There were just three days left of the school year, and Lily seemed absolutely miserable about that. I didn't feel ready to let Lily go home and not see her for two full months. It was nagging at me in the back of my mind.

In the middle of my class, Lily walked in with red eyes and she climbed into my lap, silently curling up and wrapping my arms around her.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked, receiving no response.

"You want me to get you a book and set you up on my spinning chair?" I asked her.

"Mhm... with your sweater too." She said ever so softly.

"Were you sad about something, Lily?" I asked her as I carried her to my chair.

"I'm sad." She nodded.

"Do you want to tell me why you're sad?" I asked her.

"Because I wanna stay in school." She cried.

"You're going to come back, it won't be too long." I said to her.

"It feels long. I don't like summer." She said to me.

"How about I get you a big book collection and you can take it home and read them over the summer?" I asked her.

She nodded as she cried her heart out.

I set her down in my chair where my sweater was and she curled up inside it. I handed her a book that looked about half her size and she opened it and started reading, wiping away her tears and just sniffling quietly.

My heart broke at the sight of her like that. I wished this girl all the best, but part of me knew she wasn't going to get it if she stayed in the situation she was in. This entire situation with Lily was eating at me. I had three days left before the girl was just gone for a full summer.

That day, after all my students ran off to the cafeteria with their lunches, whether they were from their parents or from the stuff I brought for them, I sat down with Lily.

"Go wash your hands, Lily. It's lunchtime." I said to her, interrupting her reading.

She got up and went to wash her hands. I watched her hiss a little when she rolled up her sleeves and then she reached out and turned the tap on, revealing a huge bruise that ran across her forearm.

"Lily, sweetheart, you can wash your hands later, come here, please." I said gently, my heart pounding in my chest.

She walked over and I slowly reached out and took her arm in my hand.

"How did this happen, sweetie?" I asked her.

"I was playing in the b-backyard at home and.... and I slipped in the mud and I fell and there was a-a-a t-toy.... and I fell on it and it hit my arm.... and... and this happened." She said, but she wasn't looking me in the eyes and she was stuttering more than I'd ever heard her stutter.

"Mud?" I asked.

"Yes..." She nodded.

"Why was there mud, Lily?" I asked her.

"Uhm... uhm... rain?" She asked.

"No, it didn't rain at all yesterday or the day before." I said to her.

"Yeah, I forget... it... i-it was... uhm... uhm my m-mom was watering her flowers and... and she got water on the ground." Lily lied to me.

"Lily." I said gently.

"I'm not lying!" She cried, angrily wiping her tears.

"Yes you are, Sweetie. But I don't care that you're lying, it's ok that you lied, I understand... just tell me what actually happened though." I said to her.

"Fine... I f-fell off my chair at home... and... uhm... and... and I f-fell onto the o-o-other chair and hurt myself." She lied again.

"This was done by a chair?" I asked her.

"Yeah." She nodded confidently.

"Ok, but tell me the real truth, Lily." I said to her. "I want to know how the chair actually did this, I know you didn't fall of your chair."

"Uhm... I can't tell you." She said to me.

"Why not?" I asked her.

"Because then I'll be in big, big trouble." She said to me.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Because my parents will be angry with me." She said to me.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Because I told you." She cried, running into my chest and hugging me with her uninjured arm.

"Lily. I won't let you get in trouble with anyone, ok? Just tell me what really happened, Sweetie, please." I said to her.

"My mom and my dad argue all the time, and they were arguing... and then he got angry and he threw a chair at me, but he didn't mean to, he didn't know I was there." She said to me, clinging to me like her life depended on it.

My heart fell, I couldn't believe that any parent would let anything like that happen. Someone who can't control their anger enough not to throw chairs around probably shouldn't be a parent at all. But I needed more insight on what the situation was.

She had a tight grip on my hair, as if she knew that was the only thing she could get a good grip on that would prevent me from going anywhere.

"Your dad did that?" I asked her.

"Yeah... but h-he didn't see me." She said.

"Do your parents argue everyday?" I asked her.

"Yeah, every day they yell at each other and throw things and tell me to go to my room and get lost. And I don't think they like me very much." She cried.

"Lily, Sweetheart... it's all going to be ok." I said to her, rubbing her back as she cried.

"And... and... and I never get to do anything. When I have books he rips them up and throws them away. And I... I have to take baths when they sleep so I don't disturb them and I have to go to school or the park everyday." She said.

"And on weekends?" I asked her.

"On weekends I'm at the park all day because I can't disturb them or they'll take away my stuffies." She cried.

"Is that why you never wanna go home?" I asked her.

"Yeah because it's scary and lonely and I don't get to eat or to sleep a lot." She said, pouring her heart out to me.

"Ok, well what about your parents...?" I asked her.

"I don't want them to be my parents anymore... how come everyone else gets to play with their mom and dad and have fun and I can't?" She asked.

"Ok... we're going to fix this, Sweetie." I said to her.

"How? Can I come home with you, Mr. Morelli? Even if that doctor lady is gonna be there all the time, it's ok." Lily said, making my heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

"No, Sweetheart. I don't think that'll be possible." I said to her, even though I wished I could make it happen.

"Are they gonna put me in the orphanage like the little mouse?" She cried.

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah... remember the little mouse who's parents were gone and they put him in the orphanage and all his friends made fun of him?" Lily asked me.

"No... we're going to take everything one step at a time. Ok?" I asked her.

"Ok, I don't want to go home, please." She said to me.

"That's ok." I said, rubbing her back. "You might not go home today." I said to her. "We're gonna go call some people, and I need you to tell them the truth, ok? All the things you told me."

She nodded her head and I went to go set her down but she started hanging onto me desperately. I decided to just carry her.

We went to the office and I found the principal who seemed to tell by the look on my face that something had happened.

"Mrs. Ford. Lily and I need to speak to you and we need to make a phone call." I said.

We went into the principal's office and we all sat down. The principal saw the bruise on Lily's arm and immediately pulled out a binder and handed the forms over to me, calling the number at the top of the paper.

The school nurse came in and it was quite a difficult task to get Lily to allow anyone to look at her arm. But, eventually, she relented. By the time we finished getting Lily's arm looked at and finishing all the paperwork, two child protection officers arrived at the school and entered the office.

"Hello, Lily." One of them said softly with a kind smile on her face. The other took the forms from me and started reading them over.

"Lily, these are the nice people that are going to help, ok? You're going to tell them what happened, alright?" I asked.

Lily nodded hesitantly.

"Are you her teacher?" The female child protection officer asked.

"I am, yes. I'm Gabriel Morelli." I said.

"Alright, she seems to be clinging to you, are you the one that she's opened up to?" The woman asked.

"I am." I nodded. "She's known me ever since she was in my class in primary."

"Lily, do you want to tell us, what's going on?" The woman asked her.

"I... I got hurt." She said, showing the woman her bruise.

"I see, do you want to tell me how it happened?" The woman asked.

"Uhm... uhm... I don't wanna be in trouble." Lily said.

"In trouble?" The woman asked her.

"Yeah, because I told you." She said. "Mr. Morelli won't let me get in trouble, he promised."

"I won't let you get in trouble, either. I promise you too." The woman told her.

Lily looked up at me as if asking me if it was safe.

"It's true, Lily. These people are so nice." I said to her gently.

"I got hurt because my dad threw a chair at me when he was arguing with my mom. But he didn't know I was there. I just wanted some blueberries." She cried.

"Alright, it's ok, Sweetie. Why were they arguing?" The woman asked.

"Uhm, I think because of their work, but I don't know." Lily cried.

The man was writing things down on his notepad while he listened.

"Alright... and do they always argue?" The woman asked.

"Yeah, and they tell me to get lost and not to show my face and disturb them." She said.

"Ok, and how do you feel when you're at home, Lily?" The woman asked.

"Scared and lonely." Lily admitted.

"It's ok, Sweetie, everything is gonna get better, alright? Do they do anything else that makes you feel scared and lonely?" The woman asked.

"Uhm... they scream and throw stuff and I have to go away all the time. I have to go to school whenever I can go, or the park so I don't bother them." Lily said.

"Ok, and what about time you spend with them?" She asked me.

"No, I don't spend time with them, they just scream at me and they take away my stuffies and they rip up my books." She cried.

"Ok." The woman nodded. "Do you want to go home?"

"No, please." Lily said, hugging me tightly.

"Alright. It's ok, Lily." The woman said. "Now, what's going on with Lily's arm, did the nurse look at it?"

"Yeah, she said it should get some scans and stuff at the hospital and a doctor should take a better look." I explained.

"I see. Well, why don't you come with us to the hospital, Lily, so we can get this arm all fixed up." They said gently.

"No." She shook her head.

"Why not?" I asked her.

"I don't want to." Lily said.

"Why not?" The woman asked.

"I want Mr. Morelli to stay with me." She said.

"Ok, can Mr. Morelli come with us?" The woman asked the principal.

"Yes, he can." Mrs. Ford smiled.

"Alright. Mr. Morelli is going to come with us, how does that sound?" The woman asked Lily.

Lily nodded.

"Alright." I said, setting her down on the ground.

"No, no, no!" She said, hanging onto me.

"It's ok." The woman said to me.

I picked Lily back up and she cuddled into me.

We took her to the hospital in my car and she sat in the back with me, while one of the protection officers drove us.

When we got there, she clung to my pants and looked so scared of everything. We were able to get her an X-ray fairly quickly and then they found a very minor fracture and wrapped her arm up and put it in a sling. Lily got a lollipop out of the experience, which seemed to distract her a little from the fear and pain she was experiencing. I made sure to call Ava and explain that I might be a little late coming home and that I'd explain everything when I got there.

We went back and forth from a child protective services office back to the school to pick up my stuff and Lily's. Then, we checked the school records for her address because we'd called her parents a total of fifty times and received no response. We went to the child protection office again to get some forms, then we drove to her house and Lily almost had a meltdown when she saw the house come into view.

I carried her in and we found her parents relaxing on the couch not a single care in the world where or what had happened to their daughter. The officers spoke to them and Lily and I stayed in the backyard because she didn't want to go inside. One of the child protective officers came out to speak to us after they spoke to the parents, telling Lily and I to go get some things packed for her. The parents had apparently signed away their custody, admitting without hesitation that they wanted nothing to do with her. I didn't know what else was going to happen to them, but my main priority was Lily and her comfort, so I didn't care.

They were no longer a part of her life, and they were no longer relevant. But now she was put in the foster care system and we needed to find her a new home. I was kind of devastated for her. The foster care system was trash, no matter how much time passed, it never got any better. I felt like a monster when she cried because I had to leave her. I told her I'd be back in the morning to see her and that everything was going to be ok, but it just made her cry so much harder.

And on my way home to Ava, I couldn't help but cry as well. They had asked me if I could take her in, but I'd made a promise to my fiancé that I wouldn't ever push for us to have children, so it wasn't going to happen. Lily could find an amazing home, I knew it was possible. I would help that happen, I wouldn't rest until that sweet girl had a good family and a warm, safe place to stay.