Casey stared at the empty lab stool next to her, then back at her phone. Izzie still hadn't answered her text and Casey could feel her anxiety growing. She remembered earlier in the year when Izzie had confided in her about her mother and her mother's ex-boyfriend. All sorts of worst-case scenarios floated through her brain as she tried to focus on the chemistry teacher's lecture.

Her anxiety only grew after speaking with their friends after class. Where was Izzie?

Izzie's POV

It all started yesterday night when my phone started ringing while I was cooking a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese for the kids. Our kitchen is in the corner of the living room and consists of a sink, toaster oven, hot plate and mini fridge. Because of this, these poor kiddos live off of a high concentration of mac and cheese and Hot Pockets. I stirred the pasta in the pot and was looking through the cabinet for the packet of cheese powder when my phone started ringing on the table. The number was unlisted but I answered anyway.

"Where is it, bitch!?" shouted a familiar voice on the other side of the line.

"Roger?" I said, tentatively.

"Where's your mom?"

"Roger, what do you want?" I said.

"Tell Rosa to get me my fucking money!" He hung up the phone.

I turned my attention back to the pot of pasta, which was boiling over.

"Fuck," I said, moving the pot off the hot plate and onto a trivet. Using the lid, I strained the water out of the noodles and added the packet of cheese powder. I looked into the minifridge to confirm what I already knew. We were out of butter and milk as usual, so the mac and cheese would not be its best.

"What did Roger want?" asked Eduardo from the couch.

"Do your homework." I told him, not wanting to worry him with Mom's boyfriend drama. Sometimes I felt bad for him. He was big for his age but he was still a ten-year-old child and he was aging way faster than he deserved. The girls were too young to completely understand what was going on but Eduardo knew.

"Izzie, I'm hungry." said Mia, coming in the room dragging her doll behind her. Right on cue, Alex crawled into the room and started crying. Wherever Mia went, Alex followed as fast as she could toddle on all fours.

"Dinner!" I announced, swooping down and picking up Alex, balancing her on one hip as I ladled mac and cheese onto three plastic plates. I looked one last time into the minifridge, and grab the half empty can of corn from yesterday. I split the rest of the corn onto the three plates and sigh.

Bon appetit.

"What are you eating, Izzie?" asked Eduardo, as Mia stuffed her face with the neon orange pasta and I stick Alex into her high chair.

"I ate a lot at school, buddy. I'm not hungry." I smile reassuringly and spoon pasta into Alex's mouth.

"Have you guys seen Mom today?" I asked the masses. Three little dark heads all shake their heads no.

"Fsaw her yeferday." said Mia, spewing pasta across the table.

"Chew and swallow, then talk, you little piggy." I said, wagging my finger. All three kids dissolve into giggles.

One hour later, Alex was asleep in her laundry basket and Mia was asleep in her tent. Alex's laundry basket is lined with pillows and is next to the pop-up pink castle tent I got in a yard sale for five bucks. Mia loves it, she sleeps inside it every night on a mattress and a sleeping bag. It's a relief that she loves it so much, because I only have 20$ in my pocket the day I bought it and 20$ isn't enough for a proper bed.

Everything in this run down house is either from a thrift shop, yard sale or carried in from the street. Our table is a folding table from the Salvation Army, the mattress that Eduardo and I share on the floor across from Mia's tent was from the neighbor's garage sale. Even though it's run down, I try to keep things clean and liveable. We may sleep on mattresses on the floor but our sheets and blankets are clean. The kids are neat and presentable when they go to school. I do what I can with what I have. Mi familia es primero.

I closed the entrance to Mia's tent after tucking her in and went back to the living room. Eduardo was at the table, working on his multiplication homework. I got to work cleaning out the kitchen and the fridge. I like to keep things clean in the house, it makes it seem a little less depressing. After emptying out the almost empty fridge and wiping the shelf down, I turned around and saw Eduardo staring at me with sad, bambi eyes.

"What's up, pendejo?" I asked, ruffling his hair.

"Where's Mom?" he asked.

"I don't know, bud." I said. " But, if she isn't back by tomorrow morning, I'll go and search for her. Is that okay?" He nodded his head slowly and went back to his homework.

A few hours later, I was finally done with cleaning and homework and enjoying the luxury of laying on my half of the mattress on my phone. I had a lot on my mind; where was I going to search for Mom tomorrow, what excuse would I give to Casey? On top of that, I needed to buy some more food, we were running low. I was trying to remember how much cash I had in my backpack, if we had enough money for pizza tomorrow or if it would be canned corn and pasta for the fourth night in a row, when Mia sat up in her tent and threw up.

I ran to her corner and opened up the castle tent to see her covered in barf and crying. I carried her to the bathroom and put her in the bathtub. I peeled off her pajamas and turned on the warm water. I threw the puke-covered pajamas into the laundry basket and went back into the bedroom to get her sheets as well. The laundry was now full so I went to the basement and put it in the washing machine. I went back to the bathroom and started to clean the vomit off of Mia.

"Izzie" she said urgently and I understood immediately. I grabbed the trash can and stuck it under her chin right as she threw up a second time. By this time, Alex was up and screaming in her laundry basket.

"Eduardo!" I yelled from the bathroom.

"Got it," He yelled back. I cleaned up Mia and toweled her off, then went back to the bathroom and searched for clean pajamas. Eduardo was rocking Alex back to sleep.

The whole night was a circle of Mia throwing up and waking up Alex, who then would wake up me and Eduardo. In between mopping up puke, coaxing water down Mia's throat and rocking Alex back to sleep, I ran down to the basement to put the laundry in the dryer, and then again to bring it back upstairs and fold it.

Finally, by seven in the morning, Mia had fallen into a deep sleep. Her stomach had settled enough to swallow the aspirin I had crushed in a spoon. Eduardo wanted to take her to the hospital but I had been through this before, it was just one of those 24-hour bugs that toddlers get. I was exhausted, I had been going for almost 24 straight hours without a break.

I went to the living room to pack my bags for school. Eduardo came out and looked at me from across the room with bags under his eyes.

"Izzie." he said.

"Did Mia throw up again?" I asked, plugging my almost-dead phone into the wall to charge.

"No, but you promised." He said

"What?" I said, distracted.

"You promised you would look for Mom if she wasn't back by the morning." He insisted.

I groaned. He was right. I hadn't realized it was morning, it still felt like it was the night before. The usual after-an-all-nighter mood.

"Okay, umm-" I tried to gather my thoughts. "I'll drop the girls off at preschool-no-wait-" I slapped my forehead with my hand. "Mia can't go to school like this."

"I'll stay here and watch the girls, you go look for Mom." He said. "Go!"

"Okay, okay." I grabbed my phone and cursed. The battery was only at 10%. "If I don't answer your texts, its because my phone died, okay?"

"Fine, now go find Mom." said Eduardo, headbutting me to the door.

All day long, I drove around the city, checking all of Mom's favorite drug haunts. I was exhausted so by the afternoon, the dashboard of my car was littered with 7Eleven coffee cups. I finally spotted her sitting on the ground, leaning against a chain link fence. I parked the car across the street and ran to her.

"Mom?"

She looked up when she heard my voice and shielded her face against the sun with her hand.

"Isabella?"

"Mom, let's go home, okay?"

"Isabella, you're so pretty!" She said, grinning widely. "Mi hija, mi hija!"

"Okay, thanks Mom, let's go now."

"I think I'm okay here, Isabella." she said, shrugging. I rolled my eyes and suppressed my urge to groan.

"Let's just go home and get you cleaned up." I said, gritting my teeth.

"But I like it here!" She crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip. I felt like I was arguing with Mia or Alex. I picked her bag up from the ground and put it over my shoulder and reached my arm out to her.

"Come on, Mom, let's go home." I pleaded.

"Oh alright, just because you asked so nicely." She said, slurring her words and rolling her head on her shoulders. She gripped my hand and as I pulled her to her feet, I saw needle tracks on her arm. Looking at the pavement, I saw a syringe poking out from a little bunch of weeds growing between the cracks in the cement.

We crossed the street and I put her in the back seat, where she laid down. All the way home, she murmured about how pretty I was and how proud she was of me. That's how I knew she was still high, she wouldn't be this nice to me if she was sober.

When we got home, I beeped the horn for Eduardo to come outside. I was exhausted down to the bone and I needed sleep. He came outside and helped me carry Mom inside. We dropped her on the couch and I quickly went and plugged my phone in. As I expected, it turned back on and showed four missed calls and three missed messages from Casey. I quickly send a reply.

Sorry I've been MIA.

I'm good.

No worries.

I went into the bedroom. Mia was sound asleep in me and Eduardo's bed.

"How was she today?" I asked Eduardo

"She was feeling better, I made her some tea." He said

"Did she throw up again?" He shook his head no. I sighed in relief. I go downstairs and put the contents of the washer into the dryer for the third time that day. Pukey little kids sure do produce a lot of laundry. I come upstairs to clean the bathroom, speaking of puke getting things dirty. I tossed Mom's purse onto the table, I hadn't realized that I had been carrying it around. It landed on the table with a thunk.

That stopped me.

I walked to the purse and tentatively opened it up. Inside there is a thick wad of money, more than I've ever seen in my life. My eyes widened.

"Mom?" I called across the room.

"Hmm?" she said, without opening her eyes.

"Mom. Where did you get this money?" I said, this time more forcefully, walking over to the couch.

"Que?" She asked, opening one eye and squinting

"De donde es esto?" I pulled out the wad of money and stuck it in her face. Her eyes wandered for a second, then focused on the stack of money in front of them. She giggled like a little girl who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Mom!" I demanded.

"I took it." She said in a little voice.

"What?"

"I took it from Roger's house." She said, still grinning. "I know where he hides his money and I went while he was at work!"

"Oh Mom." I groaned. "Don't you know what this means?"

"Money for food for you adorable kids!" she said.

"No, Mom!" I yelled. "Roger is going to come here looking for this!" She rolled over and closed her eyes again. I was about to start yelling when I heard a knock at the door. I froze, expecting Roger to break the door in and start demanding his money. When I did hear any yelling, I went over and looked through the peekhole. It wasn't my Mom's angry ex-boyfriend. It was Casey.

I opened the door just enough to squeeze out, no need to give Casey a view of my wasted mother on the couch.

"Hey." She said, staring at me. I suddenly became aware of how exhausted I must look, after a full night of taking care of Mia and a full day of looking for my mom. Casey cleared her throat and continued, thankfully because I really had nothing to say at that moment.

"Hey, my mom wanted me to drop off these clothes for your brothers and sisters." she said, holding out a green bag full of clothing.

"Thanks, that's nice of her."

"Yeah." said Casey. "You weren't in school today?" her voice was laced with concern.

"No," I couldn't bring myself to look her in the eyes. I honestly couldn't think of an excuse. I was too exhausted.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

I paused, trying to will my three functioning brain cells to form a reason that would quash her worrying. I quickly glanced behind me and saw my mother still passed out on the couch, the wad of money lying on the floor beside her.

"Mm- no." I said, giving up. "My mom, she disappeared like she sometimes does, and caused a bunch of chaos like she always does." I smirked then continued. "But we found her, so it's fine." I glanced down at the bag of clothes in my hand. "Thank your mom for these."

"Yeah." said Casey, her voice cracking.

"She's the best." I quickly go back inside before Casey can ask me any more questions. I put the bag of clothes on the table, and then I heard loud banging at the door. Ugh, Casey will not let up, she's just like her mom.

I go back to the door and open it to find Roger standing there, all six feet of him steaming with anger. I glance to the driveway and see Casey watching closely from her car. I opened my mouth to scream but Roger shoved me roughly inside. I landed hard on the ground.

"Casey!" I scream, right before Roger slams the door shut. I turn my eyes to him.

"Get out!" I yelled. He backhanded me across the face so hard I rolled over and my face hit the corner of the room.

"Where the fuck is my money?" He bellowed.

"Izzie?" cried Eduardo. I looked over and saw him standing terrified, holding Alex in his arms. Mia was hugging him around the waist and looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Eduardo, take Alex and Mia into the bedroom and lock the door." I commanded him with as much authority as I could muster.

"But-" He hesitated.

"Eduardo!" I yelled. "Now!" He reluctantly obliged and disappeared into the bedroom. I prayed that he remembered to barricade the door with the dresser like he'd seen me do in the past. I tasted blood in my mouth. I looked up and saw Roger tearing apart the kitchen.

"Roger! Get out of here!" I shrieked, jumping to my feet. He grabbed me by my shoulders and held me an inch away from his face.

"Get me my fucking money, bitch." He growled.

I spat in his face. "Fuck you." I said. He howled, grabbed me by the back of my head and threw me into the wall. I crumpled to the floor and heard dishes smashing behind me. I groaned as he kicked me in the stomach again and again. My vision went red and I realized I was bleeding. I touched my forehead and my fingertips were red. I suddenly realized that it's quiet in the house. The front door was ajar. I forced myself into a sitting up position and crawled to the couch. My mom was still passed out and the money was gone.

"Izzie?"

I flinched, expecting Roger to hit me again. Instead, Casey came into my field of vision.

"Izzie, oh my god, what happened?" Casey knelt down beside me. "Who was that? We have to call the police."

"No!" I said, forcefully. "No police!"

"Okay." she said softly. "No police. Come on, I'm taking you home to my place."

"Wait, the kids." I said. I stood up slowly and walked to the bedroom door. I knocked on the door.

"Guys, it's only me. He's gone, you can come out now." I heard the scratch of the dresser being pushed away from the door, then slowly the door opens. Three sets of dark eyes look at me, then at Casey standing behind me. I knelt down beside them.

"This is Casey, she's my friend from school and we're going to her house now, okay?" I quickly switched to Spanish. "When we get to her house, we will not tell her parents what happened, we don't talk about Mom or about Roger, do you understand?"

"What happened?" said Eduardo, touching my cheek gently.

"Eduardo, entiendes?" I insisted.

"Si." he said, looking at me with concern.

"Y tu, Mia?" I said, turning to her. She nodded.

"Okay, let's go." I quickly went into the bedroom and shoved stuff into a backpack. Change of clothes for me, pajamas for the kids, diapers for Alex, Mia's teddy bear. I threw on a sweatshirt to cover the blood on my T-shirt and quickly wiped off the blood from my forehead. The five of us headed out to Casey's car.