the angel; fillie .

the junkyard.

that night i took millie out to dinner for her birthday and i decided to stay over three more days than i expected to spend with her. Ayla had seemed to disappear, life was easy, and everything was seemingly quiet. then i went home to my friends and jack was ecstatic to see me. he hugged me and yelled,"brother, you're home!" then he took a closer look at me,"nice clothes, where are you getting them?"
"you've got nice clothes too, remember i do bring you stuff."
"right but you look good, finn. that girl has really shaped you up. at first you were that depressed boy with no family cooped up in that ratty orphanage with friends not even close to your age. to a punky teen who thought he would be a rebel and escape by himself in the dead of daylight. the boy who noticeably failed and was locked in a room for three days as punishment. then he got his group of mature people and a young immature boy to escape with him in the night. the rest is history."
"don't remind me, jack."
"i need to remind you. you've come a long way. you've gotten better, and i'm proud of you finn."
i hugged my brother and then we sat under the fort we made months back,"i'll never get tired of this place."
jack shrugged,"you get tired of it when you sit here all day everyday. but joe told me i can go on my own on my fourteenth birthday."
i sighed,"i feel like i haven't seen joe or sadie in weeks."
jack reassured,"it has been weeks, finn. sadie is starting to talk and joe is bringing home a lot of money nowadays. i'm finally eating full meals."
i had noticed i missed a lot of time with my original friends between work and being with millie,"that's amazing, jack. you might not even need me anymore!"
and that's when i truck entered the junkyard.
jack and i hid in our metal fort and peaked to see who was there. an old chubby man stuck a sign into the ground, got back inside his white pickup truck and drove off. the two of us ran to the sign and it read: pawn shop coming soon.
jack looked mighty upset,"what're we gonna do, finn?"
"i don't know if we can do anything. i knew one day we'd have to say goodbye."
jack got defensive,"i'm not talking about you. joe, sadie, and i are homeless. what're we gonna do when our only safe place is taken down to build some stupid pawn shop?"
"don't worry, i'll find you somewhere to stay."
"joe could probably buy an apartment but i'm not sure if he'd be able to feed us. joe pays the bills and sadie buys the other needs."
"see, you're smart, jack."

that night joe and sadie arrived back and we told them the horrifying news. joe was obviously concerned about the whole apartment idea. but the first thing he noticed was not the sign, but me,"you've got a lot going for yourself, finn. a girl, a job, good clothes."

days passed and i continued to sleep in the junkyard, i never saw millie but once, and my job took most of my time. although, the junkyard was silent and the pawn shop process didn't engage.

on a friday after work, i visited millie because it had been four days since i'd seen her. i told her about the junkyard and she suggested,"why don't they live here?"
i wasn't on board,"there would be five people living here and there's only three bedrooms."
millie smiled,"we could make it work, finn."
"so joe, jack, and i could take over the master bedroom because it's so big. then sadie can have my roo—the guest room. and you can keep your room."
millie twiddled her thumbs,"i was thinking that you and me could take over the master bedroom because i've secretly wanted it for years. then sadie can have my room and joe and jack can have your room."
"so we're gonna buy another bed for the master?"
millie turned red,"i wasn't planning on it but if you really want your own bed you can have one."
"no, no, it's okay."