15

                                    

                                          
Fifteen
Michael
I thought waiting was the hard part of all of this, but I was proven wrong when Sydney came home from the visit hysterical. As nice as Wendy was, she was completely unhelpful with information. She had no explanation as to why Sydney was crying or what happened. She dropped her off and dodge every question I had while Crystal held Sydney tightly, who showed no signs of calming down anytime soon.
"Take a minute to breathe," Crystal whispered to Sydney once Wendy was gone. "You're safe, you're home, everything is ok here," 
It took awhile, but we got her calm enough to where we could go to the living room and sit down, "He was so mean,"
"Your dad?" I asked and she nodded.
"He blamed me for all of it," she stuttered, wiping her cheeks, "and said that if I wanted a perfect family that you guys should just adopt me and that he wanted nothing to do with me anymore,"
"We're so sorry, Sydney," Crystal apologized, "that wasn't a fair thing to say,"
"None of this is your fault. Even if he says it is, it isn't. Whatever happened at home and in the hospital is not your fault," I held her hand, rubbing circles on the back of it as Crystal held her tightly.
"I don't wanna go back," she shook her head, "don't make me,"
"We'll call tomorrow and get it all sorted out," I said. "The decision isn't up to us, but we'll fight to make sure you don't have to go,"
"I want the court date,"
"When we get a date you will be the first person we tell," Crystal promised.
"They make me feel unimportant,"
"Who?"
"The system," she answered as she wiped her cheeks. "No one tells me anything and keeps forcing me to go places I feel unsafe,"
"It's a broken system," I sighed, "and I can't imagine how it feels for you, but those feelings are perfectly valid,"
"They invalidate me," 
"Here you won't be. We can't control what happens outside of this house, but we can give you a safe place where you will feel heard and important, and we will do our best to make sure in other places you are heard. It's a tough battle, but I think between the three of us we can fight," Crystal smiled at Sydney, making her nod with a small smile. "Is there anything else you want to tell us?"
"Can we have ice cream for dinner?" she asked.
"I guess we can," I laughed, ruffling her hair. 
"Cookies and cream?"
"You got it,"