I awoke the next day to see my mother, Victoria, sitting at the edge of my bed swinging her feet slightly while humming to an unknown tune. She had a smile plastered on her pale face, she was unaware of the fact I had woken up. I wasn’t going to let her know that I had woken up yet, I still didn’t know how to act in front of her. 

Should I act like a child of my age? She said I could and that I should do so but I’m not entirely sure. I don’t know how I should be acting, I always had to act older than I am so I could survive on the streets, that’s how it worked. The weak will die and suffer while those that show strength will last. They would survive and come out on top of the weak one way or another. So how should I be behaving?

I sat up slightly but that small motion somehow caught Mum’s attention, she turned to face me, “Good morning sweetie, how did you sleep?” She placed her hand on my face and gently brushed the hair out of my face. Her hands were cold but comforting in their own way. Confusing? Yes. Comfortable? Also yes. 

“I slept alright, what are you doing on the edge of my bed?” I asked, now sitting up completely. 

“I was waiting for you to wake up, since you’ve recovered you’ll be allowed to leave the hospital.” 

“Where am I going then? I don’t have a home.” my lip twitched slightly, showing a slight frown.

“With me silly,” Mother giggled, “I don’t live in the hospital so you’ll be living with me since I’ve adopted you.” She smiled sweetly.

I didn’t know how I should respond to that so I just nodded slightly. Mother picked me up and carried me outside of the hospital. I looked around to see if I recognised where we were. 

We were on the side of the street, with houses all around and crowds of people walking down the paths that were slightly elevated against the side of the roads that had multiple cars driving across. I didn't recognise this area meaning Mother had carried me further away than I had expected.

“You probably won’t know where this is since we are quite far from where I found you lying in the rain. It was a good thing I found you when I did otherwise you would’ve been dead in a few hours, a couple of days if you’re lucky.” 

“Some way or another I probably would have miraculously survived. My regeneration is very quick. I’d normally get injured on the daily but no matter the severity, I would survive and be completely healed the next day. Though I wouldn’t know unless you left me there.” 

“I’ve noticed.” 

“Noticed what?” I asked. 

“Your healing ability, it’s astonishing. I was about to treat your wounds which I saw when I picked you up but when I arrived back at the hospital they were already fully healed. Not a trace was left behind. The deeper wounds have left a small light-coloured scar but they aren’t too noticeable unless you look for them.” 

"Does that mean I have scars? I didn't realise I had any." I muttered.

"yes, though they are rather small ones so no need to worry sweetie." 

Mother continued walking with me in her arms through the streets until we got to a rather tall house or rather a mansion.

"wow." my mouth was agape while looking at the massive building in front of me.

"hehe, didn't expect to live here huh?" Mother pinched my cheeks while giggling. 

She walked through the massive metal front gates which opened for us once Mother scanned her finger on a scanner next to the gate hinges. She continued walking until she came to a stop in front of the front door which was swung open by a servant opening it for us.

"Welcome home, might I ask who this is?" The man did a half bow.

"Akame," I answered for Mother to which she smiled.

"She is my new adopted daughter so treat her well, James."

"Very well," James moved out of the way for us to enter and the sight made me gasp. The sheer size of the entrance is enough to make someone feel so minuscule in comparison. There was a staircase that split two ways directly in front of us toward the back and in the centre of the ceiling was a chandelier that hung with all its glory, made with crystals that shone in the light. There were multiple corridors and rooms throughout the house, too many to count, that's how much room was in this house. 

"How many rooms do you even need?" I asked while looking at Mother with a face of disbelief.

"Not this many, that’s for sure, but we have it anyway." Mother shrugged, "We have multiple spare rooms for practically everything and we have the servants' quarters as well."

“Do you even know how many rooms are in your house?” I asked, she didn’t actually seem to know the amount of space she had that wasn’t used.  

“Ummm,” mother thought for a second before looking down at me, “loads?” She said with an uncertain look. 

‘I knew it. She doesn’t actually know.’ I internally facepalmed 

“Well, not like that matters… for now at least.” Mother scratched her cheek before letting me down on the floor. “Follow me.” 

“Where are we going?” I asked. ‘Should I start acting like my age? Would I consider that my real self or am I already my real self? I’ll just do what I want to then.’ I shrugged and grabbed mother’s hand which took her by surprise, making her flinch, before smiling while looking at me, 

“To my office, we’ll need to get things sorted out for you.” 

“Like what?” 

“Hmm.. school, clothes, house rules, the room/rooms you’ll be using, getting you familiar with the layout of the house and your schedule if you want one, how you’re going to decorate your room and the price for that, which areas of the house you can use and the ones that are out of bounds, list of everyone in the mansion along with their pictures so you know them before meeting them in person, you’ll also-“ 

“You don’t need to say anymore.” I butted in, it sounded like there was more to add to her ever growing list of things I needed to do. Was all of that even necessary as soon as I arrive? 

“Sorry.” She apologised, I don’t know why she was apologising or what for but that doesn’t really matter. 

“It’s fine.” I replied. 

“Want to do this tomorrow?”

‘Oh, I was being stupid. She was apologising for giving me so much to do as soon as I arrived. She probably thinks I need a break.’ I thought to myself before answering her question with a small sigh, “no no, we can do it today. Better to get it done sooner than later.”

“Alright, if you’re fine with that.” She picked up the pace a little as we walked up the stairs and across the corridor to a room at the end.

“Try not to make any mess while we are in my office please, I like things tidy.” She said as she opened the door. 

“Alright.” I said, walking into her office. 

________

(1240 words) 

I’m sorry for not posting this when I said I would, I didn’t realise that I pressed ‘save draft’ instead of ‘publish’ T-T. I was going to make another chapter when I realised, sorry again. I haven’t checked for mistakes so if there are any then it would be appreciated if you could point them out! Thanks for reading