Aro
The excess water hangs at the corner of my eye—I feel it wet my skin—but I blink two more times, slow and calm, and it’s gone. Staring up, through the steel of the fire escape over my head, I find Vega. From it, I trace a straight line and locate Arcturus. The two brightest stars tonight.
I expand my gaze, taking in both, as well as the other glowing point in the sky, Mars. We can see it every night until next Monday when its orbit takes it out of view again.
I picture the dunes and the rocks I’ve seen in pictures, the vastness and silence, and even though I’ll never view the planet any closer than this, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ll ever see. It reminds me that I don’t matter. Not really. It’s been spi
Seems depressing, but it’s really not. It lightens the load to know all I have to worry about is what I’m eating next and where today takes me.
I blink again, making sure the tears are gone, and push off the wall of the alleyway outside Frosted. I can’t remember the last time I dropped a tear, but I just came closer than I have in a long time.
His haircut, the smell of his clothes, how they were cut just a little bit better than other guys’ to fit him in a way that you could tell why designers get away with charging sixty dollars for a fucking T-shirt…
I barely know what any of that stuff in the surveillance room is or how to work it. He’s smart. And he speaks like he’s never not been the center of attention.
He has people and college and cash in his wallet. He knows he’s important. Why does it bug me so much? I know what they’re like. They can’t hurt me. Why did I feel so small in there?
I had to get out.
I pull up my hood and stick my hands in my pockets, rounding the corner and jogging down the alleyway between Rivertown and a hardware store. I swing over to the dumpster, kicking away some boxes and crates to make sure Tommy isn’t still hiding there.
It’s empty. Hopefully she went home, and hopefully, she keeps her ass there, because I can’t go back to the garage.
I grab a crate and throw it. “Fuck,” I whisper, the weight of my dilemma finally sinking in. Trent is right. I have nowhere to go. My old foster mom still lets me crash at her place since I aged out and quit school months ago as long as I pay rent.
But that’s the first place Hugo will look for me.
Resisting the urge to run, I put my head down and exit the alley, making my way down the deserted sidewalk. I quickly dive down a side street.
I cut through the park and turn onto Orange Hill, seeing a car parked in front of the house ahead, its engine ru
I glance up the hill, seeing movement through the sidelights on both sides of the front door, so I approach the car, seeing it’s empty, and just go with it. I’m already in enough trouble to make me disappear for a decade. What’s one more thing on my record?
Quickly, I open the door of the 2008 BMW, climb in, and slam the door, shifting into first gear.