❦𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮❦

"Wow, this place is beautiful." I whisper out as I look at the landscape that eventually turns into forest.

"Not quite, darling. But I'm hoping by the end of today it will be." Monica says, sneaking up behind me with a wheelbarrow.

I found her ad in the newspaper this morning and called her. She's out of town a ways, but offered to pay for gas. She needs help cleaning her back yard of fallen branches and just generally cleaning up around the yard.

Monica was ecstatic when I (a girl) called, she went on and on about how boys are overrated and she's tired of them.

I think she just says that because she's sad, her husband died five years ago so she's been living out here alone since then.

I can tell it's been hard for her, but she's the type of person who would never admit it.

"You start gathering branches and put them in the burn pile, I'll start raking up leaves." She points to the burn pile before walking off with the wheelbarrow towards the huge pile of leaves, she must have got that done that before I got here.

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Nine hours later and the backyard looks incredible, we collected all the branches and leaves then burned them, mowed, weed waked, planted some flowers and even set up a bird bath and feeder so she can sit on her porch and watch the birds.

It's something her husband used to do each morning, she teared up a little when she shared that memory with me.

"You're such a sweet and hard working girl, Rose. Thank you so much for your help today." Monica says gratefully as she hands me over some money.

I glance down at the wad of cash and instantly know that it's too much.

"Monica, three hundred is way too much." I gasp. We agreed upon a hundred and fifty over the phone, and that was including the extra for gas.

"Take it, I have to pay you extra for being my therapist too." She smiles at me.

I try to argue, but she's stubborn and won't have any of it.

"Go, go home. It's getting late, I'm sure your parents will start to worry." She says shooing me off and into my car.

I smile and nod to her, thanking her again for the money and close the door to Jack.

Monica goes back around the house and my fake smile falls.

My parents, worried about me? Those words don't fit together in my world, my parents wouldn't care if I died.

My phone dings, I dig it out of my backpack, placing the money in the bag at the same time.

From: Bob

The kids wanted to know if you're still coming over for dinner?

Lilly learned a new recipe and wanted to make it for me. We agreed three days ago that I would come over tonight. But I guess she has been bugging Bob about it everyday, I get a text to prove it each night.

To: Bob

Tell them I'm on the way, be there in thirty minutes.

Bob understands my line of work, so when I show up covered in dirt and smelling like a fire he won't think anything of it. Just lead me to the bathroom to freshen up and dig the dirt from under my nails.

I buckle up and start Jack, but he hesitates before firing up.

That's definitely not a good sign.

I pull out onto the road and push the gas down, the engine makes unpleasant noises and I don't get as much power as I usually would.

I can feel this car is at the end of it's rope, but I've replaced all the parts I thought might be causing the issues, and it hasn't fixed it yet.

Ten miles into the twenty five mile drive to Bob's house the car starts to jerk. The temperature gauge shoots up, Jack sputters, smoke is seen, then he stops completely.

I pull to the side, barely making it before the wheels stop spinning.

And sit there, stunned.

You have got to be kidding me, I cross my arms over the steering wheel and let my head fall onto them. Defeat washing over me.

I have just over three hundred dollars saved, and that includes what I just got paid. I had to pay insurance the other day, and I bought a few parts for Jack so that pretty much wiped me out until today.

Groaning I pick my head up and pop the hood.

Sitting here in self pity isn't going to fix my car so I might as well jump in and get my hands dirty.

I unlatch the hood and pull it open, smoke that was trapped under the hood attacking my face as I do so.

I prop the hood open and examine the engine. To my utter demise, I can't see anything that's blatantly broken.

Sighing I walk to the driver's seat and try to start him again.

Maybe I'll get lucky and it just had a weird thing happen and it will start up and give me no more problems.

Sounds crazy, but one time Jack started acting up, I got aggravated after hours of working on him with no results. So I took a wrench and started beating random parts in the engine bay, it fixed it.

I have no clue how or why, but I never had that same problem again.

I turn the key, and... nothing.

Crap. I return to the engine bay and look for anything that could give me an idea of what's wrong. I'm no mechanic, sure I work on Jack, but I only know basic stuff and anything beyond that is just me doing research and throwing parts at him until I figure it out.

That hasn't proven to be of much help this time, as I've tried every part that made sense to me, and I'm currently sitting on the side of the road broke down and a whole fifteen miles out of town.

Mother trucker. I inspect the engine bay farther, then under the car and try to start it again, but nothing happens.

I have no dang clue what happened and it won't start up again no matter how many things I fiddle with.

Frustrated I pull my phone out of my pocket to text Bob to let him and the kids know I won't make it for dinner. But that plan is short lived as my phone has no signal.

Oh freaking heck, this day could not get much better could it. I try messing with the wiring and tubes, and hit stuff randomly in hopes that I could just get him started again so I can drive to a parts store.

Sometimes I just explain what sound Jack is making and they suggest a part, then bam, working like a gem again.

Other times they have no freaking clue, and the internet is a vast supply of misinformation so that makes researching with the library's computers difficult.

Especially when you get an old man peering over your shoulders who thinks he knows everything about cars, and goes on and on about this car and that car all while not saying anything about what's going on with your car.

Then it's time for the library to close and you realize that all your time was wasted on a guy who actually knows nothing about cars and just wanted to tell you a stupid story to make himself seem cool.

You know this because one thing he said was, 'if you're low on oil, just use gas instead. Works the same." And to top it all off he doesn't even drive a car, he rides the freaking bus to the library.

Yes I'm talking about you, Frank! I yell inside my head and kick a tire in anger at the memory.

Freaking Frank.

I get back inside the car, having no clue what to do now. I can't even use the data that Blake added to my plan to try to look up what's wrong with Jack because I have no service.

I could sleep here, but what good would that do me? I need to make it to town so I can do some research and hopefully buy some parts to try before my car gets towed.

I'm fifteen miles out, and it's getting late. I'd be lucky to make it back to town before midnight, so everything will be closed anyway.

But if I head back now I could get to the parts store when they open, then if I'm lucky walk back out here and have it fixed tomorrow.

If it's even fixable, I have a feeling that once I get to researching, I won't like what I find.

Where would I stay tonight?

I wonder how much worse the abandoned building I slept in for a while has gotten? I could check that place out, one more night there won't hurt me.

I grab my backpack and stuff what I can fit in it. That consists of everything that's already in it, a bottle of water, two bags of nuts(the only food I have left) and my jacket.

That's pretty much everything that I own at the moment, besides a few tools that weren't stolen and a blanket and pillow.

The blanket and pillow are too bulky to pack, even though it would make sleeping tonight much more enjoyable, it would be too much work, and bring too much attention to me walking down the road if I had them in hand.

The tools are too heavy, and I'll need them when I come back tomorrow anyway, so no need to take them with me.

I lock up Jack and stuff the keys in a pocket before starting on my long walk back to town. The road I'm on has a dense forest on both sides of it, and even though it's still daylight out, you can't see the sun because the tall trees block it from view.

The trees creak around me as the cool evening air blows, I really hope I make it out of this and to open roads before the night sets in.

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I feel like I've been walking forever, the sun has set leaving me in the dark, but the moon is out and illuminating the road enough for me to kind of see where I'm going.

I didn't make it out of the trees yet, I also stopped to eat the nuts I had because my stomach wouldn't stop growing and it was pissing me off.

I didn't pay much attention to it on the way out, but now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the forest starts just outside the city. So I'll be in it for a while longer, I have no clue what time it is either.

I tried to check to see if I had service and see what time it was a few hours ago, only to notice that the flashlight was still on from when I used it to look under my car.

It was at one percent when I saw it, died before I could even see what time it was.

Everytime I see headlights I dart into the trees, I have no clue what kind of creeps I'd run into out here, and the last thing on my todo list is to get human trafficked.

My legs ache, I'm hungry and I'm honestly just really sad.

I know the likelihood of me being able to fix Jack is slim. I own minimal tools, have minimal knowledge and he's fifteen gosh dang miles away from anywhere I can buy parts.

It would cost me just about everything I have to tow him back to town, and I don't have a place to drop him.

I'd get kicked out of anywhere I usually park when they see I'm turning their parking lot into a mechanic shop.

And then what happens when I have no money and can't fix him?

I'll have nowhere to sleep and no way to get to work. It's hard enough to get jobs right now, it was so much harder before I got Jack. It takes a while to walk anywhere, and the bus transportation is literal crap in this town.

So to find someone within walking distance, who is willing to give me (a girl they view as the size of a toddler) the job... it's nearly impossible.

Give me a break universe, please just give me a flipping break.

It feels like a weight is lifted off my shoulders when I see city lights come into view. To my delight I'm not met with any issues caused by the opposite sex tonight, or by humans in general.

Quite the opposite from the other time's I've had to wander around town after midnight.

Let's just say I've gotten the living tar beaten out of me when I didn't give a guy any money when he tried to mug me.

I'm not stupid, I would have given him money to escape a beating, trust me, but it was the night after I got kicked out of the room I used to rent, so I literally didn't have a penny on me.

My eyes drift around the familiar street that holds so many memories.

It's actually more of an ally than a street. Trash litters the broken and cracked asphalt, the one street light flickers on and off like a horror movie.

When I found this place I thought it was so strange, it's so run down and dirty, but is located in a nice part of town.

The little alleyway is slightly hidden by large shrubs that the city planted next to the entrance. Everyone just seems to pretend it isn't here, sometimes teens will throw a party, but it's very rare.

And the only way into the building is a broken window next to the boarded up door.

I would throw empty cans on the floor to alert me whenever they would show up. I'd hide in the furnace room until they left early the next morning.

One of the guys found me once, I guess they were playing hide and seek. He opened the door and slurred, 'I don't know who you are... but I found you so I win.' Then stumbled off to find the next person who was actually playing the game.

I may have also messed with them a few times, they eventually stopped coming because they thought the place was haunted.

I remember one time I tied a string to the handle of the cooler of beer they brought, I would randomly tug it across the room. Poor suckers were too drunk to realize it wasn't a ghost.

The ally looks almost the same as when I left here two years ago after I bought Jack. Only now the shrubs have grown to fully cover the entrance.

I walk up to the building, the only one with an entrance in this alleyway, the rest of the alley is big brick walls separating this ugly sight from the beautiful backyards of the houses on the streets sandwiching the alley.

I could never figure out what this building was, it's in a residential neighborhood but It definitely wasn't a house. The two stories had no kitchen and the layout on the bottom floor was completely open. The only thing I could come up with is that it was some sort of small business that got shut down because it was operating in an illegal zone.

I shimy my way through the broken window, the cans I left years ago crunching under my feet.

It's dark in here, the street lamp that was dimly lighting up the alley does nothing for me once I'm inside.

I wish I had a flashlight, or my phone had a charge so I could see. At least I know the layout of this place like the back of my hand, so as long as no huge holes have rotted the floor away I should be able to make it upstairs to where I used to sleep.

I try to keep from thinking about the chance that someone else could be here, maybe some other homeless person stumbled upon this building in the last two years, and now this is their territory.

The likelihood of that is so slim though, I never saw a single person here, besides the teens who used to throw parties.

The only reason I found this place is because of that guy who tried to mug me. He beat me up so bad that after I dragged myself up and off the ground I stumbled around for an hour trying to find somewhere to stay.

I ended up falling into the alley when I tripped over my own feet, fell into the shrubs and out the other side into the alleyway. Even though that guy beat the living crap out of me, he did help me find a place to safely stay for a while, so thanks I guess?

I slowly make my way upstairs, stopping every other step to listen for other noise in the building.

Be my luck that freaking Frank the car expert lives here now.

I make it up the stairs and to the room on the left no problem.

The upstairs is split into four rooms, two large rooms with no closets or anything, just walls, a door and a window.

The other two rooms are a bathroom (does not work anymore, of course, but the teen guys peed all over the place in there so it smells so bad. I keep the door shut.) and the furnace room.

Once I make it to the room I used to sleep in I move my foot across the floor, clearing a space for me to lay my jacket. I curl up on top of it and close my eyes.

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I wake up to the sun burning my face. That didn't happen when I lived here before.

I peek my eyes open, I guess it has been a while since I've been here because the roof now has a huge hole in it allowing the sun to shine through.

Good thing it didn't rain last night or I would have been soaked.

Now, being able to see, I notice I'm not the only one here.

"Ollie!?" I gasp at the brown eyes staring at me. He jumps down from the pile of garbage he was sitting on and walks over to me, he rubs his body against my legs that are crossed over each other and purrs.

Ollie frequency shared this room with me while I stayed here, we became buddies after I bought him a can of tuna.

I thought about taking him with me when I moved into the car, but that's no life for a cat, plus he seems to love the freedom that comes from wandering the streets.

"I've missed you!" I murmur as I scratch behind his ear. He licks my hand then walks out of the room, like it hasn't been a whole two years since we've seen each other.

Ollie never stays around for long in the mornings, he wanders around outside all day, only coming back here right before the sun sets.

"Have a good day!" I yell out after him. He responds with a loud meow then runs down the steps.

What a riot that guy is.

I pack my jacket back into my backpack, even though it's still early morning, the sun has already done a good job of heating up the city.

I secure my backpack on my shoulders and crawl through the window and into the alleyway. Now I have to figure out if I want to head to the parts store and ask employees what to do, or go straight to the library and see what I can figure out on my own.

I decided to go to the parts store first, I was not in the mood to run into Frank.

I fear I might go to jail for battery when I punch his face after he won't stop talking.

Ok, I need to chill. I haven't even seen him for a year.

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The employees at the parts store tried to help, but there is only so much they can do when I have limited information on what happened.

They gave me some things to look into and then I went to the library to do some research. I came up with a few things that it could be, but unfortunately none of them are things I would be able to fix without a proper shop and tools.

So I found myself back at the parts shop explaining what I found.

"How old is your battery?" One of the employees asks.

"Old, I think it might be the original one." I reply feeling depressed, it's almost eight and I haven't even gotten close to figuring out what's wrong with him.

"It's a long shot," he begins. "But was there a click when you tried to start it again?" He adds.

My brows crease as I try to remember. "No, nothing. It didn't make a sound." I say.

Gosh I'm hungry, stop. Stay focused.

"Well, you definitely have other issues, with the overheating and the noise. It's not looking good, but you also might have a bad battery. If there was no sound that means your battery is either not connected right or dead. So, slim chance, but you might be able to drive it here if you can get it started." My eyes brighten with hope as he continues.

"Bring the battery here, I can test it. If it's dead I'll charge it and then you can try to get the car here. After that we can take a better look at what else is going on. Don't get your hopes up though, it sounds like your engine might be shot and that will cost a lot to fix. Might be time to get a new car." He suggests.

I would, but I love Jack, and three hundred dollars won't get me a new car anyway. I dart out of the store after thanking him a thousand times, he's my favorite employee, always going out of his way to help customers.