Afterwards (alemma)

One | Moving Back

Alex

"Alex, we just can't afford to have you live with us anymore. We're sorry buddy, but you'll find a better home, with parents that can take care of you even better than we ever did."

Those words play on repeat in my mind as I sit in the backseat of the moving truck with my new 'family'. They didn't tell me where we were going, and I didn't bother to ask. Why should I care?

I'm left behind again.

Tuck, Munch, Emma - they all say they understand what it's like. But they don't.

They don't know what it's like, though, to think you have a permanent place before being shipped off again.

They don't know what it's like to think you have a family, only to be given back to the social worker you hate.

When I was left behind in the arcade, Emma was the only one who came back for me. But not soon enough.

Because that alone feeling had surrounded me again, and I was so close to breaking down, it's no wonder Tuck and I got in a fight not an hour later.

That alone feeling was what surrounded me now, as I looked out the window to see a very familiar neighborhood sign.

'Welcome To Mulberry Farms'

A wide smile makes its way to my face as a small laugh escapes my throat.

The place where I thought I'd never return - and I'm here again.

I wonder how Tuck, Munch, and Emma are - I heard Munch moved back three months ago. I'm still subscribed to Tuck on his YouTube channel, but we don't really talk that much. I haven't talked to Emma since, well, she told my old foster parents I was her 'boyfriend'.

Emma.

My heart pounded in my chest at just the thought of her. She never had any romantic feelings towards me, she made that very clear. And I'd never liked her much back in Mulberry Farms, but now? I wasn't so sure.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as the moving truck slows to a stop in front of a house - my old house?

"Hey, Alex, why don't you walk around the neighborhood and try and meet some new people and make friends while your mom and I unpack, alright?" My foster dad, Mark, turns around and I nod my head, far too eager to go catch up on what I'd missed during my eight months in New York.

I hopped out of the truck, slamming the passenger door behind me, and I ran around to the back of the truck, pulling open the latch. I'd made sure to put my bike right against the door, for easy access, which was insanely convenient.

I pulled the bike out of the truck, and hopped on it, pedaling as fast as I could down the familiar route to Tucks house. It was where we always met up, and I hoped that nothing major had changed.

I rang his doorbell, expecting to see Tuck's face, not Marcus's.

"Oh, sorry dude, Tuck's on a date right now. But I'll tell him you came around." Marcus says, and then he slams the door in my face.

Tuck? On a date? With a girl? No way.

I shrugged it off, though my stomach did feel like it had sunk to my feet. This wasn't the reunion I expected, and the fact that he had a girlfriend before I did was basically unbelievable.

I climbed back on my bike and headed back to my old-new house, disappointment weighing heavily on my shoulders.

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