I'm a child of only five. i'm cold and hungry. I've seen many faces pass as i sit here and shake.. no one acknowledges my presence. i'm a ghost in this city.. but thats okay, 'cause my mommy will be looking for me. she just told me to stay by this dumpster...that was a long time ago. she said she was just going to run in and get some food. im getting really hungry, where is my mommy? did she abandon me? no, the last thing she said was that she loves me, and that she would be back soon. so now i sit here, on a crate, and cry till my eyes and lungs hurt. now i have no breath, i'm wheezing and i start crying some more. a man approaches me.. he smells nice, like fresh brownies and asks me why im crying. i say my mommy told me to stay here and she hasn't come back and im hungry. he asks, "how long ago was that?" i say "i don't know." he says if im really that hungry he would take me to get some food. i say "okay, but i want somthing warm." hes says, "what ever you want you can have, and while were out we will look for your mom." then he asks what my mom looks like. i say "a little shorter than you, and dark brown hair." Then he asks, "where did she say she was going?" I say "Right in there." I point at the convenience store across the street. So we cross the street. he tells me to look both ways, so i do. he seems strangely familiar, but i don't pay it no mind. so we go in, he walks up to the clerk and asks, "has a woman come in that is a little shorter than me with dark brown hair?" the clerk says "no, im sorry." then he the man turns to me and asks "are you sure she came in here?" and i say "yes, very sure.. i saw her cross the street." hes like "..okay." we walk out of the store. he says, "lets go get that food i was talkin about." he says, "okay, where do you wanna eat?" i say, "anywhere. im very hungry." hes like, "okay, how about there?" he points at a burger joint on the corner. i say okay and we're off. When we get to the restaurant, he gives me the menu and tells me to pick out what i want. I look, and i pick a cheeseburger and fries. I ask him if i can have it. he says, "whatever you want kido." He gets a big burger, as big as my head. it made me laugh. he looks at me and asks me why im laughing i say because his burger is enormous. he says okay and starts laughing too. as we get deeper into the meal, he asks me more questions about my mommy, like where she could she be. i say i don't know, and i start getting sad again. but then he tells me to cheer up, and that we will find my mommy, and i cheer up. i found his voice comforting.. once again, i pay it no mind. then he asks me about my daddy. i say, "i never knew him." Then he says, "don't worry, you might meet him." and i say, "i really hope so. i wanna meet him." hes like, "yeah, thats good." i finish my food and hes still eating, so i just sit and watch him eat. he looks at me and smiles. i smile back. i don't why, but i feel safe with him. I find it strange, but this time i ask him why hes being so nice to me. he says because i remind him of a boy he knew once. i say okay, and he finishes his burger and the rest of his drink. He lets me give the money to the lady. i was so happy, i felt like a big kid. then, we're off again. he asks me if i know were i live. i say, "yup, 1324 richard Boulevard, apartment 3." he says "okay, but thats a long walk." and asks if its okay we drive there. i think about it and i say ok, because its too cold to walk and i feel safe with him. i don't think he would hurt me, so we go to his car. it's big, and it's blue. i don't know what kind it is, but its warm inside and i like it, so i got in. At a red light, he asks me if i have any brothers or sisters. i said "not that i know of.." the light turned green and we were off again. now, we got reach my apartment and i get out first and run to my door to see if it was unlocked. he yells, "wait up!" so i do. then we get to my door.. and it wasnt unlocked. He asked me if there was a spare key anywhere around, i said, "i don't know." so then he said, "maybe we should go to the police station to see if your mom has reported you missing.." so were off again, to the police station. we get there and he opens the door. i walk ahead an go to the front desk. there was a women sitting there, he asks if a women came in to report a missing child in the past 3 hours. she says, "hold on, let me check." she goes into the back room, he looks at me. he gives me a smile to try to make me feel better, but it doesn't really work.. but at least i know he cares. the lady comes back and says, "nope.." with a saddened expression on his face, he says "okay." then he asks me, "where do you wanna go?" i say, "i don't know.." he says, "lets just drive around for little bit and go back to your apartment and see if your moms there." i say okay. now we're driving again. we get to the restaurant we were just eating at, and to my surprise i see my mom. she is walking down the street.. she doesn't look worried.. like she wasn't even worried. i say, "hey, theres my mom! right there by the restaurant!" As he pulls in the driveway, she gets into someones car and it drives off. i don't think she even noticed that i was here.. but shes gone now. I look at the clock in the car. It's close to 2 am, so i say, "lets start driving around again." so we do. i get tired, so i go to sleep.. next thing i know, he's nudging me to wake up. i look around, and I'm not in the car anymore. he says, "you fell asleep in the car, so I brought you back to my house." He asks if i want to go check my house again cause its a little after 6, and maybe my mom will be there. i say lets go, so we get back to my house and i knock on the door.. my mom answers with a surprised look on her face. she just stares at me, with the expression of 'what the hell are you doing here?!'. Then she says, "What the hell are you doing here?!" I start to say something, but then i realize she wasn't looking at me. she was looking at the man that was helping me, and i can't help wonder, how does she know him? Then he says, "I have a right to be here, he is my son too." then i finally realize why i feel so safe with him. he is my dad. she says, "I kicked you out for a reason." he says, "yea cause you couldn't take me trying to make you change your ways. our own son saw you last night. 'working'. He was looking for you, after you left him behind a dumpster. you're a horrible person, leaving your own son to fend for himself. he's only five!" she says, "i said i would be back." "Yea, but he was back there for almost 5 hours! This is the last straw. I'm calling child services. im taking custody of him........"

There were a series of custody battles after this. i went back and fourth till the age of about 15. then my father finally won full custody, and this is were the story ends. I graduated high school. im a junior in college now, and I'm writing this story for all those who think there lives are horrible.. but there is always hope. just keep going, you will never know what you find.