Me, Myself, and Them

Reaching up to push her glasses back into place, Erin glanced at the closed door before continuing to type. She’d always felt at home in front of a computer screen, and as her pale slender fingers flew over the keys she silently thanked Tom for throwing away the ancient keyboard this one had replaced. Those keys had clicked and clacked so loud she’d almost tossed the keyboard out of her – you think it’s yours now? - second story bedroom window. As she sat at her desk working a breeze blew in that window and Erin shivered. Getting up to close it she paused, looking down at the backyard.

Her latest foster parents, Tom and Chloe were there, sitting on the deck together, watching the light fade and the sky melt into colors as the sun slowly disappeared from view. Tom and Chloe had been the first couple she’d been sent to that truly accepted her. They hadn’t tried to figure out what was wrong, what must have been wrong. Because of course, a young girl has her parents disappear and everyone wants her to talk about it, wants to make sure she’s okay. Everyone else had decided she was just jaded and ruined by the tragedy. But they’d just let her be. And she’d come to think of them as family. I’m the only family you’ve got!

A lump grew in her throat and Erin was suddenly choking on the picturesque scene laid out below her. It was a familiar image. The night before her world had fallen apart she’d watched her mom and dad hold each other on the porch swing just as Tom and Chloe were now.

Of course back then she’d gone to cuddle with them. It was the happiest moment she could remember. Sometimes she clung to it with all she had, letting the feel of their arms protect her as nothing else could. Other times, like now, she used everything and anything she could think of to keep it away. You can’t keep me out for long. She forced it back and locked it in the safe at the back of her mind where she kept the memory of The Accident. I’m still here, I’ll always be here.