The Promise

Jack's p.o.v.

"What's that on that bird's foot?" Lily tilted her head at the pigeon in front of us eating spare food from the ground. I looked down at its feet.

"A bit of wire." I frowned at it. She hummed, going back to her ice cream.

She was obviously too young to understand the cruelty of the world we live in.

I let her finish off her ice cream before we went to a park.

The park was always Lily's favourite. She liked the slide and the swings a lot because she liked heights. For most children her age, heights is quite a scary thing, but not for Lily. She wasn't scared of anything; not even spiders.

"Jacky, can you-"

"Yes, I will push you on the swings." I chuckled, knowing that's what she was going to ask. She always asks that question every time we come here. I don't understand why she still asks as she should know I will say yes striaght away.

We stayed in the park for about half an hour until I said we had to get going.

We arrived back just in time for our curfew. Lily ran straight to her room after giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek along with a thank you. I went straight to Cass, telling her that we're back.

"Hey, Jack?" She stopped me before I walked back out the room. I turned around slowly, looking at her with questioning eyes.

"About Lily, don't worry about her. She'll get a family, she's such a sweet girl. I'm trying my hardest, but it seems like nobody is interested at the moment. We will get her one, though, so don't worry." She gave me a little speech, her smile wide and her teeth so bright. I let her words sink into me, making my heart flutter at the thought of her actually having a loving family instead of being here for years. It is nice here, don't get me wrong, but every little girl wants to be outside, meeting new friends, going in shops, holding her mother's hand and talking on and on about anything to her parents; Lily only has half of that.

I smiled at Cass, letting her know that I was appreciative of her encouragement.

"Thanks, Cass." I gave her one last smile before I walked out the door.

~~~

Early the next day I woke up. I was weirdly exhausted, but I managed to get every muscle in my body to work, remembering why I'm up this early.

I took a shower, got changed, ate, locked the house and got in my shitty car. I put on a random blink-182 CD, singing (terribly) along to the songs.

The care home wasn't really far away from where I lived, and time goes fast while you have your favourite band blasting through the speakers.

I entered the two storey building, signing in at the little reception that we had.

I immediately walked down the corridor to Lily's bedroom. I opened the little girl's room slowly, peering my head into the room. When I saw Lily sat up, curled into a ball with tears streaming down her face, I quickly ran over to her.

"Lily, hey, shh. I'm here. I'm here." I got on the bed and pulled her into my arms, giving her a warm hug. Lily began sobbing hysterically, short little breaths falling out her mouth. My eyes widened when I realised what was going on. I pulled her away from my chest gently, lifting her head up.

"Lil', listen to me. Take some breaths, sweetie." I said in the softest voice I could, trying to calm her down. Her eyes were wide and tears fell down them. Her little hands were shaking and her breathing was harsh and fast.

I knew what to do as I've had a lot of panic attacks in my life.

I managed to calm her down and she came flying into my chest, silently crying. I held on to her, making sure that she knew I was there.

"Oh, Lily." I sighed, kissing the top of her head.

It was rare that Lily gets panic attacks, but recently they've been picking up, and frankly, they're scaring me. She's only eight, she doesn't need these things in her life.

After a couple of minutes, she calmed down completely, pulling away from my chest and wiping her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Jacky." She said in a small voice, and it broke my heart.

"No, you don't have to be sorry, Lily, it's not your fault. Come here." I pulled her into my chest again, letting her small arms wrap around my belly. She looked up at me as I looked down at her and I could see something was obviously making her sad.

"What happened?" I asked gently, moving her hair out her face.

"A-A nightmare." She whispered, rubbing her eyes.

"Again?" I sighed.

She mostly got her panic attacks through nightmares and they all lead up to being alone and having no parents. It was obvious she knew that her parents were gone forever, and it was honestly the saddest thing ever. I love her so much, it breaks me seeing her like this.

She nodded against my shirt, gripping onto it.

"What was it about?"

She lifted her head up, tears glistening in her eyes. I hated seeing her like this, so much. I'd do anything to take the pain away and make her happy for all her life.

"I - I don't remember. There was a car a-and a women in another car, they crashed. It scared me. W-What if that was mummy?" Tears leaked down her face again and I quickly removed them with my thumb. What she said made me want to cry. She missed her mum like crazy even though she didn't even know her.

"Sh, that wasn't your mummy, Lil'. They are stupid dreams, okay? They're not real."

"Bu- okay. Yeah, they were mean dreams. Mean, mean, mean." She moved her finger up and down to emphasise "mean" making me crack a smile.

"Yes, they were very mean, and what do we do to mean things?" I nudged her playfully on the arm with a smile.

"We throw them away!" A laugh escaped her mouth making me happy that she was finally happy again. She got up, going over to her little bin and I raised my eyebrow wondering what she was doing. She grabbed something imaginary from her head and threw it in the bin. I laughed at her silliness, getting up.

"Come on, you, everyone should be getting up now. Time for breakfast!" I said in 'excitement' and quickly picked her up, flying her in the air like I always do. We laughed as I carried her down the hall, no doubt waking people up who were not already up. They all had breakfast at 8:00 A.M, though, so they should be awake.

I helped Lily in her chair, saying that I'll be back after she has had her dinner. I was going to the 'staff room' when someone called me.

I turned around, being met by an excited Cass. I was confused by her excitement, but I had a smile, nevertheless.

"Jack, I have some exciting news! Follow me." She squealed, taking my hand and pulled me along with her to her office. Once we were in, she shut the door, her eyes bright and a big smile on her face.

"What is it?" I asked, unable to stay patient as I really wanted to know the news.

"An engaged couple are coming in on Friday to look around. Jack, they want to adopt a girl when thy get married. Five to seven ages. This could be Lily's chance!"

I was speechless.

Lily has a chance of finally getting a family. After six years of being in here - which isn't long for some people, but it was for me - she could finally get a loving family.

I was so happy I felt like I could cry. If she gets this family, I'm going to be so proud, happy and a little sad that she'll be leaving, but all positive things. Damn, I hope they're interested.

"Jack, I'd like you to show them around. They're coming in at two o'clock this Friday. Let's just hope they're interested," She informed me, giving me a quick hug, "even if they're not, she will get a family, soon." She assured me, giving me a squeeze before pulling away.

I hope they're interested, too.

I really do.

Notes

Helloooo.

Sorry it's late and boring, and whatever.

Okay, so I don't really know if unmarried couples in Hollywood can adopt. D: They probably can. I've researched it on there wasn't anything about not being allowed. Tell me if you know, please :3

The only reason this is in Hollywood is because it's based of "The Promise" by Framing Hanley, and yeahhh.

Alex's p.o.v. next >:D

e-o I'm going to put up characters now, so that means I have to type awkward stuff in Google to get a picture of what I imagine Lily looks like e-o e-o e-o okok.

How this got 9 votes and over 25 subscribes in under 200 views I will not know.

Thank youuu for reading. :33