Erin didn't tell anyone about her mom's almost overdose, she didn't want anyone realising how messed up things were getting. The building looked out for each other but she didn't think they would be able to turn a blind eye to that, they'd probably make her mom go to rehab again and if that happened she just knew she'd be taken again and she wouldn't be able to see her brother anymore. Instead she took matters into her own hands, she began hiding her mom's drugs whenever she saw her leave them around, she hid the alcohol too. It slowed her mom's substance abuse down but it didn't stop it and it added strain and tension to their relationship. Screaming matches between them weren't uncommon.
"Where are my drugs you little brat," Erin's mom seethed as Erin walked into the apartment to get a glass of water.
"I don't know," Erin said not looking at her mom, she knew exactly where the drugs were, "maybe you took them all."
"I didn't take them all, I had at least three hits left," her mom replied as she pulled apart the sofa.
"Maybe you're wrong," Erin said as she took a sip of her water. She looked straight at her mom now, watched her.
"I'm not wrong, I know how much I took," her mom said as she paused a moment in her search, looked up at Erin, "you've hidden them again haven't you."
"No," Erin said but her mom didn't believe her.
"Yeah you have," her mom said standing and coming towards her, "where have you put my drugs you little brat."
"I haven't put them anywhere," Erin yelled and she began mentally bracing herself for the fight which was about to come.
"Don't lie to me," her mom yelled back, "where are they?"
"I don't know," Erin yelled, "maybe if you didn't leave them lying around you wouldn't keep losing them."
"I don't…fuck!" her mom yelled and she slammed her fist into the cupboard above Erin's head, "tell me where they are. I need them."
"You don't need them," Erin yelled back, "you need to stay clean."
"I don't need you telling me what I need. Tell me where they are."
"No!" Erin yelled trying to pull herself tall, "I don't want you taking them, I want you to stay clean. You get clean for Teddy, why can't you stay clean for me."
"Because," her mom yelled, then she paused for a moment, she was shaking all over and as mad as Erin had ever seen her, "you're a spoilt little, know it all, good for nothing brat. You don't love me; you think you're better than me!"
"Mom!" Erin screamed, her mom had never hit her but in that moment she wished she would. A punch to the face would have felt better than the knife she just felt stabbed in her heart. She loved her mom; she did all of this because she loved her mom.
"Ever since you stayed with that family you've been acting all superior but I tell you little girl. You're nothing; now tell me where the fucking drugs are!"
Erin was shaking all over, tears were running down her face, she wanted to get away, she wanted to run. "Fine," she yelled pushing past her, she went to the panty and pulled out the can of milo. "They're in there," she said throwing the can at her, "go kill yourself. I don't care anymore." Then she ran out the apartment and down the stairs, she ran out the building and along the street. She ran until she couldn't run any further, until she reached a park. There were lots of other families at the park but no one noticed her sit down by herself under a tree and start bawling her eyes out.
She stayed there for hours; as night began to fall she left the park and began wandering the streets. It had been hot all day and would be warm throughout the night. She wasn't in her neighbourhood any more, these weren't the streets she'd spent hours roaming, the houses didn't have people in them she knew. A part of her thought she should be scared but she wasn't, she was just hungry. She thought about looking through the trash for food but the idea seemed kind of gross, she wasn't that hungry, not yet. She stopped at the edge of another park and had a drink of water from a garden tap, the water tasted funny but she was too thirsty to care. When she was full she looked around, tried to work out where to go. At the far side of the park she could see a group of people standing around talking. Curiosity got the better of her and she began to creep towards them. She stayed close to the trees and she creeped along, every step she took carefully until she was close enough to hear them.
"When are we going to hit the place?" she heard one of them say.
"When we work out how to get in without getting caught," another one answered.
"The place is locked up like Fort Knox," another one said, "everything except that attic window."
"Which none of us can reach let alone fit though."
Erin gulped and she felt her heart flutter, they were talking about breaking into a place, about stealing things. She thought she should leave; this wasn't a conversation she should be over hearing. She began to step backwards but as she moved she stepped on a twig, it cracked beneath her feet and they heard her.
"Shit!" two of them swore and they scattered but the third one stayed.
"Who's there?" they asked, there was the slightest of quivers in their voice they were scared and trying very hard not to show it. A voice inside her told her she should run but a louder voice wanted to show herself, wanted to find out what they were doing.
"Just me," Erin said and she stepped out of the shadows.
The young man who'd stayed looked her up and down and started laughing. "It's just a kid," he called back to his mates. The other two slinked out from the trees and joined them in the open. Carefully Erin sized them up, they were just kids too, big kids, she thought they might have been about fifteen; there were two boys and a girl.
"How long have you been listening?" the one who seemed in charge asked.
"Not long, I heard you talk about an attic," she said, "maybe I can help."
"You?"
Erin gulped she wasn't sure why she'd said that, she didn't want to break into anything, not really, or did she. The idea of doing something bad excited her; she was always trying to be good but always being told she was bad. No one ever seemed to notice the good she did, maybe they'd notice the bad.
"I'm small, and I can climb good," she said digger herself more into it.
They looked her up and down again, then seemed to have a conversation without speaking a word.
"Okay," the in charge one said, "let's go for a ride." They pulled three old BMX bikes out of the bushes, "you ride on my pegs." It took Erin a minute to work out how to stand on the pegs, where to hold on so they didn't fall over. Then they were riding the four of them into the night.
They rode for fifteen minutes, Erin watched the houses pass, the further they went the nicer the places got. Most of them had lights on but the one they stopped in front of was completely dark. Without saying a word they jumped the fence and slipped into the backyard.
"That's the window," they told her pointing to a small round window in the side of the roof, "do you think you can reach it?"
She looked at the window and everything around; there was a big tree with a hanging branch that went kind of close to it. "I think so," she said and she walked over to the base of the tree. She pulled herself up and she began to climb. It was an easy tree to climb, there were lots of hand holds and foot holds. She got as high as she needed to be in a minute but working out how to get to the window was harder. The first branch she tried didn't feel strong enough, it sagged too much beneath her weight and she had to slide back. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her body her heart was racing and her body was covered in sweat. She was excited though, she'd never done anything like this before and the challenge was fun. She climbed higher up the tree and picked another branch, this time when it began to sag she was ready for it, she waited until her feet were on the roof and then she let go. It was an easy crawl to the window after that. Below her the three big kids threw out quiet words of encouragement, it made her smile. She pulled the window all the way open and looked inside, the window lead to a sealed roof space, from the light of the moon she could just make out the shapes of many boxes. It was about a three foot drop to the floor, she went through the window feet first. She stirred up dust as she landed, she began to sneeze and her eyes watered. It was a dark space to be in and she was worried she wouldn't be able to find her way out but there was only one direction she could move, she followed the space between the boxes and reached the tiny door out. Still on hands and knees she pushed open the door and entered the house proper. She was standing in a girl's bedroom, for the first time that evening what she was doing hit her, she was stealing; she'd already broken and entered. She was bad, this was probably the worst thing she'd ever done, but she only felt bad about it for a moment, people with this many things don't appreciate them.
Quietly she walked through the bedroom, down the stairs and through the house to the back door. The three kids were there waiting for her with big smiles across their faces.
"Good job kid," one of them said patting her on the back, "now put these on and wipe down everything you've touched." The boy was holding out to her a pair of white latex gloves, she didn't really understand why he wanted her to do that but she did it anyway. She went back through the house and wiped the door to the roof space and the floor where she'd crawled, she wiped the window she'd crawled through and pulled it shut. The last thing she wiped was the back doorhandle then she stood there and waited for the big kids to return. They'd split up all over the house and were filling backpacks with little things, CDs, DVDs, computer games, money, jewellery. It only took them five minutes to fill their bags then they were all out the back door and riding their bikes away as fast as they could. They didn't say a word until they were well away from the house but Erin could feel the excited energy coming from all of them.
They pulled up at the back of another empty house but this one looked abandoned as opposed to just empty for now.
"That was unreal," one of the kids said as they stashed their bikes in the bushes behind the house.
"Our biggest take yet," another one said, "you did good little kid."
Erin smiled and she followed the kids into the house. Inside it was clear that no one really lived there, there was no furniture, or power, the place was hot, and had a musty smell to it. They led her to a room in the middle of the house, told her it was their room and she could spend the night if she wanted. The room had a mattress without sheets, and in one corner was a collection of clothes and some basic food. They gave her a granola bar to eat and a can of cold backed beans. That night she slept with them curled up on the mattress they all shared. Not once did they ask her to tell her story, they didn't tell her theirs but they seemed to understand each other. She went with them the next day to cash in the stuff they'd stolen, they gave her a cut and together they went and brought some food.
Sitting in the park she met them in the night before, they asked her if she wanted to do another job with them, that they could use someone with her skills and they could teach her some stuff. They could teach her how to shoplift, how to pick pocket someone, how to survive on the streets.
AN: If you're reading would love hear your thoughts
