"We have to go? Where to?" Ellis looked up at his brother, who looked haggard and had dark circles under his eyes. The 14-year-old still looked sick even after almost two weeks in the hospital, but the doctors had said that he was okay enough to leave. There was an unfamiliar look to his eyes, blank and devoid of life.
"I don't know. Somewhere not the apartment." Ellis looked down at his sneakers and squeezed Lann's hand. Some of his fingers had been broken, so they were bandaged up tightly and set with splints. The same had been done to his broken nose, but there wasn't much that could be done with his black eye and a few bruises.
"Alright, kids." Both Lann and Ellis looked up at Chief Ingkells, who had come into the office with a packet of papers in his hands. "It looks like all the work's come through. After we pick up some of your things, I'll drive you two over to the care center."
At Ellis's scrunched up face (he looked as if he was going to burst into tears), he added, "Don't worry kid, they'll take good care of you. Both of you."
"Thanks for your help." Lann's voice was as dry as a desert. Ellis looked up and saw his brother glaring at the Chief, who only smiled sadly back in reply. They were going into the system, and there was nothing they were able to do about it.
In the end, Ellis had packed some of his clothes, his raggedy teddy bear, and a single picture of mom and dad into his backpack. Lann, on the other hand, had simply shoved as much clothing as he could into his backpack and their toothbrushes.
As they were leaving the place they had once lived in with their mom and dad, Ellis noticed that Lann paused for a moment, seemingly hesitant, before he grabbed something from on top of the old dresser.
During the long ride in the car towards their new 'home,' Ellis had quickly dozed off against his brother's arm. The pink-and-red-smeared skies had long since given way to the encroaching darkness of night, the fading shadows of trees and light poles flickering past the car as they left their parents behind in shallow, guilt-ridden graves. Blinking slowly, his eyelids feeling like they had heavy weights attached, Ellis saw Lann lifting up the chewed-up cover of a well-worn paperback.
Lann began to read quietly, his voice barely louder than the hum of the car's engine, "The primroses were over. Toward the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading patches of pale yellow still showed…"