Caught Red Handed

Emily's Past

As Emily walked down a dark gravel road, she started thinking to herself...
There are few truths that I know about my past. One stands out amount all the rest.
Adults can never be trusted or relied upon.
The first memory that I have, was when I was about three years old. The woman, I think may have been my biological mother, left me with this elderly couple. I presume to be grandparents. The old lady didn't like me. She kept calling me a "messy and fussy little 'thing'." And up until I was about four, kept going on and on about how she was giving up so much of her time and life for me and didn't I know what a lucky girl I was.
Then Rosa came in and took me away from the old lady. At first I liked Rosa, but then she took me to this other lady. Suzan. Suzan was seven shades of crazy. I wasn't "permitted" (her word, not mine) to run around the house, to go out after dark, to leave my room without having made my bed, or to go down for breakfast without first having a shower and then brushing my teeth.
I couldn't play with other kids because they might have a contagious disease. I couldn't touch anything at the playground or pick stuff up off the ground because I could get sick. Needless to say, when I talked with Rosa, she took me to a new home.
This was the one I sorta called home. It's Karen and Roger's place. The foster family that only fosters kids for one reason, money to buy drugs. That was where the physical abuse to place. Karen liked to slap and shove kids around as well as using them like slaves to keep her house clean. Roger liked to verbally abuse them as well as to punch and slap them around. One time I accidentally spilled my cold cereal on the floor and he made me eat it up off the floor and lick the milk up. It was so gross, there was dirt, dog hair and cat hair and God knows what else on the floor! But I had seen much worse done to other kids. This boy, Seth, got an F on his school work, Roger and Karen were so mad that they held him down and poured a cup of boiling water on his stomach!
This other time, this kid had an accident in his pants and they made him wear his dirty clothes for a week!
My bedroom window was easy enough to escape out of and I learned how to take care of myself my way.
I don't need any adult supervision or school education. I don't need to read. I'm good all by my self. Adults don't see the same stuff us kids do anyways.
The road was only lit by the bright full moon. She saw an empty park bench and curled up on it yawning as she fell into a nice deep sleep the only sound was the lullaby of a distant owl hooting.
But late into the night, when it was it's coldest, she found herself missing her new bed.