I wasn't always such a little shit. Kids are just like the other animals when they're born, right? They don't hurt to be evil.

[ She opens her eyes, stares up at the ceiling. Her fingertips are still pressing gently against Sarissa's back. ]

I didn't understand at first why I got moved around so much. I'd start to love someone, 'cause kids, they love so easily, right? I'd be with them for a couple months and I'd think they were my mum and dad. I was just little. Then I'd go to a different place, different family. I figured it out when I got older—that they didn't care about me the same way they cared about their own kids. I wasn't really part of the family. Sometimes I'd come home from school and someone'd be waiting in a car to take me to a new home. The parents never even said goodbye. I'd have all my stuff in a garbage bag 'cause it was easiest to pack. That's when I got angry, when I started to do shit that got me kicked out on purpose. I just—when I think about animals all I can think is that they're never gonna grow up and understand what happened to them, why someone left them behind. They'll never know why someone they loved went away.