Chapter One

"OMG! AUDREY WAKE UP!"

"WHAT!?" I yelled and leaped out of bed in a panic rush. Looking at Whitney's face, I soon realized it was nothing serious, and that she was only being her excitable self.

"Happy Birthday!" She yelped out with much enthusiasm.

"Would you be quiet?" My other roommate, Jordan grumbled from her corner.

"You do know that it could be her last day here?" She added.

"Oh no," Whitney gasped, "I'd forgotten it was her 12th!"

"Yeah, I'm glad my birthday's not till November,"

"I have no idea what your saying," I yawned getting up and rubbing my eyes. It was only 6:30 in the morning, and my body had not all woken up," Ignoring me, Whitney continued on.

"Don't be so negative, Jordan! We are going to have so much fun today! Besides, birthday's are supposed to be really fun!"

"Not around here they aren't, Barbie," Jordan frowned. Barbie was the nickname that she had given Whitney, and it was probably to hint at the fact that she wasn't totally 'there'. Of course, Whitney didn't really understand that she was mostly just calling her stupid by nicknaming her that, and continued to think that she was called 'barbie' for her fashion sense.

"But why not?!" She whined.

"Because on your birthday we always get a speech from Mrs. Henderson, which is not something to be totally excited for. She usually just nags on about how much we suck because we can't get adopted," Jordan replied, "And on your 12th, she starts making plans for your future. Nobody wants to adopt a 12 year old, so she sends us off to foster homes. For all we know, Audrey could be sent to Twinbrook,"

"Wait, I could? I thought that I'd just stay in Sunset Valley, I don't want to move towns," I said sleepily as my alarm clock actually went off now. It really served no purpose, one of the girls usually wake me up before hand anyways.

"That can't be true," Whitney said, hopping onto my bed, "I don't want Audrey to leave!"

"Neither do I, Barbie. That would mean I'd be stuck with you. Pure torture..." I laughed as Whitney threw a pillow at Jordan's head.

"You know what? I'm sick of being stuck in here all the time, with Mrs. Henderson telling us what to do! Why can't we all just run out of this place! C'mon, let's start a riot!" Jordan said, standing up onto her bed.

"I'm sorry to crush your dreams, Jordan, but that would get you in more trouble then you already are in," Ms. Martinson said as she peeked through our doorway. Jordan gulped as she got down off the bed to go join us on ours. She knew that she was in complete trouble, especially after starting a food fight in the mess hall last night.

"Right, about that," Jordan said, looking at her feet.

"You are told to come to Mrs. Henderson's office right away,"

"Oh, great. Just my luck," Jordan muttered as she looked at the both of us, "You know, this could be the last you see of me, so take a good look now,"

Ms. Martinson smiled as she gestured toward me, "Audrey, Mrs. Henderson would also like to speak with you afterwards,"

As our 'guardian' took off from the room, us three amigos looked at each other.

"Ok, forget about me," Jordan said, "Goodness Audrey, make up a good argument in there!"

"Yeah, I am not going to let you leave!"

"Stop worrying you guys, I'll be fine,"

I could hear Mrs. Henderson's yells as I sat waiting to see her. Jordan should probably be a little more co-operative, there's no telling what that lady will or won't do. My life at the orphanage for the last 12 years have been full of misery. Nobody dreams of being raised in an orphanage, it's unstable for a child like me. It must have been really hard for Whitney. Unlike myself and Jordan, she used to actually have a family. Her father and mother were both killed in a deadly car crash only two years ago. Her uncle refused to take her in, ending her up in this dump hole.
My thoughts wandered as I sat there, and I could not help but wonder how my best friend was doing. Curiosity got the best of me, and I went to investigate.

 Sadly, my master plan didn't fall through. That door was much to thick to hear anything what-so ever, and the glass at the top of it was not meant to be seen through.

As I was about to get back down off of the chair, the door swung open, hit it, and caused me to lose my balance. Ending up on the floor, I looked up into Mrs. Henderson's fierce eyes.

"Now, what do we have here?" She asked, not bothering to help me up. She lifted the chair back onto it's feet, and stared me down, "Eavesdropping, are we?"

"Dang it, Audrey! Now your going to be sent away!" Jordan gasped from behind the beast.

"Enough, Miss. Emerson. Back to your room while I deal with this young lady," Wincing as I got up, I followed her back into the office.

"Please don't send me away, I've finally gotten used to this place, ma'am!" I pleaded. I knew it wasn't going to  work right when I started off the sentence. When Mrs. Henderson makes up her mind, it's a done deal.

"Miss Depri, I am sorry to say that I will keep you here no longer. There is a family willing to take you into foster care. They believe that you are a kind, responsible women and are willing to offer you somewhat of a home,"

"But I'm not! I'm not responsible!" I refused to believe I would be leaving my friends.

But it wasn't only the fact that I was forced to leave my friends behind that bugged me. You see, I have a really big problem with change. Even if this move was for the better, I wouldn't want to face it. Things have to stay the same for me to be stable.

"Audrey," Mrs. Henderson said, which surprised me. She never called the children here by their first names, "I  promise you that you'll like it better there. You'll have a kind of family, and you'll be happy. They have another foster child there, who I believe goes by the name of Trey. I'm sure the two of you will get along alright,"

"And you will even get to stay in the same school you already attend-"

"Wait, did you say the boy's name was Trey? As in, Trey Anderson?" I interrupted which was a big no-no in the presence of Mrs. Henderson. Luckily for me, she didn't really care this time at all.

"Yes, that is correct. The Anderson family will be your new home," Oh snap. Oh snap, snap, snap.

Little did I know, that this drastic change in my life would soon to be the most important thing to me...ever.

Introduction

"What another stressful day at work!" Mrs. Henderson cried out as she made her way into her office, "And now I have even more work to do. Well, this day keeps getting better and better!" Around town Mrs. Henderson had the reputation as that crazy lady who owned the local orphanage, and she wanted nothing more in the world then to change that, "Gosh, I hate this job,"

"I suppose I'd better cool down with a good book. Yes, that's exactly what I need," She said to herself, taking out a copy of an old history book, "Crazy-peh-lease- I am everything but that!"
Mrs. Mary Henderson had a bad habit of talking to herself more then necessary. Often times the children here at the orphanage would make fun of it, much to the distaste of Mary.

"The history of Twinbrook, no no, I don't care about that," She sighed, flipping over pages and pages until she  found the certain one that she had been searching for. Just by looking at Mary you wouldn't think that she was the kind of girl with interest in the supernatural, but she certainly was. Ghosts and spirits had always intrigued her as a child, and that never changed as she grew.

Just as she was about to settle down and read about the grave-yard, Mary heard a knock on the old grey door, "It's 11:00! Who in their right minds would be at the door at this time in the night?!"

"Well, whoever is there must want to anger a very old women," She sighed, strolling over to the door.

As Mary opened the old, miserable door, she saw a young girl, only around 17, carrying a baby. It wasn't an odd thing to find women dropping off her unwanted babies here, but what really struck odd to Mary was the fact that she had no shoes on at all.

"Please, Miss," The young girl said as she lied the baby down onto the ground, "You're my last hope,"

"Yes, we get that a lot," Mrs. Henderson said with a snarl on her face. She hated anyone who dropped off a baby here, thinking it was her responsibility to care for them. It was all just more work for her.

"Keep her safe," the young lady said, as the rain started to pour down, making old Mary in a worser mood then she already was.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure the kid will be fine here. Maybe not loved, but alive," Mrs. Henderson replied as the lady nodded.

"You must not give her away to anyone," the 17 year old girl pressed.

"Well you see the whole point of the orphanage is to find her a good home," Mrs. Henderson brushed off some dirt on her skirt.

"She will not leave this place," The blonde replied, and Mary realized that she spoke with a French accent, "There are bad people looking for her,"

"Bad people? What do you mean by that?" Mary asked curiously, but the girl only responded by whispering into her ear.

"Name her Audrey. Audrey Depri,"

As the young 17 year old run down the quiet street, Mary looked down at the baby that was by her feet.

"Sucks not having a loving family, eh?" She spoke, and frowned as she said it. Not having a loving family...Yes, Mary knew how that felt.

"Oh, yeah," Mary said speaking to the baby as she lifted her into the crib, "Welcome to hell,"

And that was the beginning of Audrey Depri's life.