Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 64617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
I stepped back, getting away from her. “I don’t want to go with you, I want my mom. You’re not my mom. You can’t take me anywhere.”
They taught us stranger danger in school. I knew all about it.
“I know you want your mom, sweetie, but she’s…” She stopped talking, taking a deep breath. “I’m so sorry, Aiden, but your mom is gon—”
“NO!” I instantly covered my ears and shut my eyes as tight as I could. “I can’t hear you! I can’t see you! I want my momma! I want my momma! Get away from me and go get my mom! I want my mom! I hate you! I’m not going anywhere with you! I want my mom now!”
Strong hands grabbed my wrists, yanking my hands away from my ears, and I lost it. Going after anything I could see in the office, I destroyed everything around me. I ran around the office, that I now saw was the hospital’s playroom, my feet stomping everywhere I stepped.
Ripping pictures off the walls…
Throwing toys out of the buckets…
Shoving magazines off the tables…
Screaming, “You’re not my mom! You’re lying! She’s not gone! She promised me she’d never leave! She promised me! Moms don’t leave! Moms aren’t supposed to leave!”
My eyes were blurry from my tears, and my body was filled with so much hate.
For them.
For her.
“I hate you! I hate you!” I yelled, repeating it over and over.
“Aiden, calm down!” Misty ordered from somewhere in the room.
“I want my mom!”
“I know, honey, but your acting out doesn’t help with anything. Please calm down!”
“I’m not going with you! Not now! Not ever!”
Hands touched me again, carrying me up and holding me down onto someone’s shoulder.
“Stop! Don’t touch me! You can’t touch me! I don’t want to go with you! I want to see my mom!”
A huge sadness laid down on my heart.
I felt lost.
Like nothing or no one could help me find my way out.
I kicked.
I screamed.
I fought.
Trapped in the arms of a strange man I didn’t know.
Being taken to a life I didn’t want.
The man hurried out of the hospital with the nurse and Misty running beside him, and no one did anything. Like this was normal or just another day at the hospital where they took kids away from their moms daily.
He opened the door, throwing me into the back seat of a car that was parked out in front. My body rolled around on the seat as the door slammed closed behind me.
“Please! Don’t take me!” I reached for the handle, yanking it as hard as I could, but it was locked. “I don’t want to go! Please!”
I kicked at the door, the window, the backs of their seats, but nothing helped.
Nothing worked.
“Mom! Momma! Take me with you! Just take me with you! You promised! You promised me that you would never leave me! It was you and me against the world!”
It wasn’t until the car started driving away from the hospital that I knew my life would never be the same again.
I had no one to take care of me.
To love me.
To make me feel like I was home.
My saddest days were still coming.
Because now…
I was really alone.
“Aiden—”
I turned my face toward the window and shut my eyes, ignoring Misty who was in the front seat with the mean man driving.
I hated him.
I hated her.
But mostly, I hated my mom.
It didn’t feel like a long time had gone by, when I felt the car stop and the engine turn off. The last thing I remembered was kicking and screaming, then nothing. I must have fallen asleep, too tired to keep fighting. It didn’t matter anyway. I left my heart, my tears, everything back at the hospital with my momma.
The car was quiet and dark, the moon and headlights were the only lights in the night as far as I could see.
What will happen to me now?
The door opened out of nowhere, making me jump, and the big man nodded for me to get out. “Come on, son, we’re here,” he said, reaching out his hand for me.
“Where am I?” I asked, only looking at the tan house with a gate around it. Pushing his hand away, I stepped out onto the grass by myself. “This isn’t where I live.”
Misty looked at the man the same way she did back at the hospital before getting down to my level.
“Aiden, since your mom is gone, I can’t take you home. This is where you’ll be temporarily, until I can find you a permanent placement.”
“What about all my stuff? My clothes, my toys, my games! Momma’s books, our pictures on the walls, my favorite pillow and blanket with Ninja Turtles on them… Momma bought them for me before she got sick! I want all my stuff! Please get my stuff. I promise I’ll be good! I won’t fight. I promise. I just want my stuff.”