Emily gave one last smile, if you could call it that, to her hazel eyed friend before waving goodbye and closing the window beside her bed. Penelope had come over to say she was sorry that the brunette was going to be alone again; no friends to hug and no one to talk to. The blond was moving to the other side of the city to stay with her grandmother who had developed a severe type of uterine cancer, and if lucky, the girls could seldom see each other.

Emily sat herself down on her rickety bed, her legs crisscrossing with her blanket wrapped around her waist. Her dark eyes watched as the other orphan girls got ready to head down to the mess hall for dinner. She just shook her head.

Who could eat?

The ten year old's stomach had stayed empty for the past four days, ever since Jennifer had been adopted.

A pair of brunettes had come in looking for a new addition to their already massive family; four children under the age of ten. Who wanted five whole kids?

Jennifer immediately caught their attention. She had been sitting on the staircase and tying her shoes, her eyes narrowing in determination to finally tie the double knot that Ashton had taught her.

Five minutes later Emily came skipping down the steps, excited for breakfast with her best friend. She frowned when no blond head entered her sight, and her eyes quickly shot over to Ms. Higgins' open door. Her best friend was hugging a woman who's head was covered by a fancy black hat.

The Mullers. That was their name. Jennifer Muller? Emily didn't think it fit her blond friend at all. When the nine year old finally came out of the office, suitcase in hand, her crystal eyes watered. She had to leave the brunette who had slept beside her every night and kissed her tears away.

The girls cried in one another's embrace for the longest time, wishing that they could stay together.

The Mullers had even offered to take the heartbroken ten year old along with them, seeing how much the two girls cared for one another. But what about Ashton? The Mullers didn't want more than was said, and Emily had to reluctantly decline. There was no way she could leave her brother. She wouldn't; not for anything.

Emily had watched the car drive all the way down the street, Ashton's arms wrapped around her as she cried.

Jennifer didn't even get the chance to meet Penelope.

Both girls had given her their addresses and she had given hers to them, promising one another that they would write to each other every chance they got. Emily had immediately sent letters to each of them, tear marks staining the pages as she wrote how much she missed them and wished she could see them.

Only Penelope had written her back. And she wasn't even gone yet.

Emily bit her lip as she laid herself down, her head resting on her pillow as she thought of Jennifer's picture with her new siblings on the mess hall wall that the Mullers had sent to Ms. Higgins with a letter, thanking her for giving them 'the missing piece of their puzzle'.

The brunette just shook her head, her tears leaking onto the pillow beneath her as she tried her hardest to fall asleep. Jennifer had promised to be there for her and keep her nightmares from coming back.

She lied.