Will You Fall?

Chapter 1

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Only five bucks!" Celandine yelled as she counted up her earnings for the day, her gloves were holey and she was freezing as she stood outside a convenience store counting her money before deciding if she could even buy anything. "Damnit!" She muttered, they were out of everything and Celandine was praying on the kindness of strangers that maybe she'll get a lucky break. She still had four dollars left over from yesterday, and she couldn't go home empty handed. Sighing she adjusted the straps of her guitar that was hanging off her like a backpack, and she entered the store. The heating hit her cold face and she fought back the urge to just stand there soaking up the warmth. With her head down, she quickly shuffled over to the snack isle and grabbed a small bag of chips and a package of doughnuts. "This'll have to do." She muttered making her way to the cashier grabbing a bottle of water on her way over.
"That'll be $5.47" the cashier said barely looking at Celandine. She looked far from glamorous; Celandine hadn't properly taken a shower in months and hadn't washed in days. Her clothes were tattered and worn. Her jeans were damp and stiff from sitting on the wet concrete and her coat looked of rags, her long brown hair was greasy and she didn't even want to know the state of her face.
Celandine quickly handed the cashier the money, took her change and her groceries and bolted from the store. It wasn't a long walk back to the burrow but it was a cold one. Chicago winters were relentless and unforgiving, all Celandine could think about as she walked home was the cold. She wrapped her coat tighter around her as she walked to "The Burrow". They named it that because of the Harry Potter books, the five saw themselves as modern day Weasley's; they were poor but at least they had each other. However in the books the burrow is tall and magical, here it was a square, one room shack tucked away behind some trees just outside downtown. Celandine jogged to the shack quickly and opened the thin door. She set down her bags and knelt in front of the wood-burning stove Stephen had acquired and fixed the first winter they were there.
"Cel!" Buckley was always the first to greet her, Celandine was practically his mother. About five winters ago, she was waking home when a women walked up to Celandine and handed her a blue bundle before sprinting away, that bundle was Buckley. She tried to find a church or an orphanage where she could be rid of him but when she looked down to see a baby looking at her like she was his whole world; Celandine knew she couldn't leave him. That was their hardest winter, luckily it wasn't that cold but she still kicked herself numerous times for being so stupid. Celandine at the time was fourteen, Stephen was eleven and the girls both eight, they were in no position to be caring for an infant. They made it though; the baby lived and grew to be the Buckley they couldn't live without.
"Hallooo buckaroo, how are you." Celandine said dragging out the "oh" sounds as she lifted Buckley off his feet giving him a hug.
"Good." He giggled as she set him down and went to embrace the others. Buckley had curly, straw colored hair that they all frequently tousled making his soft brown eyes twinkle, Anne and Mary looked so alike they could be sisters with their long golden hair and bright green eyes and freckles that enhanced their cheek bones. Stephen looked nothing like the others, he had black wavy hair that he was constantly raking his hands through, and amber eyes that looked almost orange. Stephen was the second oldest and stressed just about as much as Celandine did; during the warmer months he did cartoony portraits of people just outside boutiques for three bucks a pop, when it got cold he tried helping out as much as he can without making money.
"Is this all you got?" He asked worryingly inspecting the bag with the small amount of groceries.
"I only made five bucks today, and had four left over from yesterday." She said taking her coat off. "Cel, this isn't nine dollars worth." He argued. "I need bus fair tomorrow. I have to travel farther in to town if I wanna average more that five bucks." Celandine said as she braided Anne's hair. Stephen just nodded. "If I don't make anymore tomorrow we might have to go get food from the soup kitchen." She added. They all hated going to the soup kitchen, a million questions were always thrown at them and there was always creepy guys prowling on girls who were down on their luck.

It was quiet for a while, the three younger ones quietly finished their work Celandine had assigned for them and the groceries from earlier were long gone. When Celandine had ran away she was two grades ahead of what she should be; she ran away the summer before she was going to be a junior.
"Cel, can you read to us?" Mary asked. Celandine glanced over at Anne, Mary, and Buckley who were all finishing their work on the sad excuse of a coffee table they had, Stephen glanced up from his mythology book, awaiting Celandine's answer.
"Sure, since you guys are almost done anyways," She stood up and walked over to the collection of books they had messily stacked over by the stove, "now what are we in the mood for?" She asked though she already knew the answer; Anne loved hopelessly romantic tales, Mary lived for fantasy, Buckley's favorite were daring adventure stories, and Stephen liked non-fiction books; however, despite their different tastes there was always a book they could agree on, The Giver. Celandine read it when she was younger and fell in love with it, it was no wonder the children loved it too.

Celandine made them get ready for bed first though, she knew they would fall asleep to the sounds of the story. Their mattresses were lanky, misshapen things Celandine had sewed their first month there, they were basically old couch foam stuffed into old curtains, they all had warm blankets though (Salvation Army). The beds were organized on the far left side of the room, the side with the heater. Celandine and Stephen were on either side with Buckley next to Cel, then Mary, then Anne next to Stephen.
"Can we read now." Buckley asked dragging out the last word.
"Yes, okay." Celandine began reading the story for the thousandth time with perfect tone and spacing. She could read this story in her sleep but she kept the book for dramatic effect. About halfway through everyone but Stephen and Celandine were asleep. Celandine closed the book and was about to fall asleep when she heard Stephen's stomach rumble.
"Sorry." He said shyly. "Stephen, did you eat at all tonight?" She asked knowing he would very well give up his portion for the younger kids. "Yeah, a little bit." He said vaguely. "Damnit Stephen you need to eat." She scolded keeping it to a whisper so she wouldn't wake the younger ones. "I'll be fine, I can go hunt for quarters and get something from a vending machine tomorrow." He bargained. "As long as you get something in your stomach; I'll try to be home early but we'll see how it goes." Celandine said sadly. It was so hard for them to stay hopeful, especially during the winter. People were less generous in the winter and that's the only way they survived. Both Stephen and Celandine tried applying for jobs but they didn't have a phone or an address for the places to reach them; this was just how it was. "It'll get better, I can feel it." Stephen added. Stephen seemed like the kind of person to be pessimistic about things like this but he was actual a very hopeful person. Neither if them said anymore as they finally let a dreary sleep over take them.