The pale yellow walls surround me and I am left alone, sitting on a soft white couch. I could almost fall asleep if it wasn't for the air conditioner that has made my limbs stiff with cold. I look at the clock, she's five minutes late. The door open after another few minutes and Karen walks in. She is always wearing that bright smile which never seems to wear off, her golden hair is tied in a loose ponytail and she is wearing a beautiful light blue dress which comes down to her feet.

"Hello Amy! I'm so sorry I'm late, I got caught up with something."

She says in a cheerful voice, it almost makes it seem that I won't be moving houses after all, that I'll just hop in her car and we can drive away into the sunset and forget all of our troubles. She puts down her folders on the beige desk and sits on the chair next to me.

"So tell me, how have you been? Are you exited for another move? There is nothing to worry about, the couple that will be taking you in are good people and they have the cutest dog."

I just nod, I know there is a bad news that she has to tell me. There always is.

"We organised Paul to take you there tomorrow and you will move in the same evening. Now because you will live so far away, I will only be able to visit you once every two months."

And there it is. Karen visits me every month but sometimes she comes more often, now I won't be able to see her. Again, I nod and she gets off the chair and puts her arm around me.

"I promise everything will be okay."

And I believed her.

Six months is how long I will be staying with Mr and Mrs Baxter, after that I will be able to move out and buy an apartment and get a job. It's only six months, how bad can it be? The car pulls in a driveway and I can see from here the double storey house standing dominantly over all the other smaller houses. A dog barks in the distance and then its silence again. The eerie quiet of the neighbourhood envelops the car and I shift uneasily in my seat. The door opens and Paul sits back while the massive metal gates groan as they open to let us in. We drive through and the house now looks more enormous than it had before. The red bricks make it seem unmovable and strong, so unlike the other wooden houses around. The door opens and a woman in her mid-thirties walks out. She has an apron on and ugg boots and waves to us. She looks just like all the other people who have opened their homes to me, so welcoming and willing to please.

After all the tedious introductions have been made, Mrs Baxter, who told me to just call her Grace, gave me some biscuits with tea and went to another room to provably complain to Paul as to why Karen isn't with me. Karen usually comes with me whenever I change homes but she was unable to because another case opened up and needed her urgently. I should feel disappointed, abandoned, but all I feel is numbness and there is no room left for another disappointment. At last, Paul leaves my suitcase and me in this peculiar mansion and drives off with the roar of his engine back to the centre.

"All right Amy, follow me and I will show you your bedroom. You will be on the second floor with my two daughters, Clara and May. They are very sweet and will do everything that they can to make you feel at home."

I follow her up the golden stairs and to the room closest to them. She opens the door and the smell of detergent assaults my nose. The first thing I see is the brightly coloured walls and the single bed with pink sheets. The whole room looks like the candy factory.

"Do you like it?"

She asks me, flashing a small smile. Now that I look at her properly I notice just how tired she looks. Does she ever get a goodnight's sleep? I nod, although I would rather sleep on the leather couch downstairs. She goes back downstairs, telling me she will bring my suitcase up. I walk to the bed and turn around, on the wardrobe there's a long mirror. I walk over to it, I haven't looked at myself in a long time. My brown hair has grown past my shoulders now and I am still as pale as I was five years ago. Nothing's changed.

I walk downstairs, Grace hasn't come up for ten minutes and I'm starting to get worried. The closer I get down the stairs, the clearer I hear two voices whispering angrily. One voice I recognise is Grace's, the other is a much younger one.

"You said that we wouldn't take in any more sick kids after Chloe left! And now you picked up another stray and I have to live with her?"

"Clara please lower you voice. And she was in need of help and I know we can offer her a stable home for as long as she needs."

"You're impossible, mum! Why can't we just have a normal family? Why do you have to bring in needy kids who can't look after themselves?"

Her harsh words made their way deep to my frozen heart. She was right, but I can't leave this house until my eighteenth birthday. After that I can prove to everyone that I can and will take care of myself. Better than anyone else can. I slightly move my arm from the railing and accidentally push over a vase. The blue and white container shatters to a million pieces and the sound stops the whispers. Grace walk out the dining room and stares with a shocked expression, is it at the vase or the fact that I might have heard her conversation? My eyes feel watery and I realise I have been crying. I rush upstairs to my candy coated room and fall to the floor. My eyes meet the wardrobe mirror and I see a girl, with hopes and dreams which have been long ago shattered like Grace's vase. Her face is stained with tears and she seems to be unable to stop. How has that become me?