What to Love and What to Burn

"Mom please! She's got no where else to go! Just for one night! Until I can call Mark and he can come and get her! Please?" I watched on as Jake begged his mom to let me stay at their house for the night. The police had talked to us, and lectured us on walking along the highway and then let us go. Jake called his mom to pick him up and now he's trying to convince her to let me stay with them for just one night. His mom kept on looking from me, to him, the back to me. She was unsure. Indecisive. I wasn't really sure whether I would agree to evne go with them or not.

"Call Mark tonight Jake, not tomorrow." Jake came over and started pulling me along and
into a small station wagon.

"So, Avalon right?"

"Yes ma'am," I said, being polite. She nodded, pulling out of the parking space.

"Mark is my brother, he lives in an apartment across town. He's really nice and I think he'd let you live with him." I looked at my hands, dirty. I was probably coated in dirt, I was surprised she let me even stay for a night. She pulled into the parking lot of a yellow house. I didn't like the color, but I didn't say anything. I was getting a bed for the night.

"I might have old clothes that fit you Avalon," She said smiling warmly. I nodded a little, taking every chance I could get. It may sound selfish but I beyond caring at that point. She went upstairs and rummaged through a closet before showing me to a bathroom with a shower.

I was uncomfortable. I hadn't used an actual shower in years. It was always pool showers in the summer, or water from the sink in a library or something like that. Not an actual warm shower with soap. So when I stepped into the shower the water was a light brown before it even hit the floor. It took me an hour or so to get the dirt and grime off my skin, and wash the dirt out of my hair. Then I stepped out of the shower and slipped on the clothes that were a little too big. It didn't matter to me though, they were clean. I was clean. I almost didn't recognize myself in a mirror. My skin was darker than I remember it from being in the sun for so long. My brown hair was lighter with no dirt in it and my eyes were red from getting shampoo in them. I didn't like the sting, but at the same time I did. It reminded me of home a little. I walked out of the bathroom and was greeted by Jake.

"You can sleep in here," He said, motioning to a room across the way. He was smiling, and I smiled back at him a little and thanked him. There was a bed in the room, and it was empty other than that, a closet, and a small night stand. It was cozy though. It was almost like a room I would like to live in.

"I called Mark and he said he'd be here tomorrow. He's only two years older than I am, and he's been looking for a roommate," Jake said excitedly.

"What if I don't want your type of normality? What if I want to go back?" I asked. He looked at me, confused.

"Why would you want to go back to living under a slide?"

"It's normal."

"No, it's not."

"It's normal for me. This is normal for you, I have a different kind of normal."

"Avalon, that's not normal at all. That's a bum's life. You're not a bum," he said, still confused. I sighed.

"You wouldn't understand the feeling."

No one would.