9 (8.2);

Riley was surprised, and somewhat annoyed, at their revelation. "We've been up and this street a million times and we've never bothered to figure out where this alley leads?"

"I guess not. I've never seen a reason to go down it really, I've always just assumed that it ends at some dumpsters or something."

"Well, we're gonna find out now."

Four months had passed since Riley first arrived at the orphanage, though not much had changed in that time. Ellie let her hair grow a little farther down her back and essentially wore the same clothes as usual: an old brown coat, a long sleeved t-shirt, and jeans. Riley, due to her constant desire for change, was almost her opposite. She got rid of her half-shave hair and opted for a messy style with a length just below her ears. She wore a black zip up jacket for cold days, a ragged t-shirt, and some equally ragged jeans.

They slowly trekked through the same alley they had stopped in just months prior to admire their first jewelry heist together, though they were both now in possession of a fair amount more.

They emerged onto a street that ran perpendicular to the alley in an area that seemed exclusively residential. The road curved out of sight in both directions, one uphill, one downhill. Restless trees producing a symphony among the wind lined the sidewalks and casted a permanent shade over the neighborhood. A sea of green dominated the ground that wasn't already covered by picket fence-encompassed homes.

They both stood at the exit and let the sights saturate their senses for a minute before Ellie broke her trance first. "Wow… wish I would've come here sooner."

"See what happens when you hang out with me?"

"Arrogant much?"

"Come on, gotta give credit where it's due."

Ellie smiled it off and looked up and down the road. "Which way?"

Riley copied the same back and forth motion. "Left probably."

Ellie agreed and they followed the road in the downhill direction, opting for an easier walk.

Sunbeams squeezed themselves through the tree canopy and spotted the sidewalks in an organic pattern of black and white. Not a rock nor stray grass blade littered the pristine sidewalk of the neighborhood, except for the occasional crack.

As they neared the end of the first curve they spotted some sparkling lights emanating through the gap between two houses.

"No way."

"I see it too." Ellie turned her head and positioned herself. "Race you there!" She shoved the other girl to the side and sprinted forward.

"No fair!" Riley regained her footing and dashed down the road after her.

They raced down the street cutting through front yards and over fences, alternating between running on the asphalt of the road and the concrete of the sidewalk. Riley followed just behind Ellie but tried to gain the lead by cutting every corner she could.

Riley used up every bit of energy she could in order to try and overtake her but knew it was pointless as they neared the source of the lights. As they approached, a wide line of trees encircling the bank of a small lake at the edge of the neighborhood presented itself. Ellie was decently ahead and had already crashed onto the grass at the base of one of the large trees.

Riley reached it shortly after and fell onto the ground beside her with her arms stretched out to her sides. They both lay on their backs with their chests rising and dropping like a wave while staring into the tree's canopy from below.

"Cheater. That wasn't. Fair." Riley forced out her words between breaths.

"I would've. Won. Anyway." Ellie leaned up and took in the view while catching her breath.

Groups of people were out on the path in the early morning, most either on casually strolling or jogging by with their headphones in. Others were sitting on benches or on chairs positioned against the lake with fishing poles in hand. It was humid from the water, but the breeze made it comfortable.

"I can't believe we've never found this place before now. It's pretty close too."

Ellie let out a sigh and shook her head. "I've been here a lot longer than you and I've only ever wandered the city. I've been missing out."

"It's nice. Makes you almost forget about… well, you know. Everything."

"Yeah." She paused in what seemed like reluctance. "We won't be in this situation forever, you know? Hell, even I got out for a little while."

Those words came as a surprise to Riley. Normally they were both careful to avoid even mentioning their pasts unless one of them was willing, so she figured this would be as good a moment as any to satisfy her curiosity.

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long were you out? The system?"

Ellie turned back to face the water without muttering a word. She paused for longer than Riley felt comfortable.

"Sorry, shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's fine. We've known each other long enough, no reason to keep secrets. About ten months."

Riley minded her responses more carefully now that the conversation's tone had shifted. "Few of us even get that chance."

Ellie tore her gaze from the water to look back at the girl still lying on her back. "True. And I suppose I should be happy I had even that, but I'm not."

Riley took a deep breath, contemplating whether or not to continue on. "What happened?"

She looked at Riley calmly but her eyes were portraying the opposite.

"My foster parents were amazing, which is rare based on the horror stories I've heard. They took me in despite my age and we just immediately became a family. We did normal family stuff, as if we had always been together. It was good. Really good actually. Well… one night we had just finished up with some parent-teacher conference thing at my school. We got in the car, but it was hard to see anything really since it was crazy rainy and dark."

She sighed and pushed back her discomfort. "Thomas pulled out in front of a car and we got hit. I woke up in a hospital room four months later... without them." She laughed nervously and laid her head back onto the grass and closed her eyes. "Technically I was dead too. For a little while at least."

"…fuck, Ellie. I had no idea."

"No one does. You're the only person I've ever told."

Riley wasn't sure how to respond. The time between them speaking grew longer the more she thought about it, something Ellie noticed.

"You don't have to say anything, really. It was a lot to throw at you."

"I asked." She shifted herself into a position more similar to Ellie's. "Since we're sharing, I should probably do mine."

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

Ellie was completely relaxed on the grass and could barely open her eyes to watch as Riley talked.

"So… yeah. You can't tell anyone this, okay?"

Ellie was noticeably confused, but nodded anyway, unsure of what to expect.

"Shit, alright. When I was young my mom wasn't exactly a responsible person. She would often leave me alone at night to go out to bars or to find herself in the company of men for, you know. Anyway, she got involved with an abusive one. She let it go on for a while, but decided it was enough when he threatened me personally." She scoffed. "It took threatening the life of a child for her to finally leave him, figures. She went to the police but they couldn't do anything that night, so she shacked us up in a motel until morning."

Riley took her turn to stare at the water as she spoke.

"Well, the guy found us, fuck knows how. He banged on the door demanding to be let in, so my mom shoves me into the bathroom, shuts the door, and calls the cops. One shows up and talks to the guy. Well apparently, the idiot drew a knife and charged the cop. So he shot him. I can still hear them."

She quietly mimicked the sounds of three gunshots. "Two hit him, killed him. The third went through the window and hit my mom. She died pretty much instantly. On the floor of a dirty old motel room no less. She didn't have any family, so they threw me in with other orphans right away." Riley laid back against the grass as well with a large sigh, letting the sun warm her face. "So that's mine."

Ellie was dumbfounded and almost didn't notice Riley had stopped talking. "...I can't imagine having that memory."

"It's not bad. Seems like forever ago."

They lay silently with their eyes shut and let the breeze flow itself over them while the canopy protected them from the sun on the cloudless day. They listened to the wind as it rustled the leaves above them and to the footsteps and conversations of people as they walked past them on the nearby path. The mild repetitive sound of the water sloshing was hypnotically relaxing.

"Thanks by the way."

"You too."

"…we're a bit fucked up aren't we?"

Ellie calmly laughed before stifling a yawn. "A bit, yeah."