It was the anniversary. A year ago today, our families had been killed.
The orphanage was bad. Not as horrible as it was when we first came, but still bad.
I'd promised myself I wouldn't cry. But, hey, it's hard for me now, let alone when I was seven.
So I was lying on my bed, face in a pillow, fighting back tears.
I remembered seeing it on the news, not fully grasping it. I'm not stupid, I knew what death was, just not… how it felt to lose someone. Especially my entire family.
I didn't understand the wreck. I knew the cars crashed, I just didn't understand how the impact could be so bad. How it could kill four people. Four people who meant the world to me.
I still didn't.
I needed to clear my head.
I reached over and felt along the nightstand until my fingers found the old, beat up radio.
I fumbled for the power button, gave up, forced myself to sit upright, still biting back tears, and turned it on.
They were playing Independence Day. I felt like I could relate more to Concrete Angel.
"Let freedom ring
"Let the white dove sing
"Let the whole world know that today
"Is a day of reckoning
"Let the weak be strong
"Let the right be wrong
"Roll that stone away
"Let the guilty pay
"It's Independence Day
"Well, she lit up the sky that 4th of July
"And by the time the firemen came
"Well, they put out the flames
"And took down some names
"And sent me to the county home
"Well, I ain't sayin' it's right or it's wrong
"But maybe it's the only way
"To talk about your revolution
"It's Independence Day
"Let freedom ring
"Let the white dove sing
"Let the whole world know that today
"Is a day of reckoning
"Let the weak be strong
"Let the right be wrong
"Roll that stone away
"Let the guilty pay
"It's Independence Day
"Roll that stone away
"It's Independence Day"
I sighed. It'd made me feel a bit better. Alright, so not "better", exactly, but it'd gotten my mind off it.
And then the next song came on.
"They say in this town
"The stars stay up all night
"Don't know, can't see 'em
"For the glow of the neon lights
"And it's a long way
"From here to the place where the home fires burn
"It's two thousand miles and one left turn"
I'd been biting back tears since the song started, but now I just gave in and started bawling.
But I could still hear the music in the background.
"Dear Mom and Dad,
"Please send money
"I'm so broke that it ain't funny
"I don't need much, just enough to get me through
"Please don't worry, 'cause I'm alright
"I'm playin' here at the bar tonight
"This time we're gonna make our dreams come true
"Well, I love you more than anything in the world
"Love your baby girl"
I heard a knock on my door. I ignored it.
"Black top, blue sky
"Big town full of little white lies
"Everybody's your friend
"You can never be sure
The door opened. I could tell who it was by the one step in and dead silence when he saw me.
He didn't say anything, just ran over, sat down next to me, and put his arms around me.
I didn't say anything. Hell, I couldn't say anything, I was crying so hard.
I cried for what seemed like hours. He didn't move away, didn't loosen his grip, didn't say a word. He just held me.
"I miss them," I rasped once I'd calmed down enough to talk.
"Me, too," he whispered.
I gasped. It was the first time he'd said anything since the accident.
"But we'll be okay," he whispered.
"How? We're just kids. Without them, what do we have?" Rhetorical question. Everyone knows that was a rhetorical question, right?
"Each other."
I wiggled out of his arms and looked at him. He was looking at me with the smallest smile imaginable, but it was there. Again, for the first time since the accident.
He was right. We'd lost our families, most of our stuff, and, sometimes, hope. But we still had each other.
I smiled. Just a bit. "Thanks, Longshot."