Across the River

The Last Drop

~6 Years Later~

I sat at the desk in the 'room' that I had moved into after Uncle Benzo took me in. It wasn't so much a room as it was a small loft/ attic that was placed above his shop. Benzo didn't have space for me here so we made some. The loft wasn't actually even accessible from inside the shop. It used to be but after a scuffle with a nasty customer, uncle Benzo blocked off the doorway to the attic to protect me. I easily always climbed in from the outside anyway, even before my parents passed away Leo and I would sneak in here to mess with Benzo often.

The loft had some glass that looked into the shop for a reason I never understood. I could look down into the shop and be nosey if I wanted. Benzo ended up frosting the glass early on.. To keep me from snooping but also keep people from looking up into the room and knowing I was there.

The loft was once a storage room so there were a lot of trinkets and wooden beams that were pretty useless to Uncle Benzo.. But golden to me~... While the room was small length wise.. There was a pretty decent amount of vertical space. Leo was always pretty handy and taught me what he knew.. I was able to create a ladder system that gave me more space to store things and to sit or hangout on. There were also still a bunch of things Leo had built up there back when he would come here with me.

It was a comforting place to call home now.

There were some cushions that Leo and I had snuck up here and there were also two hammocks that were hung from the wooden beams for nights after our mother died where my dad would become.. Different.. Leo would bring me here so I didn't need to see what my father had become.. Back then this place was never quiet...

Then everyone died..... This place felt lonely for the first year after that...

I would stay up here by myself and not bother with anyone...

Then Benzo found Ekko...

He was eight when Benzo found him. We had assumed he was alone since the failed revolt on the bridge but we never truly learned what happened with his family. At first he was a quiet kid.. Benzo took him in as a little 'assistant' here but what he won't admit is that he felt bad for the kid. He broke in and was trying to steal from us when Benzo caught him.

He's been with us ever since.. Now he's like a little brother to me and his full personality is on display. He's loud and chaotic most of the time and he has a natural talent for tinkering... He now shares the loft with me, so somewhere along the years, I had made a little corner for myself... It was some time after Benzo unofficially took in Ekko as well.. He had somewhat of his own corner as well. I also gave him the hammock that was once mine while I started sleeping in Leo's....

In my little corner is a desk that we built out of scraps. It gave us a place to tinker on some of the junk people try to sell Uncle Benzo... When they get told it's worthless garbage most of the time they just toss it outside or leave it as they angrily stomp out... that's when Ekko and I grab it and make it less worthless.....

Which is what I was doing at the desk... Someone had tried to con Uncle Benzo with a bunch of broken clocks and watches..... Sorry soul just dumped them on the ground in anger and left like a fool... He had some pretty good shit on him...

I was trying to get one of the clocks working again.. It quite literally was just missing a few screws... Which I pulled from another far more broken clock.....

"Willow!!! WIIiiLoooowww!!!" Ekko called as he crawled into our little crawlspace hideaway.

"Ekkoooo~" I called back as I looked though the little magnifying glass attached to my goggles. The younger boy came and sat in the chair next to mine as he laid his hands on his arms and watched what I was doing. "Yo little man can you hand me one of those screws?" I pointed to the pile I took out of the other clock.