Samuel= Youngest, white hair

Michael= Middle child

Andrew=Oldest, one eye

"Ma I'm going now."

"Where?"

"Just out to read like I always do."

"Be careful."

"I will." Grabbing her book and slipping on her shoes ten-year-old Amy Wilson set out for the woods behind her house as she always did, she was also going to read to "them" as she always did.

Running thought the woods she slid and jumped over plants and tree limbs until she came to a clearing with an old shack resting in it.

"Boys?!" she asked as she knocked on the door.

"Boys?" she asked again she looked around the shack and even father back into the fields, she was about to go back home when she heard the familiar laughing of Samuel, smiling to herself she started to walk back home.

"I brought a new book and everything. Oh well, I guess I really will have to go home." she said loudly then sighed, hearing the usual grunts of an argument she kept walking.

She heard the rustling of their feet in the tall grass but she kept walking suppressing a laugh she kept walking, looking down she saw the long towering shadow of Michael behind her as she shifted the book in her hands. Then suddenly she was grabbed and spun around.

"Put me down Mike!" she laughed.

"I'm not going home yet! I was only kidding!" she said as he placed her on the ground

Sam was already tearing the book away from her hands making the usual grunts and sounds that Amy had become accustomed too.

"Alright, alright." she said taking the book back from him

"I'll start as soon as Andrew gets here." She said as Mike snaked his arm around her waist and lead her over to the shack

"Are your parents here?" Amy asked as she took a seat on the steps.

"I wanted to ask them something." she continued, looking back and forth between the two of them. Mike gave a little shrug while Sam laughed, Amy shook her head slightly; she was used to this answer.

"So what have you guys been up to?" she asked reaching over and tucking some hair away from Sam eyes.

"You should really keep this short Sam." Amy told him sweetly.

"If you don't it'll keep getting in your eyes." she scolded; Sam smiled and started sucking on his fingers. Smiling she looked over Sam's head at Michael.

"So where is Andrew? I can't stay out to long." she told them as she started to get up, Mike grunted and pushed her back down gently.

"Fine." Amy sighed as she opened the book she brought with her.

"I'll stay for a little while longer." she smiled at the two boys

"But if Andrew doesn't hurry I'll have to start without him." she continued, looking out into the wood hoping he would be out soon.

Amy wasn't sure just how long she and the boys had been friends; she had ventured out into the woods sometime ago when she was eight and had met six year old Sam and just kept coming back to the woods until she met the whole family.

The family was illiterate, she tried to teach their mother, Lydia how to read but she couldn't grasp the concept and instead asked her to help the boys. It turned out that Sam had two older brothers, but they were always out scavenging due to their father being injured and missing a leg. Andrew was the eldest and was now twelve and Michael was the middle child and was the same age as Amy's ten year old self. Excited to finally have friends, close to her own age to boot, she did try to teach them but they seemed to make the same progress there mother had.

Amy tried to get the boys to talk as well, she even tried to teach them words but all they could get out were grunts, she eventually gave up until she could see them regularly and just started reading to them; they really enjoyed that. She figured that they just liked it when she showed the pictures but lately she noticed that they were listening to the story, sometimes they would even read to her or more like they took her book and grunted and then showed the pictures to her.

"Okay I'll just have to start without him." she said as she picked up her book and begin reading.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess…" she started.

"Aamyy." A male voice interrupted from a few feet away. Looking up she saw Andrew walking out of the woods and over to them.

"Aammmy." he said again as he came closer. Amy stood so fast she dropped her book and walked over to him.

"Say it again?" she asked him, reeling from shock.

"Amyyy." he said again then laughed.

"Andrew that's so good!" she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely as he wrapped his arms around her.

"When did you learn to say that?" she asked leaning slightly back to look at him, but he only smiled and said her name again.

Behind her, she heard Mike grunt loudly and she turned and saw him standing with his arms outstretched with a cute little pout on his face.

"Mike?" she asked hopefully as she turned in Andrew's arms.

"C-can you say my name?" she asked, excited and hopeful. The tall boy rubbed his lips together and tried to form the "A" but it came out more like "Mmmy" she smiled and flung herself to his still outstretched arms and wrapped her arms around his neck like she did with Andrew, as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against him.

"Can you say my name?" she asked Sam, pulling out of Mike's reluctantly loose grasp to look at Sam. He nodded and opened his mouth but only a grunt came out, he tried again but it was the same; he tried again and this time his brothers laughed. Sam growled at them and tried again but still nothing came out.

"It's okay Sam!" Amy said quickly going over to him and wrapping her arms around him when she noticed tears forming in his eyes, all the while sending a scolding glare at the two older boys.

"You just need to practice is all!" she said, as she rested her head on his clutching him to her in a protective manner.

"Okay." she said as she sat back down picking up her book and started reading again.

"Sttaayy." Looking up and over at Michael, she felt tears sting her eyes.

"Ammmyyy stayyyy" he said again, Amy bit her lip trying not cry.

"Guys… You know I can't." she said softy, tears rolling down her eyes as the boys moved closer to her. She had grown really close to them and hated leaving them, especially lately, they seemed more lonely now than ever, and to be completely honest so was she.

"But school will be over soon and I'll be out more I promise." she said wiping her eyes, fighting more tears.

"Now let me finish" she laughed as she opened the book again, trying to move on to a happier topic. But Andrew had other ideas as he placed his hand over it.

"Ssssssstay, plleessss" he said again.

"I-I guess I could stay till the sun goes down and tell my mom that I fell asleep…" Amy smiled, completely misunderstanding the deeper meaning that he meant. Sam jumped up and down at the temporary success, though.

"Is it okay if I get a cup of water?" Amy smiled and stood up she asked looking over at Andrew who nodded.

"Thank you. I'll be right back." she told them as she walked into the shack.

Sam looked over at his older brothers and grunted and pointed in Amy's direction, both older boy's nodded.

"Aaaamy staay." Andrew said and smiled.

"Ammmy staayy foreeever." He finished, causing the other two to smile.

A few days later

"Bye mom, I'm going out again to read." Amy said grabbing her new book and a blanket to sit on.

"Ok honey. Just don't forget to be back by dark so you can pack." Her mom yelled from the kitchen.

"Ok. Love you bye." She said walking out the door. She was excited to see her boys. As soon as she was out of sight of her house she bolted toward the woods.

"BOYS!" she hollered, loud enough for them to hear her, but quiet enough that it wouldn't echo back.

"BOYS, BOYS, BOYS!" She continued to yell excitedly.

"Ammmy!?" Andrew said loudly stepping out of the house followed by Michael then Sam, all of which looked confused and worried.

"BOYS!" she squealed as she flung herself into Andrew, who caught her reflexively, completely oblivious to their worried glances.

"Oh boys, I have wonderful news!" she continued pulling out of Andrew's arms. She finally noticed their concerned and confused glances when Andrew grabbed her hand and turned her around to inspect her for harm.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm fine; I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just so excited!" she squealed again as she jumped up and down excitedly. She pulled Michael and Sam into the hug as well as she bounced with excitement.

"Ammmmmmmy; neeeewwwwssss." Michael said to bring her back down to earth, but happy to see her so happy.

"Oh yeah. Well, let's sit down and before I start reading, and I'll tell you all of it." She smiled, pulling out of the group hug and rushed to set up the blanket so they could all sit on it.

"Well, where to start?" she started, asking herself more than anyone else, sitting on the blanket.

"Oh, I know. School's out for the summer so that I can come out here more often, and I can stay for longer, so there's that." She stated, bubbling with excitement, and so were the boys as Sam jumped up and down in a sort of happy dance and Michael and Andrew hugged her on both sides.

"Oh and I finally made friends with another girl, and I'm gonna spend tonight and this weekend at her house." She finished getting even more excited. The boys, however, were no so excited by the news. Their less than enthusiastic response was displayed by Sam plopping down on the edge of a blanket like a deflated balloon and Michael and Andrew pulling away from her to look shocked at her.

"What's wrong boys?" she said, noticing their less than excited reactions.

"Ammmmy rrrrr fr ennnnddd." Andrew said passionately, stressing it by pulling her into his lap, hugging her tight to his chest as he rested his head on hers.

"Ammmy rrrrrrsss." Michael added for emphasis hugging her from behind. Even Sam tried to say something, but it still came out as just grunts and unintelligible sounds, not forming words, and he hugged her side, burying his had into her side.

"Oh boys. I didn't mean it as I wasn't your friend anymore. I could never, ever, just leave you guys like that, or in general." She said, tearing up at what the boys might have been thinking, the thought of leaving them, and that they thought she would hurt them like that. She wrapped her arms around Andrew's neck and turned her head so it was resting on his chest.

"I'm sorry if you thought I was leaving you. I would NEVER EVER do that to, not by choice anyway. It's just that hanging out with guys is nice, but that there are somethings that you can do with girlfriends that you just can't do with guy friends. Like going and getting our nails and hair done, I don't think you'd like that, in fact I know you wouldn't. You guys know I love you too much to ever hurt you or replace you. And you will always be my first friends ever, so you will always have a special place in my heart." She said after a few moments, finishing by pulling away to look in to Andrews eyes.

"Luuuvvvvvee uuuuu toooo." He said, with Michael and Sam nodding in agreement.

"Do you understand, though? That just because I may be hanging out with Julie this weekend, does NOT mean I'll stop seeing you. Ok?" she responded, looking at each of them to make sure. When they nodded she sighed and kissed each of them on the cheek.

"Ok, I have to go now because it's getting dark now and I promised my parents I would be back." She said crawling gently out of Andrew's lap with Michael's help.

"I PROMISE to see you Monday though and tell you all about it, if I'm able. Ok boys?" she asked, looking at all of them as Sam clung to Andrew sadly with Michael standing close looking like a sad lost puppy, all of them with their heads down.

"Now boys please don't be like that. You know it breaks my heart to leave you, and hurts twice as bad to leave you all looking so sad. I'll see you in just a few days." She said, fighting back tears when she saw them all nod sadly no one looking at her.

"Doooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnttttt goooooooo." Andrew finally said, looking up at her with misty eyes.

"I have to. I'm just a kid, and I have to do as my parents say. Don't you sometimes have to do something your parents ask you to do, even though you really don't want to do? Well that what I have to do. I'll see you when I get back. I promise." I said her eyes misting up as well.

"Yeeeeeeeeessssssssss." Andrew finally said after a few tense moments. Amy was so relieved, she hated seeing them like this but there wasn't anything else she could do. Sighing, she gave each of them a hug and a kiss on each cheek saying goodbye and making promises to see them as soon as possible after she got back.

"Ammmmmmmyyyyyyyy rrrrrrrrrssssssssssss, foooooooorrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvveerrrrrrrrrr." Andrew told the other boys walking into the house as soon Amy was out of sight. He continued on through to the backyard with the boys in tow only to reveal the human remains of their parents being boiled on a pot over a fire.

The Following Evening

"MOM! THERE'S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR!" Julie yelled as they looked through her movies.

"OK THANK YOU HONEY. YOU AND AMY HURRY UP AND PICK A MOVIE THEN GO TO THE DINNER TABLE. I'M ALMOST DONE WITH THE SPAHAGETTI AND MEATBALLS." Mrs. Holland yelled back as she went to check the door. The girls decided to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas and then watch The Corpse Bride tomorrow.

"Amy sweetie, could you and Julie please come in here immediately. There's something we need to tell you." Mrs. Holland said with an odd tone in her voice as she walked to the dining room area as soon as the girls came to a decision.

When they walked in Mrs. Holland was sitting at the end of the table, looking completely and utterly shocked, and two police officers, who looked very sad, were sitting on the long end facing where the girls came from. As soon as the girls saw the officers they moved a little closer to one another out of apprehension.

"Girls, we have some bad news. There's been an… incident involving your parents, Amy." Mrs. Holland said, searching for the right term. As she finished her statement the severity of what had happened it her like a ton of bricks as she burst in to tears scooping Amy into her arms, as if she could protect her from the terrible news. No one so young should ever have to deal with something this tragic.

Please R&R

Next chapter coming shortly.