The first day of school is never a fun day for anyone. People are nervous; people are scared; or people are just plain lazy to do work in school. Except for this one girl named Claire. Claire wasn’t popular nor did she have any friends. She was a straight ‘A’ student who always paid attention. From the time she was in kindergarten till now in 5th grade, she was never absent. So on this day, February 15, 2010, everyone was shocked she was absent.

“Mom! Please stop! It hurts! I’m going to miss school! Please!” exclaimed Claire trying to hold back her tears.

“No! You think you can tell me what to do? Well guess again!” responded Claire’s violent mother as she is beating Claire for no reason. Claire’s mother, Lola, just started this unreasonable beating ever since Claire’s father, Luke, died. Her sister, Nicole, is only 5 years old and has been locked downstairs in the basement for 2 months now, only being fed a couple slices a bread a day and 3 glasses of water. Since there is no sunlight whatsoever in the basement, Nicole’s skin is pale white and has dark circles under her eyes. As for going to the bathroom, she has to find a place to go and for hygiene, she cant help but carry a strong, smelly scent on her and have teeth as yellow as a banana.

For weeks now, Claire has been devising a plan to rescue her sister and get out of the hell hole their mother calls a home. After 2 weeks of missing school, the school staff and some students were getting worried that Claire is grossly sick. So the 2nd week Claire was absent from school, the principal of Greg Polk Elementary school took a visit to Claire’s household to see why Claire has been out for a long period of time.

“Hello. I am Mrs. Rivers from Greg Polk Elementary school. I’m here to see if Claire-Leigh Burden is doing well and when her return to school will take place?” said the principal of Claire’s school.

“Ummm,” Claire’s mother started. “Claire moved…with her…uhh…dad to …uhh Seattle,” Claire’s mother finished hoping the women would buy it. But she didn’t and as soon as she left, many thoughts were amongst her mind. Claire overheard the conversation and rushed to her bedroom window which was a clear view of the front yard. As Mrs. Rivers was scurrying to her car to get back to the school, she was interrupted by a knock on the window. She turned around and to her surprise it was Claire holding a sign that said “PLEASE HELP ME AND MY SISTER! CALL 911!” Mrs. Rivers was dumfounded by this and hurried and grabbed her flip up cell phone to call the police.

“Police? This is Linda Rivers and I have an emergency! Claire Burden and her little sister Nicole Burden has an abusive mother that has beaten and neglected the both of them!” shouted Mrs. Rivers into the speaker of her cell phone. Just a few minutes later, 3 cop cars and child services showed up to Claire’s house were the incident was reported.

“Open up! It’s the police!” yelled one of the angry, buff police officers. Claire’s mother just got done beating Claire for the 13th time today and just finished beating Nicole for the 1st time with a belt she bought for that purpose only, not to wear. So she continued walking to the door like she didn’t do anything.

“May I…” she said but got interrupted by the 3 cops that held her up against the poorly painted front door and hand cuffed her.

“You’re under arrest for the beating and neglecting of your children,” stated Officer Carl firmly and clearly. Officer Carl rambled on about what she did is disgusting and what will happen. Meanwhile, the remaining people at the scene rushed inside the grab Claire and Nicole. They found Claire instantly in her room but had trouble finding Nicole.

“She’s in the basement! Hurry, please! She hasn’t had a decent meal in months!” shouted Claire worriedly and starting to cry. A nice woman from child services grabbed the hand of Claire and escorted her to the car where she spotted her principal. Claire ran up to her and gave her a hug and said, “Thank you for everything. You don’t understand how lucky me and my sister are right now. Thanks again from the bottom of my heart.”

A couple minutes later, Nicole was rescued and carried out by Officer Carl. Soon as Nicole laid her big, beautiful eyes on Claire, she jumped out of the officer’s arms and darted towards her bigger sister whom she never seen in 2 months. They both were crying tears of joy.

“Listen. What your mother did was wrong and spiteful. She definitely has shown her true colors,” started one of the friendly women working for child services. “We are taking you poor, innocent children to the adoption agency to be adopted by parents that actually will care and love for you.” As the house emptied and the driveway cleared of the Burden house, Claire and Nicole knew they were safe. And for the first time in months, they smiled and shared a couple of laughs together.



One week later, a couple known as the Smith family adopted Claire and Nicole. At dinner, they ate a dinner that was meant for a king! Steak, chicken, salad, and much more were available for the children to eat. But as they thought their life was getting better, it hit a big bump in the road. One day Claire got the mail when she got of the school bus. She stumbled across a piece of mail that was addressed to her. Claire was excited that she got her first letter in the mail, but was also curious on who the person who sent it to her was. All of a sudden her face dropped. It was…