Page 28 of Forbidden Deception

My head snaps back to find them already retreating, and a cry starts to claw its way up my throat.

Mrs Riley takes hold of my hand and pulls me towards the white four-storey building, past the students, past the eyes of everyone on me, past the trees and playground to my left.

I look over my shoulder once more to find Mum already in the car and Dad climbing in too. They don’t look at me when they reverse and drive away, and my legs give out.

“Venezia!” Mrs Riley gasps.

They left me.

Again.

“Venezia Cainn?”

I look up from my book to find a burly guard standing in his all-black uniform.

“You are called in by Mrs Riley.” He doesn’t move from his spot, and I quickly scramble from my bed to follow him.

The hallways don’t close in on me anymore, not after three years of being here, though the isolation hurts more than anything. It’s gut-wrenching to think that my parents don’t want me. I would rather it rain fire than to ever have to meet them again. I would prefer to drown, slice my own throat, get buried alive and suffocate, than ever have to look at their faces again. My hatred for them grows fiercer and stronger with each year that passes.

“Take a seat.” Mrs Riley smiles at me like she didn’t turn a blind eye to the bullying everyone has put me through.

“It seems your parents want you transferred to a boarding school now that you are old enough.”

I sit up straighter. What could be the reason for them changing my location? To a boarding school, nonetheless?

“Where is this school?”

“Bristol,” she says, looking at the papers on her desk.

Swallowing a lump, I nod.

It’s not like I can truly do anything about it. I am only twelve years old, after all. What authority do I have?

“When will it be?”

“In two days.”

“Will my parents be coming to—”

“No. A driver will take you.”

“What about the education I was getting?”

“You will get private classes to make sure you are up to date with everyone there.”

“And—”

“You can leave now,” she snaps.

With a nod, I get up and walk back to my room. I don’t know why an ordinary foster home has such high security all around, including inside the building.

The guards watch my every move. Everywhere I go, every room I am in, they are there.

It’s like they are keeping a closer eye on me than anyone else.

It’s uncomfortable. Anything could happen and being under the eyes of guards, they are men that are far stronger than me and could pose a danger. Especially in a place where kids have been left behind by their parents.

With how well-dressed my parents were the two times I remember seeing them, it didn’t seem as if they were lacking money, so that can’t have been the reason they abandoned me. I have wondered for hours on end why my mother and father left me alone in this big world they were supposed to protect me from.

---