We stopped by our apartment which was still littered with police gathering things in bags. It was weird. I felt like I was having an out of body experience.

Mrs. Johnson, the lady from social services steered me to my room and a plain black bag was on my bed.

"I told them to leave your room alone until you got what you wanted."

"Thanks." I said and picked up the decorated photo from my nightstand. It was my favorite picture of me and my mom.

"She said we would go back there this year. On my birthday. It's a crab shack near the Fleetwood Marina, ever hear of it?"

Mrs. Johnson shook her head.

"It's really good." I put the picture on the bottom. Then I went to my closet and picked out a few of my favorite sweaters and then went to the drawers. Here I filled the rest of the bag with the essentials.

"Can I at least have my tooth brush/"

"No, it's been taken as evidence."

"Evidence?"

"Ellie, your mother is a kidnapper and she's facing jail time if caught." The woman said.

"But she did nothing wrong."

"She took you from you family."

"I don't care, " I said angrily on the verge of tears again.

"Come on, finish up. We need to go it's getting late."

I threw my diary on top of the clothes and zipped the bag with shaking hands.

"Okay I'm ready." I said and I followed her out of my apartment avoiding the gazes of our neighbors and landlord. I felt like screaming at them, but fatigue had set in. I just wanted to sleep.

The children's home was anything less than glamourous, but at least I was able to shower and change into some of my own clothes.

After my shower I was shown to an room with two bed.

"You're lucky. You don't have a roommate." The woman said and handed me a few blankets.

"Thanks." I replied.

"I know you might think this is strange, but the doors are locked at night, it's to prevent people from leaving. You're not a runner are you?"

I thought about the question, but decided I was too tired and upset to do anything about running. So I started to make my bed.

"Good. I'll see you in the morning then."

"Can't wait." I said and the door locked into place.

"Great now I was in jail." I crawled between the itchy covers and tried to sleep.

Someone screaming woke me from a sound sleep.

There were people running down the hall and people were yelling things I couldn't make out. I scrunched lower in the bed and wished I had went to spend the night with my new family.

Silence eventually came, but there was no going back to sleep after that. I was up. So I dressed and waited for the sun to rise.