Moonstar carefully picked her way through the piles of trash while shielding her eyes from the bright shaft of morning light that illuminated the dark alley. Unlike her twin brother, Minhyuk, Moonstar's nose was immune to the horrid smells and she didn't wince or squeal when wet piles of mud or God-knows-what squished under her feet. Today, though, the smells were stronger than usual, probably thanks to Easter being just two days earlier, meaning lots of food was thrown out. 

Moonstar finally reached the end of the alley and turned around to survey it to make sure she hadn't missed any more plastic bottles. As usual, it had been picked clean by her sharp eyes and her grocery cart was almost overflowing with bottles, meaning it was time to take a trip to the recycling center. 

Before stepping out on the sidewalk, Moonstar glanced around. This neighborhood was somewhere she'd have never dared to go at night, not even with Minhyuk. Moonstar hated to admit it, but she was quite the looker and at only 15 had gotten offers for by creepy old drunk ahjussis. She could barely restrain her brother from kicking every one of them in the face, but even he had gotten offers a few times by younger fellows. Nothing had ever happened in broad daylight (especially on a weekday) but you could never be too careful. 

The only people around were a few vendors setting up for the day or older couples strolling to the park. Moonstar started walking near one so that it looked like they were together, though it was quite obvious they weren't. The lady, like her partner, was a foreigner and was dressed in the finest of Tiffany's jewelry. Moonstar was full Korean and wore tattered jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt. The lady quickly noticed her presence and took her partner's arm, dragging him along as she not-so-subtly sped up and crossed the street. Moonstar fought the urge to yell out that just because she was homeless didn't mean she was going to rob them and instead chuckled to herself at the memory of the look on the lady's face. More people were milling about now and the sun was shining weakly after the night's rain, which Moonstar and her brother had luckily been able to escape by sleeping in a hotel lobby, claiming they were waiting for someone. Judging by the number of bottles she had already collected, today would be a good day.

Moonstar waved to a few vendors she sort of knew along the way. While her brother had the higher IQ, she had the higher EQ, so she could judge from the vendors' faces and body language whether or not they were having a good day and which ones would offer a discount. All seemed to be cheery, but then again, it was early morning and business was just barely filtering in. She made a mental note to rush Minhyuk back after they got their money from the recycling center so they could catch the vendors while they were still in good spirits.

●●●

Minhyuk's eyes swept across the parking lot, looking for the long, thick black hair of his sister. He stood protectively in front of his shopping cart filled with plastic bottles. Trash collecting among lower middle-class or homeless people was becoming more popular as the city had laid off street sweepers because of budget cuts (leading to more trash) and a second recycling center had opened across town. It could be done by anybody, including people that were only 15 like Minhyuk and Moonstar. It was, however, very competitive, and collectors being robbed wasn't uncommon. 

A man walking past him took a glance at his tattered outfit and tentatively walked up to him to put a plastic water bottle on top of his pile. He sped away quickly, as if Minhyuk was going to mug him for showing an act of kindness- or at least, what Moonstar said was kindness. Minhyuk wasn't sure. He was glad he would get another 5 cents for the bottle, but being treated like a trash can wasn't really his style. 

A voice calling out "Min!" interrupted his internal debate. It was Moonstar, waving and pushing a shopping cart b with bottles. He felt a smile break through his frown and waved back, the stress and tension leaking from his shoulders. 

"Min, guess what Jihyun told me?" she said, out of breath.

"Who?" Minhyuk asked, racking his brains for a Jihyun.

"Remember Nam Jihyun, the girl that works at the instrument repair shop? She said the recycling center on the other side of town is taking paper for money, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah! We should start going there, too."

Minhyuk bit his lip. "I don't know, Star. All the chaebols and rich people live there, and they don't have much trash. And we have all our usual spots here; heck, I think some of the people that live near to where I collect actually dump some trash for me to pick up. It's rude and dehumanizing, but we get more money."

"We could walk the trash over, you know. Or we could just claim other spaces, since they don't have many homeless people." she pointed out.

"If we were to walk it over we'd just get swollen feet and holes in our already tight and hole-y shoes. And do you ever wonder why they don't have many homeless people? The police are way stricter. My friend Sanghyuk got arrested for sleeping on a bench there. Sleeping on a bench, Moonstar! And it's not like we can rent a cheap motel for a night- they have nothing but five-star hotels."

Moonstar sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's get on with the recycling and get to the vendors before they get in a bad mood and close off the discounts for breakfast."

They stepped inside the small, danky building and nodded to the old man overseeing the place. There was only one other lady there putting bottles into the middle machine, which Minhyuk found odd. Usually there was a bit of a line. 

Moonstar took the machine to the left of the lady, Minhyuk to the right, and they started shoving the trash into the compartment one by one as the machine whirred and crunched and smashed their bottles, the number on the screen increasing by five cents each time. Minhyuk wouldn't admit it, but he actually quite enjoyed the sound, which gave him a sense of power that was rare to come by. He didn't tell his sister as many of his thoughts as she did to him, so they were actually a bit less similar than she thought. 

●●●

Ten minutes later, the lady had gone and Moonstar was standing and waiting for the machine to print out her receipt. She didn't understand the point of receipts; why not just spit out the money? She supposed it was just to give the ahjussi at the door that exchanged the receipts for money a job.

The receipt read $2.00 on it. $2 for 40 bottles. Minhyuk had gotten about the same amount, so that meant $4 for their breakfast (hopefully they could save a few cents). After breakfast they would split up again, hit their other usual trash-collecting spots, head back to the recycling center, and get some sort of food for lunch. Then they would do one more quick run and check all the spots for anything they had missed. Then Minhyuk would go to look for a job while Moonstar looked for a place to sleep. 

The twins were walking out onto the street and shading their eyes from the sun when Moonstar felt a firm grip suddenly grab her wrist and was jerked back inside the door. Her instinct was to fight back, but she quickly saw it was Minhyuk, the look on his face very alarmed. He shoved her down on the floor and hurriedly crouched beside her, whisper-shouting "Stay down! Shut up! It's her!" 

Moonstar didn't question anything and did as she was told, something life on the streets had taught her. Whoever her was had to be bad: Minhyuk rarely got such a look on his face. 

They stayed quiet for a few seconds, but it seemed like days. The voice that broke the silence was loud, brash, and ruined by cigarettes. It belonged to the ahjussi working at the center, and his chair was just a few feet from Moonstar's and Minhyuk's heads. "What the hell are you kids doing? Get outta here!" 

Both quickly scrambled up and brushed themselves off, trying to stutter out lame excuses. The ahjussi wouldn't hear any of them. He held open the door, poked them with a ruler a couple times, and shouted "Out!"

They stumbled back onto the sidewalk, right into the middle of her path. 

Now Moonstar understood why Minhyuk had looked so frightened. It was the director of the orphanage that they had spent their younger years at. They had gotten shoved around foster families, almost always coming back to the orphanage after a few months. The worst part about the families was that Minhyuk and Moonstar got separated. Mrs. Na had stepped across the line when she encouraged a family to adopt Minhyuk and not Moonstar, knowing darn well the bond the two shared. They had run away and never looked back. That was when they were twelve. 

They were fifteen now, and had spent three years running away from almost anybody that looked like they could have anything to do with government. Now they had finally screwed up. They were finished. Back to the orphanage. Moonstar winced at the memory of the cold, dark halls that she slept in, where the tile floors and high ceiling could make even the slightest whisper echo for all to hear. She remembered reading the papers that declared Minhyuk now part of a new family, and Minhyuk angrily tearing them up and throwing them into the furnace right in front of his new adoptive parents. 

The director looked confused, then slow realization and remembrance crossed her face.

"Moonstar?"

"Min! CRACKLE!" Moonstar shrieked, and took off. It made her sound like a madwoman, but to her and her brother, "snap" was code for run away, and "crackle" meant run in opposite directions. It was a last-resort safety plan; actually, more like first-resort, since both had maybe an ounce of muscle on them but could run like the wind. So they did.

Moonstar dodged people and didn't look back until she was two blocks away (which she had floored in under fifteen seconds) and hiding in a crowd of loud foreigners. The director was still looking around in confusion and Minhyuk was two blocks down the other way, still sprinting. She followed suit and covered another three blocks before ducking into an alleyway to catch her breath.

The morning was in full swing now, and Moonstar couldn't ignore the growling in her stomach. She decided to get herself some food, knowing Minhyuk had money also and was independent enough to do that simple task by himself. 

Five hours later, Moonstar was looking around town for a place to sleep. The clouds were growing darker by the minute, signaling another rainy night. She finally chose a spot near the back door of a small chapel covered by an awning and headed back to the recycling center to await her brother and hopefully news of a job. 

Drops were starting to fall when Minhyuk showed up. Without either of them saying a word, he shook his head. They stayed silent and somber walking back to the chapel, each lost in their own thoughts. The two sat down on the ground, hugging their backpacks with their few belongings, a ragged old blanket wrapped around both of them. Minhyuk leaned his head against Moonstar's shoulder and was snoring away in no time. Staring at the wooden cross hung above them, Moonstar wanted to do something had never voluntarily done before. She wanted to pray. 

She didn't quite know how to go about. Did you have to say it in a certain way, or recite some long verse first? She decided to just say a few words in her head, thanking God for Min and asking to help him find a job. God was forgiving, right? So He would understand if she screwed it up- right? Just for good measure, she crossed herself, like she had seen ministers that came to the orphanage do, touching first her forehead, then her chest, then her shoulders. Ignoring the loud thunder, Moonstar finally closed her eyes and let herself dream about home-cooked meals and warm hugs and laughter, picturing a utopia without orphanage directors or recycling centers or tattered blankets.