Crossing Borders

Farewell

"Tag!" a boy shouts "You're it Astrid!"

A little girl around nine years of age ran after another boy, laughing, and tapped him by the shoulder.

"You're it Derek!" she squeals excitedly.

"Am not!" he runs away. "You caught my shirt!"

"Did not!" she stomped her foot on the ground. "Ash?"

"Just catch him again Astrid." A boy, who looks exactly like the girl only with short hair, says.

"But he's lying!" she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "I'm not playing anymore."

"C'mon Astrid, you need to catch someone so we can continue to play." another boy says.

"No!" she snapped, "I don't play with cheaters." The three boys shrugged and whined, except for one boy who took Astrid's hand.

"I'm it." he says.

"That's cheating, Damien!" Astrid says again.

"No it isn't." the boy, Damien, says, "It isn't against the rules wanting to be it." Astrid glared at him. "Besides, Mrs. Jefferson will be calling you to meet the Matthews any minute."

Astrid frowned. "Oh yeah, the Matthews." she glanced at her twin brother, Ash.

Ash forced a smile and walked up to her, "It's ok sis, I have a feeling this isn't it."

"But what if it is?" she asks, worried. "I don't want to leave you."

"Why don't you ask if they want to have twins?" Jared asks.

"Yeah!" the boy named Derek says excitedly. "They can dress you up and make dolls out of you."

"We're not dolls, Derek." Ash rolling his eyes obviously tired of hearing this joke before. Then he looks back at Astrid who was almost in tears. "Astrid..."

As if on cue the little girl begins to cry; the boys exchanged looks and frowned moving closer to her.

"I think Jared is right." Damien says, they turned to him, "You can tell them about Ash, maybe they'll take you both."

"But-" Damien reached for the end of her hair to stop her from arguing, "Don't be a cry baby Astrid. If I were you I'd be looking for Mrs. Jefferson and try to be cute."

Astrid pouts again and wipe away her tears with the back of her hands. "I am not a cry baby and I'm always cute!"

With that she ran off to the house.

"Man, we totally forgot about today." Jared shrugs.

"Astrid forgot it herself." Derek pointed out, "But Ash, what if this is it for Astrid?"

"Well..." Ash forced a smile again, "I should be happy for her, right?"

The boys shrugged again.

"This isn't fair." Derek says, "Twins should be kept together."

"Yeah." Damien says, "But you know how hard it is to be adopted when you're almost ten, Astrid should take this chance."

"Besides, the Matthews can't be that bad." Jared says. "I'm sure they'll let her visit us, right?"

They exchanged look one more time before looking at house they all knew too well, the Haven Orphanage.

Astrid was clean and dressed before the dreaded meeting with her possible adoptive parents; she stood in front of the mirror staringat her reflection, remembering the past couples that she had met.