After several weeks in the recovery ward at the local hospital, Starla got the privilege to go home, but not the home she intended it to be. Her worst fear was realised when Mrs. Kai Huntsman's parked at the reserved parking lot. Starla usually reminded her that those days were gone, but for her it's like a game, which starts back at madam Dew.

"Afternoon Starla." Mrs. Stephens – The Foster Mother at Madam Dew – Entered the room, which Starla had to share with three other girls. Starla remained silent, from the day she got back, which was a whole four weeks ago. Mrs. Stephens sighed. "Starla, you can't keep doing what you are doing." She said as she took a seat on Starla's bed.

"Could you have told my dad to stop what he had done?" She asked looking at the bare beige coloured wall. The foster mother stayed silent – She struggled to get the right manner of saying, without hurting the little one's feelings. "Just as I thought..."

"Starla." Mrs. Stephens decided to stand in front of Starla, and she looked deep into her eyes – Eyes which could only spell sadness, disappointment, and regret. "You have to snap out of it!" she said, but for her it looked as if Starla's didn't see her, as she looked at the wall, behind the woman who stood in front of her.

Suddenly her eyes came to life, and like a tap being turned on, so did the tears of sadness and disappointment left her eyes, and dripped onto her sundress – Which the McPherson's made for her. – "I can't!" She yelled back, making Mrs. Stephens's eyes grow wide. "Can you bring my brother back? Can you erase what happened to me?" She wiped the tears off her face, stood up and looked out of the window to the Bakery across the street. "I curse the day I was born into this ungrateful world..." Another flood of tears began to do its rounds.

Mrs. Stephens grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. "Don't you ever say that again!" She said as she knelt down to Starla's height.

"But it's true..." She sniffed through her tears.

"Starla, you have to stop being negative!" She stood up, and walked to the door, leaving Starla alone by the window. "When I come back, you have to stop with your nonsense." She said as she looked back at her, before closing the door.

<>|<>

"Oh birdie, I wish that I was like you..." Starla said, while she sighed as she looked at a white dove.

"Why do you want to be like him?" One of the girls – Starla shared a room with – said.

"Abbey, it's like this." Starla threw her whole body on the hospital-like bed, ignoring the cringing feeling which spread over her. "A dove has freedom, once it can fly, it can see the whole world and everyone loves them."

"Despite that, doves can easily die too." Abbey said as she combed her Barbie-doll's hair.

"What do you mean?" Starla said as she turned on her stomach, and watched the two girls play.

"Starla, doves can get hit by cars, be caught by animals, or die when they are shot."

"Yuck!" Melanie said, while she dressed her Ken-doll.

"Still, there's so much positive things that can happen to them as well." Starla said with a smile, as she daydreamed.

A skinny tall girl, two years older than Starla entered the room, dressed in a white T-shirt with a black jacket and black torn jeans. "What's up?" She asked in her gothic voice, as she relaxed on her bed.

"Starla wants to be a dove that got hit by a car." Melanie said.

"Cool." Christi said, as she pulled out her make-up. "I always wanted to be a dead weasel..."

"I want to be a dove, that's alive and who can see the world." Starla interjected, as she stood up and walked to the window, to find that the window pane was empty. "Awh." She said under her breath.

"Oh, that's rather uncool dude."

"I'm not a dude." Starla said, playfully.

"Then you're a dudette." Melanie said, as she walked to Christi and grabbed the dark eyeshadow case out of her hand.

"Hey!" Christi pressed.

"Black is for funerals, try blue..." Melanie's eyes grew. "Or pink!" Melanie was always a girl that loved the colours pink and blue. Even at six years of age, she convinced Mrs. Stephens to paint her side of the room pink and the carpet had to be blue. Starla thought of her as her own sister, because the day Starla came back, Mrs. Stephens said that she and Melanie looked alike. She also made peace with the fact that Alexandr wasn't coming back, after the police came in and told her that he and the rest of their family disappeared without a trace. She cried many nights, but Melanie consoled her, and she was eternally grateful.

"Chill, dread locks." Christi smiled in her own unique way, as she grabbed the case from Melanie. "Starla..." She said and waved at her to come to her.

Starla obeyed and took a seat alongside her friend. "How are things nowadays? You look better."

"I feel better too." Starla said.

Christi made a reassuring sound, while she smirked. "It's good, after all the traumas you experienced there must've been some happiness."

Starla looked down. "There was this one time where happiness was in my heart..." She sniffed, but then looked up and smiled. "But now its back, and I feel like a brand new person."

"Starla, what is this?" Abbey said, as she closed the nightstand's drawer by Starla's bed.

Starla spun around and took a look at the thing dangling in her friend's hand. "It looks shiny." Melanie said, as she made as if she tried to grab it.

Starla took it from her friend's hand, and studied it, she studied it hard. It was a silver heart, on a silver chain with a switch in the middle, and on the heart stood: I will protect you.

"This was Alexandr's... he told me that..."

"Oh no, you are not going to go there, dude." Christi interjected Starla, and the three friends looked at her in confusion. "You are not going to start with your sobby stories again, because that will let me cry." Melanie smirked, and Abbey grunted. "What? Despite the fact that I am a Goth, I still have feelings for some stories."

"I find that hard to believe." Starla said, as she nudged her friend.

"Can we put it on you?" Abbey asked, while she held up the necklace.

"Sure!" Starla said, with a smile.

As Abbey put the necklace around Starla's neck, their room's door opened and revealed Mrs. Stephens. "Hello children... why, Starla you look beautiful with that necklace on. Who gave it you?"

The three friends greeted her in unison, with Starla walking closer. "Morning Mrs. Stephens, thank you." She smiled, with her eyes glistening like a crystal clean river. "Alexandr gave it to me..." She saw Mrs. Stephens face and added. "Don't worry, I already made peace with it, Alexandr is gone, and as always things turn out alright in the end. I got a new family right here."

"That's too bad." Mrs. Stephens said, as she entangled her fingers together.

"Why?"

"There's someone downstairs who wants to meet you..."

"Who is it?" Starla asked, eyes filled with hope that it could be her brother, who mysteriously came back to Madam Dew.

"Go see for yourself." Mrs. Stephens said as she stepped out of the way, and showing her the way out of the door.

Starla looked at her friends, who each exchanged a quick nod. With a heart pumping in her chest, her mind saying her brother's name she headed down the stairs to the lobby part. Her hope fell to her shoes, and her heart skipped a beat, when she saw that it was a whole other person than she had anticipated it to be.

"Why hello dear." The woman, with long dark brown curled hair, dressed in a blue and white flowered blouse, with a knitted cardigan over it.

"Who are you?" Starla asked annoyed.

The woman gave a chuckle. "Darling, sorry for forgetting my manners." She said. – Does she even have manners? – Starla thought as she played with the heart on the necklace. She repeated the words engraved into it, to make sure that her late brother's spirit would protect her, after all she couldn't trust anyone anymore, not even her new friends. "I'm Emma Rutherford, and I came here to have chat with you. Mrs. Stephens will accompany us." She smiled as she gripped her handbag from the counter, with the entrance of the Foster Mother.

"Why do you want to chat with me?" Starla asked, changing her play motion with the heart, to a grip that wouldn't let go.

"Starla, my child." Mrs. Stephens talked behind her, but stood alongside the 'Emma' person. "She came her, because she wants to adopt a child..." – Not again! – Her mind screamed. For Starla it felt as if she was a character on a monopoly board, with each throw of the dice, she goes to a new home which mimicked the jail, and when she's set free and passed begin she was in Madam Dew. It was a continuous cycle of reject, and Starla was once again, the main character.