We regrouped at about 4PM and traded partners. I went with Ray. We both decided Gerard might need time with his brother. I really tried to help him as we trudged on in the snow, freezing our asses off, but I eventually ran out of anything lighthearted to say and couldn't stop him from getting worked up any longer. It wasn't the time to start a friendly snowball fight despite the flakes piling up on the ground.

So Ray and I watched as the Way brothers went off in one direction, too discouraged and exhausted to even speak a word to each other apart from a halfhearted, "Let's go," from Mikey.

"Well, where should we go from here?" Ray asks me. His voice sounds about as tired as I feel, so pretty fuckin' tired.

"I wanna go back to the park. I know me and Gee already went there, but... but I have a feeling." It's true. I can't describe it as anything but a magnetic force pulling me in the direction of the park and I can't ignore it. Who knows, maybe Eve has made her way there since the last time I walked through it, calling her name along with Gee. There were no odd looks to ignore from passersby as no one would be stupid enough to be out in this weather.

"A feeling is better than nothing, I guess." And so we head off to the park.

"Apparently Eve's been having nightmares and stuff," I say.

"Oh yeah? About what?" Ray asks, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm.

"Gee didn't tell me, but they keep her up at night so they must be bad."

"Man, that kid's had it rough, hasn't she?"

"Yeah." I sigh. I think back to the conversation we had in her room when she came out to me, how she really thought I'd reject her. And that only shows a taste of the lack of acceptance she must have had to deal with throughout her life before Gerard adopted her.

"Do you know anything about her life before, you know, before Gerard?" he asks carefully as though he could read my mind.

I shake my head. "He must know though, he must've read it in some file or something before adopting her. He wouldn't tell us though, would he? He wouldn't talk about something like that, especially without her permission. I'm kinda curious though, you know?" I see Ray nod from the corner of my eye. "But I wouldn't want to ask her about it either. I wouldn't know how and- and I wouldn't want to bring something up she might be trying to forget."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ray is silent for a few seconds and then exclaims almost angrily, "Man, I just wish I could help her more!"

"Well, we can start by finding her," I say.

"I know, but..."

"But what?"

"She likes me, right? Evelyn likes me?"

"Yeah, of course she does!" I have no idea what Ray is going on about and I let him know it by saying, "Why the fuck wouldn't she, man!?"

"I don't know, it's just- it's just she's got Gerard right? He's her dad. And then there's Mikey, her uncle. And then she's got you. You and Eve got super close, but then there's me. We haven't gotten that close, you know? And maybe she doesn't want to be super close with me, I don't know."

"Look, I'm honestly surprised she opened up to me so much. I think you just need to give her more time, you know? But right now she's not really close to anyone. She's kinda just pushed everyone away..."

"Yeah." He sighs. "Yeah, you're right."

The rest of the walk is depressing and the glimmer of hope I felt that we might, for some reason, find Evelyn chilling in the park fizzles out more with every step. I almost speak up, tell Ray to turn around and that we should head somewhere new instead of wasting time, but then he says something that wipes the idea from my mind.

"Hey, Frank, is that- is that Eve?" He points and I follow his finger to a girl running, stumbling out of the woods.

I don't even think twice before I yell, "Evelyn!"

She looks up like a deer caught in headlights and we make eye contact. I see her already pale face drain of any remaining colour. I don't know why I thought she might be happy to see us when she obviously ran away for a reason, but I wasn't expecting her to turn around back toward the woods. She freezes when she sees three other teenagers I don't know run out of the woods in turn.

Ray and I immediately assume the worst and start sprinting toward them and Eve runs in the only direction that someone isn't coming at her from.

"Don't let her get away, Krash!" The shorter of the three calls to one of the guys.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" I yell as we all run after Eve.

The kid glances at me and I see their eyes widen. "We're only trying to help her, Frank!" They yell back.

I ignore the fact that this kid knows who I am and go on angrily, "Help her my ass! You're scaring the shit out of her!"

"She's fucking running away from you too!" The taller guy whom I think is Krash yells. "We're all bad guys here, just— hey, Way!"

We all halt for a second as we see Evelyn collapse onto her knees in the snow, but I quickly regain use of my legs and, ignoring the burning in my lungs, run over to her crumpled frame. Everyone else is hot on my heels.

Before I can do anything though, she stands up again on her own. She's still breathing heavily, but turns around to face us, seeming to accept defeat. I can now clearly see her face, the tears streaming down it, her bloodshot eyes. She's unsteady on her feet as she takes a step toward me, opening her mouth without letting any words out, and as I close the distance between us, she practically falls into my arms. I ignore the smell of cigarettes and booze wafting off her. For now.

Everyone stands back a bit until Eve pulls away, stepping back a couple feet from me. She's swaying.

"Evie, what were you- are you- what's going on?" I struggle to form a sentence.

"I was- I was just... goin' for a run," she mumbles, kicking at the snow on the ground and making it into a neat little pile.

She won't meet my eyes.

"Are you- are you drunk?" I ask stupidly. It's obvious, especially by the way the three other teenagers lower their eyes in shame. They let this happen and they know it, but I don't turn on them just yet.

"Nope. Nope, I'm not," she says unconvincingly.

"Yeah, you are."

"Am not!" She even stomps her foot into the little pile of snow she'd been collecting. That is the moment that I realize we've lost the old Evelyn. The one who was quiet and nervous when we first met but who still let me drag her into Hot Topic. The one who would never yell or do anything considered remotely "rebellious". The one who was happy and excited to watch movies and play games with her new family.

Sure, I doubted Gerard a bit in the beginning. He's always the one to come up with ideas— they never stop— but this was different; he'd just told us he wanted a kid without having ever mentioned something of the sort in the past. But once I met Evelyn and saw with my own eyes how much Gee really loves her, I never doubted him again. But the feelings of doubt are now creeping back up. How could Eve change so much in a few months? I can't help but wonder if she's just not happy with her new life which, until now, I really thought she was.

"Don't bullshit me."