Sweet Dreams, Eli

No Room for Me

60% of boys who age out or are legally
emancipated go on to be convicted of a crime.

Eli

"I really don't fucking like it here." I mutter under my breathe as a follow the annoying blonde girl upstairs. She's what, fourteen? And she thinks she can boss me around? I don't think so. I'm in charge of how long I stay here, I have to be, it's the only thing I can control.

The girl glances over her shoulder, "You'll get over it." she says.

I stare at her, "What?"

"Not liking it here, you'll get over it."

Okay, so she heard me, "Doubtful," I snap back.

She smiles, "Good luck with that." then she turns away and keeps walking.

My mouth falls open, and I gap at her. Who does she think she is? "You don't know me!" I call after her.

She stops and turns around, "Yeah, I do." Then, without waiting for a reply she turns and walks into the dinning room.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Dinner is fine, I guess. The lasagna's pretty good, but not mind blowing. The upside is there's plenty of it, which is a nice change from my last house where they locked the refrigerator at night.

I catch Zoe and Chloe sneaking glances at me a few times, and the older boy, Cason, I think, doesn't even try to hide that he's staring. I glare at him, and he smiles back. What the hell is wrong with these people?

By the end of dinner, I have a serious headache, everyone is so loud, and they never stop talking.

The "dad" got home after we had started eating, and the racket the little girls made was unbearable. How can such loud screams come out of such small people?

When I finish eating, I stand up and star to walk away from the table, smirking when Alanna calls, "Eli? Where are you going?"

I don't answer, just keep walking, and I can here her sigh loudly. I'm so winning.

A few minutes after I had slammed the door to "my new room", someone knocks, I think about ignoring it, but that strategy didn't work too well earlier. Instead I snap, "What?"

Chloe opens the door, and smiles, "Sorry to interrupt your sulking, I'm just here to get my stuff together." Behind her I spot Zoe's head peeking around the corner.

"Whatever."

Chloe motions to her sister and they both come into the room. Zoe is carrying a cardboard box. "You start on your clothes, I start with this stuff," says Zoe, gesturing to the clutter on the dresser.

"Kk," says Chloe brightly. I'm going to need sun glasses for all this cheerfulness.

The two of them hurry around the room collecting items. A few times I want to stop them, this seems like a lot of work, considering she'll be back in this room in a few days when I'm gone. I feel a stab of guilt, they're re-arranging their whole lives to make room for, me and I'm not even close to worth the trouble.

It takes a good half an hour for them to make the ten or so trips up and down, before the room is empty. Finally, they disappear, closing the door behind them, and I look around. It's kind of nice, nothing on the walls, the bed striped, clean, this room is just as empty as I am, it's fitting.

I sit on the edge of the bed, and wonder if now they'll forget I'm even in here, leave the walls bare, maybe they have no intention of giving me a blanket, it wouldn't be the first time, maybe that's why Chloe looked so happy, she knew I was about to get what I deserved.

I look around the room and spot my trash bag tossed in the corner, next to my backpack. I guess I should unpack. I walk over and pick it up, dumping the condense on to my barren bed. Clothes, an extra pair of shoes, a couple of books I got at those stupid foster care Christmas parties when I was little. The participation ribbon from that one game of little league soccer I played in when I was seven, before I moved to a new home who didn't bother to take me to practices. That pretty much sums up my life.

Something in me shatters, it took Chloe a half an hour to pack up her life, it would take me barely five minutes, it's not fair. I walk over to the trash can they left by the desk and toss the ribbon and books inside.

A moment later someone knocks at the door. "Come in!" I call, I don't have the energy to be mean right now.

It's Alanna, carrying a stack of sheets and blankets. She sets them down on the bed and looks around, "Wow, it sure is empty in here. Tomorrow we can go shopping, make this room your own."

"Whatever."

She smiles at me, gesturing to the pile of blankets. "Here are your sheets, a pillow and a couple of blankets, we can get you different ones tomorrow if you don't like them. Can you think of anything else you might need?"

"No."

"You sure? Do you have toothbrush? Toothpaste?"

"I'm good." I don't look at her.

"Okay. Chloe showed you where the bathroom was?

"Yes."

"There are towels, soap and shampoo in the closet in there if you want to shower."

"Okay."

"We're going to watch a movie if you want to join us."

"No thanks."

"Okay, sweet dreams."

She leaves, closing the door behind her, I close my eyes for a long moment, then walk over to the trash can and fish out my ribbon and place it gently on bed side table.

Sweet dreams, that's hysterical.