The 5 times Keith was told to think before he acted + the one time he wasn't

5 times + 1

1

Keith had been five and he knew death better than most five-year-olds but he was still just a kid.

He was just a kid all alone in a place with other kids waiting for foster homes to open up for them. The days went slow for all the kids and on this day, Keith was in the woods with a bunch of the older kids that had complained when they were told to bring some of the younger ones if they wanted to go to the woods.

Keith understood them. He understood why they didn't want to have a kid like Keith with them when they were practically adults in Keith's eyes but he still wanted to go so he didn't say anything in their defense.

"Don't talk to any strangers, okay?" One of the girls from the home ordered. Her freckles were partially prominent on this time of the year and she had barely healed from the sunburn she suffered the last time she forgot her sunscreen.

"Okay," a girl who looked vaguely Asian answered. Her eyes were sharp but her hair was brown instead of black and Keith really didn't know enough about races to put her into a box.

"I won't let her," a slightly bigger boy exclaimed proudly. He looked similar to the maybe part Asian girl but not enough for Keith to assume any family relations.

"Good, Mike," the freckled girl praised the boy that was apparently named Mike. Keith really needed to learn the other kids' names if he was going to stay in the group home for longer than the few weeks he had been there already.

"Tha-thanks, Rachel," Mike stuttered and looked down at his hands as his face reddened until it looked as bright red as the freckled girl's hair.

The big kids left after that and Keith was alone with no adults and chaos as soon as they were left alone.

Mike climbed a tree and was trying to inspire the Asian looking girl to follow him, three boys and a girl were fighting with sticks and two girls were sitting quietly and looking at the pond in hopes of seeing any of the 'pretty fishes'. It didn't sound that chaotic but there were at least five high-pitched voices screaming constantly and as loud as they could and Keith's head felt like it would explode.

If would have been less unbearable if Keith could talk to the other kids but he was five and was already behind on social skills at that age. He didn't know the way back and was a little afraid to be yelled at even if he succeeded in returning to the group home so he just wandered to the edge of the forest and kept a constant distance from the others. He could still hear them and most of the time see them too but it was far enough away that the noise didn't make him twitch.

He soon grew bored and a little hungry when he saw a bush.

He had had blueberries at the foster home he came from before he ended up here. They had tasted great and he had missed them. There were no blueberries for Keith to eat now. He was also so small compared to the most of the other kids from the home so he was sure that even if there were blueberries one of the days, then the big kids could take several handfuls of blueberries without any of the other kids ever having a single taste.

But here was a whole bush full of them and most of them looked exactly like the ones in plastic containers had looked in the grocery stores Keith had been to and Keith decided he would remember the way here when they went home so he could eat all the blueberries he wanted to. He wouldn't even have to share them with anyone else and he could get some time away from the constant chaos that followed every kid his age.

He plucked one and was just about to put it into his mouth when it was rudely, and so fast that he didn't understand what had happened at first, slapped out of his hand.