Amanda knocked at seven in the morning.
Not loud. Just enough. Like she knew I was already up.
I was. Had not really slept. The beds at the foster center were bad. I had been staring at the ceiling since five doing the math on how many places I had slept in the last week.
I grabbed my bag. Sketchbook on top. Walked out.
"Morning," Amanda said. She looked like she had already had two coffees. "About thirty minutes away. Just so you know what to expect, it's a lesbian couple. Five kids in the house already."
"Five?"
"Five."
I thought about that for a second.
"So they're trying to make it even," I said.
Amanda laughed. First real thing either of us had said all morning.
"Also," she said, opening the car door, "I got the judge to sign off on a few things. They're building you a shed in the backyard. Insulated, separate AC unit, the works. All yours."
I stopped.
"A shed."
"A shed," she said. "Private space. Just for you."
I did not say anything to that. Just got in the car.
A shed. My own space. I had not had that. Ever. Not once in sixteen years.
I did not want to feel anything about it yet so I opened my sketchbook and drew for thirty minutes while Amanda played the radio low. By the time she said we were close I had finished a piece I had been working on for two weeks. Just like that.
Funny how that works.
* * *
The house was a Craftsman. Nice neighborhood. The kind with actual trees on the sidewalk and people who mow their lawns on a schedule.
I had never lived anywhere like this.
"Ready?" Amanda asked.
"You double-checked there are no serial killers, right?"
She laughed and knocked.
The door opened and there were two women standing there. One Black, natural hair, warm face. She looked like somebody who ran things but made it feel easy. The other one was white, blonde, had a cop energy even in a cardigan. Both of them were smiling.
"Hi, welcome," the first one said. "I'm Lena. This is Stef."
Stef waved. Big smile.
"Nice to meet you both," I said. "I'm Sean. Sean Green." I touched the top of my head. "Green hair in case you forget."
Lena laughed. Stef looked like she was trying not to.
Good enough.
* * *
The inside of the house was loud even when nobody was talking.
You could feel it. Something had happened here recently. The kind of feeling that sits in a house after a fight. Not gone yet. Just gone quiet.
There were kids everywhere. A girl who looked my age on the couch pretending to read but actually watching me walk in. Two others in the kitchen, twins maybe, who glanced over and went back to eating. A younger boy on the stairs who just stared openly like that was fine.
I had been the new kid enough times to know the drill. You do not try too hard. You do not shrink either. You just exist and let people decide what they think.
I set my bag down.
The boy on the stairs said, "You dyed your hair green."
"Yeah," I said.
"Why?"
"I felt like it."
He thought about that for a second like it was new information. Then he nodded and went back to whatever he had been doing.
Okay. I liked him already.
Lena was showing Amanda something on a clipboard. Stef was watching me in that way adults do when they are trying to figure out who you are without asking directly. I had seen it a hundred times. It was not unfriendly. Just careful.
"We'll give you the full tour in a bit," Lena said over her shoulder. "But the most important thing first." She looked at Stef. Stef nodded like they had already talked about this part.
They took me through the kitchen and out the back door.
The backyard was not huge but it had space. And in the corner, against the fence, there was a structure. Freshly built. Clean wood smell. Door with an actual handle.
"It's not finished inside yet," Stef said. "AC unit comes Thursday. We're gonna let you decide how you want to set it up in there."
I walked over and opened the door.
Empty. Four walls, a window, a concrete floor, and natural light coming in at an angle.
Mine.
I stood there for a second longer than I meant to.
"You okay?" Lena asked. Quiet. Like she actually wanted to know.
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, it's good."
I stepped back out and closed the door behind me carefully. Like I was putting something away for later.
* * *
Back inside the tension was still there. One of the kids, an older boy, came downstairs with a bag over his shoulder and said something to Stef in a low voice. She nodded but her jaw was tight. He left out the front. The door did not slam but it was close.
The girl on the couch watched him go. So did I.
Nobody explained it.
I was not going to ask.
Every house has something going on, I thought. This one just has more people for it to go through.
Lena showed me the room I would be staying in. Small. Clean. A bed that looked like it actually had a real mattress. A window.
Better than the last three places combined.
"Dinner's at six usually," Lena said. "Rules are on the board in the kitchen. If you ever need anything or want to talk, door's always open."
"Okay," I said. "Thank you."
She nodded and left me to it.
I put my bag down on the bed. Took the sketchbook out and set it on the nightstand. Sat there for a minute just listening to the house. Kids moving around. Someone in the kitchen. A TV on somewhere low.
It was a lot. All of it.
But the shed was still out there.
My space. Four walls and a window and nobody else's name on it.
That was enough for now.