This is my first attempt at a story. I don’t really write much, please let me know if there’s an error or something I could do to improve the story.
Chapter 1
George looked at the sullen excuse for a child that had just been dropped off at his house, and thought hard about what to do. He had nowhere left to run, she had no other living relatives, and she was his “fault” as her mother had called her.
He wished more than anything else that he could undo that night, but that wasn’t going to happen, and now he had to face the consequences.
“Hello Ashley, how’ve you been?” he asked, trying his hardest to look like he really cared, and wasn’t just the man who had left her all alone with her crack addicted mother.
“Fine,” she said, not making eye contact, and not even bothering to move her long, dirty blonde hair out of her eyes. Standing at only 4’2, she tried her hardest to hide behind it.
“Come in,” he said warmly, “I have a place set up for you to sleep.”
She cautiously followed him inside, trying hard to keep up with his long strides.
“It’s late now, but in the morning we’ll try to get to know each other better, okay?” he said, before quickly departing the room and leaving her to undress. He hoped she would be comfortable, the guest room was not well furnished, but he had been single and without the kind of guest that stayed in a separate room for at least 10 years, so he figured it would be forgivable. Certainly it had to be nicer than her mother’s place, at least it was clean.
He felt a moment of regret for what he had done to her mother, and knew he would not be sleeping easy that night. He had really been hoping that he was getting over this long time regret and would be able to move on, but apparently it wasn’t meant to be so, now he had a live in reminder of his teenage self’s stupidity.
He sighed to himself as he took off his formal black suit, throwing it casually in his laundry basket with the others and making a mental note to take all the laundry to the dry cleaners tomorrow. He combed and smoothed the little bit of jet black hair that jutted up at all sorts of odd angles from his head before climbing into his California king bed and praying for sleep.
Sleep did at last come, but it was not an easy sleep. It was that kind of sleep that you wake up from wondering if you really slept at all, or if perhaps your body went into some kind of temporary hibernation that vaguely resembled sleep.
George groaned and stood up; a quick glance at the glaring red letters of the clock told him it was just after six. He wished he had awoken for his fake sleep just a tad earlier, he had really wanted to shower, but had too much to do to waste any time. He then remembered his young charge down the hall, and was about to knock on the door when it dawned on him that it might not be a bad idea to get dressed prior to checking on a girl several years his junior.
Slipping away as quietly as possible, he returned several minutes later wearing a pair of blue jeans and a red shirt decorated with a Red Sox logo. His hair was still a mess, and he really needed to shave or at least wash his face, but he figured at least he wouldn’t scar her for life since he was dressed now.
A gentle knock on the door brought no response, and after several more of growing insistence, he at last gave up and twisted the bronze handle, revealing an empty room.
He cursed both his luck and his own stupidity, figuring he should’ve thought that she may not stay put through the night. He wasn’t at all fond of the thought of her wandering the house alone, considering her recent experiences she could be a danger to herself.
“ASHLEY!” he called, hoping beyond hope he would get a response. None came.
“Should I report her missing…” he wondered to himself. He wasn’t quite sure what the procedure for a missing child was, especially one that he had just acquired. He stood for several moments, wondering what he should do, or if he should do anything at all. Part of him argued that she was just a child, barely a teen at that. The other part of him argued that she was almost an adult, already a teen at that.
“I’m sure she’ll come back eventually,” he at last said out loud, hoping that hearing the words would convince the shattered remains of his moral integrity that they were true. It seemed that they did, and George wandered off to take a shower, his mind now at a state of forgetfulness that many believe is actually ease.
He hadn’t been in the shower but maybe ten minutes, and was just really starting to enjoy the feeling of the hot water pounding on his back when a harsh knock sounded throughout the house.
“Who the hell would be calling at this time of day?” George wondered, hurrying to grab his blue silk robe and tie it around his slender body. He hurried to the door, the tile freezing the soles of his feet as he rushed through the hall and into the living room with its’ blessed carpet.
At last he arrived at the grand entry hall, and only the dark stained oak door stood between him and whoever had disrupted his shower. He fumbled through the drawers of the antique desk that stood to the right of the door, searching for the spare key he kept there. He found it and stuck it into the door, wondering whether the people who had come knocking had already left simply because he had taken so long to get there.
Unfortunately for him, they had not. A patrol officer stood at the door way in a sharp blue uniform, standing, though just barely, next to him was Ashley. Her blonde hair was even dirtier than the night before, and she was sopping wet from head to toe.
“Is this… umm… yours sir?” the officer asked, seeing the momentary confusion on George’s face.
“Yes, she just came to live with me last night, I didn’t think she would run off. I’m very very sorry for any trouble she caused,” George answered, his face falling as he realized what a huge responsibility this child was going to be.
“I caught her drinking behind the dumpster on 12th and Rogue, it’s not the first time for her either. We’re technically suppose to take em’ down to the station and book em’, but it doesn’t do any good. I heard from one of the other officers that her mom OD’d and figured I may as well take her to her new home, which apparently is here.”
“Yes, she’ll be staying with me,” George said, wishing with all his heart that it wasn’t true.
“Well, this is a mighty nice house you got here sir, I certainly hope she don’t cause no more trouble for you.”
“Thanks, officer. I better get her inside and showered, she certainly is a mess.”
“Oh I wouldn’t do that yet sir… let her sleep a wink first. She mighty hung over and could slip and fall.”
“Oh… that’s true,” George said, feeling a little stupid.
With that George took Ashley’s hand and led her inside, wondering where he could put her where she couldn’t run off. The front door had still been locked this morning, so that meant Ashley had to have climbed out her window. He finally settled on a room on the third floor, there wasn’t a bed, but there was a couch, and she could sleep there. If she came downstairs George would know, and be able to stop her. The windows in that room were also much harder to open, especially in an intoxicated state.
“Alright Ashley, you just sleep here,” George said as he led her to the couch, holding her hand until she had laid all the way down.
Ashley fell asleep pretty quickly, and George cleared his long to-do list as he slowly realized that this was a situation that had to be dealt with. Should he punish her for this? How could he? It wasn’t like he could ground her. He could yell at her, but what good would that really do? This was probably what she had learned her whole life, she really didn’t know any better. Being there for her would surely work better.
With this fresh in his mind, George wondered if he could finish his shower before Ashley woke and consequently snuck out or got hurt. He decided he really didn’t want to risk it, and wandered back across the freezing floors to get dressed for the day.
