Castle On The Hill

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Francesca pulled up in front of social services and I sighed. I am not ready to go back in here and ask for help, but I have no other choice.

After sleeping like shit, I came down the mountain to walk into town for food when Francesca spotted me. She slammed on her breaks, stopped the car, fed me and took me to her house to shower. I cried about everything going on and she called out of work to bring me to DSS, but after cussing me out for not coming straight to her.

"Thanks for driving me up here." I sighed.

"I'm not leaving you. What are you going to do? Walk to Dansville?" She asked.

"If I had to." I admitted.

"Fool. Let's go."

She parked her car and we went inside. I signed in and we got sent to the waiting room.

"Look, here's a list of rentals in the county." Francesca pointed out.

"Let me see it. Are there any in Dansville?" I asked.

She tossed it to me and her phone started ringing. "I'll be outside. Text me and let me know what's up."

"Okay."

She ran outside and I flipped through the paper of available apartments. Shane stopped saving and started partying with Parker. The spark is dying. We no longer strive to see each other every day since I started working. I'm being forced to grow up and he's not ready. I don't know what to do. Why did she have to be hooked on ĺdrugs abd get arrested?

I ran to the darkest corner and broke out in tears. I don't have enough money saved for an apartment. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up. It was my former case manager.

"Tara?" She asked.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Are you waiting to be seen?"

"Yes."

"Dear Lord. Let me grab your file, and we can talk."

"Okay."

She had me get up and we walked through the doors. She went to get my file and someone else was there for it too.

"We can go with them. Since you're eighteen, you'll have a different case manager. Leah here is from team three."

"Was she one of your fosters?" Leah asked.

"Yes."

Leah nodded and we followed her to the office where two other people were sitting.

"Hello. Flora here already introduced me as Leah. My team members are Jackie and Sarah. This application days you're homeless."

"Yes ma'am."

"There's no family you can stay with?" Jackie asked.

"What family? I've been in the system since birth." I asked.

"Where did you sleep last night?"Sarah asked.

"In an abandon building. Look, I have a job at Family Dollar in Dansville. I need a place to sleep and shower. Maybe food stamps too."

"We can get all those processes started. Let me call the motels in Dansville and see if they have availability."

"Thank you."

They all got started on what they needed to do to put me in the system and sighed. I looked at Ms. Flora, my former case manager, and sighed again.

"What happened with Tina?" She asked.

"She got arrested last night."

"Damn, that means we've lost another one."

I nodded. "The husband said she used the money for drugs."