Chapter 1

The sun rose before Joanne anticipated. Another day to live, another day of uncertainty. She sat on her petite bed, looking at her mother that had slouched on the couch from the night before. She stood to wipe off the drool that covered her mother’s mouth. She usually did that to wake her up, to her surprise, her mother did not even move an inch as she progressed to touch her face. Joanne’s heart raced, she rummaged through her mother’s purse, looking for a phone to call 911.

**

Joanne could not believe what she was hearing. It was her mother’s second strike after years of being sober. Hours after sitting in the waiting room, a stranger approached her. She left her seat as she didn’t feel like making small talks while her mother was lying unconscious on her probable death bed merely a few meters away from her.

The stranger then introduced himself as a social worker. She was relieved, knowing that she didn’t have to leave her trailer home this time since she had recently turned 18. On the contrary to her belief, she learned that she was only 17 and still had a few months left before she could be free from the system. Her smile turned to a frown ever so quickly. What else did her mother lie about? She certainly would never want to stay at her distant relative’s house again. That family was verbally abusive and not doing so much better than her mother. At least Joanne’s mother was able to raise her alone with no one’s help.

“I saw some complaints you and your mother made about living with the Smiths.”, said Benjamin, the social worker.

“Yes, I think I can take care of myself for the following months before I age out. I can pretty much handle anything.”, Joanne exclaimed, widening her eyes so she appeared more innocent. Looking back to it, she realized it wasn’t the right move. She had to act tough to increase her chance of living alone.

“I’m afraid you can’t do that. Trust me, it’s really hard for me to transfer you to another state too, but it’s the system.”, he shrugged, almost unapologetically.

“Another state?”, Joanne was shocked by the idea. Who could possibly be someone that she knew that lived in another state? Thousands of questions started to run to her head. Her mother didn’t have any friend, aside from Mrs. Costa, her neighbor back in the trailer park. She used to invite them to have takeout dinners at her humble home. When I said humble, I was not downplaying. Mrs. Costa pretty much took care of both Joanne and her mother, but enough about her.

Joanne was still searching for possibilities. Both of her grandparents were deceased. The only logical explanation she could think of was her being put in the foster system, and the only foster homes that still took in strays were all in different states. That was the most sensible reason she could come up with, considering she was living near the border between Philadelphia and New York.

“Why do you look so worried? I am sure your father would be thrilled to finally see you.”.

Joanne snapped out of her thoughts. Father? All her life, her mother never mentioned him, not even once. She sometimes tried to cheer herself up by thinking that her mother conceived her with the sperm purchased from sperm bank, and he was a Harvard graduate, which she hopefully will be too in a few years. Joanne’s face turned red, from the anger, anxiety and all the emotions that rushed into her. She sure was not happy about this.