22;

They followed the man who called himself Ethan down a couple of streets to the left after exiting the soup kitchen and then several streets down. The overpass he mentioned he was staying under was in sight the entire walk, very gradually getting closer and larger with each passing step.

The shadow of the large looming highway gently crawled over them as they approached its foundation. They followed him through a large hole in a half-fallen chain fence and past cement structural pillars to a small gloomy clearing accented with small slits of light from gaps in the highway above. Within it was some sort of makeshift camp.

It was sectioned off with shallow walls of cardboard, each section similar in that they all had: either a couch or chairs, of which were dilapidated to an extent; a mattress with sheets and pillows, a couple of them with a box frame for support; and a random assortment of items they must have been collected over time. The four sections were split into two groups of two, each group separated from each other by a couple dozen feet.

In a spot near the center of the four was a small circle of chairs and stools, an area that was clearly used for talking or eating. In the center of the circle was a grimy barbeque grill, and near one of the stools within the circle was a stash of food, mostly canned goods and boxed edibles.

Ethan turned around to face them and held his arms out to his sides. "Welcome." His voice was muffled from the roaring echo of cars on the road above. "We actually have a pretty nice setup down here. Provides protection from the elements too."

Ellie was poorly hiding the expression on her face. "It's…"

Riley cut her off. "Not bad."

Ethan started in again after quietly chuckling. "Thanks." He looked back at Ellie. "Probably not what you're used to. But like she said, it's not bad. There are a five us that live down here, me included. We all have our own living quarters that we've personalized."

He began walking towards the little settlement with the girls following behind at a comfortable distance. "Any food we find we group it together in the center and equally share it between all of us." He stopped as they reached the center. "So, that's about it. What do you think?"

"Who are the others?"

"Oh right. Well the only person here right now is Charles." He motioned towards the back section of the left half. "He's, well… he's not exactly all there. He contributes to our food, but keeps to himself most of the time. So don't expect a conversation out of him. The other three are Malcolm, Sharon, and Tess."

He pointed to the other three sections in progressive order. "That one is Malcolm and Sharon's, the other one over there is Tess', and next to hers is mine. We don't have much, but you're free to stay here if you want. We have a couple of extra mattresses you can use."

Ellie was about to thank him, but Riley spoke out first. "Sorry if I seem ungrateful, but why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you helping us? The last time I was homeless I got shit from everyone. No one wanted to even talk to each other, let alone help each other."

"Sounds like you hung out with the wrong people."

Ellie cut in while Riley was still dumbfounded. "Thanks for inviting us. We might need to stay a few weeks."

"That's all?"

"Hopefully. Maybe more. We talked with Henry and he's signing us up for some sort of city program thing for shelter."

"Oh, right. You're lucky you're still eligible for that."

Riley responded bluntly. "I take it you're not? Otherwise you wouldn't be staying here."

Ellie winced from her comment though she had the same thought.

Ethan seemed caught off guard by her frankness but didn't seem upset by it. "You're not wrong. There are a few requirements that need to be met to be eligible, and I don't meet a couple of them. One is being under eighteen, another is… well, it doesn't matter." The girls snuck a look of confusion at each other, something Ethan didn't miss but chose to ignore. "I take it you're not going to be busy for tonight?"

Ellie spoke flatly from the realization of their circumstance his question caused. "Not for a while."

"Then I can fill you in on the city. Like the best places to collect money, get food. Stuff like that."

The girls agreed and sat down with him for the last few hours of the day discussing areas to stake out or to stay away from for begging, people to cozy up to or to avoid entirely, and places to get cheap food or, if desperate, free food. He drew out areas of the city on scraps lying around to help better visually familiarize them with the city.

Throughout their talk two other members filtered in, each introducing themselves to their new temporary roommates.

Malcolm was around sixty-five years old and was as polite as any other man would be in a far more favorable circumstance than his. He shared a section with Sharon, a woman of roughly the same age. They considered themselves unofficially married for the past ten years, all of which have been spent in the same situation they are now. He was an outspoken man whereas she was noticeably more low-key.

Tess, the last inhabitant, always arrived much later at night, usually early morning. They didn't get the chance to talk to her, but they did get her story from Ethan. She was in her late thirties, about ten years older than Ethan was, and was a relative newcomer to being homeless. A few years prior she had a home and a job in the city, wasn't much, but it worked. She lost her job for a reason, or reasons, she never cared to talk about, and subsequently her home. She survived for a while, but eventually succumbed to doing jobs for scumbags at night. This night seemingly no exception.

The five of them, not including Tess who was already gone for the evening, gathered near the central grill and started a fire inside with scraps of wood and paper they would gather throughout the day. They heated up the food, mostly beans and other vegetables, over the fire and scooped out spoonsful straight from the can.

Charles stayed quiet, eating down his food, while Malcolm and Sharon chatted it up with Ethan and the new girls about nothing in particular. Neither party wanted to pry into the personal lives of the others so soon after meeting. They all finished their food and said their goodbyes before finally heading off to their beds, leaving Ethan and the girls behind.

Ethan seemed satisfied enough with the sustenance and wanted to head off for the night as well. "See? They're not bad people."

"Never thought they would be."

Ethan simply smiled before a thought ran through his head. "One second, let me grab your beds."

He walked off to the side and disappeared behind one of the pillars before coming back a minute later dragging behind him a less-than-white mattress. He let it fall onto the ground which forced a cloud of dust to be kick up and headed back for the other before Ellie cut his walk short.

"One's good, don't worry about it."

He eyed the two closely and slowly nodded his head. "…okay. Well, I'm glad that you guys decided to stay. See you in the morning." He walked past Tess' bed and to his back section of the right half and disappeared into the dark.

The echoes of the cars above were still apparent but had started to fade into the background of their minds, turning them into more of an intrusive white noise. Riley examined the mattress and gave a sound of disgust before throwing a blanket of the top of it, a barrier between it and them. Ellie pulled out hers and let it drop on the other. Riley laid down and pulled it halfway over her, leaving enough for Ellie who remained sitting at the edge of the mattress.

Riley leaned herself up, figuring something was wrong, and softened her voice as she always did with Ellie. "Hey, you okay?"

The continual chatter between them throughout the day and their shared driving purpose distracted her from the reality of their lives. However, once the night settled over the city and the other members of the camp went to bed, the silence came back, bringing with it what the day kept away.

Ellie stared at the ground and let her words trickle out. "Do you think we did the right thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Leaving like we did. We just left them there… with him."

Riley sighed and straightened her posture. "I don't know, Ellie. But I do know we did what we could. We told the other orphans. Hell, we even got the cops involved."

"I guess. It just feels like we could've done more…" Her mind wandered slowly from the subject onto her surroundings. "Though I'm not sure we upgraded much. I mean look at this place."

"Yeah, it's not great, but it could be worse."

"Could be worse? We're sleeping under a highway on a disgusting mattress, Riley. It's a shithole in a shitty town. I don't want to live here… like this."

"I don't either, Ellie. I'd rather be in a warm comfy bed too, but that opportunity doesn't really exist to us right now, does it?"

She waited for a response but received nothing. She sighed and softened her voice again.

"Look, we slept under a bridge before and we managed. Besides this is kind of a step up from that. At least we have something to sleep on this time. There's even food here, better than that shit we were carrying with us." Riley put a hand on the shoulder of the girl still facing away. "We'll have our own room in the next month. We can start school again, get some money, whatever. It'll be alright."

Ellie spun around to face her and sat cross-legged on the bed. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Stay so positive. This last week has been just… horrible , depressing, exhausting. This whole thing, everything, is just so screwed up. I don't think I could do it if it weren't for you. I know I couldn't."

Riley could only blankly stare at her for a moment from the sudden admission before shaking her head out of a daze. "You're right. Everything is really fucked up, like we're in some sort of nightmare. But we have to deal with it." She sighed and looked around. "And don't worry about this… place. I don't like it any more than you do, but we'll be out of here soon." She forced a small smile which immediately turned into a scoff. "I don't think I've ever had that word used to describe me before. Like ever."

"Which?"

"Positive."

"You are though."

"I'm really not. Pessimistic more than anything."

"...but everything you just said... and you always seem so sure of yourself. At least when you're around me, you are."

Riley paused, unsure if what she wanted to suddenly say at that very moment should be given a voice. She could feel her heart pick up speed the longer she stared at the girl's emerald eyes in silence, her nerves building exponentially. She exhaled as heavily as she could and spoke what she wanted. "It's because I'm around you."

Ellie kept staring unsteadily which Riley took as a sign to clarify.

"Look, when we're together I… don't hate everyone. Which is saying a lot. And maybe I might even feel somewhat optimistic. Like our lives won't always be so completely fucked up, you know? We've been through some terrible shit, Ellie, and there's probably gonna be more, but we pulled through. And I feel that we'll always pull through as long as we're together..."

As her last words dissipated the silence between them grew deafening.

Ellie stared at Riley nervously with her heart in her throat, her focus unwavering as she stared at the girl who seemed to be just as intensely staring back. Her eyes suddenly shifted downwards and in an instant she leaned in with a kiss where she lingered only briefly. She slowly pulled away and looked into Riley's surprised eyes, finding the rest of her face expressionless and hard to read. She waited in agony for a response which quickly turned to regret.

"…shit, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I thought-"

Riley cut her off by closing the gap between them again and pressing their lips together once more. She rested her hand behind the redhead's neck and pulled her in closer, this time lasting much longer than briefly.

A motorcycle eventually roared overhead and became the deciding factor that caused them to separate. They fell away from each other slowly and stared at each other in disbelief with their hearts now thundering in their chests.

Ellie was the first to regain her composure, albeit barely. "...so."

Riley let out an exhale as if though she had been holding her breath for an hour. "...that happened."

"Yeah... it really did."

The surprised looks between each other grew into embarrassed grinning until Riley broke it with a voice of undue concern. "That was okay...right? We're okay? I mean-"

Ellie scoffed and scrunched her brow. "What? Yeah of course we're okay."

"Sure?"

"I did kiss you first you know."

"Okay, okay." Riley let another moment of quiet pass before smirking. "You really should have done that sooner. Just sayin'."

"Me? Well what about you, Ms. Fucking Confident? You had plenty of chances."

"I uh... I'm confident in other areas."

"Right."

Ellie rolled her eyes and went back to gazing childishly at her best friend, though now unexpectedly more than that. "Thanks by the way."

"...no problem. I think I could probably get used to that."

"Not that. For making me feel better. You always do." She grunted after hearing the words escape her mouth. "That was sappy."

"Yeah it was. And anytime." Riley glanced over to their new roommates then back to Ellie. "We really should get some sleep. It's been a long day."

"Might be a bit hard to after that."

"Yeah, but I'm sure you'll manage."

Ellie unfolded her legs, slid herself in between the blankets, and rested her head facing towards Riley who was already doing the same towards her.

"Goodnight, Riley."

"Goodnight, Ellie."

Finally.