I Liked it Better When They Were Young

Billie shrugged, avoiding her eye.

"No where. Just... around." He jestured wildly and drunkenly with his arms to the empty streets. The girl, well I say girl, she was more of a woman than a girl, squinted at him, and he eyes changed from brown to green and back again.

"You're drunk again, aren't you." She said wearily. It wasn't even a question, she just knew. Billie grinned mischievously.

"I'm not gonna lie to you Anna, it's a definite possibility..." He was slurring his words really badly now. Anna, as he was calling her, shook her head and jerked her thumb inside.

"Inside. Now." Billie grabbed my hand.

"Soph will be lonely...." He said matter-of-factly. I shrugged my shoulders, uncoiling my hand unsurely.

"I'll be fine Billie." He leaned in closer, his voice toning down to a whisper.

"You're not supposed to say that..."

"NOW BILLIE!" Anna yelled. Billie rolled his half closed eyes and stepped over the doorway, tripping in the process. He stumbled through to the kitchen, laughing. Anna sighed and turned to me. "You must be Sophie. I'm Anna. I'm Billie's sister." She held out her hand and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you. He's mentioned you a couple times." She laughed,

"I bet he has!" She squinted at me and her eyes changed colour again. "I think he's mentioned you, too. You're from the posh street, right?" I was about to argue that my neighbourhood was no posh place, but then I realised, compared to this place, it probably was pretty posh. I looked down. She sighed, realising she'd affected me in some way by saying this. "I'm not saying you're posh. I just know that neighbourhood as being full of preps." I grinned.

"It is. I'd much rather live here." She whooped with laughter.

"I'd trade with you any time, honey!" We then heard the rather unpleasant sound of someone throwing up. We both winced. Anna called into the house.

"Are you ok, Bill?" We heard a disgruntled snort from inside.

"Fucking peachy." Billie muttered sarcastically. We then heard him throw up again. Anna shivered. She then looked at me.

"Well, you don't really know your way around here. Do you want me to walk you home?" I knew what she thought. She thought I was completely hopeless, that I couldn't take care of myself. That I wasn't USED to this kind of place. So I decided to prove her wrong. Even if it meant crossing paths with prostitutes and drug addicts.

"No, that's ok. I know the way back, I'll just...."

"Say yes." Anna interrupted. I frowned. She glanced back into the house and then looked at me meaningfully. I suddenly realised it was nothing to do with thinking I was weak. She just wanted some time away from her drunk brother.

"Ok. I guess." I said, changing my answer. Without missing a beat, she ran into the house. I heard her attepting to talk to Billie in between him hurling, then she came back out, mouthing, "Thank You!" simultaneously to me. She closed the door.

"Right, let's go." She said. I nodded and started walking towards the alleyway that me and Billie had come through. She called me back. "Oi! Where are you going?" I paused.

"Isn't this the way back?" She frowned in worry.

"You guys came through the alleyway?" I nodded slowly.

"Yeah... so?" She shook her head wearily.

"Good grief, Billie..." She muttered to herself. Then she came out of her argument dream and beckoned me to follow her.

"It's not safe to go that way at night." She explained, "We can cut through the park." She adjusted her jeans, which were sliding down her twig like frame. "People tend to leave you alone here when you're with someone, but on the whole, it's best to avoid this place when it's dark and you're alone. And avoid the park entirely on Halloween. All these satin worshipers come out and chant and stuff. I told Billie that when he was thirteen. He was scared witless! He wouldn't walk through the park in broad daylight!" I laughed, not exactly blaming him. We walked through the pitch black park, guided only by the occasional street lamp.

"You been living here long?" I asked her. She seemed to know an awful lot about this place. She grimaced.

"Oh man, TOO long!" I squinted at her in the moonlight.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty one." She answered shyly. I frowned in thought.

"Then why not leave home? I wanna leave home at seventeen!" She scoffed.

" Please. And leave those looneys alone? They wouldn't last the night!" A small smile crossed her face. "Except for Mike. Mike can take care of himself." I smiled.

"Yeah, Mike's pretty soild." She nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he'd manage. Billie, on the other hand..." She rolled her eyes and indicated the way with a twist of her head, leading me off the path and onto the grass. I went a little faster to keep up with her stride.

"So, um, what's up with Billie?" She stopped and I grinded to a halt too, as I didn't have a clue where we were. She looked at me, about to answer, then she shook her head, steadying her thoughts and walked on.

"Nothing. Let's just say he's got his problems...." I sighed. That's all anyone ever said about Billie. Problems, problems, problems. Although, God forbid they would tell me what those problems were. I stood in a puddle and jumped about ten feet in the air. Anna walked on. I ran to catch up with her, whimpering.

"You ok?" She whispered, noticing something was up. I nodded, shaking my leg dry. She grabbed my hand and walked me forward through some bushes. She snapped a twig in two with one exertion of her thin, strong fingers.

"Now, I believe this is your area?" I looked through the twigs. I recognised my street instantly. I had never been so pleased to be home. It was kind of creepy, walking at night in a bad neighbourhood. Movies didn't describe it very accurately. We fought our way through the bushes and Anna stood with me on the grass. I looked over towards my house and saw my mom, standing at the door. She looked very worried. Prison break had obviously finished, or she'd still be inside. I turned to Anna.

"I'd better go." She nodded.

"Ok. See you." She walked off the grass and onto the pavement, heading towards the bus stop. I called her back.

"Where are you going?" She turned around.

"Oh, I have to get to work." She smiled guiltily, "I just wanted to kill some time before...." I laughed.

"Yeah. Well, I knida thought." She grinned. "So where do you work?" I asked her. She fluffed her midlengh hair out of her jacket collar.

"Uh, nightclub." I raised my eyebrows, quite impressed.

"Wow. I laughed, "Do your brothers come asking you for free drinks?" Anna scoffed, smiling proudly.

"Oh, honey. They wouldn't DARE." I grinned. She gave me a little goodbye nod and disappeared. I watched her go. Yup. Coolness was something that ran in the family.