little bird // r.keene

v. home sweet home.

It had been a couple of weeks now and Wren had sunk into a routine, she would go to school and hang out with Demetri, Miguel, and Eli. Every few days she would go and visit Will, that was the highlight of her week.

Apart from some of his major physical changes, he was still Will, still her Will. Still the same protective older brother figure who asked her how she was and how her day was.

When she got home she would do any homework she had and then take a shift or two downstairs in the shop.

Mr. James would occasionally slip a few bills into the tips jar when he thought she didn't notice but Wren always did. She always managed to slip them back into his drawer when he wasn't looking too.

When the shop closed at 7 she would sometimes play cards with him or she would roam the streets looking for something to do. Anything to do. She hadn't visited her dad yet, though she had told both Will and Mr. James she had. She didn't often lie to them, only when she thought it might make them worry about her less. They did that a lot: worry. Wren didn't exactly know why and she didn't like it either.

When travelling with her mum, she looked after herself all the time. She looked after her mum more she did her like when she fell asleep at her desk or forgot to go food shopping. Wren did pretty much all of it and her mum didn't even properly acknowledge her. But now there were people asking if she was eating enough and if she was doing all her homework.

It was a change. And sometimes she told lies just to keep up.

As far as Will and Mr James knew, she had been around his house a couple of days ago and they spoke about mum but- that wasn't true. She told them he was polite and sober and the house wasn't a complete mess.

She felt horrible for lying to them but didn't feel like she owed them the truth either. Neither liked her father but also neither of them knew the man he really was. Neither knew how many times she would wait up just for him to fall asleep because she didn't feel safe under the same roof as him. The knew nothing.

Deep down she felt a not of guilt in her stomach about it all so that's why on Saturday she stood outside his front door. She waited until golden hour, when the sun had begun to set because if she remembered correctly, that was always when he could be found at the bar down the road. She came then because she knew the house would be empty.

She just didn't spot the black car across the street, inside were two men watching her.

She knocked once, twice... nothing. Wren pushed the door open, the hallway had the same wallpaper, the same dresser and the same old, stained carpets. She walked further in and it was as if she hadn't been gone for two years.

The kitchen had stacks of unwashed plates and a small radio hummed softly on the sideboard that he had forgot to turn off, she looked at the calendar which hung on the fridge which showed he was working a night shift tonight- heck she didn't even know what his job was anymore, he had been unemployed when she left.

Next to the calendar was a picture of Wren and her mum, smiling when she was younger.

She pulled out a phone and took a photo of this month, next month and the month after that. So she would know when he was home and when he wasn't in case she ever wanted to come back and get anything.

She trailed up the stairs and rounded a corner into her old bedroom. Everything was untouched. The small single bed and dresser, the window still had the butterfly curtains drawn shut and behind it was her small potted plant. Brown, withered and very much dead from the neglect. She got on her knees and pulled out a shoe box from under the bed. Without a second thought, shrugged off her bag and shoved it in.

She'd go through it back at The Bookshelf  because she didn't want to spend anymore time here then she had too. Heading back down stairs, Wren stalked though the messy kitchen on her way out and noticed her dad's wallet on the kitchen counter. She opened it and took 3 twenties- all the cash he had.

Wren wasn't a thief but today she made an exception. Something about his neglect for the house of her childhood and the memories it held, good and bad, set her teeth on edge. Screw him.

She shut the door behind her and looked up at the window and there she spotted a camera with a little red light.

"Shit." She swore and clutched her bag tightly. In her mind she could have lasted ages without her father knowing she was back in LA, but she just swore again and walked away, flipping the camera off as she went. He wouldn't call the cops, no way, if Wren was right there were countless illegal items in that house.

She wasn't worried about that. Only that he might find her.