Gen ran as fast as she could up the alley, away from the people who were chasing her. She stopped and searched for her cousin, Juli, who was about twenty feet behind her. She waited for her cousin to pass her then followed behind her. She saw a perfect hiding place, grabbed her cousin and pulled her to the hiding spot. They were both panting hard and Gen looked out the foggy window and watched as the two men in police uniforms ran by, as if still chasing them. Gen let out a long sigh then looked back at her cousin. Juli shoved her into the wall and smacked her.

"Are you crazy?" Juli asked loudly.

"Shut up." Gen said through clenched teeth, in a low growl. She stepped back to the window and looked out, they were gone, but it couldn't be completely safe yet. "You said you needed money."

"Not that kind of money."

"You said you needed money."

"Like I said, not that kind of money." Gen rolled her eyes and started looking for another way out of the place that smelled like grease and rubber. She found a door and tried to open it, it was locked. She looked around for another exit and found an office. She walked into it and looked around. There was a desk with a cushioned chair behind it and a sofa against the opposing wall. The room smelled bad, like two people had spent the day in there having sex. She covered her nose with her sleeve. She walked do the desk and tried the middle drawer, which opened easily.

"What are you doing?" Juli asked as she walked into the room. Gen looked up quickly and ready to fight. She sighed and went back to the drawer. "Gen, what are you doing?"

"I'm looking for a key, alright?" Juli nodded a little and looked around the room. She saw a framed picture on the wall and walked to it, examining in carefully. The woman, smiling brightly looked vaguely familiar. She just couldn't place the face. Juli cocked her head to the side, hoping it would help her think, but it didn't. She shrugged and looked back to her cousin, who was rummaging through the drawers.

"Find a key yet?"

"No." She replied, still looking. Juli nodded then sat down on the sofa, feeling something squishy under her. She stood up quickly then felt her butt and looked at the sofa. There was a rubber thing with a white substance inside. She rolled her eyes and immediately wanted to shower.

"Gross!"

"What?" Gen asked looking up.

"These people are freaking nasty!" Gen looked at her like she was stupid. "There's a used condom on the couch. It's got stuff in it." Gen made a disgusted face then pulled a metal box out of the bottom left drawer. It opened easily, considering there was no lock on it. She pulled out a pile of papers and some pictures fell. She picked up a picture. "Why can't we just go back out that same door? Do you really think they'd still be out there?"

"You'd never know." Gen said examining the picture. Juli noticed this and started toward her. Gen stuffed the picture and the papers back into the box, stumbling across some keys. She closed the box then shoved it back into the bottom of the drawer. She walked to the door and tried the only silver key. The door opened easily. She grinned at her cousin and her cousin rolled her eyes then stiffened when there was a large man blocking the door. Gen looked and ducked before his fist hit her. She tackled him like she was playing football and he was down on the ground in an instant. "Run!" Gen shouted to her cousin.

"Come on." Juli shouted back, grabbing her arm and helping her up. Gen took one last look at the person before taking off full speed toward her house. She looked back to find her cousin a few feet behind her and didn't slow down. She was worried that the muscular man was behind them and she couldn't see him. Where the hell did he come from? Did she trip some kind of silent alarm?

After about ten minutes of straight running they finally reached their house, panting heavily. Gen looked at her watch, it was almost 2 in the morning. She cracked her neck and started toward her bedroom window. Juli followed and opened the window. She jumped when a hand grabbed her wrist, thinking it was her aunt Chris. She looked up and sighed when she saw her other cousin Eva.

"Where have you guys been?" She asked helping her cousins in the window and sitting them down on her bed. They were trying to catch their breaths. "It's okay. Chris is out of it, she's high again." Gen sighed and looked over at Juli who was heaving.

"You okay?" She nodded and started patting her pockets. "Shit, you lost your inhaler." She nodded the best she could and Gen started searching the room for one of her other ones. "Shit. Shit. Shit."

"Gen, calm down."

"My cousin's going to die because of me."

"Gen, she'll be fine. She just needs to calm down." Gen found her other inhaler and raced to her side, putting it in her hand, watching her take a hit off of it. Juli took a few breaths and looked around, then hit Gen upside the head. Gen frowned and looked down at the floor.

"I'll go get a bottle of water." Gen stood and exited the room, leaving her younger cousins alone. She walked into the kitchen and flipped on the light to find her aunt sitting at the kitchen table with her head down. Her head popped up when the light came on and she looked around the kitchen with her head moving from side to side.

"Where have you been?" She asked, sounding like she was drunk.

"Nowhere." She replied, knowing her aunt wouldn't ask any more questions, especially if she hadn't told her where she'd been. "Come on, you should be in bed." Gen moved toward the table then pulled on her elbow gently. Chris stood and Gen put Chris' arm around her neck and her arm around her aunts waist. She started toward her room and they staggered a bit. It was really hard to move her aunt when she was like this, but it wasn't the first time she'd had to do it.

It took her about twenty minutes to get her aunt into bed. She pulled off her shoes and put her in her nightclothes, then tucked her under her covers. Gen sighed at the situation as she started toward the room she shared with her two younger cousins. Juli who was fifteen and Eva who was thirteen. She loved them like they were her sisters, and she never wanted anything to happen to them.

"Are you going to bed?" Eva asked from her bed. Gen nodded and flopped down on the twin mattress on the floor in the corner. She pulled a sheet over her and sighed heavily. "Night Gen."

"Night Eva." She looked over at her other cousin. "Night Juli." Juli was already asleep.

-- -- -- -- --

The next morning there was an eerie silence, as the girls got ready for school. Their Aunt Chris staggered into the kitchen with sunglasses on, demanding coffee, which Gen had already prepared and slid a cup to her as she sat down.

"Morning Chris." Gen said quietly taking a sip of her orange juice. Eva wanted coffee but Gen wouldn't give it to her, giving her a lecture about how she could get addicted and how it could stunt her growth. Eva was thirteen and only stood at five foot, at least five inches shorter than either of her cousins and her aunt.

"It's going on seven, we should get out of here." Juli said patting her pocket, which held her inhaler. Gen sighed heavily and nodded a little. Eva stood up and grabbed an apple out of the bowl in the middle of the table. She took a bite out of it then headed for the front door, grabbing her bag off the floor.

"Bye Chris." Gen said kissing her cheek then heading for the front door. Gen stopped when she heard a faint crying. Eva and Juli looked at her and she sighed. "Go ahead, I'll catch up." Gen set her bag back down and watched her cousins leave the house. She headed up the stairs and entered the room where the crying was coming from. She walked over to the crib and picked up the crying baby, cradling it in her arms. She walked over and set it on the padded table where there was a blanket spread out. Chris entered the room and Gen looked up at her as she pulled the crying baby's pants off.

"I'll take her, you should get to school." Gen took off the diaper then reached for a clean one. The one she had just taken off was soaked, which was probably why the child was crying. She fastened the clean one then walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out a new outfit. She walked over and quickly changed the baby girl, who had stopped crying so loudly but was still fussy. Gen knew she was hungry. "I got her." Gen nodded and picked her up then stepped toward her aunt. She handed her over to her aunt and kissed them both on their foreheads.

"Bye sweetheart, I'll see you when I get home from school." She said sleepily to the baby. She looked up at Chris and nodded her head. "Get her bottle. She's hungry."

"I got it, Gen, she'll be okay." Gen nodded and exited the room and jogged down the stairs. She picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder and walked out the door, pulling it closed. She looked to the sidewalk in front of the house and Eva and Juli were still waiting. Gen smiled and joined them.

"We had to wait. We didn't want you to miss school again."

"Nah." The walk to school was quiet, but they were giggling and laughing about really random things such as people they all knew. "So, we'll meet here after school." Eva and Juli nodded their heads and Gen smiled. "See you two later."

"Later." Eva and Juli said together. Gen started toward the school building, where she figured she'd go ahead and go to class. She didn't feel like putting up with anybody's bullshit this morning. She walked through the front door and immediately felt arms around her waist and kisses on her neck. She turned her head quickly and sighed to see it was some sleaze. She shoved him away and continued up the hall, but he followed. They entered an empty hallway and he pushed her into a set of lockers and she winced when she felt a lock digging into her back.

"What's up baby?" He asked rubbing her side.

"I know you better get away from me." Gen said quietly, careful not to raise her voice, knowing what he was capable of doing and what she was capable if doing.

"Relax. I just wanted to know how Sara is doing and to see what's up with you." Gen raised en eyebrow.

"Larry, since when do you care about me or about Sara?"

"I've always cared about you, Genevieve. I've cared about Sara since she was born."

"Bullshit." She scoffed. He pounded his fist into the locker just beside her head causing her to jump a little.

"Is everything okay here?" A friend of Gen's asked as he spotted the two.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Gen looked at Larry and raised an eyebrow. "Right?"

"Yeah." He stepped away from Gen and pulled up his sagging pants even though they fell again. Gen stepped toward her friend, who put an arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, Mark." Gen said putting her arms around her friend's waist and pulling him toward their first period class, which they shared. They walked into their class, which was empty and sat in the back row beside each other.

"What was going on? You know, when I found you."

"Oh, he was just being a jerk. You know how he is." Mark nodded and I smiled. He scooted closer and rubbed her leg softly.

"How's Sara?"

"She's good." Gen nodded. "I almost stayed home today but my aunt insisted that she'd take care of her. I feel I can trust my aunt." Mark nodded and smiled. Gen nodded and folded her hands on the table in front of her. It wasn't hard to tell that the two of them were attracted to each other. Mark loved Gen's personality, her ability to kick any man's ass, which he's seen her do. Gen loved his smarts and his sweet personality. But they were friends, wanting to be more, but they were both sort of scared about it, not wanting to ruin their friendship. She looked up into his eyes and nodded. She loved how he actually cared about her and her family.

"Gen?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing this weekend?" She cocked her head to the side. "Well, if you don't have any plans, I was wondering if you'd like to go see a movie or something." Gen smiled a little and felt her face getting hot. "You can say no or if you have plans or something."

"Mark." She said putting a hand over his. "I'd love to." He smiled and nodded a little.

"Great." She nodded and smiled at him.