feeling about is arrangement?" she asked. Jane turned and looked at her confused. "What?" Harper asked seeing the confusion on her face. "I can't tell if you're joking," Jane responded. "Why would I be joking?." Harper wanted to keep the conversation going. That sentence was about the most she had gotten out of her. "Never mind," Jane said. "You never answered my question," Harper pointed out. "Fine," she replied to the question. "Okay, I get it. Let's listen to music," Harper turns up the radio.

 Once they arrive at the mall, Harper insists on buying her clothes. Jane just followed Harper not knowing what to do at this point. Harper had Jane try on a few shirts however she could tell that Jane was uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I'm used to shopping with Jess. You should pick out a few things, I'm not sure what you like to wear," Harper told her. "Ok….thank you," Jane said awkwardly, while Harper gave her a warm smile. They ended up getting a few other things aside from Jane's clothes. On the drive home, Jane spotted a gas station and remembered something.