My tears soaked the blue-lined fabric of the coach as my brother, laying on the Fatboy recliner we dragged home a few weeks before, whined because he didn’t get to put fire to the tic I found on my arm. We were lying down because, as our mom liked to say, we were “cranky” and “needed a nap.” That’s when we heard exhaust and vehicles pulling up, thinking it was our mother’s “candy supplier.” We didn’t bother to blink an eye, finally drifting off to an unwanted sleep.

Kaylah, my older sister, came storming into the front door to the left of me. She was babbling on about how I needed to come outside and to “please, please don’t leave me.” Confused and slightly asleep, I stumbled outside onto our red brick pathway my siblings and I had installed a couple of months ago while our mother was away on a “business trip.” Honestly, I think Kain’s section of the pathway could have been better; it’s all I could think when stepping onto it. 

Realizing he was right behind me, I finally looked up to see who had pulled into our driveway. The one person in the world I did never see was standing in front of me, with about six of what my mother called “pigs” standing behind him. After the pause of initial shock, I ran to my father, jumping higher than I ever had before to be in the embrace of his arms. I was breathing in the masculine smell that was radiating off of him. Burying my head in his neck, I thought I’d never get this again.

My Father set me back on the ground, and I finally took the chance to look around. With all the white and blue SUVs, our yard looked like what mom called “they-were-stupid-with-their-candy” houses. There were “pigs” standing all around, and one right next to mom. I looked up at her and asked, “what’s going on?” Then my step-mom answered, “ You’re finally coming home, baby.”

Looking back to my mother, all she could do was nod yes. As excitement rushed through my body like adrenaline, I looked over at my younger brother Kain to see the sadness and regret in his eyes. Looking at my older sister, all I could see was fear and sadness as tears started to drip down her face. I didn’t understand why everyone looked so sad.

My father told me to “pack my things. We’ll be leaving soon.” Kaylah walked inside with me, neither of us speaking, just grabbing clothes and putting them in my backpack from the previous school year. We had just started summer break, so we had to pull the few school supplies I had out and set them on the bed I shared with Kaylah. We packed it as full as we could, then sat on the edge of our bed in silence until she spoke, telling me, “it would all be okay,” and “call me.”

We headed back outside, where it looked like my mother and father were arguing but stopped when they heard us walking out of our old, white, paint-chipped house. Walking over to my father, he pointed to a red car parked at the end of the driveway and told me to “put my bag in the back seat.”

After following his directions, everyone started to walk over to the red car surrounding me. Hugs were given once, twice, and the third round with tears. I got in the car and rolled down my window. As my brother, the only one who hadn’t walked away yet was standing outside my door, I promised him, “I will always come back, bubba, I promise.” After saying I love you back, he walked inside with the others as the red car started to pull away.

We drove away with the promise of a better life. I finally got my father back.

As we got farther and farther away from the place I had known as home for the last year, I started to think about my little sister Cheyanne and the cat I had gotten as a gift right before we went “camping” and ended up in Kentucky, the coldest place I had lived with my mother.

I started daydreaming about all the picnics and playdates I would finally be able to have.

However, the intruding thought that my father would also have a “candy man” and would go on “business trips” worried me as the little red car drove me to my new life of being taken care of and loved, and away from the abuse, and fear, that was my old life.

Before drifting off to sleep again, my last thought was, “will a little red car come for my siblings and give them a better life?”