My last few Song Suggestions have been off. But I think I hit the mark on this one.

Song Suggestion: When You Look Me in the Eyes by the Jonus Brothers

Three Years Later.

Laughter fills the room of the abandoned store house. Two candles illuminate the room as Riley runs her fingers through my hair, trying to comb out the knots from my recent bath in a near by stream. Now she puts it into two loose braids so it won't pull tight on my scalp when it dries. Then she takes some string she uses to make traps and ties it around the end of each braid to keep them secure.

"Are you really going this late?"

We switch places, Riley turns her back to me and I begin to fasten her hair into a single braid. Her hair has been mostly dry for about an hour now, leaving the ends mostly damp. I comb my hand through her hair as best I can, but the briad comes out pretty decent considering, if I do say so myself.

"I just need to grab some stuff for us. I won't be an hour."

"That's what you said last time," I say, making it clear in my tone that I don't like what she's doing. "You were gone for the whole day. And...," I shake my head. "Its dark outside."

"Best time to go, everyone is wrapping up their day. Everyone will be too tired and not alert enough to catch me stealing right under their noses."

"I know that but I just wish...I just wish you wouldn't."

Riley sighs. We've had this conversation many times.

"I do it for us," she says over her shoulder.

"I know that but-"

"It's the best way. And if you'd just-"

"Go with you," I deflate.

Riley turns to me. "I have always protected you. And I promise nothing will ever happen to you when your by my side. Just come with me."

I look down at my hands, fingers long and nimble. Ashamed.

"I told you I never wanted to go back there again," I mumble.

"Hey," Riley leans over and takes my cold hands in her warm ones. They're rough and covered in calluses, but comforting all the same. "I will never make you do something you don't want to do."

"I know, its just...so much has happened there. I've lost so much to that place."

"That place is your home."

"No its not, Riley. My home is here," my eyes graze over the room. Rust on the metal walls and dirt on the floor. A pot for boiling water in the corner and a metal bucket-the same one I woke up to catching rain water, sits in the opposite corner. In the winter we open the the broken windows and light a fire in side the bucket to keep the store house warm. I look into her bright green eyes, the color of spring. "My home is with you."

The corner of her lips lift into a genuine smile. It makes me feel better. It always does.

"Go," I say, even though it pains me in so many ways for so many reasons. "Just promise me you'll comes back to me."

Riley suddnly pulls me to her and I quickly wrap my arms around her slight fragile form. She may be only fourteen, but she is the strongest person in the world.

"I always will."