just one

Stupid foster care isn't the world's greatest place. It's hell in it's finest. A child's hopes and dreams get crushed and they come here to get them crushed even more. Of course, that's how it should be, but not for me. I was dropped off here when I was a baby and stayed here my whole life. I didn't even have a name so they called me 'Melody Butcher'.

My whole life, I've never been taken by a family. No matter how many times someone tried to get a family to adopt me, they wouldn't. They always found a kid worth their time.

I grew used to it, but walking down the roads and seeing little kids taking their parents for granted... Makes me just wish I had their lived instead. What would it be like to have a mother or a father?

I guess I'll never know, but I can't help but long for a tall adult to hug me, and me to know that they're my family, I can trust them... That I'm safe with them. That world would be great, but all I have is foster care. All I have is kids that leave eventually. All I have is nothing.

I get pulled out of my reverie by a little girl in the foster care, Fiona, tugging at my pant-leg, "Mel? How long have you been here again?" "12 years, Fiona." "How old are you?" "12 and a half" "Why're you here, still? I'm sure there's a family out there that'd like you. I like you, after all. I think... I think of you as a sister."

I'd look at Fiona. The girl I helped raise because the foster care workers couldn't keep track of, the girl I played with when no one else would. The girl that will one day find a perfect family and leave me behind. She considered me..... a sister?

I hugged her tightly. I couldn't help it. I guess... My longing would stretch as far as just to have a sibling. Just to have someone considered a family. It might not last. It might not be permanent.

but for now, I had a family.