Page 1 of One Impossible Moment
Part One
Chapter 1
Kallie
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Kallie pressed herforehead to the smudged window and watched the other kids chase each other across the patchy yard.Their laughter carried through the screen door as if they belonged to a different world than the one sitting heavily in her chest.
She couldn't find anything that made her happy when she didn't want to be here.The little kids played stupid baby games, and the older kids wouldn't let her hang out with them, even though she was ten years old.
"Get outside until dinner," Monica called from the kitchen."And don't come back inside asking for snacks unless you want to stay in your room.You know the rules."
The rules always changed.Sometimes, she couldn't do anything right, and her foster mother would make her sit on her bed for what seemed like hours.She almost wished it were time for school again.
Kallie dragged her feet, slipped out the door, and let it bang shut behind her, the sound swallowed by the chaos of the foster home.
She wrapped her arms around herself and wandered toward the edge of the yard, where the grass thinned to dirt and the fence leaned as if it were tired of standing.The sun was sinking lower over the treetops.Once it got dark, Monica would call them inside, feed them dinner, and then she'd line up for a shower before her nine o'clock bedtime.Because the younger kids bathed first, she and the older ones ended up taking a cold shower.
There was nothing she hated more than a cold shower.
She kicked a rock, then another.A kid's cry drew her attention, and she squinted, seeing who was upset.
Trevor wailed, fighting with Jasmine over the tricycle.Those two never got along.Monica complained that they were the terrible twos, whatever that meant.
The two older girls who lived in the home stopped talking as Kallie got closer.Since they didn't tell her to leave, she inched forward.
"Sh.Kallie's behind you," whispered Halsey.
Rachel turned around."What do you want?"
Kallie ignored the rock, glanced at the house, and then said, "Do you know when my mom's coming back?"
They were teenagers.They knew everything that happened at the house.
"When she gets clean."Rachel tossed her hair over her shoulder."If she can do it.Most can't.Maybe she won't come back."
"She'll come back," Kallie whispered.
"Your mom will have to earn the right to be around you first."Halsey cocked her head."But don't get your hopes up.The judge isn't going to let a druggie near you if she can't stay clean."
She wanted to tell them to take it back.Her mom was coming for her, she had promised.But Rachel and Halsey would only argue with her, thinking they knew everything, even other people's business.
Kallie dug the toe of her sneaker into the ground, pretending to understand.No one ever listened when she begged to leave.She didn't want to be in foster care anymore, not with the rules, not with the constant ache in her stomach, not with the uncertainty of whether she'd ever see her mom again, and not with the way no one gave her honest answers to her questions.
"Go play with the littles.We have things to talk about that you wouldn't understand."Rachel shooed her away.
She stepped to the side, glancing over her shoulder as she walked to make sure they weren't going to tease her.They'd gone back to talking, ignoring her completely.
At the corner of the yard, she made sure they were no longer watching her, then slipped through the loose board in the fence.She had no idea where she was headed, but she just wanted to get out of there.
If it were true that her mom wouldn't come back, it meant that she had no one on the other side to get her out of the foster care system.It would be better if she ran away.
The narrow road with broken asphalt behind the house curved between fir trees and faded into the forest's shadows.She had never noticed it before.It wasn't like the road in front of the house with white lines and traffic.
Out of sight of the house, she slowed her pace and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.Even though Monica would punish her if she were caught outside the yard, she kept walking.
There was nothing here for her.Her mom was locked up somewhere.Her social worker had no way to contact her mom.She couldn't send any letters or make any calls.
