"Sleep is sleep."
"Not when you live in foster homes.There are too many rules.Bedtime at eight.Lights out.No talking.No noise.No anything.Now that I'm older, I'm always alone in a room."She swallowed hard."I think they want me quiet so they can forget I'm there."
Finn's blank expression shifted, not to pity or softness, but irritation.The hollowness in her chest ached.She wasn't homesick because she had no desire to go back.
"I've never belonged anywhere," she whispered."Not even when my mom still had custody of me.I barely remember living with her.And what I do remember..."She shook her head."She used to leave me alone at night.In hotel rooms.Apartments.Wherever we were staying.I'd wake up, and she'd be gone.So, I hate being alone at night."
She had no idea why she spilled her guts to him.Those were things she hadn't told anyone before.
Finn's jaw tightened."How old were you when you lived with your mom?"
"I've heard that the state took me from her when I was one year old, but she got me back when I was five, six, and seven.Then she lost me for a year, and hm, I was eight the last time I saw her."She shrugged."I got used to it."
He stepped into the room, slow and careful, and sat in the chair beside the bed."You deserve better."
"What about you?Have you always lived here?"
He cleared his throat."You want me to talk?"
"Yeah, it's your turn," she said."Just...don't leave me yet."
For a moment, the room was quiet except for the soft hum of the lamp.
Then Finn asked, "What was school like for you?"
She huffed a breath."Loud.Crowded.I keep my head down so the groups don't notice me.All I want to do is get through school so I can get out of the foster system."
"You got friends?"
"Not really."She picked at a loose thread on the blanket."People don't get close to foster kids.We move too much.Even if I stayed in one place, other parents would think I was a bad influence on their precious daughters.And the boys, they're jerks."
There was more to it.Boys tried to hook up with her because they thought she'd have sex because she had no parents, as if that made any sense.Girls looked down their noses at her.Teachers had already given up on her, knowing she had no help at home or that she would be moved to another house soon.
"You got anyone?"he asked.
She shook her head."Just me."
He stretched his legs out, crossed his ankles, and leaned back in the chair.She rolled to her side and pulled the pillow under her head to look at him.
She whispered, "Are you happy living here by yourself?"
Finn's eyes flicked toward the window, toward the dark street outside."Happy isn't the word."
"Then what is?"
He thought for a long moment."Existing."
Her chest tightened.That sounded like the opposite of happiness.
"Why did you come here if this isn't where you want to be?"
"I didn't choose to live in Everstill," he said."I walked out of prison one day and ended up in this place instead of the real world."
She frowned."If it doesn't make you happy, why stay?"
"Because there's nowhere else to go."
"You could come back with me," she whispered.
