"Don't turn your back on me you piece of shit!" My foster father yelled "You think anyone out there will give a damn about a pathetic, worthless, foster kid?"

"What are you going to do to stop me? Huh?" I shouted back "You've already done every horrible thing a person can do aside from murder, already beat the crap out of me! Nothing you can say to stop me this time!"

This was the final fight I was going through with this foster family. The reason for the fight tonight was my decision to run away, again. This had to be my… ninth… tenth, failed foster home?

Man, Grusby sure knows how to pick these homes for me. Every single one has ended up in failure. They either emotionally and mentally abuse me, physically abuse me, or like this recent one, both.

This time I'm not getting caught, no sir. I'll hide out from him real good this time, even though I've said that every other time I ran away. No matter, I've learned from last time. Besides, I'm seventeen, well almost seventeen, but I can still get a job. I can…

"Really Felix, again?" came the voice of Joel Grusby, my social worker. This guy is so annoying, how the hell did he find me so fast? I literally just crashed into him. "You promised you would try this time."

"Kind of hard to do that when they treated me the way they did. Didn't really have a choice in the matter it was either leave and live or stay and die." I said

"Being a little overdramatic don't you think Merwin?"

"Overdramatic?" I was astonished. "I got the crap beaten out of me every day by my foster family with them shouting abuse at me as well, and you think I'm being overdramatic?"

"Now Felix, I know you're still upset about your parents but…"

"Don't bring up my parents," I snarled. "They have nothing to do wit–

"But you can't keep pushing everyone else away." Grusby interrupted "Especially when you lie about people who are only trying to take care of you."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Are you blind or something? Use your eyes!" I pointed to my black eye, the scars on my arms and the blood. "Does this look like someone is taking great care of me and lying?"

He took me under the lamppost so he could see it better. "Mother of… Shit. I'm sorry for doubting you kid, but having met with that family often, it all seemed rather unlikely. I can't believe it. Well, you'll be staying with the Gaithers until we find you a new foster family."

"If every time a run away from a family and you always end up sending me to Jimmy's folks place, why can't I just stay with them until I'm eighteen?" I asked. It's true though, every time I run away Grusby always sends me to the Gaither's.

Not that I mind though, I mean the Gaither's are the parents of my best friend Jimmy and they're practically family. Although, Jimmy has started to act stranger than usual. But then again, when I started acting strange a couple years ago and Jimmy still stuck by me so I'm not going to abandon him.

"For several reasons actually." Grusby explained. "The first being all the chaos you and that Jimmy boy cause when you're together, and another being that the Gaithers don't have that much money and can't afford to raise two boys."

"What do you mean the Gaithers don't have money? Sure they aren't rich, but they do have a comfortable life."

"Not anymore kid," I was annoying that he still called me kid. "Mr. Gaither lost his job two weeks ago."