Nearly 3000 people died in 9/11. Two of those people were my parents.

There are 100 million homeless people in our world. One of them is me.
There are 59,929 homeless people in New York City, I am one of them.
A homeless person: a person without a home or regular dwelling.
If you couldn’t tell already I have a Photographic memory; it’s hard for me to show it.
My name is Dylan, and I used to be wealthy. I had a wonderful family. My mother was a beautiful woman. She laughed at everything I did. And I know she is always proud of me. Sometimes when I close my eyes I can smell her perfume, I loved her so much. My father wasn’t like most dads. Whenever he went out, even just to the grocery store or the gas station, he would always come back with a little present for me and my mom. Even if it was just a piece of candy or a snow globe it always made me smile.
When they died I was sent to a foster home in the Bronx. I hated the foster home. At first, the sister was so sweet and caring. But then she turned into a little brat. When she was curling my hair she would put the iron on my scalp and burn me on purpose. I still have the scars, under my hair. She bullied me. Always teasing me and making fun of me. I kept a small picture of my parents, I would never let go of it, she said my parents are ugly and weird and I was a loser for being related to them. She told me that 9/11 was the best thing that happened to America. Once she said that I couldn’t take it anymore. I woke up at 3:30 am, I took all my stuff, and I stole some of her money. Only $50, I needed it to survive. How else is a twelve-year old girl going to get food. I took the 4:00 am train to the Upper East Side Manhattan. I was walking around for a few days trying to find a place to settle. But I was starving so I went to a diner, where I met Trish. Trish was also poor. She was my first friend that I made. “You look like you can use a hot chocolate,” Trish said nicely. I smiled at her. “Where are your parents?” She asked.“My parents are at the Calvary cemetery in Queens,” I said kind of rudely. I hope she didn’t take it offensively, but not every child in this world has two wonderful parents that baby them all day long. Not many, but some kids are like me.
At the diner, I saw my foster family on the news and they said they were looking for me, but I would never go back there.
Anyways, “I’m so sorry.” Trish started, “My dad left me before I was born so it was just me and my mom. But when I was just 12 years old she got a job in London and said it would be too much money to take me. So I had to live with my grandma who was a little old witch. So the day I turned 16 I got a job here.” I had no idea Trish had a hard life, she seemed like such a happy person, the way I used to be.
“I’m so sorry,” I said softly.
After I finished eating, I saw a cop, I wasn’t sure if he was looking for me, or he saw me on the news, but I ran anyway, I jumped a fence and ran straight through a valley and climbed up a long fire escape. That’s where I settled, on a fire escape attached to a school. It was about 8:00 in the morning and I hadn't had any sleep in days. I laid down my small fluffy blanket that I had since I was a baby, it smelled like my parents. I gathered some leaves and put that under my blanket.
The next morning I heard someone speaking, it was Ms. Gelb teaching her class. “Alright class” she starts, “today we are learning how to multiply and divide fractions.” Ms. Gelb is the sweetest woman, long blond hair and always so sweet to everyone, she reminds me of my mother. While she starts writing an equation on the board I see a sharp rock on the ground, so I make sure no one is walking by and I climb down from the ladder.
When I got back up I took the rock and scratched the brick wall of the school. When the rock scratched it made a mark, like a little white powder pen. So I kept on writing the equations and solving them.

When school was over I took a nap and then I went to the diner. It was about 6:00pm. I saw Trish and we talked for a little. She gave me dinner, on the house. But I can’t tell anyone otherwise she would get fired. She was telling me how her mom wrote her a letter but once she saw it she ripped it up into a million pieces and then burned it.
I love spending time with Trish, she never makes me feel bad about myself like other people do. Like yesterday, I was trying to get some food and there must have been 20 people staring at me like I was some kind of zoo animal. At least no one asked me to do a trick.
  Trish treats me like an adult and I can tell her anything. When I told her I ran away from my foster home she was very supportive.

That night at 2:00 in the morning I went down the fire escape to the side of the school where the kindergartners have their garden. I haven’t taken a bath in days. They have a long sink that has about 6 faucets. So I climbed in. The sinks are very slim and they weren’t as long as my body, so I was a little scrunched up but I didn’t mind, at least I had a bath. It took about five minutes for the somewhat warm water to kick in. After I washed my hair and body, I started to dry off. As I was reaching for my ripped up rag I was thinking about my parents. I was thinking about how my mother would be keeping me warm and my father would be making my laugh. I shedded a tear or two. I really missed my mommy and daddy.
The next morning I slept until noon, I was so tired. I stayed up all night trying to make a somewhat comfortable pillow. I found a flat rock and covered it with grass and leaves. I used some water as glue, trying to stick the grass to the rock. After a while it dried together. And the pillow was actually nice.
So when I woke up, the window to the classroom was opened like always, so I took my rock and wrote the equations that were on the board.
After school, I saw some kids from the class. I almost said hi but then I remembered I couldn’t. “Who’s up there?” One of the guys said. I climbed down the fire escape, “My name is Dylan.”

When I woke up I saw the kids laughing at me. Next thing I knew some boy ran up to me and threw a big punch. My nose started bleeding and I thought it might be broken. The kids ran away when they heard a police siren. I could hardly move but then I wondered if the cop might have seen me on the news, I thought about being in a foster home and suddenly I was halfway up the fire escape, once I got there I saw a large flat rock on the floor, covered in grass and leaves. And then it hit me, they ruined my pillow, the pillow I worked on all night. That was the first good night of sleep I´ve had.
I saw some police officers looking around, so I hid under my small fluffy blanket hoping they wouldn’t see me. I was so nervous, so I stayed under the covers for 30 more minutes making sure everyone was gone.

That night it was cold and rainy. Very cold and rainy. It was too late to go to the diner so I decided to find another rock. But I didn’t find any. So I used the old one that was covered in my blood. I tried to wash some of it off in the rain but it was already dried on. Most of the leaves near me were already dead and they would more uncomfortable than the rock itself. I was really cold and I started shivering; I couldn't even speak my lips were chattering so quickly.
That morning I skipped school, well I didn’t really skip school because I’m not required to go, but I missed school. I went to the diner, where there is heat. Trish was so happy to see me. She snuck me a waffle under the table. It was delicious. I wondered if Trish ever expected anything from me. She is always giving me free food and always listening to my problems but she never expects anything in return. Even if she did expect something in return I don’t have anything to give her. She knows that.
It was really busy in the diner, Trish didn’t get a chance to talk to me that much but I didn’t mind. I sat at the bar watching as people were rushing inside to get away from the icy snow on the ground. Another family came in. The two parents looked happy and there was a little girl. After watching them for about 20 minutes I realized that they reminded me of my family...or my old family. The little girl wouldn’t stop giggling and the parents were laughing too. The mother kind of looked like my mom but she wasn’t as tall and my mom wears less makeup. Once I realized it was rude to stare I stopped myself but I could still hear the parents laughing and the little girl giggling. I just sat there drinking my hot chocolate.
It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and the snow was piling up. I was still in the diner, the diner was still packed. Trish and I talked while she was on her lunch break. I was telling her about the kids who punched me, and she told me that if that happens again she will come and beat them up. I know she was kidding, but it made me feel better. Once she had to go back to work I watched the snow falling from the sky onto the ground. I watched as it got thicker and thicker. Afterward, I was looking at the T.V. and the news was on. It was saying how all the schools were out for an early dismissal. I was glad I packed my blanket and my small backpack into a garbage bag, otherwise snow would have gone all over it.
The news also said how it snowed almost two and a half feet already. After watching the news for like 10 minutes I started to think. I thought about how lucky I was. Imagine if I didn't have Trish. I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to, no one would know my story. If I chose a different place to settle, I wouldn’t be able to look through the school and learn and I wouldn’t have any knowledge for my photographic memory. I was very lucky.
It was beginning to get dark out, there were twice as many people in the diner. The other family that reminded me of my parents just left and I was well finished with my hot chocolate so Trish gave me a nice and warm chocolate croissant. It was very yummy. “Thank you Trish.” I said as she handed it to me. “Your welcome.” she said back. See, I told you she never expects anything in return.
Trish told me I can spend the night at the diner to keep warm but I didn’t want to get caught. Even though she spends every night at the diner. I still had $25 left from the foster home. so I bought a nice hat and some gloves that were $2. My winter coat was extremely worn out, but it was better than nothing.
Walking back to the fire escape I saw how it was covered in snow. I slowly climbed up, making sure I didn't slip. Once I was up, I made a ginormous snowball, gathered all the rest of the ice and pushed it over the edge so my things didn’t get too wet. I opened the black garbage bag that had my stuff in it and I was pleased to find that everything was dry.
I didn’t think it was that late but I was really tired, so I rolled up into my fluffy blanket and used the bloody rock as my “soft” pillow. I had a hard time falling asleep, it was so cold, windy, and icy. At least I had a good day.
That morning I woke up very early. I was trying to stay warm. About an hour later, the bell rang for school, I was surprised it was opened today; with all the snow. Ms. Gelb started her lesson “Today we are going to be talking about the United States constitution, will everyone please take out their notebooks we are going to take a lot of notes today.” I looked in the garbage bag for my sharp rock. And there it was sitting alone. I reached my hand into the bag and picked it up by the flat end making sure I wouldn’t poke myself with the sharp edge. Once I picked it up I turned it around and shifted my body. Then I realized that there was no more room on the bottom of the wall because I took too many notes, I stood up and started taking notes Higher on the building. My handwriting was just like my dad's, the letters are tall, but neat.
As school was going on, all of a sudden Brooke raised her hand. From what I’ve heard she is the queen bee. She is definitely the richest girl in school. She gets a manicure and pedicure everyday. She always wears designer clothes. And fancy black Jimmy Choo boots. And I know the brand because I used to have the same ones in gray, but now they are too small so I use the furry inside to put under my blanket so my back isn’t laying down on the hard metal of the fire escape while I sleep. She is so gorgeous. She has shoulder length brown hair. She is pretty tall and she has a light colored shade of freckles spread out on her nose.
Anyways Brooke goes “This is a little off topic but Ms. Gelb you wore that dress three weeks ago and honestly...it’s not too flattering on you, you're definitely not pretty enough to pull that off.” It took me a second to realize how rude that was of Brooke. “Thank you for your input on my outfit, but I do have an end to my wardrobe and a washing machine.” All the other kids in the classroom, including me, shout.“OOOOOOOO.” Brooke ran out of the classroom. I could tell she was about to cry. I enjoyed that very much.

At the end of the day, I see Ms. Gelb sitting at her desk. She looked very sad. I saw her coming over to close the window so I ducked. But she wasn’t going to shut her window. She shouts “Little girl? It’s okay, I saw you on the news, I know what you’ve been through.” So I stood up.
“Hi,” I said softly.
“Why are you out here in the freezing cold?”
“This is kind of where I live, I didn’t know you saw me.” I said looking down.
“Well, to be honest, I’ve always seen you, but I’ve never seen your face, I figured you were homeless, but you wanted an education so that's why I open the window everyday.”
I couldn't believe it. I always thought I was so good at hiding, but I guess not.
“I saw what happened with Brooke today, I’m so sorry, that was very obnoxious of her,” I said.
“Yeah, she thinks she is better than everyone else sometimes. Someone had to teach her a lesson. Listen I have to go pick up my husband from the airport, he’s a surgeon and he just went to Africa for a week for this heart surgery, so I can’t really talk now, but would you want to come over for dinner tomorrow night, around 6:00 pm, I’m making lamb chops.”
“That sounds delightful, I would love to.” She gave me a sheet of paper with her address. I waved goodbye to her and then I put one foot over the window and climbed out. I decided to go to the diner to tell Trish what was happening. So I climbed down the fire escape, over the edge, and went down foot by foot making sure I don’t slip. I was so excited to tell Trish; I ran down the street hopped over the fence, jumped over the puddle, made a sharp turn around the corner, and I saw Trish taking someone's order. I waited until she sent the order in and then I told her what had happened.
“Oh my gosh, Trish! You won’t believe it! So today while Ms. Gelb was closing the window she looks outside and starts calling ‘little girl, little girl?’ And so I was like hey are you looking for me and then she was like hey and then she invited me inside of her classroom and she told me how she she’s always seen me outside she just didn’t know if she should talk to me and then we were talking for like three more minutes but she had to go because she had to pick her husband up from the airport but she said that I could come over for dinner tomorrow night and so obviously I said yeah and then she gave me a slip of paper with her address on it and then I came running over here--”
”Okay, Dylan, take a deep breath and then I will hug you,” Trish interrupted. I closed my eyes to take a deep breath, when I closed my eyes I had a short flash of a photo pop into my head. It was of me, my mom and my dad, sitting at the dinner table having supper and we were all laughing, it was nice.
I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth. Finally, when I opened my eyes Trish was right in front of me holding out her arms wide open waiting for a hug, so I leaped into her arms holding onto her back with a tight grip. I was so glad she was happy for me.
After we were talking about how I was going to live in a house and not a fire escape, Trish invited me to have an early dinner tonight because once a year she has to have dinner with her grandmother. Her grandma is really sick now, Trish is happy about that though -- I mean she hasn’t told me yet but I'm good at reading people's minds. I was so happy Trish invited me to have dinner at the diner because I haven’t eaten anything all day. I had no time to look for food, that's one of the many bad things about being homeless, there's not enough time.
I had pasta with marinara sauce, the pasta was whole wheat because Trish said I need to eat healthier, when I actually ate.
Once I was finished with dinner I went back to the fire escape. It was 6:00 and I smelled really bad, I needed to take a bath tonight, especially because I’m going to Ms. Gelb’s house tomorrow. I was very tired, like always so I took another nap. By the time I woke up I had no idea what time it was and I didn’t know if I could take a bath. So I looked through the classroom and saw that it was 12:20. Perfect, time for my bath. I climbed down the fire escape and went to the side of the school. And heated up the water in the sink. Surprisingly it heated up pretty quickly, so I jumped in. I made a little splash and I giggled. I saw some soap that I never knew was there so I squirted some...okay a lot in. After about five minutes the bubbles got bigger and I felt like a rich girl in a movie taking a nice warm bubble bath. I used to take bubble baths all the time. Once my dad came home with a little make your own bath packet. My mom and I wanted to try it out. He bought two, my mom said I could take the first one. I was sitting in the big tub and she sprinkled the soap in out of the small white packet. Within 30 seconds the soap bubbles started to get huge. The bubbles were overflowing the entire bath and before we knew it there were bubbles covering the bathroom floor. Most mothers would scream and yell, however my mom laughed and smiled.
I finally got out of the bath and dried off. I ran up the fire escape and put on my hat and gloves and went to sleep.
That morning when I woke up my hair was pretty much frozen and so were my ear lobes. The bell from the school had woken me. Ms. Gelb was teaching about something I never learned about in my old school so I made sure to listen up.

It was just getting dark out, I looked through the window of the classroom to see it was 6:00pm. Ms. Gelb told me today she wanted me to come over at 6:30 but I didn’t know where her house was exactly, so I decided to leave now. I thought it was rude to come empty handed, so on my way there I stopped by the dinner to get a small fruit salad. And I chatted with Trish for like two minutes telling her I was heading over.. I asked like 10 different people where her street was. When I finally got there I rang her doorbell. Ding dong, ding dong the doorbell sang. I looked through the tiny peephole but everything was upside down and very blurry. I thought I saw someone walking away but it was Ms. Gelb walking towards the door. I ducked a little making sure she didn’t see I was looking through. Once she opened the door she welcomed me with a warm smile. I handed her the fruit salad and she looked pleased.
Her apartment was very classy, when you walk in there is a huge family room. Their T.V was bigger than her classroom. Her husband was watching the New york Knicks game, they were up by four and he was happy. “Follow me to the dining room.” Ms. Gelb said nicely. She turned right into the dining room. The room was  dark brown, the table was set for three. Towards the left side of the room, there was a glass cabinet filled with fancy china. “Sit down sweetie, you can start on your soup while I call my husband in.” I nodded my head. I pulled out the chair, they were huge, with a cushion that felt like a cloud, the backs of the chair were velvet and super fancy. Once Ms. Gelb and her husband sat down we began to talk.
After I explained my entire life story they were fighting over the tissues. She was balling more than I was when those kids ruined my pillow. When she finally got herself together, her and her husband looked at each other. It was as if they were talking through their eyes. She looked mad and he looked sad and then he looked relieved and she looked scared then he looked disgusted and she looked calm and finally they both smiled at each other and they both looked happy. “Um... Ms. Gelb, what's going on?” I said more confused than I actually was. “Please call me Samantha.” Ms. Gelb said proudly. “Okay... Samantha what’s going on.” I said for the second time, this time even more confused. Ms. Gelb’s husband, Dr. Gelb started to speak but Ms. Gelb interrupted him. “Dylan, I have watched you everyday looking into at my classroom, I know you are smart and loyal. I know what you have been through, from what you have told me it sounds like you are an amazing daughter and I want you to be my daughter!” My stomach dropped to my toes, my arms were numb the room was spinning incredibly fast. I couldn’t keep my head up, I threw up in mouth because I didn’t want to get it on her beautiful table cloth. “I...I...I have to...to...go!” I screamed as I ran out the door.
I ran straight out of her apartment through the hallway the elevator seemed like someone was getting on so I went straight for the stairs, ran out the front door of the lobby, sprinted four blocks until I got to a sharp turn, I jumped a fence ran straight through the alley and up the fire escape, tears were running through my eyes.
I didn't want anyone to replace my Mommy and Daddy. I loved the Gelbs and I would never have to worry about money. But she just said it, with no warning. I snuggled up under my blanket and watched as the night faded darker and darker. I slowly began to fall asleep...
I walked into the classroom and there was my foster sister. She looked at me straight in the eye. She kept on repeating “I’m safe. I’m safe.” She repeated over and over again. Then I saw my mother she kept on saying “She’s safe, she’s safe.”
I woke up screaming, I was having a nightmare. But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe that was a sign that Ms. Gelb and Dr. Gelb were safe. I took all my stuff and ran straight to her apartment. It must have been 3:00 in the morning because when I banged on her door she looked mad.
“Ms. Gelb... I want you to be my mother, I want to have a family again.” I said happily. Ms. Gelb’s smile grew huge. “That is amazing Dylan. What makes you say that now?” Samantha asked. “I wasn’t ready before, but now I am.”
Ms. Gelb invited me into my new room, and I started my new life, I went to school, went shopping, made friends (that were my age) I took bubble baths and got my gray jimmy choos. But I will always remember that…

There are nearly 3000 people that died in 9/11. Two of those people were my parents.

There are 100 million homeless people in our world, none of them are me.