I sighed as I packed everything up in my old suitcase. One of the head ladies said I had been in the process of being adopted when I was transferred here. I hadn't heard anything about this, so I didn't believe her. Why would the state allow someone to adopt me without me even meeting them, unless they were family? I've been in the system for years, so I don't think it would be family.

I don't even remember anything from before a few years ago due to being in a really bad car wreck. My oldest foster brother, who was 21, and his best friend, Jack, took me to the movies. It was during the summer and I had just turned fourteen. Apparently Sammy, my foster brother, adored me and would do almost anything for me, so they took me to see X-Men: Apocalypse. But on our way home we were hit by a drunk driver on the interstate and the car flipped. Jack died; they say it was an instant death. Sammy died later in the hospital. And because I was on the passenger's side where the car had landed when it flipped, I was in critical condition. They say I died on the way to the hospital but was brought back when they shocked me a few times. The side of the car I was on had caved in and the roof had crushed down on me. Sammy and I both had to be cut out. I don't remember anything from that day or anything of my life before it due to amnesia from my brain injury. I've been told my injuries were so bad that it's a miracle I'm still alive.

I regret more than anything that I couldn't remember Sammy. I had many pictures of us. The Kennedy's, my last family, also had a bunch of home movies that had Sammy and me together, and they made copies of those for me. After the wreck and after Sammy's death, Seth, my other foster brother, started hating me. He was just a year and a half older than me. He blamed me for his brother's death since Sammy and I were so close. James and Kathy tried to get it into Seth's head that it was the drunk drivers fault, but he wouldn't listen. Seth and I would fight often. We had gotten into a pretty bad argument one night during dinner. He stated that I was the one that should have died, so I decided to try to kill myself that night. They put me back into the system after that.

I had been with the Kennedy's for seven years. I was with another family before them for one year and was tossed around for four years, according to James and Kathy. The Kennedy's told me I was put in the system when my real dad died when I was four. I've never known anything about my real dad and I wished I could remember something about him. I wanted to know about my past and who my real family is.

I looked out of my window to see the sun shining brightly. It would be nice to feel the sun's warmth before going into this new life and family. I left my small room, headed down the two flights of stairs, and went into the back yard. Other kids in the orphanage were playing out here; some were on the swing set, a few on the playground. I went to sit down under the large oak tree to watch everyone around me.

It was about forty-five minutes of me sitting under the tree when a pair of black beat up Converse high tops came into view beside me. I did my best to ignore the person. I didn't want to make any friends here if I was supposed to be gone by the end of the day. When the person wearing the Converse sat down beside me, their light grey skinny jeans coming into view, I couldn't help but look over at them. It was a young man, probably no older than twenty-four, give or take a few years. He had a strong jaw and a sharp nose with the prettiest shade of dark green eyes I had ever seen. His bleached blond hair was unkempt, kept out of his eyes apart from one small chunk.

"May I help you?" I asked him. I wasn't in the mood for small talk with a stranger. Why would some stranger even decide to chat with me when there are so many other kids around? Hopefully he wasn't some kind of counselor or something.

"I think the question is do you want me to help you? I'm here to take you home." He said. His voice was deep and raspy, which I liked. I glanced down at his black leather jacket and the Ramones shirt he was wearing. I raised my eyebrow as I looked back into his eyes, "Sorry, but you don't fit the cut. I know how the system works in here. You're too young to foster someone my age and you're not dressed in a suit."

He gave an amused chuckle, "I'm not going to foster you, Avery. I've adopted you. I had to wait six years after I had permission to get you."

"Why not adopt someone else during those six years?"

He chuckled again as he glanced around the area before looking back at me, "Someone else wasn't my best friend's daughter."

I could feel my heart leap as he said that. This stranger is my ticket to knowing about my past. I turned my body to face him, "You knew my parents?"

"Yes, Avery. You might not remember me, but I'm Luke. Are you ready to get out of here? We have a few hours to drive until we get home." Luke said as he looked up at a group of girls who seemed around eleven while they looked at Luke and giggled as if they thought he was cute. Luke stood up and held his hand out to me. I didn't want to be rude in case he really was one of my parent's best friends and placed my hand in his, letting him pull me to my feet. Luke pulled me into a tight hug before pulling away and giving me a small smile. I dusted the back of my pants off as he walked towards the building before I quickly following him.

"So are you my dad now?" I asked.

Luke gave another chuckle, "No. I was going to be since the state wouldn't let me have you any other way, but I found Vincent's will a few months ago, which proved he had me down as your provider if anything happened to him. The state made the family you were with give you up to me because of that."

Luke opened the door to allow me to go into the building first. I walked quickly inside, afraid he would change his mind and decide to leave me here for some other family to take. My dad's name was Vincent? That's a nice name. I hope my dad was nice. James and Kathy told me that they were sending me back because they didn't want to deal with a suicidal teenager. Did they lie to me? I looked over at Luke as I started to climb the steps, "How do I know you are telling the truth?"

"Your name is Avery Grace Evans. Your birthday is June 15, 2002. You have a small birthmark on the left side of your ribs."

"All of that is in my file. You have to tell me something that I would know." I said, stopping him from going any further.

Luke chuckled as he passed me and continued heading up the stairs, "You have a scar on the bottom of your left foot where you stepped on a broken jar in the kitchen when you were two. And there's a tiny little dent the size of a fingernail clipping on your skull not far from your right ear where you hit your head on the fireplace fighting with Kellin, when you were three."

I put my hand onto my head, feeling of the tiny dent. No one knew it was there because I never told anyone. If I did, then I told them before my wreck. I doubt that kind of stuff is in my file. I looked over at Luke as he gave another chuckle, "You also have three freckles on your right thigh that are in the perfect shape of a triangle."

Whoa. He's good. Why would the state keep something like my scars and freckles in my file? I doubt they would. Maybe he is telling the truth. I stopped at the second landing and looked up at him. He was a good five feet and ten inches tall, maybe even a solid six feet. "My room is down this hall."

"I know." Luke said as he headed down the hall towards my room. I followed him, unsure of how he knew where my room was, as he went to my door and opened it. I was suddenly embarrassed by the old broken down room I had stayed in the past couple of days. The blue paint was peeling and cracking, the dark grey carpet had stains, and the small window had a crack in it. Luke picked up my faded black suitcase as well as my beat up duffel bag before turning to me. He noticed my confused look and gave me a little smile, "Mrs. Carter brought me up here, but when you weren't in the room she said you must be outside. You were easy to find."

I gave a shrug as I loved the thought of leaving this place and being somewhere that was warm and homey. I looked up at Luke, "How was I easy to find?"

Luke smiled at me, "Because the only thing different about you is you're taller and look a little bit older."

"I doubt that." I replied softly. The state has pictures of me in my file. He knew what I looked like before he even came here today.

Luke chuckled before pulling me into a side hug, "It's true. A good godfather knows his goddaughter. Can I tell you that I'm happy I finally have you back in my life?"

I felt a little awkward in the embrace. If he really was best friends with my dad, I don't remember him at all. It was kind of cool to know he's my godfather, if he is telling the truth. Not to mention I hated when people touched me because it reminds me of being in the hospital after the wreck. Doctors and nurses came into my room, poking and prodding at me for a month. Well, a month that I could remember. I was in the Intensive Care Unit for two weeks before that and I couldn't remember anything during that period since for the first week I had a slight coma from my brain injury and they had me on some serious drugs for the week after. I know I had a broken shoulder, broken hips, and some of my ribs were broken, and one of my lungs was collapsed, but I never asked much of what happened. I didn't want to know, especially since that family was the family who wanted to adopt me and I lived with them for the longest period of my life. And even though Seth was mad at me for being what he thought was the cause of Sammy's death, I still could tell I had feelings for him. My memories were completely gone but I could tell I loved him like I would have a real brother.

"I know you don't have any memory of me, especially after the wreck, but I'm so happy you are still here. You were like a daughter to me since your mother up and left in the middle of the day when you were only a few months old. I helped Vinnie raise you. Alex helped, too. He had a smidge more knowledge since he took in Kellin a year before you were born." Luke said softly.

I looked up at him as I pulled out of his grip, "Who are Alex and Kellin?"

Luke gave a little smile as he left the room, "Alex is my house mate and other best friend. Kellin is his so–uh–younger brother."

I followed Luke out of the building and into the parking lot. He went to a black four door Honda Accord that looked super new before opening the back seat and placing my suitcase and duffel bag in the seat before closing the door and turning to look at me, "Are you ready to go home?"

A smile came upon my face. I nodded and climbed into the car. I hoped this place would really feel like home since it was going to be my new home for a while. Plus, Luke seems to know a lot about me. If he is my godfather and my dad's best friend, he can tell me everything from when I was younger. Luke cranked the car before backing up. I was amused by the back-up camera on the console. Do all new cars have that?

"So what kind of music do you like?" Luke asked as he plugged an auxiliary cord into his cell phone.

I gave a small shrug. I didn't know what I used to listen to before the wreck, so I just listened to whatever was on the radio when I was in the vehicle with other people. I haven't found an artist or a song that I absolutely loved. Most stuff that plays on the radio is kind of bland and repetitive, especially rap. I don't like rap. I've heard songs playing on the speakers in a few stores that I liked, but I didn't know who made them and couldn't remember the lyrics to Google them when I had gotten home. "I haven't found anything I really like. So whatever you want to listen to is fine. I just ask that you don't play rap."

"There will not be any rap played in this vehicle." Luke said as he set his phone in the cup holder, "If you want, you can go through the music on my phone. If a song comes on that you don't like then feel free to skip it."

The music started and I liked the drum beat as well as the guitar that came in. As the song started to play more, I liked it more. It was definitely something that I wouldn't hear on the radio. At least not any of the stations The Kennedy's played. I glanced over at Luke, "What is this? I like it."

He smiled, "It's a song called Have Faith In Me by A Day To Remember."

"What did I used to like when I was younger?" I asked as I nodded my head to the beat. Luke looked over at me, "Your favorite band was Taking Back Sunday. You also loved The Used, The Misfits, Brand New, New Found Glory, AFI, Sum 41, and Silverstein. If it was punk or pop punk, you loved it."

I was a little sad I couldn't remember any of these bands. I really didn't even know what punk or pop punk was. Was that what we were listening to? I'll have to Google it if he lets me use a computer. I looked over at him, "After this song, can I hear something from your favorite band?"

"A Day To Remember is one of my favorites. But my absolute favorite band is The Misfits. I prefer Michale Graves, the most, then Danzig over Jerry Only. Michale Graves' whoa whoas are the best." Luke said. I gave a small nod, not knowing exactly what he was talking about but liking how excited he seemed as he spoke. He reached his hand over and patted my leg, "If you want to keep your ears I suggest you don't ask me about music. It's one of my passions."

I looked over at him and smiled, "I don't mind. You can talk about it all day and I'll listen."

Luke chuckled as he glanced over at me, "And that lets me know you are still the same person."

I looked back at the road as Luke pulled onto the Interstate. How could I still be the same person if I lost all of my memory? Plus, I doubt I even remembered anything from before I was four. If I did, it must have been short memories. I must have loved listening to Luke talk when I was younger. A small smile made its way on my face. I don't know if he is telling the truth about knowing my dad and being my godfather or not, but I want to believe he is.