Erich leaded me into an abandoned apartment building. There were about five people in there. They all looked like they were homeless. There was a girl who was covered in dust and dirt. She had black hair, that had multiple knots in it. She wore a black winter coat. She looked tired and hungry. She looked around twenty.

Then there was a boy, he looked the youngest in the whole group. He looked around nine or ten. He wore a collar shirt that was white, but what covered in stains. His hair was dirty brown. He was being watched by a girl who looked around my age. 

She wore blue jeans that had holes all over the pants. She wore a sweater that fit her perfectly. She had light brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail. 

Another boy who looked around nineteen. He looked really tough. He wore a jeans jacket that had the sleeves cut off. He had a gun in his pocket. Weather he was going to use that one me, I didn’t want to know. He had greasy dark brown hair. He had a pair of kakis on. 

A girl stood next to him. She looked just as tough as him. She was around sixteen. She wore a pink crop top, and shorts that looked like they were cut to become shorts. She had blond hair that was in a braid. 

“Who is this Erich?” Asked the tough guy. He started to glare at Erich.

“She is a runaway like all of us, so is her sister, Baylee, this is Lucy and Kylie,” he introduced us. I suspected the boy who looked tough was Baylee. 

He started to look me and Lucy up and down. “Why’d you run away?” He questioned me. 

“My dad he is an alcoholic, he was hurting me, and my mother was just killed, I just gave up, and I ran away. I took my sister with me, because I didn’t want him to hurt her,” I explained.

“That is very wise Kylie,” he answered. He was starting to sound nicer to me. 

“Well, we can’t just keep bringing run away children in here!” Argued the blonde hair girl.

“They are just like us Anne,” Erich argued back.  Erich sighed. He gestured to the boy lying next to the girl with the ponytail. “That is Bobby, and she is Cassy,” he said gesturing to the girl. He then gestured to the dark looking girl, “That’s Olivia.” 

“We are struggling as it is! We can’t keep bringing more people in here!” Anne shouted at Erich. They broke out into a big argument. 

Baylee stepped in between them. He took them by back of their head, and hit their heads together. “That is enough! We are struggling, yes, but do you think arguing about it, will make anything better?” They didn’t answer they were too busy rubbing their heads. 

After all that we all sat down and talked about what happened to one another, and why we ran away. 

Baylee ran away from a foster home. His dad and mom were killed in a plane crash. He was sent to a foster home, and was surrounded by bigger kids. They had hurt him and abused him, so did the staff at the foster home. He said he never wants to go back, because they would hurt him more. He said he has been a runaway for two years now. 

Olivia said she ran away five years ago, her parents got divorced and she was going through having to go to court every day just so one of the parents could get her. She couldn’t take the stress, they were fighting over her. So, she ran away.

Cassy and Bobby had the same story as me, but, their parents just ignored them, and would forget to feed them. So, Cassy ran off with her little brother, and Baylee found them. They ran away two years ago.

Anne parents kept trying to get rid of her. One time while she was seven, they drove her all the way from, New York City, to New Mexico, and dropped her off in the desert. When the police found her, they took her back to her home. Her parents just said they lost her, and were worried about her, then praised the police, after the police left, they scolded her. Anne ran away one year ago

I would have to say; Anne’s story was worse than what I have ever heard. 

“Now what are we gonna’ do to these brats?” Anne asked grumbling slightly. She crossed her arms angrily, I was really starting to hate her. 

“We keep them,” Olivia said calmly. She was leader of the group, since she has been a runaway for the longest. 

“Keep them! We can hardly fend for ourselves! What makes you think we can fend for them?” Anne shouted at Olivia. Okay decision made this girl has anger issues. 

“Yes, but how would you feel if we never accepted you?” Olivia said impressively calm. 

All I heard was low mutter from Anne. “Fine, but where will they sleep?” She questioned.

“They will sleep with Cassy and Bobby of course. We would give them a room of their own, if they weren’t all bug infested,” Olivia said with a sigh. When she said, that I shivered slightly.

“Do you guys have food?” Olivia asked glancing up at us.

“I have a box of Granola bars full of ten bars, and a credit card full of two hundred dollars, that I stole from my dad before I left.” I said honestly, but I really wish I hadn’t said the last part. 

“Stole!” Cassy gasped out. “So, you’re a scavenger?” She asked me. 

“Um no not exactly a scavenger-'

“Two hundred dollars! We can go to the grocery store and buy food!” Anne said happily. First time I have seen a smile on her face.

“Anne! Have you even thought about what could go wrong if you leave now?” Olivia scolded her. “You are a runaway, you have barely survived a year. If they see you, they will automatically know who you are! We have to be cautious, I say Erich and Baylee should go. They have changed enough, to not be noticed, but just in case, be sure to wear your hoods,” Olivia said.

“Hold on! Have I even said you could use my credit-'?

“No, but it would be very kind to stick with the team, and not be greedy,” Olivia said eyeing me.

I tilted my head down. I felt guilty now. “Fine you can use my card, and I’ll share my food,” I said and grabbed my backpack. I dug around inside for the box of Granola bars. 

I laid in bed that night…well on the ground with a blanket under me. I wasn’t expecting to have help from five different people.

I felt someone shake me. I shifted my body so I could see them. It was Olivia. She held a pack of cigarettes. “You smoke?” She asked.

“Just started tonight…” I said to her. She smiled and gestured me to get up. 

I went to get up but I heard Lucy who was supposed to be asleep next to me say: “Sis, you started smoking?”

I froze and sighed. “Yeah sis, but it is fine, I’ll be fine, now go to sleep.” I got up and Olivia took me upstairs all the way to the roof

“Only use this light for your cigarettes, nothing else,” Olivia said as she handed me a red lighter.

I thanked her and watched her teach me how to use one. I flicked the top and a flame ignited on top. I held it up to my cigarette and let it catch fire, I in some smoke. Better after every whiff. I blew out some smoke. 

“Your little sister, was never hurt, was she? At least not by your dad?” She asked as she lit her cigarette.

“No, she wasn’t I didn’t want to take any risk. So, I took her with me, I swore I would protect her no matter what! That swear will not be broken!” I said mostly to myself, then I did to her. 

“I had a sister, I was unable to save her. I swore to protect her too. Kylie, never make a swear you can’t keep,” She said looking directly at me. That is when I noticed something off about her right eye. It didn’t move with the other one. 

“What is wrong with your eye?” I asked curious. 

“You have heard about the murders in town, right?” 

I nodded.

“In my efforts to save my sister, from the murderer, He jabbed me in the eye. I was lucky that Cassie mom was a doctor and she was able to help me. We soon decided to take me to the hospital. They replaced my eye with a glass one. I was forced to go back to my parents. The abuse seemed to get worse. They blamed me for my sister’s death. Saying I could have protected her more. Well,…they were right. I was too worried about my life, that I forgot about my sister’s. I ran away again, and found the others, I didn’t last three weeks.” Olivia smoked on her cigarette for a while. I had finished mine. She told me to go back to bed. 

I was too worried about my life, that I forgot about my sister’s. Those words circled my mind over and over that night. She was only, what? Fifteen, sixteen, and she couldn’t save her sister. How am I able to save mine? 

I turned over in my bed and looked at my sleeping sister. I hugged her, and whispered in her ear: “I swear, I will die, before you die.”