The Four Dolls Who Replaced My Family Chapter 07

The Four Dolls Who Replaced My Family Chapter 07

The day I arrived in Southridge, a cold drizzle was falling.

The train station was packed.

I dragged my suitcase through the crowd. The wheels hissed across the wet pavement.

No one was there to meet me.

No one in the crowd called my name.

And somehow, I wasn’t sad.

I’d spent years waiting.

Waiting for my parents to notice me.

Waiting for Tristan to say one kind thing.

Waiting for Julian to remember the promise he made to wait for me.

But somewhere along the way, I stopped waiting.

And it turned out that letting go was the easiest thing I’d ever done.

When I turned my phone on, the screen flooded with missed calls. More than a dozen.

My mom. My dad. Tristan. Julian.

I stared at the screen, my thumb hovering.

The old me would have panicked and called back immediately.

Even knowing that whatever was waiting on the other end was probably another lecture.

This time, I cleared the notifications and shoved my phone back into my pocket.

A student volunteer was waiting by the exit, holding a sign that read Freshman Orientation.

She spotted me and smiled.

“Eleanor, right?”

“Your admissions counselor gave us a heads-up that you were coming on your own. She asked us to make sure you got settled.”

I blinked.

I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had offered to look out for me.

I looked down at my suitcase.

“Thank you.”

At the dorm check-in, the woman handling my paperwork glanced at my name and looked up.

“You’re Eleanor?”

“Your transcript is outstanding. The university already approved you for a freshman merit scholarship.”

“And if you need extra financial support, there are federal work-study positions available too.”

My pen froze on the paper.

“A scholarship?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry about the tuition. Just focus on your classes.”

Just focus on your classes.

The words echoed in my head, and for a second, I couldn’t move.

Back in that dump, I’d counted every single penny.

Rent. Food. Bus fare.

When the AC broke, I couldn’t afford to fix it. When my fever hit 102, I didn’t dare go to the doctor.

Even buying myself a decent meal turned into a full debate in my head.

But now, a complete stranger was telling me I was allowed to just be a student.

That the money would work out.

I swallowed hard, looked down, and signed the form.

My two suitemates were already unpacking when I got to the room.

One was making her bed. The other sat on the floor sorting through her bags.

They both looked up.

“Hey!”

“Are you our third?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. I’m Eleanor.”

They smiled and introduced themselves.

No one asked why I was alone.

No one asked why I only had one suitcase.

They just helped me lift my bag onto the bed, and one of them handed me a pack of tissues.

“You’re soaked from the rain. Here.”

I took them, my fingers curling tight around the pack.

The AC in the dorm room worked. Actually worked.

Not that rattling box in the apartment that only pushed hot air.

This was real, freezing AC, clean and quiet against my skin.

I sat on the edge of my bed, and the summer came rushing back.

Hunched over that desk, grinding through practice tests.

Sweat dripping onto the paper, smudging my answers.

I’d wipe the page and start over.

I used to tell myself: just hang on a little longer. It’ll get better after the SAT.

But sitting here now, with cool air on my skin for the first time in a year, I finally understood.

Enduring the neglect hadn’t saved me. A perfect SAT score hadn’t fixed anything.

Leaving did.

That evening, walking back to the dorm after dinner, I noticed the rain had stopped.

The night air in Southridge was warm and damp, carrying a faint hint of salt.

Streetlights flickered on in the distance, their glow pooling across the wet pavement.

My phone buzzed again.

A new follow request on Instagram. From Julian.

He had sent a direct message along with it.

[Eleanor, where are you?]

I stared at the screen for a long time. Then I tapped ‘Decline’ and ‘Block’.

The screen went dark. I looked up.

I didn’t know this city yet.

But I would.

Starting now, it was mine.