Nine

3

I wake up the next morning to a pounding headache and shrill laughter coming from outside. A quick peep out my small window sees children spraying each other with a hose. I glare tiredly at my tiny room and put on my clothes from yesterday.

When I walk out of my room, Aunt Claire is already sitting at the table with a cigarette in one hand and a newspaper in the other. I look at the cigarette and the room starts to get dizzy as I remember the cop holding the plastic bag that contained evidence of me being a murderer. Aunt Claire took one look at me and put out the cigarette and pushed the ash tray out of my view.

"Mornin'", she said softly.

I nodded blankly and sat across from her.

"Eddie's gonna be by soon with groceries."

"Who's Ed-" I was stopped short by knocking on the screen door. Aunt Claire smiled slightly. "Him."

She got up and open the creaky door and slashed screen.

There stood a boy who looked my age and height. He had curly black hair, deep blue eyes with two prominent dimples. He had that tired look that seems to infiltrate all Eastman residents.

"Asher this is Eddie. Eddie, Asher."

Eddie shifted the brown paper bag he was carrying to his left hand and held out his right.

I shook his hand and tried to smile.

Hi Eddie, I'm a murderer.

"Hi," I whispered.

He smiled making his dimples scream. "Hey."

"Eddie's a grocer for the Kroger. He's 17 like you."

I nodded and there was a second of awkward silence. "So here you are Claire." He handed the bag to Aunt Claire and then bent down to pick up three more. "Clothes, toiletries, and food."

"Thanks hon."

I didn't ignore how her forehead creased and her mouth turned into a frown.

She handed Eddie a food stamp. Was she that broke? I started to feel bad that she had to buy all this stuff for me.

"So I gotta go to work in a minute. Um Asher I guess you can come with me."

"I can just stay here...can't I?"

"Well I, uh, I don't think you should, um, be alone right now."

Eddie looked back and forth between the two of us.

"You can come back to work with me I'll just be delivering groceries."

Aunt Claire lit up. "Yeah! That's a great idea."

I said yes because I had to and then followed Eddie into his 1950s green Volkswagen that looked like it belonged in an antique shop.

I reluctantly got into the passenger seat as he slid into the drivers. A few bags of varied groceries lounged in the backseat.

"Where are we going next," I ask.

"Megan and Joe's. They live a few streets over."

I wondered idly why nobody called adults mr. and mrs. and their last name around here.

We pulled up to a faded light green trailer with white trimming. There was a broken bicycle in the front yard.

Eddie got out of the car and grabbed the rest of the bags. I offered to carry a few. "They have a baby so they need a lot of stuff," Eddie explained.