KARSON I strolled down the hall, not much to do today with everything I've made in the last five years looking foreign and complicated. Ralph hovered around me like I was a new intake in a world ten times bigger than me. I hated the looks the guards and everyone else threw my way. It was one that spelled incompetence but I was determined to thrive no matter what. If I could just get past this f*****g pounding headache. Ugh! I stopped when I felt a presence, and turned around just in time to catch two little pups peeking at me from the corner of a door. My kids. Mine. Mine and Irene's. It was still a little hard to believe but they wore my DNA on their faces, how could I not? They beamed and waved, smiling sheepishly but made no attempt to approach. Irene must've warned them not to.

