Chapter 8 - THE DAY I TESTED THEM
Three months after I started staying with the Turners, I ran.
There was no dramatic reason.
That is what frightened everyone afterward.
Things were going well.
Too well.
My court review had been positive.
School was improving.
Robert had started teaching me how to repair bicycles in the garage.
Helen had bought tacos from the restaurant I once told her I missed.
Then I overheard Denise say the word permanent during a phone call.
Permanent placement.
My entire body panicked.
Permanent meant something could be lost permanently.
That night, after everyone went to sleep, I climbed out the first-floor bathroom window.
I walked almost three miles.
Did not know where I was going.
I just needed to prove I could still leave before somebody else did it first.
Police found me behind a gas station at four in the morning.
Robert and Helen arrived together.
I expected anger.
Robert looked furious.
Helen looked terrified.
Good.
Anger I understood.
Robert came toward me.
“What were you thinking?”
I immediately shut down.
There it was.
The beginning of the end.
Then Helen grabbed his sleeve.
“Robert.”
He stopped.
Closed his eyes.
Tried again.
“I’m sorry.”
That confused me.
He crouched.
“I’m scared, Liam. I’m not good at scared.”
I looked away.
“You can send me back.”
Helen inhaled sharply.
“No.”
“I broke the rules.”
“Yes.”
“I ran.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So there are consequences.”
“What?”
“You lose unsupervised evening time for now.”
I stared at her.
“That’s it?”
“No. We’re also getting an alarm on that stupid bathroom window.”
Despite myself, I almost smiled.
“You’re not making me leave?”
Robert stared at me.
“Is that why you ran?”
I said nothing.
He understood anyway.
His whole face changed.
“Oh, kid.”
I hated when adults sounded sorry for me.
“Don’t.”
“Okay.”
Then he sat on the curb.
Helen sat beside him.
Nobody demanded I hug them.
After several minutes, I sat too.
That was the night I discovered something terrifying.
The Turners were not staying because I behaved well.
May you like
I could disappoint them and still be there the next morning.
I had never experienced that before.
