At the end of the day, us kids were brought back to the hall that we lived on (same as any other day), but when I got there my mom wasn't there. They told me she had a bad fever and had to go to the infirmary. I remember spending that entire day terrified and too scared to ask anyone for anything because people didn't usually come back from the infirmary if they had a fever. There was a woman on the hall who said she would do mom things for me while mine was gone, but she wasn't my mom.

Finally, after it was dark, someone realized I had been thirsty most of that evening and they brought me to this utility closet room where the drinks were stored and gave me an apple juice. I'll never forget how it tasted. I remember everything from that day.

I was 3.

Fear, abandonment, and freaking apple juice.