Candice

I led him to the owner's office. I didn't want to go in because he might be in there. The inspector opened the door and looked in, then took my hand and led me inside. After closing the door behind him, he turned to face me.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"Seven years."

"You must have been very young," he said, a sadness washing over him.

"Not really." This was it. The moment of truth. He looked at me, an eyebrow raised.

"How long have you had to endure...." he nodded toward my arms. Ah. He meant the cuts and bruises.

"Three years." Keep it simple. You can do this. His brows furrowed.

"How old are you, exactly?" I inhaled, hesitated, then answered.

"I will be 21 next month." He didn't ask anything else after that. He turned to the desk, found a phone, and dialed a number.

The nightmares were much worse that night. After the phone call, the police came maybe twenty minutes later. They're still investigating the place, though it was so late at night already. They had made up a bed for me in the police station while they searched the place. They were trying to move the children to other orphanages without trying to alarm anyone. Every hour or so, they would ask if I wanted their latest findings. Though I spent so long there and shouldn't have to have someone tell me about that place, I would always say yes. Unfortunately, I found out there were peepholes in some of the rooms, including mine, which was something I didn't know, nor did I really want to. It made trying to sleep unbearable, thinking about what he would have seen.

The owner had disappeared before the police got there, which didn't help calm my thoughts, either. And they were going to interrogate me in the morning... Too much was happening in such a short amount of time. I was glad to be out of there, though. And I was glad the other kids could go to better places, and maybe even get adopted. I didn't know where I was going to go from here, but it had to be better than where I was right now, which, in turn, was already better than where I had been.

The next morning went as expected, going through interrogation and truth detector tests, which apparently consisted of monitoring my pulse as I was being questioned. I'm not sure how long that went on, as I was kind of out of it, thinking what if my plan didn't actually work and this was all just a dream. That would be terrible... I'm not sure when the questioning ended, or when I left for the doctor visit they had set up for me, but when I came back to my senses and reality, I was in a white room on an uncomfortable table, a paper sheet crinkling under me. I felt like someone had pressed the fast forward button on a movie and never told me what happened between then. I looked at the white bandages on my arms. I only vaguely remembered someone wrapping them. I heard someone come into the room.

"All right, the tests are done," said the doctor, looking at the clipboard in his hands. He sighed and looked at me.

"From what we've found, you are very malnourished, and have been that way for a long time." I nodded, already knowing that and partly wondering exactly how long I had been there.

"Your immune system is very weak, and your body can't heal like it's supposed to. We've done the best we can with the wounds that you have, but your past scars will never go away, and the bruises are much worse than we originally thought. We think the initial internal bleeding has stopped, but there is a slight chance that may not be the case. Many of your cuts are also infected. I know you only just got out of that... place, but you may need to stay here for at least a week for observation." I sighed, not really understanding some of what he said, but I nodded anyway. He apologized to me several times before leaving the room. I sat there on the table, feeling very numb. Now that I was practically free, what would I do? Where would I go? I spent all that time trying to get out, and now that I'm out, my mission is complete and I'm lost. I'm lost and can't find my way. I have no family, no friends, anyone who may have known me thinks I'm dead... I could feel the tears start to spill over. I didn't notice when the doctor came back in with a wheel chair, didn't notice him pick me up and set me down in said chair, didn't notice when we left the room and went to another, and didn't notice him putting me into the bed in this new room. I don't know if he said anything or not, or if he tried to get my attention. I just know that this bed was the first bed I had been on in seven years, and that with my tears came sleep and a sense of being safe in the land of dreams.

I don't remember the last time I was this happy.

And then the nightmares started.

The week of observation had finally passed, and I was free to go, with instructions to get a checkup once a month or if I was feeling odd in any way. And they gave me a nutrition plan. Now I was headed back to the police station... for more questioning, I supposed. When the officer who was driving me stopped in front of the station, though, there were a lot of people surrounding the outside. He cursed under his breath, then said something into his radio. He sighed and looked back to me.

"It seems the press can't seem to keep out of anything. Would you like me to find another way around, or..." he trailed off. I looked at the crowd of people.

"I think everyone should know what it was like in that place..." I said, making my decision. He nodded then got out of the car and guided me up the stairs. I took a deep breath and got ready for something to happen, whether it was a wonderful something or not. I'm ready to live my life, now.

Author's Note: Hey, sorry for the long pause between update (not really the word como I was looking for, but okay...) I've been so tired lately, and I can't think straight. I just learned that I can save the story and not publish it until I'm ready to :D So that's what I've been doing, and little by little, I finally finished this chapter. :) I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I hope that I can get the next one out much faster...

Thank you so much Krystal97, kidamazone, and Izmarie94 for subscribing!

@kidamazone: Well, I only just started this story, but I'm glad you think it deserves more subs so far. :)

@cutiepi2124: Well, she succeeded. :) He asked because the oldest would be more mature, and probably understand more about what goes on "behind the scenes" so to speak.