Away from home

It was about 2:00 in the afternoon when we saw the lights. We were walking home from the Walmart down the street and there were cops at our neighbor’s house. We thought they got robbed again so we just went in the house. It was my mom, my two brothers, my two sisters and me. At the time I was 12, my siblings were 14, 6, 2, and 1. We were putting away groceries when we heard a knock at the door. It was the cops. My mom told us to keep putting away groceries while she got the door. As we put them away my older sister and I eavesdropped. “Are you colleen?” one of the officers asked. My mom says yes and he asks her to show him to the closest room. Another cop walks in. A woman. She took the kids to our rooms to get some stuff and puts us in a minivan. Everyone was crying. My mom, me, my sisters, my brothers. I just remember asking “What’s happening?” constantly. When the van pulled out of the driveway, i cried even harder. When we pulled into the DCF parking lot the angst grew. As we walked into the building my sister pulls me close and says that everything will be alright.

About a year later i found a foster mom that i loved dearly her name was Cathy . She was the most loving person i’d ever met. I lived with her through christmas and about 2 weeks after that. Then one day at about 3am my foster sister Kayla and i heard a loud thud, we thought maybe she dropped something and will pick it up. Later at about 9am Kayla  comes to my bedside crying and i climb out of bed and ask her what’s wrong. I distinctly remember the rancid odor of the house. “She’s dead! She’s dead” Kayla is screaming at me. I get up and run to Cathy’s bedroom. She isn’t in there, so i look at Kayla, she’s still crying hysterically but she lifts her hand and points at the bathroom door. I took the required 3 steps to be at the bathroom threshold and scream. It’s Cathy. She’s lying on the bathroom floor with a puddle of blood around her head, no clothes on her and an emptied bladder and bowels. DEAD. Now i’m crying hysterically as i try to unlock her cell phone, i get it after a few tries. The funny thing was that the first person i called was my mom….I called her and told her what happened and she said “ Oh my god why are you calling me you need to call the cops”. So i did.

The cops showed up about 15 minutes later and tried to revive her. Not succeeding they gave up and i no longer had a foster mom. Yet again i was homeless. They couldn’t find me another home for about a month.