Home?

1. I want to leave.

Tommy threw his things haphazardly into the trash bag he was given. It wasn't like he owned a whole lot... a few outfits, a blanket, a pillow, and a bit of money stowed away in the pillowcase.

Still, it barely fit in the small bag.

The clothes were already wrinkled anyway, so who cared.

He carried the bag through the hallway, hardening his expression.

"Get out of my house, you prick!" Mr.John, the man he had been living with, yelled. He was drunk, fully drunk. He threw a beer bottle at his head, and it smashed on the wall behind him.

"Going." He muttered, stepping out onto the front step. The door was slammed behind him.

He walked out towards the car that was waiting for him and clambered into the backseat.

"Again, Thomas?" The lady in the front seat asked. He shrugged and shut the door behind him. She sighed and drove off, leaving yet another house in the dust.

"What happened to your eye?" She asked after a few minutes of driving. He shrugged again, leaning his head against the window.

He had only been at this house for a week. His foster parent this time had a drinking problem, and anger issues. Having a kid in the house was never a good idea.

He watched as the road blurred behind them.

~•~

He stood in the second foster house that week. Just behind the wall he was standing against was his foster parents. They had two young kids. They seemed nice enough.

"I just don't know if we can handle him, Cara. He doesn't have good grades, he got in a fight yesterday, and I'm worried he's a danger to our kids."

"He hasn't even been here a week, Kevin. We have to give him time."

"No, I don't want him around the girls."

He swallowed the lump in his throat and ran up the stairs to his room. He tossed his things into the same trash bag.

He carried it downstairs and stood face-to-face with his foster parents.

"I have all my things, just call for someone to pick me up." He said.

"What are you taking about, sweetheart?" Cara asked.

"I'm not good for your family and I don't want to be a problem anymore." He said, looking at the ground. "Really, it's okay, I get it. I don't want to be an issue for you."

"Oh, honey, no." Cara put a hand on his shoulder. "We want you here. You're not a problem, Thomas." She said.

"I am. And I want to leave." He looked up at her then, tears brimming his eyes. "Please."

"Okay, okay, hun." She nodded. Kevin was in the other room already calling.

Before he got picked up, Cara had given Tommy a gift. A red beanie and a new pair of shoes. He smiled and put both on before leaving.

He really hoped they were okay.

~•~

Which brings us to now...

Tommy was standing in yet another group home. It was a large building, each kid sharing what was basically a dorm room with another.

He had been staying here for a few weeks now. It was fine... nothing special or anything. But at least he had a roof over his head, hot food to eat, and a bed to sleep in.

It was good enough for him.

Every few days people would be moved into better foster homes for them to stay in.

Some kids even got adopted.