Fairy Dust

*Mikey's POV*

Hours past until we made it into Harrisburg, the night was young and the city was full of lights and sounds. People didn’t really react to our appearance, almost as if it were normal. With our poor choice of matching and an AK-47 slung over Ray's shoulder, you would wonder why no one really did a double take. The fragrances of hot dog vendors and bakeries made my mouth water, we were all starving! I noticed a lot of people looked like they escaped from the war too, dirty and lost.

"I'm hungry." Frank whined. My stomach growled in agreement.

"Let's find a soup kitchen." Bob suggested he looked distressed. He wanted his sister safe and sound but he had no guaranty she was alive. We looked up and down the city in search of food but found none. We stopped in a park exhausted. We had nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat and no warmth. We took a double bench for our beds and the snow began to fall again.

"I'm still hungry Gerard." I heard Frank say. I could see fat tears rolling down his cheeks in the lamplight.

"I know sugar, me too." he gave him a one-armed hug watching his arm.

"If your hungry, why don’t you eat?" a thin boy walked out of the shadows, I hadn’t even noticed him. His face was darkened by dirt and his glasses were webbed with cracks. He also wore a hat.

"We don’t know where to go." Ray said glumly sounding so lost and confused, we all were.

The boy coughed. "Follow me." We stood; we had nothing better to do so we followed him. Our bodies ached in protest. The boy was tall and lanky; he towered over Frank and was about as tall as I was. He weaved through the alleys with confidence while we cowered in fear. Soon we stood outside a rundown building with missing bricks in the walls. The lights were clear and the distinct sound of human voices from within. We followed the boy inside and we got into line. The stench of the homeless was clear. His face was clear now; brown eyes, glasses, braces, your typical nerd.

"Who are you and why did you help us?" I asked with confusion fogging my mind.

"Brendan O'Brien, I helped you because I can." he extended his hand for me to shake which I accepted. Everyone else introduced himself or herself including me. "Were going through crazy time and we need to help each other." we were served pasta and bread then sat to eat at an empty table. "Were are you guys from?"

"Jersey." we all said in unison.

"New York." Bob said.

"Toronto." Brendan said. That's where Max and Andrea were from!

"You happen to know Max and Andrea, would you?" he seemed to be thinking chewed on some bread.

"You know there last names?" we shook our heads. "What do they look like?" we tried describing them as best as possible from Andreas emo glasses to Max's emo hair, Brendan’s eyes widened behind his glasses. "Well I'll be damned, they actually alive!?"

"Well Max isn’t..." Frank mumbled. Brendan grinned.

"Even better!"

"Do you know them?" Ray asked.

"Know them? I hung out with and Andrea and loathed Max.! How did he die?"

"We went over a waterfall; Andrea vanished and Max is dead." Frank said.

"Why didn’t you like Max?" I questioned him.

"The guy was an asshole who didn’t know his head from his ass. He got what he deserved. As for Andrea..." he didn’t finish. His eyes glazed over in thought. We ate in silence after that.

A fight started in another corner of the room. Men shouted and fists began flying. Brendan didn’t look up but we craned our necks with curiosity.

"Every single night..." Brendan mumbled. Then I saw a face I had never wanted to see again.