Chapter 1

I let my jaw drop while I stared at the house. Gerald came, still holding my suitcase in his left and used his free hand to lift my jaw back up. He gave a small chuckle and said: "Welcome home, Miss Sanchez."

He put his hand out like a sign for me to go inside. I nodded and started to walk up the steps, but then stopped when I reached the door. I took a breath and let it out after. I lifted my hand and rested it on the elegant doorknob. I pulled down on the knob and pushed it open. I was welcomed with white marble flooring that had a brown round table resting on top of it. On the table was a vase with gorgeous flowers inside. Behind that were two elegant staircases cascading down and on top of them was a large diamond chandelier coming down the middle. It was all black and white. After that was a dining room on the left and a living room on the right.

Gerald smiled at me and said, "Please follow me to your room, Miss Sanchez."

I nodded, for what seemed like the hundredth time today, and followed him up the staircase. As we went up, I admired the space around me, there was a left, right and middle hallway, all leading to...wherever they were leading. I thought he was going to go left or right because that's how most houses have it, but instead, he went straight down the hallway, and I wasn't expecting the hallway to be so blinding. It once again had a round table with a vase on top and around me were a few mirrors. On top of the vase was a wide, diamond, chandelier. Outlining the walls were more tables, but rectangular, with vases.

We made a turn and then stopped at two long doors. Gerald put a hand a bit under his chest. He opened the doors and said, "You're suite, Miss Sanchez."

I walked in and saw another hallway that leads to who knows where! It had marble flooring with a roundabout in the middle of it for design. On top were 2 large gold chandeliers and AFTER that was another hallway! On my left and right were two different entrances. The walls leading to them were outlined in gold as well which gave me that, "royal" feeling.

I slowly walked through, my left hand touching the wall. I stopped and my head immediately turned when I saw some movement coming from my left in the living room, which I got to say, looked stunning.

I zoned out for a while, just admiring the beauty of the room until one of them spoke and said: "Oh my, Loren, look how you've grown!" The woman came up to me and gave me a tight squeeze. The man who was standing beside her walked up to me and put his hand out. I lifted my hand and shook his.

"Hello, Loren. I'm Steven, your uncle. Sorry about my wife. This is Alice, your aunt," he gestured to the lady beside him. "You might not remember us," he said.

I nodded, once again. "We haven't seen you since you were three. We were just so busy, we're very sorry."

I didn't question the excuse. They may have their reasons for not telling me why they weren't there.

"Loren, hun, are you okay? You haven't said a word yet," Alice said, concern filling her voice. I nodded and put my pointer finger up as a sign of one second. I took a small notepad out and started writing

'I haven't spoken at all for the 7 years I was in Juvenile for. They rarely let us talk so I kinda just gave up'

"Oh my goodness! you haven't spoken in 7 years?!" Alice repeated, which I awkwardly nodded at.

"Loren," my uncle called. I tilted my head sideways letting him know to continue.

"I'm applying you to speech therapy, this can't go on for your whole life," he sternly said.

I put my head down and nodded, which he returned knowing that I understood.

"Alright hun, go explore your room, all this is yours. This living room, bathroom, bedroom, and many other things, including this hallway," my aunt Alice said, counting with her fingers as she named everything. I just nodded slowly, letting her know I understand. "Oh yes! Loren! There's also someone waiting to meet you outside in the backyard," Alice said enthusiastically while pointing towards the backyard with her thumb.

She's enthusiastic. I haven't met someone like this in years.

I gave her a quick nod with my head. She then linked her arm with my uncle Steven and they left.

I decided to go outside to the backyard to meet this 'someone' they were talking about and I did.

I started to wander around a bit until I found the door that leads to the backyard. The door clicked open and I stepped onto the concrete. My eyes widened at the sight that was in front of me. There. Was. A. WATERPARK.

I was enjoying the view for a moment until I heard a voice.

"Hey, you must be Loren."

My head turned at the sound of them. It was a young boy, he looked about 15 to 16 years old. He had blue eyes and brown floppy hair. He was a bit tanned, but more on the lighter side.

I cleared my throat and attempted to speak.

Keyword 'attempted'

I gave up, deciding that it wasn't going to work and just nodded my head.

"I'm Adrian, Steven and Alice's son," the boy said. My eyes widened at the thought. They had a son?

"Um, do you speak?" He questioned as he started to put his hands in his pockets.

I shrugged and brought out the notepad that I had and showed him the note that I showed my aunt Alice

"Damn, you haven't spoken in 7 years? That's rough." He furrowed his brows. I looked down and nodded, feeling ashamed of myself for not trying.

"Has my dad offered to try and help you at least?" He asked.

I nodded again. "What's he going to do?"

I started to write on my notepad and then I showed it to him. "Oh, speech therapy." He mumbled.

"Mhmm," I hummed. "Hey!" My head shot up at the unexpected rise of his voice. "That's a start!" He said happily while pointing at me. I smiled at him.

"Wow, that's a one million dollar smile right there"

I gave a small chuckle. "It's working," he said as he returned a smile. "Mhmm," quietly I hummed, my hum sounding raspy and my throat itched. "Oh, what's speech therapy? Never heard of it," he joked with a funny voice. I laughed, but harder this time at the sudden humour he had. "The new therapy is, Adrian's jokes," he said as he started to make a rectangle with his hands, which would be the shape of a sign. My lips churned into a straight line.

"Yeah...that wasn't funny," he quietly said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Anyway, what's up with the hood?" He asked while pointing towards his head. I thought about it for a moment on how I should tell him. So I started to scribble down something and I showed it to him. "I don't like showing my face to people because of a certain incident that occurred in my life, so I cover half my face with my hood," he read aloud. "Oh," was all he said. I put my head down and nodded.

A few seconds passed and he decided to say something to break the silence

"Oh ya! There's also another person waiting to see you. Go to the living room and you'll find them, see ya!" And with that, he turned around and walked away. I shook my head, trying to process this family and why they're so enthusiastic. I pushed the thought away and decided to go back inside. Once I found the living room I immediately recognized them. Amelia.