Kicking and screaming, they had taken me away while my mother and younger brother watched, eyes wide and confused. I remember her coming to try and rescue me, the tears that had sparkled expressively in her eyes. My brother had been sucking his thumb and standing behind her, the picture of innocence. My mother’s appeals hadn’t worked; I was taken away for good. I had worried about them; how would they make it alone, without my protection? But I was over that now. Four years in a place like that makes you think of only yourself.