Missing Streams

Origin Story - 21

"Tonight's the night." Scarlet grinned at me, grabbing me by my shoulders, "It's gonna be great!"

I knew she was talking about our plans to escape this place, but I didn't know what it actually was. Scar wouldn't say, but apparently it was a big deal. We were standing outside, breathing in the crisp night air.

"Can I ask you something?" I moved her arms off of me.

"I already told you it's a-"

"No, not about the plan today. About why we're escaping at all." I looked up at her.

"Really?" Scarlet frowned, "Why do you think we are?"

"I mean, I want to know why you came here in the first place." I couldn't meet her eyes, "Everything about you leaving home so long ago, living with your friends instead of your parents. Why did you come to this place?"

Scar immediately scowled at me, "Why the fuck do you think I came here? I didn't have a choice!"

"Scarlet." I spoke quietly, "You're the girl that climbed a ferris wheel and sold pot and, hell, you dated a girl. You've gotten expelled from... how many schools?"

Scarlet grinned, "Four, officially."

"Exactly!" I couldn't help but laugh, "You've done so much, so why did you come here?"

"Why did you come here?"

"Because I can't avoid it." I laughed, comparing myself to Scar, "What was I supposed to do instead?"

She thought for a moment, then laughed, "I see your point."

"So why did you come?" I stared her straight in the eye, "Why didn't you do something to avoid it?"

Scarlet scowled, then gave it up. She closed her eyes, apparently unable to be angry anymore, "It's complicated."

"Then explain it to me." I took her hand in mine, but she pulled away. She sat down in the grass, staring at her open palms.

"How much do you know?" Scarlet started wringing her hands together, "About how I lived before I came here."

"Uh, you lived with Sam and Max instead of with your parents. That's all I know." I shrugged.

"I guessed." Scarlet nodded with closed eyes, "We all still went to school, but I'm officially graduated. Did my exams early and came out here. Those two must be graduated by now."

"Wow. That's... awesome, really." I smiled, proud that they all managed to graduate high school. Simon and I were supposed to be doing our exams here, but that didn't seem to be happening.

"Yeah, it is." Scarlet chuckled, "Apart from that, you know I sold weed. Made enough money to keep the three of us clothed and fed."

I thought about my job at an ice cream stand, and laughed at how pathetic it seemed that I only worked for pocket change. I wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything that didn't sound stupid.

"They were going to get jobs, real ones, once they graduated. I hope they did already, but I did leave them enough money to survive for a month or two. After that, they were on their own."

"Where did you live?" I wanted to hug Scarlet, or console her in some way, but settled on letting her speak. She probably wouldn't let me console her even if I knew how.

"For a while, we were homeless. Sleeping where we could, just trying to stay warm. Winter was nasty. I could find us places to sleep for  the night, sometimes crashing at a friend's place, but it wasn't reliable. We had to live somewhere permanent."