Thirteen year old Monica Montgomery laid sprawled out on her bed while Music played loudly from her portable speaker, which sat on her bedside table. The teenager sung loudly, not having a care in the world, and she was enjoying the moment while it lasted.

Monica's bedroom was quite bare, her door had been removed from it's hinges, and the curtains and curtain rod had been removed from the window, making the room very open and bright. That wasn't the only thing about her room that seemed different to any regular teenagers room, there were no sign of any kind of hooks in the room, or cords.

Monica wasn't mentally stable, and her single mother couldn't afford to get help for her daughter. Instead she made changes to their home, so it was safer for her daughter.

"Mon, sweetheart. It's time to go to your Dad's house." Her mother called, from the kitchen. The girl sat up on her bed and paused her music, before she got up and walked towards the kitchen at a fast pace.

Monica crossed her arms, before she shot her mother a look. "I'm not going to Dad's house." She declared sternly. Her mother faced her and sighed, "Honey, I'm working all weekend and I don't want you to stay here at home all on your own." Rue Montgomery confessed, as she felt like she needed to supervise her daughter at all times.

Monica furrowed her eyebrows in frustration, before she looked back up at her mother, her eyes filled with tears. "Dad refuses to call me Monica! He keeps calling me Maxwell! I don't want to stay there!" She said, in almost a yell. Rue frowned, feeling awful for her daughter, but there wasn't anywhere else she could send her for the weekend.

Titus Montgomery truly believed that the idea of being transgender was nothing more than a phase. Monica had begged her father to start calling her by her new name, instead of her deadname when she started transitioning to a girl a few months prior.

He refused and said he'd only call her Monica if she'd looked like a girl. Of course, Monica wanted nothing more than to look like a normal girl, and she'd spent months growing out her hair and wearing clothes that looked more feminine, but her Dad didn't budge. To this day he still called Monica, his son.

Tears fell from Monica's eyes, as she wanted to stay in this house for the weekend, but Rue was too scared to leave her daughter alone.

"I'm sorry Mon, you've got to go to your Dads. It'll only be for two days." Rue insisted, feeling guilty. "Yeah... two days of fucking torture.." Monica snapped, turning to storm off to her room. A tear fell from her mother's eye, as she watched her daughter angrily walk away.

Rue wanted nothing more than for Monica to be happy... but with having to force her to go to her father's house, who was very discriminative towards her, it made it really hard.

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Thirteen year old Ruby and Rafael Waithe sat side by side, under a huge oak tree, looking up at the stars that shone in the nightsky. Rafael was trembling, as his twin sister comfortingly held onto his arm. "Ru I.. I can't take this anymore.." Rafael confessed, as he squeezed his sister's arm tightly. "She's a fucking monster!" He added. Ruby frowned, feeling just as shaken as her brother, but she was trying to hide it.

The Waithe twins had been absolutely attacked by their foster mother. She first had laid her hands on Rafael, punching him and bruising his small body, all for missing curfew. Moments later Ruby being a protective sister, came between the pair and tried to defend her brother.. only to have gotten physically abused too. Her cheek throbbed as it turned a harsh purple colour.

"We're going to be okay, Rafi..." Ruby cooed, trying to bottle up how upset she truly was, and instead put on a happier, reassuring tone of voice, to calm Rafael down. "No we're not, Ruby... none of this is okay!" Rafael admitted, tear rolling down his cheek. "I don't understand.. what did we do to deserve this life?" He asked, with sadness and frustration. Ruby felt her eyes fill with tears from that statement.

"We were abandoned at birth and just keep floating through the foster system.. we have been so unlucky with these foster families." Rafael added, struggling to calm down. Ruby felt a tear roll down her cheek, as her twin was right. They'd been under the care of some absolutely wicked human beings... some mentally abusive and manipulative, some straight out aggressive and controlling and on the rare occasion, they had foster parents that'd physically beaten them. The twins really felt like they didn't belong anywhere.

"Rafi..." Ruby sighed, unsure what to say. She was lost for words. After a silent moment, the girl leant her head on her brother's shoulder. "We have eachother." She decided, trying to put a positive spin on their horrendous situation. "Us against the world, right?" Ruby asked. "Yeah.. us against the world." Raf said, putting on a weak smile.

"We'll find a place where we belong... our future will be bright and we will be happy." Ruby assured, before she looked to her brother, "We're gonna get out of here Rafael, I promise you." She decided.

Rafael didn't say anything back, and just went back to looking up at the stars, as he tried not to think about their living situation. His sister had always tried to look at the positive side of things, he didn't know how she did it.

Ruby looked up at the sky again, taking in the beautiful view. The brunette often snuck out of her room during the night to look up at the stars, once she was certain that her foster parents were asleep, of course. A simple moment like this, made her feel peaceful and content.

"Ruby, the stars are beautiful but it's getting really cold out here." Rafael spoke, as he began to shiver. Truthfully, his twin loved the outdoors and spent a lot of time outside, even in the Winter months, so the girl wasn't very bothered by the cold. "Alright, let's go back inside then." Ruby chuckled.

The pair left their spot and walked quietly back to their foster home. Ruby had left the window of her and Rafael's shared bedroom sightly ajar so they could get back inside with ease, not having to go through the door on the other side of the house which'd potentially wake up their foster parents.

Ruby climbed inside the room, before offering her brother a hand. Once they were both inside, the girl carefully and quietly closed the window, whilst her brother climbed into his bed. Ruby then got into her own bed, and rolled over, facing Rafael who slept on the other side of the room.

"Goodnight Rafi." Ruby said in a whisper. Rafael faced his twin, and gave a weak smile, "Goodnight Ruby. Love you." He said. Ruby smiled, "Love you too." She responded before she let out a yawn, and the pair began to drift off to sleep.