WINTER

It was one of those days, wasn't it. The ones where she didn't want to go home. Wherever home was, it certainly wasn't there on the road.

She found a strange comfort on trains during their first ride out of town with Kid. She sat across from the pair as they pointed outside of the window, and Liz followed their fingers to a more beautiful view than she had seen in awhile.

Except now, that scenery wasn't what she was focused on. It crossed her like a blur, but she couldn't bring herself to truly care what it was doing. She just wanted to get away… far, far away from wherever it was that she found herself now. There was no limit to where she was willing to travel, but if she never got off the train, then perhaps the clouds behind her would stop chasing.

Those dark and saddening thoughts, they followed her like thick plumes of soot. It made her mouth feel gritty, dry, and she found it difficult to breathe at times. Even more so, it was difficult to step forward. Rather than staying in her crisp, clean room all day, wasn't it better to be on the move instead?

Liz boarded train after train. She switched lines every so often when she was feeling a little daring, but for the most part, she stayed on the same one, camped out in her seat, just letting her thoughts shroud her.

She was moving forward, wasn't she? Even if she was still sitting in one place in an empty compartment, watching everything else rush past her while she was stagnant. At least she was going places, she thought miserably. At least... at the very least, she knew where she was headed on the train.

Perhaps there was an actual limit to how far she was willing to go. In the earliest moments of her travels, she made sure to always turn back on the round trip before sundown. Liz had been pushing that boundary for the last few weeks though, searching for any reason to go further. On the first night that she didn't return to the house, she felt strange, like she'd broken a rule, and in her rebellion, it was like permission to keep breaking that rule. Once she got home though, the look of worry on Patty's face when she was greeted at the door surprised her. Even Kid had been up all night, sitting in front of the fireplace and watching her with careful eyes. But those eyes… it was like he was judging her. Liz shrank under his scrutiny and went to her room for a change of clothes, letting Patty tag along while she asked a whirlwind of interrogative questions.

As the days went on, Liz became a little braver, a little more daring with how long she was willing to stay out. After a few weeks of scattered overnight adventures, the housemates began to leave her be. That was when she rarely returned for days at a time. She went further and further out, going as far as the next state over and finding the tree tops to be familiar. There was always a couple of dollars in her coat after she'd gotten used to her travels. The allowance that Kid gave her was more than enough to take care of her needs and transportation fees, and so she donated a majority of her pocket change to beggars who paced the corridors.

Those were people who just needed an extra push to move forward too.

There were some nights when motion sickness got the best of her, and so rather than make a weary ride home or to waste money on an inn, she camped out at the station under the guise that she was waiting for a specific train, or she hiked out to find a bench under the sky. She was god-knows-where doing who-knows-what. It was like she was returning to a better time, a simpler time in the past when this was all she had to worry about and all she had to do. Often times, she would lay out on her back and count the constellations that she saw, ignoring the approach of snow clouds as she willed herself to stay warm.

She was heading home on a very brisk evening. Her scarf was loosely wrapped around her neck and she was already tugging at it to release herself from its itchy yarn. It was a gift from both Patty and Kid; they'd gotten it while she was already out on her walks, enjoying their afternoon tea together after a day of shopping and thrifting again. Maybe it was just formalities, or some form of strange courtesy, but she took it and thanked them, telling them that she'd use it next time on her outings.

But really? She hated the vibrant colors, how they hurt her eyes when she looked at the fallen snow, and she hated the clinginess of the fibers, how they left strands of lint everywhere it touched. Liz wanted nothing to do with it after two short hours of walking, and so she returned to the gallows earlier than she planned, kicking at the snow in her thin leather boots and leaving a line behind her with the trailing scarf. It was a gloomy day again, but she'd hoped to find some rare shots with the borrowed camera. There was a time when she used to like playing around with it, she was sure of it, but as of late, it lost the magic that it once held over her.

Still, she wanted to find it again, maybe hold onto it more tightly than she had in the past. To look at the world in beauty and curious eyes—she missed it.

After she arrived to the house, she was wiping off the lint on the camera lens with a careful finger when she heard a familiar string of sounds coming from behind the closed front door. It was a new song by the Isley brothers, instruments in medley with the singer's voice. She hadn't realized that they released another one, let alone an album during the time that her new living situation was compromised.

Still, she was taken aback when memories of the past began to sneak into her heart, striking sorrow when she found that she missed those simpler times. Music truly was a gateway to the past, and unfortunately for her, it was a past that she missed dearly. Liz felt more alive, more herself back on the streets. She had no one else out there watching her back other than herself and Patty, but in a way, she never felt more safe and secure than during that time. Not even the four walls of Liz's room provided her the comfort of finding warmth during a cold night.

And now, she felt colder than she did outside. When she turned the corner leading to the living room, the first thing that she saw was Patty and Kid, dancing merrily in circles, offbeat.

"Come on, Kiddo! Be funky, formless, and free!" she giggled, holding onto this hands as she waved them in a zig zag motion in front of them.

He was awkward with his movements and his face was full of uncertainty. It was like he was worried about following Patty correctly, but she could care less about the way he was dancing and more about the why. As Liz watched them, Kid became more relaxed and gave into her insistence. He cracked a smile and began to move in a new awkwardness. But it was his own way of dancing and his own way of having fun.

After moving a little closer to where she was hiding, Kid spotted Liz feinting a walk into the living room, careful to hide the fact that she was spying on them. His surprise alerted Patty, and she waved her sister over to join them. They still stood too close for Liz's comfort though, knowing that their friendship meant that they were excluding her. It was just another knife twisting in her gut when she recognized that they were dancing to an artist that she liked without her.

"Join in!" Patty said, leaping towards Liz to grab her hand. "Come on, come on!" But the moment that Liz pulled away was the moment that a mixed expression of shock and confusion crossed Patty's face. She tried again, but no avail. "Sis?"

Just after Liz snatched her hand away for the second time, she finally found her words. "Dancing is a two person thing, Patty. Seems like you already found a new partner."

The look morphed into one of horror, and before Patty or Kid could say anything else, Liz had already turned away, making a bee-line for the front door. She'd heard and seen enough of that mess. It wasn't a life that she wanted to join, and if it made her feel that much pain just to see it for a few brief seconds, then it would be best to not see it at all.

"It… it doesn't have to be," Patty said faintly, moments before Liz slammed the door, leaving both the camera and the scarf behind.

Forget it . It is what it is.