Hi, my name is Aridene Evergreen, I'm twelve years old and my home is a box. Yeah, a box. I am a homeless kid, or that's just what fancy people say. Other people who like to camp a lot,hike, and do outdoors stuff most of their time say that I'm a camper who got lost. Not true but makes me feel better in some sort of a way that even I don't know.

But they all say that I'm weak.

They have no right to say that about me. I go out scavenging for food, money, clothes , and all the other life necessities. I get chased around by cops and people I steal from, and they call me weak. If I was weak, I would have been in jail right now, but I'm not, so they should just shut their heck of a mouth up.

Ugh. I hate rich people the most. They're always look at me with disgusted looks, if I were some kind of animal. Maybe they thought I was like a skunk or something that stinks. Well, I have to give that to them. Ha Ha .

Besides, I haven't taken a shower since the last hotel I've sneakin into. Anyways, enough about those stupid people, if this is making you all sappy then just don't read it. Exit it right now, maybe even throw the book out. After all, I am useless and you're just feeling sorry for me.

But just so you know, I do have one other friend. No, she is not homeless, she just thinks I need friend and well, you know the rest of that story. I'm pretty sure that you have a bunch of friends right now. Well good for you, really I mean it. I am happy for you.

It was just an ordinary afternoon for Columbus, a city in Ohio. My street home is near Short Street and Liberty Street which is near to the Scioto River. I live in Ludlow Alley, where there are old buildings and not many people. I live near the big trash cans and it smells awful.

I was staring at the photo of my family that I snatched when my house caught on fire and my parents were killed. By the time I looked away, my eyes were stinging with tears. No I'm not crying, NEVER EVER again. I thought.

They day my parents died, I sobbed, sobbed so hard I lost consciousness. When I awoke later there was this lady pressing a cloth on my forehead. When I asked her where my parents were, she told me they were dead. I didn't believe her at first, but a few days later, they never came home.

The lady that told me they were dead and put me in an orphanage. I did NOT like it there. There were kids who bullied me,some who stole my stuff, and most importantly: stabbing me with pointy rocks. Almost every night, I would crawl into my bed with scars,bruises,cuts, and a black eye. Well I got a black eye twice but still, it hurt.

I suffered every night like that.

One day while I was getting bullied I got so mad I well, ha ha...,kicked him in his chest so hard he flew into a trash can. That day I was laughing uncontrollably after what I did, but... I got in serious trouble. Detention. The worst.

So one night, I decided that living here was a waste of time because all we did was study. That's it. We NEVER went outside for some fresh air or some exercise. So I crept out of my bed all the way to the door and ran. I ran and ran until I found an alleyway unsure of which way I went from the orphanage. So from that day on I haved lived here in this alley. Okaaay, enough childhood stories. They're making me cry.

I stared at the sky, wondering if it was going to rain or not. I decide it was a sunny day so I went to my bookshelf (Basically a pile of books) and took out a book on greek mythology.

I was seriously interested in that. After all I am greek. My mom had gave this to me when I was 5. When I unwrapped it I stared at it not knowing what I had this for. For days I tried to figure out why mom had gave me this but could never figure it out.

So I started to read it. I was dyslexic so the word like who was spelt like how and was was spelt like saw for me. I've always had trouble reading books, especially the ones with long words like accommodation. It was hard.

I started reading the first paragraph.

Long ago, before... the gods... even ruled... the world, the... titans had. The titan king, Cronus and his wife... Rhea... had loved... this life. It... was not... long before...Rhea gave...birth to... three gods named... Zeus...Poseidon... and Hades.

Ugh,that was tough. I closed the book and realized that it was getting dark. I should probably go out and get some food. I thought.

I put the book back in the pile and headed outside the alley. I walked along the streets until I found Kittie's Cakes. Mmm, I love this shop. It has all the best kinds of pastries you could imagine. I went inside the shop and asked my favourite server to give me 2 cinnamon rolls.

is a lady around her 50's with salt and pepper hair, pale skin and a gentle smile. Most servers in the shop don't like me but looks at me the other way around.

"2? Only 2? Sweetheart, you need to eat if you are going to live. Now I will give you 4 and no denying it." She told me.

I wanted to protest but, well, you heard it, she said no denies. came back with a

box that said 'Kittie's Cakes' on the top. She handed it to me, and I took it gingerly. I always do that because usually, when I'm walking back to my alley, I run into cops a lot. I have to run or be arrested so I always choose to run.

While I'm running, The box shakes so much by the time I get back to the alley, there is 1 left. So this time I told myself to get the box back to my alley very carefully.

I thanked and headed outside. As I was walking. I saw something different about Columbus. I stopped in my tracks. It was quiet. Columbus was NEVER quiet. Was I dreaming? I pinched myself.

"OW!" I cried.

I may have pinched myself a bit too hard, now there was a red pinch mark on me.

I hurried back home to finish my dinner and head out again to find out what's going on. When I reached Ludlow Alley, I sat and ate in peace. Huh, so this is what it feels like to be in a village or town. I thought while I was eating.

I finished 2 cinnamon rolls and trotted around a few streets until I found Lou Berliner Sports Park.

Wow, have I been walking for the past hour? My legs don't even hurt. I thought.

I went into the park and peered through the crowd. It turns out that there was a baseball game going on. The Columbus Clipper were playing against Saints. I looked at the scoreboard, Visitor - 25, Home - 22. We were losing by 3 points. I looked at the timer, 1:19. Phew, we had time to catch up. I stayed there until the game ended.

The Clippers had won and everyone was walking away happily. I saw multiple kids around my age go on talking about the game, with their families. Just looking at them made me teary eyed so I ran back only to find my best friend.

"Hey! Did you just come back from the game?" she asked grinning.

"Hey Skyler. Yeah, the Clippers won." I glumly replied.

The look on Skyler's face turned to a sad look. She ran her fingers through my long salt and pepper hair, "You look so much like your parents mi amiga."

I should probably explain that. You see Skyler sometimes says stuff in Spanish is because she's not from Ohio or Spain. Your first guess might have been Mexico or Spain, but no, she's from Guatemala, Central America.

I met her in the start of first grade, a few months before my parents died. At that time, I was alive and active, but I was lonely when I found out that I didn't know anyone in my class. We have come so far since first grade, it has been... 6 years! Me and Skyler have been friends for 6 years! Wow, I guess time just goes by so fast. Well what can I say? Time flies when you're running for your life.

"Ari? Aridene?" there was a concerned look on Skyler's face

I zapped out of trance, "Huh? Sorry, I was just thinking about..." I trailed off.

"It's okay. I get that. So why don't we go to Clothing Underground? We could get you some new clothes, and then we'll go to the Mexican Plaza Bar. What do you say? Shall we leave?

She helped me up and I nodded, "Sure, I should really get out of these filthy clothes anyway. I looked down at my dirty/muddy/germ infested T-shirt and leggings.

After walking for a while in an awkward silence, I was the first one to speak.

"Ugh, okay this is way too quiet so I'm gonna ask you a random question." I said the last part embarrassingly. "Umm, so... how's school going?"

"Well, it's going fine but I have an algebra test and you know that I suck at algebra."she said.

I smirked, " Well,you came to the wrong person, my dear algebra-sucker"

"Oh shut up." Skyler replied with a punch on my arm. "You're better than me at least!"

We gossiped about random stuff until we finally reached Clothing Underground. We went inside and started to search around for some good-looking clothes.

After about an hour or two we both walked out of the store with at least a dozen of shopping bags in our hands. Skyler invited me to her house and well, I agreed.

Once we made it to her house, we raced up to her room and showed off our prizes. Skyler got: a few tank tops, jorts, ripped jeans, a few summer dresses, black leather jacket and black leather boots.

I got: lots of T-shirts, lots of jeans and leggings, a few baggy pants(for winter), some sweatshirts and hoodies, a leather jacket, and tons of new shoes. I had tons of more items than Skyler was well because, I am homeless and don't have any money, so I have to make shopping days the best of it to get stuff for my life.

After a while, Skyler's dad called us down for dinner, and man was it good. It was steaming chicken soup with salad. Once (Skyler's mom) gave me a platter of food, I right away start scarfing up the food. I ate like 5 bowls of salad and 2 bowls of soup before drinking 4 glasses of water.

I knew that the whole West family was staring but I paid no attention to them. They just smiled and took great care of me. It was almost like I wasn't homeless and had a family, and god did it feel good. When I was about to leave Skyler ran up to me suddenly.

" Hey, Aridene! Wait up!" she called after me. "I just wanted to tell you something. You know how you're homeless? Well my mom said that you could join ours and become a West, or an Evergreen if you want to. It's totally your option, you don't have to join, if you don't want to." \

I smiled, " Well, it does sound very nice, but... I'll think about it. I don't want to agree and just barge into your life and ruin it."

"You know that you could never ruin anything Ari." she replied with a grin.

Just when I was about to smile back, I felt something hard thwack my head and everything went dark. The last thing I heard was Skyler's screams.