Chapter 25

This was getting old.

"We just came to say goodbye, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning to drive back to Montana." Mrs. Smithings smiled as she said her goodbyes to Mrs. Biggle. As soon as Henrietta and I got home from Tweek Bros., Mrs. Biggle had me go into the kitchen where Mr. and Mrs. Smithings were waiting for me. They'd be going back to wherever they lived tomorrow.

"Next time you come, you should stay over, it'll be fun!" I shot Mrs. Biggle a look but stayed quiet.

"Sophia." I looked up at Mr. Smithings. It seems like forever ago that he arrived and exploded my comfortable routine into a big cluster fuck. I lightly hummed at him. "Listen," he stood in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm not going to take you away from your life and friends. My intention isn't to flip your life upside down, I just want to make sure that you're comfortable, safe, and happy." Kind of too late, but the effort is appreciated, I guess.

"We think you should live with Mrs. Biggle from now on, at least until you turn eighteen and decide for yourself if you want to live somewhere else." Mrs. Smithings walked up behind her husband and smiled at me. "We've already talked it through with the Biggles and they're completely on board."

"You know you're always welcome here Sophia, we'd love to have you live with us." Mrs. Biggle smiled sweetly at me and I looked down.

"We're going to go with you to get your things from Christine's house, to make sure she doesn't do anything if you're alone with her." Mr. Smithings patted my shoulder one more time before letting go and walking toward the door.

"Right now?" I asked quietly, turning to see both of them walk to the door.

"We might as well." Mrs. Smithings smiled at me and I frowned. Based on what time it was, mom would either be passed out, or blacked out drunk. I was hoping she just wouldn't be home at all. We piled into their SUV and I looked out the window as Mr. Smithings slowly drove to my house. Or maybe it just felt slow because I was used to Henrietta driving like a bat out of hell.

As he parked outside my house, I got out of the backseat and walked up the porch steps, taking note of the splintered corner of the door as I unlocked it and let it swing open.

What a fucking dump.

I knew she didn't do much, but this mess was ridiculous. I was suddenly glad they were making me live with the Biggles; if I came back home, I'd probably be the one cleaning this up.

"Oh my god." Mrs. Smithings said quietly from behind me. My face flushed in embarrassment.

"It's usually not this bad." I said quietly, kicking aside a beer bottle.

And it wasn't usually this bad. It looked like a retarded, coked out rhino stampeded through here. There were holes in almost every wall, stains on the carpet, and even some throw-up in the corner. The couch she usually sat on was overturned and in the kitchen I could see the microwave on the floor with the handle broken off.

I slowly walked through the house, giving the door to the basement a wide berth just in case mom sprang out of nowhere and decided to give me another push. Come to think of it, I hadn't been home since that day. Not that I really missed it, but it was a little jarring to realize how much time had passed without me being here.

I slowly opened the door to my room and frowned. Like the rest of the house, it was a mess… My drawers were pulled out, the closet door was open and everything was yanked off the hangers, a small mirror I had on the wall was in pieces on the floor, and my bed was turned over on its side-

My eyes zeroed in on the floorboards under my bed, or at least, where they should be.

Dropping to my knees, I gasped as I felt around under the floorboards, my eyes widening in panic as all the money I had been saving up was gone.

"No no no…" I mumbled to myself, pulling out the old wrappers and old rags I had used to hide my savings in case mom had found the loose floorboards. But it was all gone, so obviously they hadn't worked. "Fuck!" I sat back on my ankles and roughly ran my hands through my bangs, as if somehow with them out of the way the old tin and pringles cans would appear.

"Sophia, is everything okay?" Mrs. Smithings looked into my room and gasped again.

"It's all gone." I said quietly, letting go of my hair and letting my hands drop to my lap.

"What's gone?" She slowly looked around the trashed room, frowning as she saw all my things strewn along the floor.

"My savings." I almost whispered, tightening my hands into fists. My hands shook as I squeezed my eyes tightly.

"What do you mean your savings? Did you have some money in your mattress or something?" She laughed a little awkwardly.

"Under the floor actually." I slowly stood up, not taking my eyes away from the empty floorboards.

"What was your money doing there?" I didn't answer, turning around and walking quickly out of my room and through the hallway to stand in front of the closed door to the only other room in the house.

I had gone very few times into my mom's room since we moved here; most of the time she slammed the door in my face and the one time I went in when she wasn't home, I didn't find much that would make me want to come inside again.

"What's going on?" Mr. Smithings asked his wife as they caught up to me, looking concerned. Just as I was about to bang on the door, it softly swung open when I leaned my hand against it.

It was a mess.

Big shocker there.

But in the middle of some dirty clothes, my mom was lying face down on the floor.

"Jesus fucking Christ." I strode forward and nudged her with my foot. "Hey, wake up." I didn't usually purposely wake up my mom; if anything, it was better for me when she was asleep, but I was panicking pretty badly about my life savings being mysteriously gone. I nudged her again and she softly groaned making me take a step back out of precaution. "Where's my money?" She only groaned again, wiggling a bit on the floor before giving up.

"Sophia, I think you should get away from her." Mrs. Smithings said quietly.

"She knows where my money is, she's the one that trashed the place." I glared not moving away.

"Sophia, come on, let's just grab your stuff and go." Mrs. Smithings gently grabbed my arm and pulled me away from my mom.

"I can't just–" I cut off abruptly as I stared at my mom's messy dresser. On top of her drawers, amongst her different perfumes, makeup, and even trash, was something I'd never seen in my house before. "Are you fucking serious?!" It was the first time in a while I'd raised my voice. I yanked myself out of the woman's gentle hold. "You're doing drugs now?! What the fuck is wrong with you! Did you seriously use my money for drugs?!" I rushed forward intending to kick her while she was unresponsive, but Mr. Smithings grabbed me and held me back.

"It's okay Sophia, come on, let's go." They pulled me out of the room and closed the door behind me. I didn't realize how hard I was breathing as I couldn't get the image of the needles and burnt spoons out of my mind.

"Hey, it's okay, just breathe, come on, let's sit down." Mrs. Smithings guided me to sit on the floor and sat next to me.

"It's all gone, she wasted my money on fucking drugs." I mumbled as I squeezed my legs against my chest. "Now she's on fucking drugs."

"I'm really sorry Sophia." She rubbed my back gently, obviously trying to comfort me, but all I wanted to do right now was scream. "I'm going to get your clothes from your room, okay?" I didn't respond as she stood up and left. Someone else sat next to me after a few minutes.

"I had no idea something like this would happen." Mr. Smithings sighed. "I'm so sorry Sophia, for everything. This wasn't what I expected to find when I came here at all." I just curled into a tighter ball as he rested his hand on my head, patting me like some fucking dog or something.

"I have all your clothes Sophia; do you want to look over the room and see if there's anything else you want to take?" Mrs. Smithings walked out of my room with a black garbage bag that was lumpy with what must have been my clothes.

"All I had were clothes here, there's nothing else worth taking." All my nicer things were already at Henrietta's house, including my bike which sat untouched in their garage since I had been going to school with Henrietta in her mom's car and didn't have a job to go to anymore. The two adults shot each other worried looks as I stayed sitting on the floor.

"Come on Sophia, let's take you home." Mr. Smithings grabbed my arms, easily pulling me up despite me wanting to stay on the floor. "You don't have to worry about anything, we'll explain the situation to Mrs. Biggle." I frowned and looked away, silently walking out of the house, who knows for how long this time.

. . . . .

I sat with my arms crossed at the kitchen table. The four adults sat around me as Mrs. Smithings finished explaining what happened. Mrs. Biggle was sympathetic, unsurprisingly.

"I can't believe she would do something like this! I knew she was in a bad place, but I never imagined…" I shrunk into my seat more.

"We should just be glad that Sophia isn't there anymore and that now she has a safe home where she'll be surrounded by people who care about her." Mrs. Smithings' positivity was annoying me, but I didn't have the energy to speak up.

"How much money did you have saved dear?" I crossed my arms even tighter, a deep feeling of disappointment sitting in my chest at Mrs. Biggle's question.

"A couple thousand. I was going to deposit it in the bank later, but I still can't open an account by myself." There was a quiet chorus of sympathetic murmurs around me.

"What were you saving money for?" Mrs. Smithings asked gently.

"To move out." My tone was clipped and the table was silent for a few moments.

"Sophia," Mr. Smithings spoke directly to me again. "I'm sorry we didn't get to spend more time together while we were here. I promise to make more time and explain everything to you later." I nodded, still not looking at him. He sighed but didn't seem upset with me. "We'll keep in touch, Mrs. Biggle already passed us your contact information, so we'll be checking in with you to make sure everything is okay." I shot a look at Mrs. Biggle through my eyelashes, but they didn't notice.

Charles and Sarah finished saying their goodbyes, and I stood with Mr. and Mrs. Biggle on the porch to watch them get in their SUV and leave. I could tell they wanted to hug me, or something else equally as sappy and conformist, as if we were some big happy family, but all I could muster was waving and not frowning at them. As their car drove out of sight, I sighed heavily.

"I'm going to go on a walk." I said quietly, Mrs. Biggle giving me a sympathetic smile as I hopped off the porch and started walking down the street, the opposite way the Smithings drove down. The walk wasn't too long, and I didn't think about much as my legs carried me away. My feet led me to where I wanted to go, and I stood in front of the front door for about a minute before knocking. There was a long pause before I heard footsteps and the door opened.

"Oh, it's you." The shorter Asian lady looked up at me and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Is Michael home?" I patted my bangs down nervously and she sighed before nodding.

"In his room." She opened the door wider, and I walked in, nodding in thanks as I walked down the slightly familiar hall to a dark room on the first floor.

Unlike Henrietta's house, Michael's room was on the first floor and the guest room was upstairs near his parent's room, at his insistence if I remember correctly. I hadn't been to Michael's house many times before, maybe twice since we preferred to group in Henrietta's room. I stood in front of his door, slightly glossy from where he'd pulled it off its hinges and spray painted it black in his backyard. After hesitating one more time, I softly knocked.

"What mom?" He called out and I stayed quiet, not sure how to respond. Maybe I should have called ahead or at least sent him a text first. I knocked again and I could hear him groan. Just as I was able to call out and say it was me, he stomped toward the door and yanked it open. "What!- Oh." His eyes widened in surprise, and I looked down.

"Hey." I said quietly.

"Hey." He repeated. I fidgeted a bit, biting my lip.

"Can I come in?"

"Oh! Yeah sure." He opened his door wider and I stepped in, looking around at the vaguely familiar room.

Michael had a twin bed with dark sheets and a blanket crumpled on it in a corner of his room, on top his drawers were knickknacks like animal bones and dried plants, and on his walls were different posters: some were detailed anatomy pictures with all the parts labeled and others were pictures that would probably look more at home in a dark-baroque art exhibit. Like Henrietta, he had blacked out curtains and red candles all over the place.

After quickly running my eyes over his room, I stepped forward and sat on an old swivel chair, looking up at him as he still stood in the middle of the room. I ran my eyes over him next, noticing that he was already in pajamas; some red and grey pajama pants and a long sleeve black shirt that looked soft.

"So," He sat down on his bed after a pause. "What happened?" I looked away, picking at a loose thread on my pants.

"I'm going to live with Henrietta now."

"Finally." He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"My mom's also on drugs."

"What-"

"And she stole all the money I'd been saving up to move out." His jaw dropped.

"No way." I nodded in response and sighed, my hands lightly shaking in my lap. He said nothing for a moment, the only reaction I got was him walking forward to offer me a cigarette from the box he picked up from his bedside table. I accepted it and he opened the curtains so he could slide the window up. I stood and leaned on the windowsill, tilting my head when he flicked his lighter on and offered it to me. After a few quick puffs, my cigarette was well lit and I looked out the window. He lit his own cigarette, and we stood in comfortable silence, just smoking together and looking out at the night sky.

"Your mom's a fucking cunt." He finally said.

"I know." I said with a small smile.

"You're a hard worker, you'll be able to make that money back."

"I know." I gently blew out the smoke, the night breeze carrying it away quickly. "I just really fucking hate her, you know?"

"At least you won't have to deal with her anymore." He shrugged, his shoulder lightly bumping into mine. I held my cigarette between two fingers and leaned my head against his arm, not quite reaching his shoulder unless he slouched forward a bit.

"Yeah." I sighed quietly, closing my eyes and pressing my forehead against his arm. I could hear him swallow thickly.

"So, why aren't you with Henrietta, I thought you guys had things to do today." He asked quietly. Bringing up Henrietta had me remembering our conversation from earlier, making my cheeks go pink and I leaned away from him.

"It didn't take too long." I murmured, leaning a little further out the window. He didn't respond and I bit my lip, letting the night breeze ruffle my hair. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Michael put his cigarette out on the windowsill and flick it out into the night.

I continued looking at him as he sat on his bed, sighing as he scrolled through his phone for a bit. My fingers twitched on their own to flick the ash off the end of my cigarette, and I slowly brought it back up to my lips.

My friends had always liked to tease Michael and I; I couldn't remember when or even why it started, but they enjoyed making sly comments about us. I don't think I acted any different with Michael as I did with the rest, if anything I had more physical contact with Firkle and Henrietta. Although, even I could admit I held a soft spot for Michael, more so than for my other friends. Maybe it was because he's the one that found me that day in the rain and went out of his way to take me to Henrietta's house. I don't know what it could be, but I had never considered something more…

My gaze lingered on his lips, not noticing when I had turned to fully face him.

"What?" His sudden question startled me and I turned back to the window, trying to distract myself with anything.

"Nothing." I could feel how hot my face was as I smoked the last of my cigarette, flicking the bud out the window like he did a few minutes before. The windowsill under my hands was full of tiny burns and dusted with ash from past cigarettes he'd put out on it.

"If something's bothering you just say it." I could almost feel how hard his eyes were rolling. My teeth bit down on my lip, for a second I wished my bangs were longer so they could cover my entire face.

"I think I'm going to go, it's late and I have to walk back to Henrietta's house." He stood as I strode toward the door.

"You… you can come back whenever you want… just text me and I'll open the door, so you don't have to deal with my mom, or whatever." I stopped as I grabbed the doorknob and turned to nod at him, noticing he was looking away and his neck was looking a little splotchy.

"Goodnight." I said softly and he nodded.

"'Night." Turning around, I made sure to close his door behind me, only throwing a wave over my shoulder to his mom that was sitting on the couch as I practically ran out.