Foster Care [COMPLETE]

All I've got

This story has a playlist that you can listen to on Spotify. The playlist is linked in the comment section and you can copy-paste it to your internet browser or search for Disa Laring on Spotify and access the "Foster Care" playlist.

OBS! Before you read the book, let me clarify that this is not a bxb story. It has lgbtqia+ relationships, characters and elements, but it is not a bxb story.

This story will contain subjects such as:
- Abuse
- School shootings
- Rape
- Murder attempts

This is your only trigger warning

Friday
February

"I am so fucking done with you!" My mom yelled as she stormed toward me. She had cigarette burns on her arms, on her hips, bruises on her face and legs. Her makeup was smeared, her lipstick smudged. He hurt her again. Badly this time. She'd never looked this beaten up before. I stumbled backwards as she got closer. "You think you're so fucking safe, huh?" She grabbed my shirt and yanked me towards her. I balanced on the edge of the stairs behind me. The soles of my feet were halfway off the first step and if I lost my balance I would fall back all the way down. "YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME?!" She screamed and shook me.

"I don't..." I whimpered. My heartbeat was racing, beating as fast as a horse's hooves hit the ground when it sprinted.

"Do you know how much I've had to go through just for having you?! It's all your fault!" Her spit and tears landed on my cheeks as she yelled in my face. I felt my feet slipping backwards over the step, my weight was slowly shifting backwards as she kept leaning forward.

"Mom..." I cried and tried to grab something to avoid falling. Her trembling arms tensed as I called her mom. She never wanted to be my mom. She was young when she had me. Only fifteen. She always said I ruined her life. I was the reason she was unhappy.

"I'm not your fucking mom..." She whispered. Her eyes twitched as she shoved me backwards. My feet fell off the first step as I fell headfirst down towards the bottom of the staircase. Her blue eyes flickered between fear, regret and satisfaction as she watched me stoop down. The blue lights flashed through the windows as I slowly rushed towards the first floor. It wasn't the first time she pushed me down the stairs. I wasn't the first person who'd been pushed down the stairs either. My mom's boyfriend pushed her down the stairs a lot too. He says he's a businessman but really he sells drugs. He defends me when my mom wants to hurt me. He gets mad when he sees her hurting me and that's when he hurts her. But she hurts me even worse when he hurts her. It's an evil circle where I'm at the bottom of the food chain. He wasn't home that evening so I didn't get to say goodbye to him. He wanted me to see him as my father, he wanted me to call him dad. But didn't dare do it in front of mom, and she was always around him whenever he was home. She didn't allow us to be in the same room alone without her. I heard my body hitting the floor as the front door was kicked down. The sirens were screaming outside. It was dark.

Saturday
February

"Can she still visit?" I quietly asked as the social worker sat by my hospital bed. I hadn't gotten very injured except for a few bruises during my fall but they still wanted to make sure everything was alright. My mother and her boyfriend were both arrested. That's all I knew.

"No... Not for now..." the social worker mumbled and stroke my hand. "But you'll be placed in a foster family... I hear they live next to a great school! You'll have your own room and they have a son your age so it'll be like having a brother!"

I looked off to the side and sighed. "I don't want a brother..."

"Max..." The social worker sighed. "You have to at least give it a shot... We're dropping you off there today..."

"Today?!" I interrupted the social worker.

"You have my number... you can call me at any time you like, okay?" Her name was Susanne, that I remember, but when had I gotten her number?

"Mom was only arrested yesterday..." I spat and placed a hand on my chest as my breathing got tighter.

"I'm sorry Max but this is just the way things are gonna be for a while..."

"How far away is it?"

"It's a two-hour drive... Do you wanna come along to pack a bag or should I leave that to my colleague?"

"No..." I panted. "I wanna do it..."

...
The door to our house laid on the floor where it had been kicked down. It had dirty footprints from boots over it that stretched out over the floor. Our house looked the same as always, except for one small detail, it was empty of my yelling mom and her pushy boyfriend. I took slow, careful steps inside the house. I usually wasn't allowed to walk in here with my shoes on but no one was there to tell me otherwise. Susanne waited downstairs as I wandered to my room. Most of my stuff had been bought to me by her different boyfriends. Most of them only lasted a few months or so but her last one had lasted for nearly a year. He had showered me with gifts, probably seeking my approval. I slowly traced my fingers over the stuff in my room. Most of it meant nothing to me but there were a few things that meant a lot. The military dog tag with the bullet hole I found in the woods when I decided to run away. I only got to the bus stop by the highway before someone found me and called the police. My mom had really beaten me after that. The dog tag was important to me mostly because I had found it by myself when I was trying to be independent. Another important item was the hoodie my teacher had given me at a football game after my mother didn't come to pick me up like she was supposed to. I'd been standing in the cold without a jacket for over an hour when the teacher finally came up to me and told me that I could keep the hoodie since I looked cold and he was gonna throw it away anyways. It was a worn-out college hoodie with some faded logo and it was my favourite piece of clothing in the world. The last important item was a fridge magnet with a picture of my mom and I. We were smiling in the picture and I remember when it was taken. We'd been camping with one of my mom's boyfriends and he'd taken the picture of us and put it on the magnet at a souvenir shop. We were both smiling in the picture and even though I knew that neither one of us were smiling for real, I still cherished it. It was the only picture of my mom where she looked happy.

I tossed the small pile of clothes I owned into a suitcase and zipped it up. It was a tight fit but it was also pretty much all my belongings. I grabbed my phone charger and started pulling the suitcase downstairs. I barely owned any actual clothes. It was mostly just basketball shorts, hoodies, a few t-shirts and tank tops. I only owned one pair of jeans and they were basically ripped to shreds. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and nodded to Susanne as I passed her.

"Is that all..?" She said and pointed to my bag. "You're not bringing anything else?"

"This is all I've got..." I mumbled.

"Oh... Alright... Let's get going then..."

I placed the suitcase in the trunk of the car and got in the back seat with my phone. Susanne asked if I didn't want to sit in the front seat and I shook my head. If I sat in the front seat she would try to engage me in conversation. Instead, I plugged my headphones in and started playing an audiobook. A young woman's British voice flooded my head and I closed my eyes. We had a long way to go.