The Family is your family, you belong with us “Hello, excuse me son are you ok?”  The man standing beside him at the bus stop looked at him.  He shook his head and snapped back to reality, the flashbacks were already starting with guilt starting to snake its way into his thoughts.   “Yes, fine” he half smiled at the man shyly. He was only ten years old but fairly smart and he had to be since he had been on his own for a lot of his life until The Family took him in.  He looked down at his watch which read 4:45, the bus should arrive soon.  He looked around anxiously looking to see if anyone was around.  The bus finally pulled up and he breathed a sigh of relief.  He hopped on the bus with everyone else and found a window seat.  He didn’t know where he was going and honestly he didn’t really care as long as it was away from here, away from them.
He looked out the window the sky was still dark out so he knew it was still dawn with the daylight breaking soon.  He fell asleep to lull of the bus ride thankful that he could worry just a little less.  The thoughts of fear and doubt never quite evading.  A few hours later he awoke to find it bright out, so bright in fact that he had to shield his eyes from the glaring sun.  He looked about the bus and saw a woman was sitting in next to him.  She’s old enough to be my mother he thought.  She looked up at him and smiled.
“I see you finally decided to join the rest of the waking world.”  “Do you know where we are going?”  “This bus is headed for Tennessee I do believe” she said.  “At least that’s what all the signs say, we have a few more hours until we get there.”  “Alright, well thanks.”  He said back to her. 

The few hours went by quick and he was glad that the lady sitting next to him didn’t ask for his name.  He was very glad to see the welcome sign that read Welcome to Tennessee!  This meant that the bus finally arrived at the Welcome Center.  He ran off the bus as fast as he could heading straight for the bathroom, the trip was the longest he had held it before so he was thankful for the release.  He didn’t know what the next few days were to become of him but he knew they had to be better than the few months before.  He was glad he got away from The Family so he could start a new life on his own free to make his own decisions being finally free from their grasp.