Surprises - For the GBE2 prompt

Casey curled deeper into the chair, biting savagely at her nails. She'd heard the spiel from Emma approximately 14 times now, not that she was counting. 'She's a good kid, just a little troubled' and 'It's understandable, after the problems with her birth family'. Not to mention,'She just needs the right people; patient enough to look for the loving child under the 'care' exterior'.

“Isn't that right, Casey?”

Lost in her bitter reverie, Casey had no idea what Emma was asking her, settling for a particularly teenage shrug, eyes firmly fixed on the floor. Emma smiled indulgently, returning her attention to Mr and Mrs Average (Jenny and David Jefferson, Emma had informed her prior to the meeting, with the codicil 'Try to be pleasant'). Casey appeared exactly as she wanted the adults to see her. Sullen, withdrawn, damaged goods nobody would want, but she was studying.

Looking from beneath lowered lashes, Casey watched the bright smiles, the puppy-like eagerness of the man, the apple-pie sweetness of the woman and groaned inside. Another set of do-gooders intent on turning her into Miss Teen Prom Queen. It would be three months trial and then 'We're so sorry, Casey...' followed by whatever pathetic, conjured excuse they could think of to get rid of her. What they said this time didn't matter any more. She'd be 18 in three months and free of care homes, foster parents and do-gooding social idiots for the rest of her life.

She smothered a burgeoning smile, aware Emma's attention was heading her way.

“So, Casey, are we willing to try this placement?”

Casey hated that word. It sounded like she was being put on a shelf, prominently displaying her adoptability to the world. A world that had no interest in her brand of 'product'.

“Whatever.” she muttered, Emma turning a radiant, lying smile on the Jeffersons.

They didn't give her time to make excuses. David rose, Jenny close behind, both smiling gently.

“Time to fetch your things, Casey, and go home.”

“I don't have one.” she spat, waving her small rucksack of worldly possessions at the couple.

“You might be surprised.” Jenny winked.

Emma walked them from the building with unseemly haste. They paused by the car, Casey noting it was new; money then.

“I truly hope we don't see you back here, Casey.” she said with feeling.

Casey adopted a sneering smile in reply.

“It's mutual, believe me.”

She yanked open a rear door and clambered into the car, slamming Emma out forcefully. She watched sidelong as the three adults exchanged final words and then they were moving.

After some initial, rebuffed, attempts to engage Casey in conversation about her likes and dislikes, the Jeffersons gave up and the journey was completed to the uninterrupted strains of the Carpenters. Casey sent her mind to its safe place. Growing up she'd used it every night. Sometimes to avoid listening to the sounds from Mum's room as she earned money to keep them fed, sometimes to hide from the men who left Mum's room and visited hers, bringing pain, fear and shame. She was far away when the car stopped on a neatly raked, gravel drive before a double fronted house just short of mansion status.

“Casey, sweetie? Wake up, we're home.”

Casey used her pretended drowsiness to hide how impressed she was by the house, allowing them to lead her inside, taking in every expensive fixture and fitting as she was guided to her room. David threw open the door, handing her the key, with a childish 'Surprise!'. She found herself struggling to keep up her sullen demeanour when the door swung wide to reveal her new accommodation. Going from a one room 'cell' at the care home to a suite of three rooms, including a huge bathroom with sunken bath and monogrammed towels was almost enough to shake her loose from her tightly controlled shell. Almost...

“We'll let you explore, settle in a little. Maybe you'd come down for dinner, in a couple of hours, Casey?”

Casey shrugged, choosing to ignore the slight disappointment in David's eyes, the reassuring glance from Jenny to her husband that said 'Don't fret, give her time.' as they withdrew, closing the door behind them.

Sure they were gone, Casey locked the door and gave herself over to adoration. The bed was deep, soft, warm, curtained and purple, her favourite colour. The rugs and carpets in the bedroom and lounge area were soft lilac and like walking on clouds. The tv was HD, widescreen and appeared magically from a slot in the floor. A stereo sailed serenely into view from the wall at the press of a button, speakers discreetly peeking from strategic places about the rooms, even the bathroom. A long, empty rack slid from another wall. Casey spotted a slip of paper dangling from it. She read it with a wicked smile.

'We weren't sure what music you like. Fill these racks as you please. There's a credit card in the draw of your night-stand. 'Surprise!' David and Jenny'

She spent the next hour exploring, flinging open the double wardrobe, initially saddened by its emptiness and then finding another note telling her the credit card could be used to buy clothes too. The only piece hanging inside was a huge, fluffy white bathrobe with her name in purple lettering on the breast. A plan began to formulate as Casey shed her cheap clothes, slipping into the robe and heading for the bathroom. It became concrete as she wallowed in rose scented foam, giggling at the

cascades of bubbles and random whirlpools created by yet more magic buttons. By the time she slipped into the soft slippers beside her bed and unlocked the door Casey had a new disguise.

Her campaign was as subtle as the Jefferson's was blatant. For a month the days took on a pattern. David appeared at the dinner table two nights into Casey's tenure and plopped a box on her plate.

“Open it, sweetie.” he urged and she obeyed, careful not to show enthusiasm. It was a laptop, with her signature purple for a cover.

“Surprise!” Jenny enthused, “Now you can order your clothes and music online.”

“Yes. Thank you, Mr and Mrs Jefferson.”

“Please, Casey, call us Jenny and David.” he asked and Casey cast a shy, fleeting glance at his face.

“Perhaps. Give me time, please.”

“Of course, of course.” Jenny tugged David down into his seat, trying to hide the hope in her eyes.

And so it continued. Surprise! Have a smart phone. 'Thank you... David'. Surprise! Have a puppy! 'Oh! Thank you, Jenny.' 'Surprise! Let's fly to Paris. Oh wow... I'm being spoiled. Thank you' accompanied by the briefest of smiles. As April turned into May, Jenny and David were no longer hiding their happy hopes and Casey was managing the odd hug which sent the pair into transports of delight. By July they were talking about adoption, Casey carefully cultivating her uncertainty, internally laughing at Emma's disbelief when she came for a visit.

Casey's 18^th was spent in the Alps, at an exclusive spa where she rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous. At the end of the week, back home, David and Jenny stood by a shrouded lump in the drive yelling, a somewhat redundant, 'Surprise!'. Casey whipped the purple cloth off her shiny silver sports model and allowed a broad smile with her 'thank you, now all I need is a few driving lessons'. David laughed and Jenny handed over an envelope containing the car keys and vouchers for driving lessons.

A couple of years passed in a whirl of new socialising, being apprenticed to a chocolatier (David and Jenny's family business), and being officially adopted. Occasionally, Casey would take off, find a seedy dive in the back of beyond and let rip. Her true nature did not appreciate hiding behind saccharine and syrup, and those nights were wild, debauched and expensive, leaving her exhausted, sated and able to carry on with the plan.

Five years in, having salted away several million in a secret account, with a new identity in the glove-box of her new car, Casey came up from the cellar on a Thursday night. Her smile was broad as she climbed the stairs to David and Jenny's bedroom. It widened, was joined by a high, shrieking laugh as she flung open the door.

“Surprise!” she screamed, charging into the room.

David shot out of bed, staggered a little, tried to hush Jenny's terrified whimpers and, much to Casey's surprise, came at her. She took an instant to admire his bravery before swinging the axe and burying it deep into his skull. As he was falling, she took after Jenny. The shivering, cowering woman was backing up. Where she was heading Casey never knew. Instead she flung herself forward, connected both flat palms squarely against Jenny's shoulders and watched with satisfaction as the woman flailed her way backward, out the window and descended wetly on the patio below.

Without another glance, Casey left the house, jumped in the car and headed for the private jet waiting on the airstrip. She hurried aboard, watched the door close, heard the pilot enter the forward cabin, the engine start, and relaxed into her seat, smiling, giggles bubbling in her chest. The bubbles turned bloody in her throat as a shot caused echoes in the cabin, pain blooming in her body. Her dying glance saw Emma swim into view. Emma with a parachute on her back, Casey's new identity clasped in her hand.

“Surprise!”

Emma grinned, opened the door and tumbled out to freedom.