The Adopted Voight

New Family

Adeline Rae

“Nothing hurts more than trying your absolute best and it still not being good enough”

The past few days had been weird but good.

I spent most of the time sleeping since I was still recovering from my concussion and injuries but when I was awake, me and Hank watched this cop show on TV, with Hank commenting on the inaccuracies of the way it portrayed crime and us both trying to guess half way through the episode who the murderer was and most of the the time getting it wrong, since the plot twists were mind boggling.

I really enjoyed the last few days and the banter me and Erin have reminded me of my relationship with Talia but it was like I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for Hank to yell at me or lash out at me like Greg did, even though I knew Hank would never do that.

I also couldn't seem to stop flinching whenever someone got too close.

Hank had remained patient though, never making me feel bad or guilty for still not trusting him completely.

The truth is I was scared of getting attached to this. I was always afraid that Greg would somehow come back and I'd have to go back to my old life, living in fear and dread.

My concussion was gone now and most of my bruises had healed and I wasn't in pain so much anymore.

Hank had to go back to work today and he still didn't want me to go back to school since I still have a little bit of a headache and my black eye still didn't look too good which Hank was concerned about, so I was going to work with him and Erin today.

I wasn't too sad about not going back to school but I missed track. I missed running till my legs were sore and the only thing I could focus on was the burn in my lungs as I struggled for oxygen.

Running was my coping mechanism. It allowed me to tire myself out enough for my anger to fade and to be able to sleep at night due to the over exertion.

I was an over thinker and sometimes the thoughts overwhelmed me too much, not allowing me to focus on anything but them. That's why running helped me so much. What began as a hobby, a coping mechanism turned into sport.

Instead of running as a hobby, I joined or was coerced to join the track team and I was really happy with my decision.

Doing running as a sport gave me the discipline and structure I needed when the thoughts and emotions got really bad.

Today, I was going to go to work with Hank since he needed to go back to work and I didn't feel well enough to return to school yet and I couldn't stay home alone because of the headaches and recovering concussion.

I was nervous to go to work with Hank. The only person I'd met on his team was Erin who I was now very close to but I was still scared someone on his team wouldn't like me or that I would do something wrong and mess everything up like I always seemed to do.

"Addie, you ready yet?", Hank called from downstairs.

"Yeah, coming", I called out, looking at my appearance in the mirror once more.

The bruises on my face had healed and were fading but I used a little bit of concealer to cover it up, just in case someone noticed.

I was wearing a white turtleneck long sleeve top and a grey skirt with black tights and some heeled black ankle boots to finish off the look. I had some tiny drop earrings on and a silver bracelet.

Happy with my appearance, I walked downstairs to find Hank chomping down some buttered toast.

"Hey, kiddo, there's some toast on the counter and jam and butter in the fridge. We have to leave in 30 minutes.", Hank said.