I stare blankly at the grey office walls of the Foster Care office, just waiting to be placed in another house with another family where I will be treated like shit. I ran my fingers through my blonde hair nervously, you'd think after five placements you would get used to it, but every home they put me into turned out to be worse than the last. The things that I have been through in the past five years of being an orphan is enough to break any human. I just can't stop thinking about what could happen to me at my new home.
"Niall, sweetie, I want you to meet some people." My case worker, Christa, said smiling and gesturing me to follow her into the lobby of the office building. "I think we might have finally found the one Niall." She whispered as I slid past her through the door.
"No one can replace my mum and dad....or erase my pain" I mumble loud enough for her to hear. Christa then grabbed my arm and spun me around to face her. She was an average size women in her early thirties, she had bleached blonde hair like mine and always dressed like a hipster. Today she wore dark blue tight fitted chinos, a white V-neck, and a grey blazer.
"Niall....in order for this to work, you also have to put forth an effort by giving these people the benefit of the doubt. Give them a chance Hun." She said as she rubbed my arm soothingly. Christa has been the only person that I have trusted since my parents and big brother died, and all my other family abandoned me and left me to go to the foster care system when I was 11. I'm willing to try for her, however I already know that its going to turn out just like the other placements.
"Fine....for you, I will try." I said and with that she ruffled my blonde hair and dragged me to the lobby.
When we entered the lobby I saw a couple standing in the middle of the room. The guy was tall, had dark hair that was styled in a comb over, he wore khakis, a red sweater, and dress shoes. He has his arm wrapped around a women who was shorter than me, surprisingly, she had blonde hair that hung to her waist, she was very beautiful. She wore a simple white dress and gladiator sandals . They both looked to be mid forties and way too happy to be here.
"Niall, this is Dane and Amanda, your new foster family." Christa announced. Dane immediately stepped forward and extended his hand to me.
"Nice to meet you Niall." He said smiling. I refrained from taking his hand, earning me a death stare from Christa. I just don't like physical contact...not after my past. I just stared at his hand until he retracted it. He looked friendly and harmless but so did the other families at first. "Okay....well we will work on that." Dane said chuckling.
"Hello Niall, we are very excited to get to know you, we have waited a long time for this." Amanda said smiling ear to ear, I could see the sincerity in her crystal blue eyes, she reminded me of my mum, but I still kept my guard up. I knew that this was all probably an act to get me to trust them, and as soon as we leave I will become their personal punching bag.
"Well Niall, your stuff has already been taken to Dane and Amanda's house. I will come around in a month or so to check on you, don't hesitate to call me if you need anything. Good luck buddy." Christa said low enough for only me to hear. "Well I believe you all are set and ready to start your new lives. I wish all of you a happy ending and if ANY problems arise or you have a question, call me at any time. I don't care if its the middle of the night. My job is to make the transition easy and successful." Christa said loud enough for everyone to hear. She gives this same exact speech every time I get a new placement...and every single time it all goes to shit. Christa then gave me a hug, and I hugged her back. She is the only person I trust to be touched by and I have to leave her again. I wish she could be my foster mum but she said its against the rules. I then pulled away and started to follow Dane and Amanda out to the car park. I turned around one last time to see Christa smiling and giving me a thumbs up, I flashed her a fake grin and continued my walk of misery.
