Beyond The Broken Glass3: Finally Mended [complete]

3.) Unpacking What We Have and Who we've Become

Norcross, Georgia. A place we would never be residents of. We pulled into a tiny apartment complex and then stopped. Upon realizing the confusion I held, he fixed it for me. We've never stayed in an apartment complex only houses, he said it was safer that way.

"I need to grab the keys."

"And the envelope?"

He paused for a second as if I caught him off guard. His face went blank since it was impossible for him to soften his face. He rubbed his hand through his unruly curls and suddenly shot out of the car. I watched him as he jogged up some stairs and disappeared from my sight and like I knew it would—a harrowing feeling crept into my soul. It happened every time he went away from me.

He placed the key in the lock and twisted it. In the time it took him to push the door open my heart fell into my stomach and went back into my chest five times. The outside wasn't anything grand. Just a one-story house with a small tree that blocked the front window and a couple of old flower beds.

Mimi gripped my hand while Kyson lay in my arms, snoring lightly. Poor thing cried for thirty minutes when he found out we weren't going back to Alabama. I'd be lying if I said I didn't share his grief. Moving from place to place in short increments of time was draining, but it kept us alive.

I placed him down on his feet and held onto him so he wouldn't fall. He swayed for a few short seconds as he woke himself up.

"This our new house?" He asked looking up at me with his face turned down. I pecked his forehead and went back to the car to bring in what we had brought along with us.

I stopped just a few inches short of him. The wind blew my hair into my face and some landed in my watery eyes.

"How long will we force them to live out of a duffle bag?"

"Until they safe."

"Mhmm." I nodded slowly and stalked back into the house. I could hear him slamming the trunk shut harder than he needed to. I dropped the bags down on the floor and went to sit in the window that he was staring out of.

"I know you didn't want to leave."

"We always leaving." He mumbled as he rested his chin on top of his arms.

"At least we're together. Right?" I whispered as I pressed my lips to his cheek. He didn't respond he just continued to stare out into the backyard that wasn't fenced in.

"I'm gonna go check out the house. Will you come with me?" I asked reaching for his hand. He finally peeked at me and obliged. Together we went scouting. It wasn't much to see. Just an ordinary living room and ordinary kitchen. One bathroom that could barely fit one person let alone four, and two bedrooms.

"Do I get my own room?"

"Ye-"

"No," Brandon spoke before I could give my answer. I turned to see him carrying bags to their perspective rooms. But to hell with that. We're already putting them through so much the least we could do is make them comfortable.

"Yes, you can." I insisted. He ran into one of the rooms and began to run around in circles.

"Why?"

"If we're going to be living like fuckin' nomads at least we can give them their own space." I folded my arms and stared him in the face. He lowered his eyes as he tucked his bottom lip into his mouth. I'm willing to fight him on this. Tooth and nail.

"When did you start laying down the law?" He smirked as he closed the space between us. He locked his arms around me and kissed my forehead and then my lips.

"When you live this lifestyle you learn to toughen up." I shrugged and pushed him away.

"Mommy!" She screamed prompting us to run to her in a panic. When we found her she was perched down in a corner of the living room. "Butterfly."

"What is it Mimi?"

"A butterfly mommy!" She lifted it up and brought it toward her. When she opened her palms up my head began to spin.

"Not a butterfly!" I screamed as it flew out of her hand. A gigantic moth was flying around our living room and our daughter was just as content and happy as ever. "Brandon!"

He watched as it crashed into every single wall and window as it attempted to escape. He finally stopped gazing long enough to open a window and allowed it to fly away.

"Overdramatic." He chuckled as he went to kiss Mimi's face. "No more bringing bugs into the house. Okay?"

"Bugs friends." She chuckled sweetly. He pinched her cheek and walked away. I calmed myself down long enough to catch my breath.

"This is gonna be great," I mumbled. She skipped off after him leaving me to unpack the things we had. All of the houses we lived in had furniture left from the previous owners. So it took drastic measures before we could even relax. Everything had to be sanitized and cleaned.

As I was moving one of the bags an envelope fell from it. It wasn't an unsuspecting thing. I knew what was inside them, but still, I wanted to see who I was going to be in this town.

Phoebe Giselle Wright.

Born June 19th 1993 to Priscilla and James Wright in Fortworth, Texas. That was fine and all but I've never been to Texas in my life. Other than that there was no backstory or other details to remember.

Dominic Omari Randall.

Born September 3rd, 1992 to Avery Randall in Rockford, Illinois. Same as mine he didn't have any small details of a backstory. I guess whoever was creating these for us got tired and decided to let us spin our own tales about lives we never lived.

"This ain't how I imagined it to be." He said lowly from somewhere behind me. I shoved the fake identities back into the envelope and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"Well. Can't go back now can we?

"I'm sorry."

"For what? Stringing me along in this fucked up relationship? Forcing me to run from a life that could have been normal? Or how about pulling me into your shit?"

"hold the fuck on—I ain't force you to do shit! Everything that you did was your own choice! I just protected you in yo own shit! You followed after me remember?" He argued. "We both made dumb decisions."

"I can't go back." I croaked as my voice became choppy. I hide my face in my hands as I wept. His arms unexpectedly closed around me and his lips grazed my ear.

"None of us can go back."

"But I want to."

Before I was ready he retracted his arms from around me. I turned around to see him. His face looked dissatisfied as he folded his arms.

"This ain't how I saw my life to be but I wouldn't change a thing, I got a family out of this. You—yo ass just ungrateful."

"Brandon—"

Without even pausing he snatched the keys from the table and stormed out the front door slamming it shut behind him. This is what we've become.