Prologue:

Elena sat in the plain white room on her bed, as she did every other day. She daydreamt of the amazing life she could live if a family decent enough would actually adopt her.

She dreamt of a family with an older, protective brother that would chase away any one that wanted to harm her. Maybe a family with a cute little sister who would look up to Elena with bright eyes. Or maybe she would be adopted by a single mother looking for someone to help with the baby after her boyfriend picked up and left. Anything would be better than what she already went through.

The problem was, no one wanted to adopt a blind girl. The many therapy sessions that she would take would be paid for by the foster care centre that she was in, but families just wanted to take a kid home and act like they are their own. They don't want to deal with a whole bunch of extra problems and baggage from the past. Besides no one wanted someone her age anyways, fifteen was considered too old. She was the only "child" left in the foster home over the age of twelve.

Elena wanted to tell the different families that came and went that even though she was blind now, it wasn't permanent. She was getting better. Eventually, in about two years, she would be able to see perfectly without any help.

But these families didn't care. They wanted to choose the cute, little kids with history of one or two families, which was yet another draw back for Elena.

The families that did take an interest in her would look in her background and quickly decline her. She had been in twelve different homes up until she hit the age of twelve and decided she no longer wanted to be adopted out. That lasted about a year as Elena got lonelier and lonelier. When you have a history of more than five homes at the age of twelve you are usually deemed a problem child that parents probably couldn't handle.

But that wasn't the case with Elena. Elena had to fight to last through those homes. She knew that she wasn't the problem no matter how hard all those families tried to convince her.

Every single home she had lived in since she was born had harbored some kind of abuse. Her biological mother remarried and her stepfather would beat both Elena and her mother. Elena still had a single picture the detective took when they were found by the police. Her mother was drunk, drugged and in pain after a brutal beating, her stepfather had been passed out drunk on the sofa and a three year old Elena was found hiding in a closet whimpering as she tried to stifle her sobs with a sock.

She asked the police and detective what happened to her -in detail- when she hit fifteen. The officers debated for some time but finally gave in and called in the detective that found her to describe the events.

Elena was told that she was found in the closet, stifling her cries covered in deep purple bruises. He recalls her flinching in fear when she heard the sound of the door opening. He tried to hush her but when he touched her she let out a tiny wail of fear before shutting her mouth tight, clenching her little fist in her mouth to keep herself quiet.

The detective was troubled recalling the events but Elena urged him on holding back her own tears. He told her how he finally explained to her younger self that he was there to help her, and by that time he realized she was blind. Her eyes were darting around but they weren't seeing anything. He waved his hand in front of her eyes slowly but she gave no reaction signaling that she saw the movement.
He took her to the hospital immediately where she was treated for burns blisters on her legs from acid. There were also several signs of bruised organs, one broken rib, and much outer bruising all over her body. She had two black eyes, and he learned her nose was also broken.

The doctors looked into the cause of her blindness and were sorry to learn that it was caused on purpose after someone exposed her eyes to straight bleach, most likely pouring it straight into her eyes.

The young Elena was in the ICU for two weeks before moved to a regular hospital room where nurses would check up on the helpless child several times. Finally she was sent to the foster care centre.

Elena winced through several bits in the story, and looking at the picture now, twelve years after it happened, it brings tears to her eyes. Elena remembers that although it was her worst beating, it definitely wasn't her last.

The twelve homes she was sent to each had their own form of abuse. Ten of the twelve stuck with physical abuse, while the other two focused on neglect. Her first foster family stuck her in a closet with nothing to eat or drink for several days at a time. They only wanted her for the check and the bonus money for taking care of a "disabled" child.

She was pulled out of the house quick after the foster parents forgot the social worker was checking in and she was found in a state of drowsiness and malnutrition.

The pattern continued through the nine years. Every single time she hoped it would be different, but it never was. At twelve years old, the tired, broken little girl gave up her dream of finding a real family and denied every family that hoped to adopt her. She sat in her little room all by herself, staring at the white walls.

At fifteen though, Elena was ready to try again, but it was too late. No one wanted her, no one needed her.

All she wanted was a little piece of love, but that was just too much to ask for.

I know nothing about blindness, so if I have any facts wrong I'm really sorry. It is fiction so I may make up things to help with the story. Like the stuff about bleach and how long it would take to heal will all be fiction.
Damon will come up in the next chapter. Please review and let me know what you think.