Close Friends Stick Together

I looked at the building in front of me. It was rundown with lights flickering on and off on the sign. It was dark, but I managed to read it: Homeless Shelter.

I guess this is my home for now... I sighed. I would look for a better looking shelter, but it was already close to three in the morning and I was told this was the only shelter in town on the path I was going and the next town over was about 14 hours away on foot and I was sure I wasn't going to stay up that long to get a better bed. I walked inside taking in the sight of the cruddy building until I saw a middle age woman smoking at a desk. The woman noticed me approaching. She sighed and took the rolled newspaper out of her mouth.

"Name and age." she asked without looking up at me again.

"Adagio Dazzle, and I'm thirteen years old.", I mumbled, glaring at the floor as she wrote down my name.

"Breakfast is at seven, lunch at noon, and dinner at seven. Since you're a minor, you can stay for a week. Then you have to leave. You can come back two weeks after for another stay," the woman then went back to smoking and pointed to a room.

I'm assuming she’s in charge of this place. I snuck in, careful not to wake anyone up, and tiptoed to the bathroom at the other side of the room. After locking the door, I dropped my bag and took out a pair of ripped plain pants and a plain yellow tee shirt and put them on. While relieving myself, I noticed the red splotches on the ripped up sandpaper textured toilet paper.

"Oh no.", I mumbled to myself using the last of my protection.

Guess I'll make a trip to the Mini store tomorrow morning. I left the bathroom and narrowed my eyes in the dark, looking for an empty bed, but to no avail. I sigh once more laying my bag down on the ground, using it as a pillow. I fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next morning, after having free breakfast of course, I was walking down the street with a painful headache. Looking down at the cash in my hand, I only had a few dollars. I knew it wouldn't have enough to get me a anything worthwhile. I need to find a way to get some more money before I'm forced to leave next week. Finding a Mini store, I got what I needed that was the cheapest thing there. Unfortunately, it was a cardboard, and walked out. Strangely enough, while touring through the city, I felt a pair of eyes on me.

After roaming through the city for a few hours and not finding any type of job, and ended up missing lunch, I started to head back to the shelter. On the way, I felt uneasy. Something just didn't feel right. I sped up my pace hearing footsteps behind me. They sped up with me. Terrified, I started turning random corners but the footsteps followed. I was definitely being pursued. After a while of turning into random alleys, I reached a dead end with the footsteps behind me. I froze, shut up eyes, and braced myself until-

"W-Wait," two small voices panted.

I felt a tug at the them if my shirt and turned around in shock. Two small kids were there bent over breathless from the chase, holding the end of my shirt. Two girls that were in a worse looking state then me. The somewhat serious one had dark purple hair that reached her shoulders and hazel eyes. She had darker skin than mine. She wore a dirty purple shirt and gray shorts. The other girl had strikingly beautiful light blue locks and teal colored eyes. She was sickly pale and a lot skinnier than the other one. She wore a blue knee length dress stained dark with dirt. Simultaneously, they both looked up at me after catching their breath.

"Excuse me but... do you have any spare food?"

My heart ached. After all, when I looked into their eyes, even if it was for a moment, I saw myself. I shook my head and said,

"But I know a place that can offer you something to eat."

I smiled and held the little girl’s hand while the other one walked behind me. We walked down to the shelter and walking inside, I made my way to the desk.

"Excuse me... " The woman looked up before adding, "Leaving?"

She looked like she was almost smiling.

"No, um... these two kids..." I trailed off.

She looked further down and scrunched her face in disgust.

"No." she replied, going back to twiddling a pen in her hand.

"But-"

"We have reached maximum capacity. Now leave with them or go inside without them.". she added.

I looked down at the kids, their faces full of disappointment. Then the girl in the dress approached the woman slowly. She didn't notice until she touched her hand.

"Please, we just need some-"

"Don't touch me, street filth!", The woman screeched, shoving the kid away from her.

Her nail nicked the side of the girl's cheek, resulting in a small cut. I gasped at the woman's sudden act of violence. Livid, but knowing there was nothing I could do about it, I pulled her up and intertwined our fingers.

"Let's go.", I said pulling the kids' hands, leading them outside.

A touch of a smile engraved itself on both of their faces at the gesture. I won't abandon them.

"But what about... "

"Don't worry.", I smiled interrupting the blue hair girl. "I have a plan."

I led them to the back where boxes were stacked under the window. We locked eyes in understanding. They sprinted towards the boxes and started climbing on them. I grinned and jogging to catch up. Since they were so small, I picked up both, one at a time to get them through the window, then climbed in myself. Both looked up grinning toothy smiles at me. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Alright then.", I started placing my bag at the edge of a bed. "Stay in here till I get back, do not wander off,", I said in a serious tone.

They nodded and looked down at their shoes. Smiling, I ruffled their hair and made my way to the dining room to get dinner. Once I got a plate, I went back inside to see the two of them sitting on the bed. I presented the plate to them and they gasped gleefully.

"Aren't you going to have any..."

"Adagio. My name is Adagio.", I answered the girl in the dress. "And I'm not hungry,", I said forcing a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, Adagio." She smiled before stuffing her face with food.

The other one followed after. I couldn't help but smile again, something that I've grown accustomed to by just looking at them. Especially when I noticed whenever the bright blue girl wasn't looking, the purple hair girl would push some of her portion to her side of the plate. After eating, we all laid down in a comfortable silence.

"You know," I said breaking it. "You two never told me your names yet."

The bright girl spoke up first.

"My name is Sonata," she grinned. "and I'm this many old."

She held her figures up, showing ten.

"Aria," she mumbled. "and I'm twelve years old."

"You don't have a last name?", I questioned.

They shook their head. So my assumption was right, they had no one to take care of them.

"Well, then I guess that's settled then. You two are stuck with me now," I winked.

They both lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Can I... can I call you Addy.", Sonata mumbled with a slight blush flushing her cheeks.

"Well, how can I say no to that face?", I teased making her giggle.

Aria looked away embarrassed. We talked through the night until they both passed out from fatigue. They were on either side of me, curled into my side. Wrapping an arm around both of them, I smiled at the ceiling and fell into a dream. A dream with Sonata and Aria. I finally felt like I had a family.