It was a quarter til midnight before Rae finally managed to haul his aching, bruised, and battered carcass back to his foster Mother's house.

"Shit it's really late already," Rae thought, as he winced and walked past the front door towards the back of the house. "I can't go in the front looking like this. Mom will panic if she sees me like this, walking in front of the brats. They might be in bed already but it's probably better if I go around back. Maybe if I'm really quiet she won't notice..."

Rae climbed the back steps and carefully turned the knob of the back door. "Man, I really need a bath... and a Tranq..." He didn't make it three feet through the kitchen before...

"Lord have mercy, where the hell have you been son?! You are going to worry your mother to death, boy!" Elva exclaimed, as she flicked on the kitchen light revealing her sneaking son.

Rae wasn't great at many things, especially physical things, but he was very smart, clever, and even sneaky on occasion. He had honed these skills diligently, over the course of many years, as his primary means of escaping or defeating his opponents. But on this occasion, due to the terrible events of the day, Rae was too clumsy.

To sneak past Elva, one would need to be a secret agent. His mother was a sharp woman with a sixth sense about her. She was a loving, but strict foster mother. She had raised Rae from the age of 4 after the Orphanage looked for a home to place him with. He was the first child she took in after retiring from the Romas Legion, and setting up shop as an electrician. Elva had 8 foster kids to look after, and Rae was the eldest. So she tended to be particularly hard on him, to set an example for his foster siblings.

Elva looked upon her battered son, and her expression turned to a mixture of concern and anger, as she noticed the bruises on his face.

"Oh hell no! You've been fighting again?! Who did this to you? I'm gonna whoop their asses into dust." Elva exclaimed, though she did not yell, likely because Rae's younger brothers and sisters were getting ready for bed.

"That won't do shit, in fact it'll only make my last year that much harder." Rae thought.

"Don't worry mom i-it's nothing, I-I just fell on the way back. You know my tail slipped out and—" He looked off utterly ashamed of lying to his Mother. But he felt he had no choice, and just wanted this day to be over. This was the fastest way to make that happen.

Elva looked down at her son with a sad knowing look on her face. She had respected Rae's decision to keep his ears and tail hidden all the time, and she had tried to intervene more than once in the bullying, but the effects of this effort only ever lasted for a short while. She had also tried to take Rae to self defense classes, but he refused.

Though Elva made good money for a single woman, who worked as a professional, Rae knew that she couldn't realistically afford something like martial arts classes for just him. She had 7 other kids to care for. Besides, he reckoned such a thing would be wasted on him. There was no point in learning a few measly karate chops (Rae's imagination of self defense), when all of his peers hated and would pick on him. One lone boy can not fend off an army of hatred.

"Ok hun," his mother said softly, as she cupped the chin of his youthful face. She ever so tenderly squished the boy's cheeks, and rocked his head from side to side just a bit. "If you're sure nothing's wrong. Go on up to your room. Your Sister 'Lissa was looking for ya, she's probably still up." Elva patted Rae's blonde head, and handed her skinny son one of her home made cookies and a glass of milk.

Rae gave a fake smile, and then slinked by to head up the stairs towards his room. As he munched on his cookie, his favorite comfort food, he was confronted with the various sounds of his younger siblings. The house was frequently noisy just before bed, as most of Rae's siblings were 12 or younger. But the face of the exception, Elissa the second oldest at age 16, poked out from the doorway catching Rae on his way to bed.

"Yous gawts a wetter bru" Elissa mumbled out. The gangly girl with pale skin, straightened black hair, and a pink bow was brushing her teeth vigorously.

"A letter?" Rae thought, in excitement. "Could that be from the Aero-Romas aeronautics academy? Maybe this day won't be so bad after all." His ears perked up and his tail swished back and forth in a brief remembrance of happiness.

"I poots et on ur bad." Elissa said, wide eyed as she crammed the brush up against molars, then slapped her door shut with her foot.

Rae walked to the end of the upper hallway, to the fifth and last room at the far end, the one he shared with his 12 year old kid brother Jamie. All of the kids shared rooms except for Elissa. Though Rae got the trade off of having the only room with a joined bath and shower.

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"Please be asleep already, please, please... I just want to be alone for a bit..." Rae thought, as he sighed with his hand on the doorknob.

Rae loved his siblings dearly, but Jamie was the most excitable and high energy of the bunch, it was hard to get any rest around him. Rae opened the door slowly, hoping that life would throw him one more bone today, so he could take a bath and read his letter in peace. Alas, Fate can only give someone like Rae so many breaks...

"Bro where ya been!" Jamie practically leapt onto Rae's face like a tiger that had been waiting for it's prey. The red-headed, be-freckled, ball of thunder idolized Rae. Jamie loved to read comics, but he had only one hero.

"Ahh-ta-ta shi—!" Rae exclaimed, as he felt the sudden pain from Jamie squeezing his bruised ribs. "Please Jamie, not now man. I'm a bit tired."

The younger boy let go, as he saw his older brother's bruised face and grimace. "Ok..." he said meekly. He hopped back on his bed and opened up the comic he was reading. He kept peaking up at Rae repeatedly as his brother walked across the room. The state of Rae's face, the smudges of dirt on his clothes, and the small bits of gravel in his hair were distracting to the concerned kid.

As if to preemptively answer all the nosy questions he knew Jamie was about to ask him, Rae chided, "Yes, I'm fine. No, I didn't get beaten up. And, shouldn't you be asleep like 2 hours ago? It's almost midnight, Squirt."

Rae gripped his letter from the bed. He gazed upon it like it was an unearthed buried treasure. He thought it was so formal and fancy looking, as one should expect from a prestigious elite school like Aero-Romas. It was a thick snow-white envelope, with an old-fashioned cherry-red wax seal that had been hand pressed with the school insignia. Rae stepped inside and closed the bathroom door.

"Liar... you suck... at least tell a good lie." Jamie mumbled, as he turned over trying to ignore his brother's obvious condition and lies.

Rae turned on the bath and began to run the water. He couldn't contain his excitement any longer. He ripped open his letter, starry eyed, as if he were a little kid unwrapping a candy bar. Sure enough, it was from Aero-Romas, the academy that trained Astronauts for the New Romas Republic.

Ever since he was little, Rae had looked up at the stars and dreamed of what space was like. He often thought how beautiful those lights were. Rae was a curious sort of fellow, and he wondered what it would be like to see them clearer, brighter, and closer while floating in the silent void of space. But more than that, he wanted to feel like his life meant something, to do something important, to find his purpose. And to get this chance to do both...

"It'll all be worth it, if I can just get through this one last year," he thought. His hand trembled as he slipped the precious parchment from it's place.

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The Letter Read:

"This letter is addressed to: Rae Dosri

From the Academy of Aeronautics: Aero-Romas

This message is delivered on behalf of the Office of Admissions, and with the full authority of the Headmaster.

Regarding the matter of admission to the Aeronautics program at Aero-Romas Academy, we regret to inform you that your application...

Has been denied...

All scholarship quotas have been filled for the following school year of: 20XX.

You may apply again in one year's time.

Subsequent applications will be held to a higher standard upon review.

Aero-Romas reserves the right to discard, without review, any further applications during submission periods of high volume.

Bare in mind, admission to our program and student body is never guaranteed."

The Insignia Read: "Strive for the Stars! Aero-Romas!" —The words wrapped around a ship orbiting the planet Terra-Romas.

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Rae's hand quivered, and his letter fell to the floor.

He fell to his knees; his entire body went limp, and his ears laid flat along his dirty-blonde hair. He cried, and cried, and cried. So long was his sorrow, that the water for his bath overflowed the tub, made a puddle on the floor, and soaked his letter. The ink ran down off the page, and took Rae's hope along with it.

"You idiot! I can't believe you thought..."

He sobbed, though he tried hard to stifle the sounds of his distress. If he was heard, he knew Jamie would be banging on the door.

"Of course, why should this be any different? Your best is never going to be good enough for anything important."

After what seemed like eons, but was in reality 20 minutes, Rae solemnly turned off the water and got up. He suited his shaky legs back into his dirty pants, dawned his hoodie, and quietly opened the door.

Jamie was asleep finally, small snoring noises escaped his sheets.

Rae tiptoed to the door, so as not to wake his younger brother. Tears still streamed down his face, and he did not want Jamie to see him like this. As he crept through the crack in the door, a little ray of light from the hallway landed upon Jamie's bed. It was like life itself, gave Rae one last look at his sweet, innocent, little brother.

"I'm sorry Jamie... I'm not strong enough for this, please forgive me."