Nothing scared me more than having a reason to miss anyone or anything, and I tried to shove the thoughts out of my head as I got dressed in my Kiddie Haven best, a.k.a. what I’d managed to get from one of the boys who was clearly as much of a raging homo as I was. He got a size extra small pink t-shirt one of the caretakers had gotten me for Christmas, and I got his dark blue size small one, along with a pair of jeans he’d ripped up attempting to play basketball with the big boys one day. He’d hit the asphalt enough to make them look almost designer. Pulling on my once black and white Chuck Taylor’s that were now a solid shade of gray I grabbed my towel and headed back for what would be my room for only a few more hours time. Papi was up when I got there, back to her usual detached, bitchy self. She made a face as soon as I walked in.

“Don’t you have anything that doesn’t make you look like a butch off the short bus?”

“Nope.” I replied, sitting on the end of my bed and hearing the decades old wood groan under my weight. One Halloween a caretaker had gathered us in the rec room, shut off all the lights, held a flashlight under his chin, and told us this place had once been an insane asylum. I believed him.

“They’re m-m-making your favorite for b-b-breakfast.” She announced through a yawn, bounding up with her toothbrush in hand.

“What’s that?” I asked as she reached the door, pretty certain I had already made my hatred for any and all Kiddie Haven supplied food known to the world.

“Muffins!” She left laughing at her own joke and I rolled my eyes, then kicked at my luggage for the hundredth time since I’d found out I was leaving once she was safely in the hallway.

“Shane! Shane!” Max ran into my room, holding little Angelica by the hand, and promptly tripped at my feet. I caught the toddler before she fell, placing her in my lap before helping Max up. “He” was breathless and red-faced. See Max’s real name was Moira, and he was actually a girl, but the 13 year old insisted we treat him otherwise. So I kept his dirty-blond hair short for him, and tried to get the guys to part with any clothes that had gotten too small for them. My insides twisted painfully as he put his hands on his hips at glared at me, Angie cooing from her position in my arms. Normally I didn’t do babies, or annoying tweens, but I kinda owed it to them to be nice on my last day here.