I Found

2.

Now it's my time to set off on a new chapter in my life, independently!

And I end up standing in the same spot as I was when I said my goodbye to Leia and the foster home, realizing I don't really have any place to go.

I never earned any money because I never had an actual job that paid me money. The only currency I could get my hands on was some rusted coins that I found in the back pocket of my light blue ripped jeans. So going to the grocery store to buy some necessities wouldn't be an option for me, let alone searching for a house or an apartment to buy.

All I had the ability to do at this point was walk and run. And that's what I started to do... Well, not the running part. That's just too much unnecessary effort when leaving any place (unless you're escaping from a serial killer).

I began to walk West on Connecticut Street, which was the same street that the foster home lie, but the home was more East. I figured I would find the best place to settle down this street because there were plenty of bus stops and outside ramada's that would keep me from getting immensely rained on. The shade would also keep me from making my skin turn from ghostly pale to a burnt tomato.

I decide to park my belongings at bus stop number 6, the smallest stop with the least amount of people. I usually only see one person waiting for their bus every other day, and she showed up today, right about the time that I parked my materials on the bumpy chair.

The lady that always comes to this stop is a polite old lady, who picks berries from her grown tree in her backyard and feeds it to the flocking birds that obliviously fly around during the spring. Usually, she's a very perky lady who will talk to anyone she approaches, whether it's for a few minutes or a split second. Today, however, she seemed very bum and cranky.

"What are you doing laying on the bench like that?!" She asks very impolitely.

"This is my place for now, until I can find my own shelter to live in."

"Well, you better find someplace else to settle yourself, because this is public property."

So I begin another stroll, going West once again on Connecticut Street.

***

I kept walking and walking, from the beginning of the day when I left the home, to the end of the day when the sun set below the horizon. I kept being called out by everyone who stopped where I stopped, saying I was prohibited from settling myself in that temporary spot.

I began feeling more and more anxious throughout the day. I had this motivation. This goal. To get away from a toxic leader and learn to be independent. I had a vision, that I could easily find a place to live on my own. That I could finally be free.

But I felt even more vulnerable being out in the real world.

After walking all day, I decide to drop my belongings on the corner of Conneticut Street and Bella Vista Road. It may not have had shade or good coverage, but it was the only spot in town where I wasn't scolded to move somewhere else.

I lay out a soft blanket on the cold, hard concrete, with a small pillow that I secretly stole from the foster home, just in case I ever needed it. And once I hit that pillow, I could not stop crying.

I couldn't stop thinking about what I had just gotten myself into.

I Found, to be continued...