When To Let Go Read Free

stay here and watch your sister. She needs your comfort. I'll be right back.”
    Parker knew when the nurse came back she wouldn't be alone.
    He was right.

Chapter 2
How To Disappear Completely
    Thirteen-year-old Ryder sized up the new kid, wondering how big a threat he was. Rumor had it that he'd just been kicked out of his third foster home that year. Apparently he liked to fight, taking no mercy on his opponents.
    Ryder had a hard time believing the rumors as he watched the new kid eat his spaghetti, mumbling a “thank you” when their foster “mom” placed a glass of milk near him. He appeared to be one of those pretty boys, except that the few times the kid glanced up it was hard not to notice that his clear, blue eyes were hard and dead; the way most were who had demons trapped inside. It was the only reason Ryder didn't completely doubt the rumors.
    That could be very bad for Ryder, as he wasn't much of a fighter. He was the type of kid who kept his head down, avoiding confrontation (as well as people). Most kids left him alone, understanding when a kid was more messed up than they were. Unfortunately, there were still the few who preyed on his weaknesses.
    The other three kids Ryder lived with were eying the new kid at the table just as fiercely. No one liked when someone new came; it always disrupted the flow.
    Ryder was born into the system; his mother had left him at a fire station when he was a newborn. This was his ninth foster home and one of the more decent ones. They pretty much all sucked, just some were worse than others. A lot worse. Ryder had had experience with the sickest of pricks. It wasn't just the men either; women could be equally as malicious. He learned early on to stay to himself.
    Ryder pushed away the memories that tried to pop up; evil was always best to keep far behind you.
    At bedtime Ryder opened the window by his twin bed all the way to the top. He rested on his back, only a fitted sheet to keep warm. He couldn't stand blankets; they were too stifling.
    “You're going to freeze to death,” the foster “dad” said at the entryway with a cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth.
    “I'll be fine.”
    He shrugged at Ryder, smoke exhaling from his nostrils before continuing down the hall.
    Ryder's favorite kind of foster “parents” were like the ones in this house: the ones who did it for the money, but had enough heart to make sure they were all given basic human needs and interfered as little as possible.
    A chill whipped through the room, the kind that let you know winter was coming. Ryder hated winter. Winter meant closed windows and time spent indoors. As soon as he turned eighteen he would move to a state that stayed warm all year round, where he could sleep outside at night if he wanted to.
    The new kid, who slept across from him in an identical twin bed, pulled his blanket tighter around himself, glaring at the open window as it blew in a frosty breeze.
    He opened his mouth and Ryder prayed he wouldn't demand that he close it. Ryder had been through this before and it resulted in Ryder getting a fat lip and a closed window, making it so he couldn't sleep all night feeling like he was suffocating.
    The new kid’s mouth closed after searching Ryder's wide, worried eyes.
    To his relief, the new kid rolled over to face the wall.
     
    Ryder woke up screaming from a nightmare, his limbs flailing about, covered in sweat. Nobody came to check on him; the house was used to it. Ryder appreciated that, preferring to be ignored.
    He looked over and found the new kid observing him. Ryder stared back, expecting him to say something. Instead, the new kid turned his head toward the ceiling.
    Ryder wasn't able to fall back asleep and noticed the new kid couldn’t either.
    “You got a name?” Ryder asked the new kid, having not paid attention when he was told earlier that day.
    “Parker,” the boy answered, eyes still wide awake, staring up at the popcorn ceiling as though it was a