Chapter Two

"Do you think I'm a monster, Sister?" Anna asked cautiously.

"Of course not, darling. A nightmare doesn't make you a bad person. They're called nightmares for a reason," Mari-Ann replied smiling through her dark-rimmed glasses. "Now how about we get back to bed?" They'd sauntered off to their respective rooms, not saying another word to each other. This was their nightly routine after all and it was too early in the morning to argue. Tucked into bed, Anna gazed at the ceiling.

She thought about the good old days when this place wasn't her home. The days when her mother and father were so happily caring for her that they never noticed the barrier in their own relationship. The happy singing, that turned to yelling. The playful banter, that transformed into venomous insults. She remembered watching their marriage explode faster than dynamite. Suddenly, she started remembering when it all started...

It was an opaque morning filled with joyous howls of laughter. Her mother had the most beautiful grin on display as father got ready to launch yet another popcorn kernel directed at her mouth. The movie was still going on in front of them on their television and she was neatly seated on the couch right between her mother and father, who decided that their living room rug would be their couch. She watched them teasing each other with funny little jokes and popcorn flying like asteroids around the room. She began laughing hysterically as she watched them run around the messy room, chasing each other while still laughing at their silliness.

Suddenly, they both stopped and stared at her. She knew what their intention was before they pounced onto the couch next to her. Her voice echoed within the happy environment of tickles and baby voices and at that moment she knew she was happy. Later on that night, she heard yelling coming from downstairs while she was asleep. She scurried to the staircase to find her parents engaged in a brutal scream war of insults accompanied by flying furniture. Her entire body stiffened at the sound of their angry voices and the constant crashes of chairs or tables made it even more difficult to comprehend why they were so unhappy with each other. This was the first time she'd ever seen them like this and it was by far the most horrifying image to get out of a five-year-old's brain. This was only the beginning.....

Anna was startled by another foster kid, telling her to come down the hall for breakfast. She figured she had stared out in space until morning and followed the child, quietly attempting to remember the child's name.