An Unwilling Prisoner.

I couldn't believe my own mother turned me in.

She left me here, in a place of strangers and disgusting vermin - without even a glint of regret. Even when I reached through the bars and pleaded, she relented. Told me, with that bittersweet smile plastered on her face, that it was for my own good. That is was time to grow up.

I guess I understood. On some level, I could tell that she had been getting annoyed with me. Would lecture me about being good, about God, about how I was doing this and this and this all wrong. Maybe I did need to grow up, but I didn't know if I could trust her after she betrayed my trust so.

I glanced at the glaring sun, already feeling the sweat glint off my back. The day was still young, fresh, and the strangers intimidated me as they surrounded the courtyard. There were rules in place, I could tell, from the stiff shoulders of some and the tear streaks down others. Rules I didn't know yet, but ones I will soon understand.

I quickly located the watcher, looking down from his post with glinted eyes and a fake smile. He seemed like he could be a nice guy - slightly round at the belly, still young and healthy, except something about him put me on edge. And I suddenly shiver, a seeping regret in my bones as I considered mother. Didn't she see what this place did to my brother? it turned him into a right animal, it did. I would have been much happier at home, hiding in between curtains and eating from the pantry. ‘No,’ my mother stated, ‘It's against the law. You have to go.’

I was lost in my mind when I realised the watcher was walking towards me. His dead eyes and fake smile almost made me curl.

“Ah, you must be Henry. Your mummy left a note - would you like me to show you around? I'm sure you’ll make lots of friends - day-care is the most fun you’ll ever have!”

Henry doubted it, but took the tall man's hand and waddled away. Damn his mummy, and her controlling ways.