Short Stories

I took another sip of the sparking golden liquid from the red plastic cup. My eyes drooped slightly and the numbness shot throughout my entire body. The guilty thoughts of telling Trish and Daniel, my newest foster parents, that I was meeting up with a friend to study and improve my barely passing grades grew fuzzy and melted away. The pounding beats of the music were beginning to become too much for me to handle, causing my head to begin to throb.

God damn it. I need some air. With that thought, I set my drink down among others on a nearby table. Good-bye cup. I shook my head to bring clarity to my hazy mind and moved across the room towards a sliding door to the backyard.

“Excuse me,” I said as I moved past a tall young junior that I vaguely recognized with disheveled brown hair.

“Hey Emily!” he said, clearly sober, but his voice was lost to the blaring stereo and crowd of teenagers chattering and gossiping.

I wrinkled my nose; the pungent smell of smoke grew heavy in the air as I grew closer to the door. I backtracked slightly to avoid a short blond haired girl, her eyes filled with tears as she stormed outside. Sucks to be her.

I paused before heading out and glanced around the room. The set-up was so familiar, almost every party I had ever been to was similar: Drinks in the kitchen, stereo near the front door, and druggies taking over a corner near the backyard door. My focus drew towards the druggies’ corner, tonight’s dealers were seniors wearing dark colored jackets and ragged jean, holes were scattered down each pant leg. Their faces were hidden, but I knew from my own encounters most were unshaven, had numerous scars from fights won or lost, and a hard look in their eyes.

My eye caught a plastic bag filled with discolored lumps held out by a stocky guy exchanged for a clump of bills from a rather short innocent girl. She greedily took the bag, glanced up towards him as he winked. Her face grew cherry red as she let out a slight laugh and brushed her curly brown locks out of her eyes before scurrying off. I already knew she would regret it; I sure did when I ventured into the corner my freshman year.

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It had only been a couple months in the new town a new family, and despite telling myself to care this time, I just couldn’t and fell into rebellion once more. The parties at school were far from kept secret and I had indulged in attending a few. Out of all the parties, I was most excited about the big New Year’s Eve bash. Of course I was excited; everything rebellious from skipping classes and stealing kisses in the dark was exciting to me.

I had stormed out of the house, my new dad yelling at me to get back in the house, but their constant bickering battles with me for forgetting to clean the dishes or take out the trash had sent me over to edge. I ran down to the corner of the street and wiped the tears from my eyes. I ended up calling Jonathon, my current flirt “buddy,” to pick me up for the party.

Within a few minutes I saw his rusted white pick-up truck pull around the corner and head towards me.

“Ready for a good night?” he said, his voice calming me though I could hear the tinge of excitement. He had on a loose white button up shirt and his russet colored hair was combed neatly.

“Let’s just go,” I sighed as I checked my makeup in the mirror and then smiled. “Time to party, right?”

“You know it!” he said and with that turned the music up.

When we arrived I was automatically ditched; so much for Jonathon being that great. I quickly pulled out my phone and turned it off, frustrated with the constant vibrating in my jacket pocket. I made my way towards the druggies’ corner, I had yet to venture there before, but after tonight’s troubles I was ready to lose myself to one of their concoctions.

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A cold breeze sent a shiver down my spine, throwing me from my thoughts. Fuck! Why didn’t I listen to Trish? Too late for that though. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my arms in an attempt to warm up. I watched the corner as more bags passed into the hands of the innocent and money passed into the hands of the sinful.

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“Hey, kid, what you want?” the sickening voice of the dealer said. I automatically knew that he was lazy from his hastily thrown together outfit of a baggy t-shirt and ragged jeans, as well, as his unshaven face.

“Uh… um,” I stuttered nervously, all sureness of what I was doing gone.

“Let me guess. Shrooms?” he asked and after seeing my shy nod turned around to search through an excessively dirty backpack. It seemed to be permanently open as small plastic bags were removed from it left and right. He held out a plastic bag with discolored lumps inside. “Twenty-five bucks.”

“But, I only have five,” I whined, my mouth instinctively turning into a slight frown.
“Tell you what. For five you can have a good trip sweetheart,” he said. He grabbed out handful of the shrooms. I couldn’t help, but cough, disgusted that he had called me sweetheart. I handed over the five and stuffed them in the pocket of my faded hand-me-down jacket kept from a previous home too poor to afford new clothes for me.

“Thanks.” Heat flushed across my cheeks, embarrassed from my whining.

“Enjoy.” He winked causing my blush to flare up even more. I hurried off towards a nearby table, ready to forget all about the night.

“Well here goes anything,” I whispered to myself, confidence returning as I began to nibble away at the shrooms. A striking image of my mother with her long golden blonde hair lying like a doll on the ground in a puddle of her own blood shot through my hazy mind. I took a bite of another one and the image faded entirely and the all the colors in the room increased in vibrancy. People’s faces even began to shift and change; some grew what appeared to be fur like animals, while others became increasingly disfigured.

“How’s the trip so far baby?” the dealer who I had purchased the shrooms from asked as he sat down across from me.

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I shook my head of the memory. Unfortunately, that was all I was able to remember of that night and even the rest of my memories with those parents seemed to have escaped me, but in any case I vowed never to try any of the druggies’ concoctions again.

Once outside, I quickly navigated between the couples making out. One guy had his hand all the way up a girl’s shirt as he practically engulfed her face in a kiss. Another girl licked her lips as a guy kissed sucked on her neck, her breasts practically popping out of her shirt. Disgusting! Sinking into the shadows, I rubbed my arms profusely trying hard to keep warm; my eyes spotted a lounge chair nearby.

“Emily,” a husky voice said behind me. A firm hand grabbed my shoulder. “Want to join me?”

I pushed his hand from my shoulder and turned around. The light barely illuminated his face, but I had no doubt in my mind that it was Derrick. He brushed his hand through his short-cropped chocolate colored hair, awaiting my answer. I shook my head; it began to pulse even more as the slight tapping of Derrick’s foot joined in with the low boom of the music. I already knew what he wanted, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play with him.

“Join you in what?” I answered sarcastically batting my eyelashes. I twisted a strand of my hair in anticipation of his answer to follow him to an empty room to get “busy.” I let out a slight yawn and pulled out my phone. There were three phone calls and a text message from my foster parents asking when I’d be home. I really didn’t want to worry them since I already had a bad rap with the previous ones.

I nervously bit at my finger my strong façade beginning to weaken, as my mother’s voice crossed my mind.

“I’m in love Emily! He’s the only one for me,” she had said one night. Her quickness to admit such love was one of the reasons she had me at sixteen. I noticed that night as well that a redness wrapped around her arm was just beginning to turn purple. I was only eight, yet I knew that the bruise had come from her new boyfriend grabbing her too tightly. I realized that night that he was to be no good to her or me.

Everything came back into focus when Derrick spoke up again and said much too loudly, “You know? Let’s get a little frisky. I know there’s still a room left.”

“Isn’t that term a little outdated?” I said and laughed. He just stared at me like I had just slapped him. Time to leave.

“Come on! It won’t take that long, plus it’ll be fun.” He reached for my arm, but I quickly batted it away.

“I think not. I have to go anyways,” I said. I had only ever gotten that close before once, but the second the guy started touching me all I could see was my mother’s boyfriend’s face.

“Tease!” he said and took off back inside, probably to find some air-headed freshman. He had every reason to call me such after I had flirted with him heavily the past couple of days. I made my way through the crowd and towards the front door wondering how I was going to get home since I had walked.

Lost in my troubles I ran straight into someone. I quickly apologized and glanced up to see the junior who had called out to me earlier. He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again before asking, “Leaving already?”

“Yeah. Why?” I said annoyed that my disappearing was recognized.

“Well, I was leaving and there is no way that you can drive home,” he said, his voice friendly and calming.

“I don’t need a ride. Plus I walked.” I retorted, trying to move closer to the front door.

“Please, I just want to make sure you get home safe,” he replied and passed up ahead of me. He opened up the door. “Just this once?”

“Fine!” I said.

“Here take this.” Before I could object he wrapped his jacket around my arms and taking advantage I greedily hugged it tighter shielding myself from the chilly air.

We drove in silence except for me occasionally giving him directions. His fleeting looks towards me made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. However, at the same time I couldn’t help but trust him.

“This one,” I said, breaking the silence. The porch light lit up the neatly trimmed grass, potted flowers, and clean light blue paint of the wooden panels of the house. I shook off the jacket. “Thanks.”

The second I was inside I heard the engine start up once more and disappear off into the distance. Shit! Why didn’t I ask for his name. I sighed, frustrated with myself for forgetting something so simple, for all I know he could have been some psycho murderer.

“Who was that Emily?” Trish asked as she got up from the couch, her ash blond locks pulled into a tight low bun.

“Um… someone from school,” I said trying to avoid her questioning.

“A boy?” she asked her amber eyes lit up and then soon hardened. “Anyhow, the principal called and said you ditched your fourth period. This is the third time this week he said!”

“Can we talk about this later? I’m tired.” I pushed aside her and headed down the hall towards my bedroom.

“Emily, come here rig-” she yelled, but I slammed my bedroom door cutting her off. I could hear her fumbling about and then the buzzing of the T.V. She didn’t really care for me; none of them ever really did. A sudden dizziness overcame me and burning acid churned deep in my stomach. Shit!

I ran the adjoining bathroom and fell to my knees in front of the clean white toilet and up came the night’s fun. I held my breath, the stench so strong I was afraid my stomach would heave once more, and flushed sending the sickening mess off to wherever it the abyss. Definitely time for a shower.

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“Emily, guess what?” my mother said. She tried to hide the excitement, but was failing horribly.

“What mommy?” I questioned. I stopped put my teddy bear with multi-colored wings down and got up off the floor.

“He asked me to marry him!” she said and danced around the room before showing me the tiny white diamond, it sparkled in the bright light of our small run-down home. “Oh my I have so much cleaning to do before he gets here! Take care of your things please Emily?”

She began to tidy up and I took my bear to my room trying to escape her giddy gleaming smile. I wasn’t happy; I didn’t want a dad. I sat on my bed, hugged my cuddly teddy tightly, and rocked back and forth. How could she not even ask me? A sharp knock came at the door and I heard the vacuum quickly stuffed into the closet.

“He’s here! Emily, come out here now,” she yelled before letting him in.

I stepped out into the short hallway and saw my mom hugging him. She stepped back and I could feel his eyes on me, they seemed to send flaming swords in my direction liked I had spilled some unspeakable secret. He came in, my mom shut the door, and then everything seemed to click into fast forward. “I’m sorry darling,” he said before pulling out a gun. He pointed it towards my mom and pulled the trigger.

I screamed and he grabbed me by my hair and set me flying into a wall. I trembled with fear as he said, “Shut up you brat or I’ll kill you too.”

He bent down and took the ring from my mother’s finger and ran off. I cried and cried, too afraid to get up from my spot. I glanced towards my mother, a massive puddle of blood stained the carpet. I hoped she was alive, but I couldn’t hear any movement or breathing. I couldn’t hear anything.

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I woke up gasping for air. The same nightmare had plagued me several times a month ever since that fateful night. I was eight and my was father was missing in action, my mother murdered, and no other family to take me in, so with all that I was tossed into foster care without a care in the world. No one cared to solve my mother’s murder and the man was never found.

“Emily! You’re going to be late,” the monotone voice of Daniel hollered. He didn’t even bother like he normally did to knock on my door. Shit, I almost forgot I had school. I checked my clock on the dresser nearby: 7:14 A.M. I shot out of bed, grabbed a purple polka-dotted bra from off the door knob, snapped in into place, and finished getting dressed. I didn’t really have time for makeup, but I would regret it if I didn’t do some touching up. I assessed myself in the mirror in my bathroom and knew that I would need that makeup to cover the dark circles under my eyes. After pulling my hair into a pony tail, I slipped on my flip flops, and grabbed my backpack and a key off my desk and headed down the hall.

Both walls were covered with picture dark oak frames, one held two kids smiling and playing with blocks, one held a picture of a stocky teen with a baseball bat, and another held an older girl in a sparkling blue dress. There were a dozen more filled with other kids, all of whom had been foster children to my now current parents who had either been transferred to new homes or aged out of the system. Trish and Daniel attempted copiously to get a good shot of me, but I always would cover my face. I continued to refuse a picture of myself be put upon their despicable wall, much less one in which I actually looked happy! After much effort and disappointment, they instead decided just to hang an empty frame directly opposite from my bedroom door. I despised it for it mocked me, begging me to escape the shadows I tried so hard to sink in to.

“What happened last night? Trish, said your attitude has been sucking lately,” he asked. He grabbed the corner of the counter, his knuckles beginning to whiten. I searched through the fridge, attempting to avoid his firm chocolate colored eyes before grabbing a shiny red apple. I caved in, and gave him my best “I don’t know what you’re talking about” look. “Forget it. Just hurry off to school.”

I stuck my tongue out at the quaint little car I had to drive. It was Daniel’s bright cherry red convertible. Excited to hear that I had just received my license they were too afraid to deny a privilege such as driving that they ended giving me a key to it the first day I arrived. I could have cared less. It was like every other gift I had ever received in my life: Useless and given without much thought. Rubbing my eyes of the last bits of sleep I got into the obnoxiously colored vehicle and raced off to school.

I stared off into the distance, I was in another small town. They almost always were, with their small family run mini-marts and only a single gas station. Somehow I had managed a streak of foster parents with cute little homes that neatly fenced off their cute little front lawns. Behind all that and their fake smiles was nothing more than either totally obliviousness or overbearing concern. I had yet to decide where this new set of parents fell in, but I was starting to lean towards the latter.

It felt like forever before the school finally came into view, the school’s sign blinked through the schedule for the week. Next Friday was the Homecoming football game, as was another party. Screw that! Not another party filled with amped up steroid jocks. I shuddered as I recalled a scene of blaring sirens of red and blue flashing lights of the cop cars that parked outside, readying to break up the party. Luckily for me I was in a closet with a particularly good-looking senior after being dared into seven minutes in heaven. However, I was far from cloud nine when the cops ordered everyone to evacuate the premises, causing my partner to bolt outside.

The bell rang, breaking the silence of my mind, just as my feet met the moistness of the grass, the dew still fresh from the night’s frigidness. I spotted him, the boy that drove me home the previous night, heading towards me. I quickened my pace, but he had already caught up to me. He adjusted his long strides to match my shorter ones. I sighed and took and directed my vision towards him. He had a slightly faded scar across the left side of his jaw line. Aha! Not so perfect after all, are we Superman?

“Want to hang with me at lunch?” His eyes shined an illustrious green and a pearly white smile broke out across his face.

“Sure,” I said, however, it was a lie. Instead, I would be getting behind the art building with the shadowy figures of the outcast crowd. I only hoped that one of them had managed to sneak a bottle of red wine from their parent’s stash, but I wasn’t crossing my fingers.

His smile grew larger and he said he would see me later and headed off to his class. I couldn’t help but smile too, but then I forced it back into my normal gloomy frown. The crunching of the fall leaves and rushing of hurried feet buzzed all around, as kids rushed off attempting to beat the late bell. It was too late for me. It rang, sending mini-shockwaves of energy across the campus making the last few stragglers go into a frenzy, just as I stopped in front of a door with the bold black numbers 832: English. I shoved open the door and all eyes were suddenly on me. Crap! Looks like this is going to be a wonderful day.

The day’s classes dragged on and on. I was just ready to get it over with, but every time I would glance up at the clock it appeared to have barely moved. My eyes drooped slightly and a I stifled a yawn, tired of listening to the frightened substitute who’s already thick-accent was butchered even more by his stuttering. A paper airplane flew across the room, the light bouncing off the tips of the wings as it sunk to the ground gradually landing nearby my feet. If it had a target, it had missed. The bell rang once more and hurried feet rushed by crushing the poor pathetic plane before I could scoop it up to see if some hidden message was written inside.

I made my way towards my next class and in the rush and flurry of hurrying steps the mysterious boy with the green eyes crashed into me sending a book and notebook full of papers I was carrying and his own papers to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” he said, not even not even looking at me, as he hurriedly bent down to gather the papers and book. Once he had everything he got up and his face grew red. “Emily, I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said ruffling through the things to make sure everything was there before continuing, “Hey by the way, wh-“

“I’m sorry, but I really got to go. See you at lunch,” he said cutting me off. Don’t leave, I want to know who the fuck you are! He headed off into the opposite direction of me in a rush my silent plea was useless.

I stared off into the distance watching him disappear into the growing crowd. No. No. He wouldn’t care for me. For the rest of my classes before lunch, his face with a cheesy smile plastered upon it kept crossing my mind. I tried so desperately to push him out, but my feeble attempts continued to fail. Lunch finally came around and instead of meeting behind the art room like I had first planned, I decided instead to escape to the comforts a deserted classroom. Most everyone was off to the cafeteria, when I headed inside and sat down at one the hard wooden desks. I lay my head down in my arms and slipped in the hazy shadows.

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My mother was dressed in a huge t-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. Her ash blond hair was thrown into a messy bun. She held my hand tightly in hers and in my other hand I held my teddy bear, the stitching was starting to come loose and the fluff inside was beginning to poke out. She led me out down the short hall towards a beautiful tree, a real Christmas tree. It had a few ornaments hung on it and lights. I had no idea how my mom could afford it, but I loved it. Underneath were two odd packages, one small and one large that were perfectly wrapped.

“Mommy, look Santa came!” I let go of her hand and rushed over towards the tree and knelt down. I took in my hands one of the smaller package and on it said “To Emily, From Santa.” I paused, bubbling with joy trying so hard not to rip it open. “Can I?”

“Go ahead Emily,” she said and with that I ripped it open. Behind the glittering red wrapping it revealed a smaller box and inside it held a small heart shaped locket. I flipped open the heart and inside it held a picture of my mother.

“It’s beautiful mommy,” I said.

“Here dear let me put it on for you,” she took the necklace box from me, and with nimble fingers hooked the necklace about my neck. “So, you’ll always remember that I love you.”
I looked for the tag on the other gift wondering if it was for me, but to my own disappointment it wasn’t. “Mommy this one is for you.”

She looked surprised as if she didn’t know what I was talking about. I took the box over to her to open and she hesitated before ripping it open.

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My head popped up and I grabbed the heart locket around my neck to make sure that it was still there. I wiped away the tears that had formed at the corners of my eyes. I decided it was time to escape the room since I had slept straight through lunch and the bell for my second to last class. Well, I didn’t really ditch on purpose. Kids began to pop out of classrooms, and I overheard whispers about how I was stupid for not having sex with Derrick as I headed towards my next class. Derrick passed by me and glared. I looked away, trying to hide from his angry eyes.

I sat through my class distracted, worry about my night’s previous rejection of Derrick’s offer washed over me. Only when I heard the teacher tell us that class was over did I come back into reality. I lingered, the number inside began to dwindle, as I shifted through my papers. And unfamiliar off-white piece of paper caught my eye. I took it and upon it was a familiar face, recognizably my own, however the paper did not belong to me. I then recalled the incident in the halls. Um, stalker much?

“You okay?” the teacher said. He adjusted his goofy glasses and attempted to fix his messy graying hair. He stood at the door ready to leave.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I took up all my papers and the one that did not belong to me and hurried out the door. I slowly walked out into the parking lot, my last teacher hurried past me, probably joyful that it was Friday and he had an entire weekend to himself.

I walked towards Daniel’s cutesy little car, it sat there by itself in the almost empty parking lot. Only a few vehicles were left, but who ever owned them were hidden deep inside the school finishing up whatever work needed to be done. I was about halfway when I heard the shuffling of feet behind me.

Then the rough voice, with a tinge of rage, of Derrick said, “Where are you going so fast baby?”

“Leave me alone,” I said, and picked up my pace, but he grabbed me by my shoulder. His firm hand kept me in place. “Let me go!”

“Not until we finish what you denied me,” he said. He let me go as I turned around to face him. He held a black backpack off one shoulder and he wore a varsity jacket with the dull red color fading from overuse. “Afraid?”

“No, we won’t finish it since we never even started. Also, I’m not afraid,” I said firmly, anger bubbling inside me. He grabbed my hand and began to drag me towards a dark alley across the street. “Stop.”

“I didn’t want to have to do this Emily,” his voice growing with frustrations as I struggled to free myself. With my hand still firmly gripped in his, he skillfully opened up his backpack with the other and took out a jet black handkerchief. He let go and quickly tied it around my mouth. I made an attempt to back up, but before I knew it he had his hand around my arm. My objections were muffled as the shadows of the alley engulfed us. Why?

Derrick forcefully pushed me up against the wall, my heart hammered against my chest. He put his hand on my left breast and squeezed it, pain shot throughout my body. I squirmed he brushed my hair behind me. I stomped on his foot, but I had barely made a dent. His lips met mine and he forced my mouth open. I bit is tongue and he pulled back and said, breathing heavily, “Feisty.”

He unbuttoned my jeans. His cold rough hand met my thigh and he once more attempted to kiss me. I gasped, the words of my mother’s boyfriend echoed in my head, “It won’t hurt.” But he had lied; it hurt like hell and I couldn’t believe my mother had left me alone with the monster, so much for her loving me.

My head grew dizzy and I was on the verge of blacking out when suddenly Derrick was ripped off me. I sunk to the ground, my pants around my knees. I caught the flurry of fists before Derrick ran off into the distance buttoning up his own jeans. My savior helped me to my feet, but I was so out of it all I could do was thank him and pull up my pants. After I had all that situated he scooped me up and took me over to my car, the parking lot completely vacated.

He cursed under his breath as I nodded my head up and down, struggling to gain consciousness. My vision cleared; it was him! His face showed a cut with red liquid slowly running down his cheek, but before I could make out more I was sent back into the shadows, but instead of greeting them I struggled against their claws to get towards the light.

When I awoke I was sitting in my car and the sun was beginning to sink behind the school. What the fuck happened? I glanced around wondering where my mysterious stalker was, but he was nowhere to be seen. There was no one. I breathed in deeply and lifted moved my hand, it brushed up against something. I looked over to spot a single white rose. I shook my head confused by everything. Leave me a rose, but can’t even take me home. Well what a gentleman he is.

I managed to get home safely, but couldn’t stop asking myself why someone who I’d completely blown off had saved me. The mask I had fabricated so well over the years had been ripped away in one shift moment, revealing how messed up my life truly was. I despised my mother for giving up near the end and letting into her life a destructive man who took her life, leaving me to deal with this pain of live. I also was pained by being left to deal with getting home by the boy who I felt I knew, but was really a stranger. The pain subsided, but then the waterworks began. The tears slipped down my face into my lap. I wiped my face dry with the sleeve my shirt, breathed in and headed inside braced for the “Are you okay?” or “Why do you keep skipping class?”

Trish stood there with Daniel beside her in the hallway and said, “Sweetie why are you crying?”

“Nothing, just something got caught in my eye,” I said and attempted a feeble smile. “Sorry for being so late, ended up helping a friend with a last minute project.”
“Can you come over here,” Daniel said. He and Trish sat down on the couch together. Daniel held her hand with gentleness and love except his face did not show any of this. Instead it looked almost sad. “Sit.”

I made my way over and sat down on a crème colored foot rest, before asking, “What’s up?”
“We’ve been thinking about this for a while,” Trish said while holding up her hand up over Daniel’s mouth to silence him. “I’m pregnant, but with all your actions, well, how do I phrase it. I’m sorry Emily, but you’ll be going to a new home Sunday.”

“We love you, but the family is searching specifically for a teen to be friends with their own daughter,” Daniel said before I was able to object.

“I already started packing your things, but you’ll have to finish,” Trish said. I was shocked and just nodded my head. Unbelievable!

“We both love you though,” Daniel said, his voice trailed off as I walked zombified into a room that no longer felt like mine.

I noticed a box with a note inside, I took it in my hand. It said that they really did love me, and it wasn’t an easy decision. It’s all my fault. I packed the last bits of my stuff with the exception of some clothes and other necessary items into the cold brown box. I found my camera that I’d misplaced a couple weeks ago and set it aside.

I slipped on a white dress that I had been given for a formal occasion and did my hair and makeup all neatly. I took the camera into my trembling hand and snapped a few close-ups of myself and skimmed through them before finding one that I liked and then waited for Trish and Daniel to go to bed.

I sat on the bed replaced with plain blue sheets as it had been the first time I had arrived. I held tightly to the white rose in one hand to my chest and in the other in my lap holding firmly the heart locket. I would never know who my mysterious hero was, but I had finally realized that someone did care for me in this dark and lonely world. My mother cared and even Trish and Daniel cared, but sacrifices had to be made. I heard the low snoring of Daniel and escaped the quietness of my thoughts, grabbed the camera, and headed towards Daniel’s neat little office.

I flicked on the computer and transferred the image I wanted from the camera's card, printed it out, and searched through a nearby drawer for scissors. With all the noise I was causing, the movement of pens and pencils, swishing of the printer as it revealed the picture, and shuffling of my feet on the carpet, I was surprised that it awoke neither foster parent. I clipped off the white edges and headed towards that mocking picture frame. I held the picture up to my lips and kissed it. This is for you mom. I love you. I took the frame down from the wall, stuffed my picture into it, and put it back up on the wall.