Ephemeral

Aurora POV:

Drifting in and out of sleep, I felt a hand land on my shoulder, and I jolted into an upright position. My ribs pounded, and my back burned like it was on fire from the abrupt movement. I accidentally let out a whimper from the sudden onset of pain. Looking around, I saw Mr. Smith hovering over me with his hands raised and eyes widened.

"Woah! Easy there, tiger. It's just me, kiddo," Mr. Smith took a step back and allowed me to sit back on the couch.

"S-sorry," I stuttered as I looked down to the floor, trying to calm my erratic heart rate.

"It's quite alright. I didn't mean to scare you," he chuckled nervously and stepped forward. "Can I sit here?" He motioned towards the brown couch cushion next to me. I simply nodded and scooched over further on the couch so he could sit.

The social worker took a seat and breathed out, running his hand through his already disheveled hair. He turned towards me and started off with a small smile.

"Alright, sweetheart, we got your results this morning, and we found some existing family that is willing to take you in. You have some brothers in New York that flew over to take you into their custody," he exhaled shakily, dumping all of this information in one breath. 

For some reason, the mention of my brothers had him looking slightly shaken.

Wait.

Brothers?

New York?

What?

"Miss Ivanov?" I was snapped out of my thoughts at the perfect time.

"I know this must be a lot for you; do you have any questions?" He asked while wearing a gentle expression. For some reason, all of his reassurance was going right over my head. I could never seem to calm down; I felt uneasy and like it was hard to breathe. The constant painful pressure from my ribs wasn't helping either.

"What time is it, and when are they getting here?" I asked, my eyes following my fingers as I played with them in my lap. I didn't know how long I was asleep; I remembered waking up and falling asleep multiple times throughout the night, and there were no windows to view the sky in here. 

Part of me hoped they would take a day or two to catch a flight so I didn't have to meet them. Maybe I could muster some courage in that time frame.

"Well, for starters, it's 11:30 in the morning. And somehow your brothers were miraculously able to find a plane and fly here on such short notice. They're outside waiting for you right now." He sent an awkward smile my way, almost looking as uncomfortable as I was.

"N-now? They're here now?" I stuttered out at the fact my new mystery siblings were on the other side of the door. First, they were able to put a rush on my DNA test, and now they were able to fly my brothers here within a couple hours' notice.

This could not be happening.

The whole time frame was entirely unrealistic. 

Mr. Smith came to a stand above me and spoke."You can walk with me, and I'll stand beside you the entire time. How does that sound?" He tried to dispel my worries, sensing my hesitancy and fear of meeting new people.

"O-okay," I said, struggling to stand upright from the now radiating pain. "Let me grab your bag, hm?" He asked me, and I simply nodded in response. Mr. Smith held the maroon backpack for me in one hand and the door in the other.

As we walked out, I trailed behind him and looked at the ground. Sir and ma'am considered it rude to look into the eyes of adults, and I didn't want to make a bad first impression on my new brothers.