“We’ll call child services, and they’ll take you away,” Tori’s father said as he and his wife started packing their belongings. Being just 15, she couldn’t understand what those words meant, and sadly, she and her siblings learned that the hard way.
Just a few days later, Tori and her siblings were separated and sent to different foster homes, and that’s when their ordeal began.
Lucas, who was six at the time kept asking why were those people taking him away, and Ben, 5, cried, “I don’t want to go, Tori. I want to stay with you.”
Now that their parents abandoned them, Tori wanted to be there for her brothers, but she was powerless. There was nothing she could do to keep what remained of their family together.
“I’m here to help,” the woman with the Child Protective Services assured the three siblings who were scared to death. “I know this is hard, but we need to take you somewhere safe.”
“Please, don’t take us away,” Tori begged. “We can stay here, we’ll be good.”
Once they were forced to leave the house, Tori, Lucas, and Ben were placed in three different cars which headed to different directions. Tori watched her brothers through the car window, their tear-streaked faces disappearing from view.
The drive to Tori’s foster home was a haze of tears and confusion. She kept replaying her father’s harsh words, questioning how it had come to that, and how they could leave their children behind just like that.
From the very first moment Tori met her foster family, the Thompsons, she felt unwanted. They were cold people who barely spoke to her, unless they needed to tell her what chore to finish.
Tori was sad and lonely, and she couldn’t stop thinking of her little brothers.
Unable to cope with the reality she was forced to live, Tori decided to run away from the foster home that never felt like a cozy place. However, that attempt failed as police caught her shortly after and returned her to the Thompsons, who were furious at her.
Every time she ran away, the same thing happened. She would be dragged back, scolded, and ignored even more. But Tori was determined to leave that place, so one night, she packed some of her belongings and slipped out the window.
Tori ended up on the street, but she knew it would be better for her than living with her foster family. She found an old trailer where she spent the nights. It...
