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Prologue
Joey
“You’re both old enough to take care of yourselves. You don’t need us around anymore. We’re going to Florida,” my mom says, carrying her suitcase out the front door of our trailer and down to the fully packed car.
What does she mean, we can take care of ourselves?
“You’re men now. We need to go make some money down in Florida. We’ll be back. No worries,” my dad says, coming out of my parent’s bedroom with his suitcase. He looks out the door at my mom as she hops in the front seat and laughs.
We’ve seen this look on their faces before, any excuse to get away from us and feed their habit. They have no intention of coming back. They are leaving for Florida to gamble away every penny they have left. Granted, they don’t have two pennies to rub together, so I’m not even sure where they are getting the gas money to make it to down there. Honestly, I don’t think I even want to know.
“Seriously, are you kidding me? Joey just turned thirteen yesterday. They will put us in the system. We’ll never get to see each other again,” Landon argues. He still sees me as a little kid even though he’s still thirteen, too, for another two months.
“Not our problem anymore, boy. We raised you the best we could. We’ll see you both later,” our dad says, flouncing out of the trailer, slamming the door behind him.
Honestly, we probably won’t notice they are gone this time around. They were never here anyway. My brother and I have had to figure out how to survive on our own up to this point, so it’s really nothing new. The one thing I am worried about now that they are gone is where we will live. Without the money from the state mom and dad got, how will we pay to live here? How will we eat? We already go without food most nights and only eat once a day at school, and even then, it’s only the crappy free lunches they throw at us.
“Don’t freak, Joey. I promise I’ll figure something out. No way in hell I’m letting them split us up, okay? Trust me,” Landon says with a determined look.
I feel the tears well in my eyes, not sure he can keep that promise. The last thing I want is for my big brother to see me crying, or worse, for him to see me doubt him. If Landon said he’ll find a way, then I know he will find a way. I nod my head, and we walk out of the trailer together. Headed to the only place we truly belong, the only real home we know—our clubhouse deep in the woods behind the trailer park. Our brothers are all there hanging out and waiting for us when we make it there. Now we have to fill everyone in on what went down with our poor excuses for parents.
“Wow, so what are you guys going to do? We’ll help any way we can,” Brody says.
“Yeah, I can sneak some extra food from home,” Griffin offers.
“I’ll sneak some, too. I have some money saved up that I’ve been finding lying around my house. It’s all yours,” Alec says.
“Thanks, brothers, but we’ll be okay. I’m going to find a job and figure everything out,” Landon says while I stand back, still processing the day and everything that happened.
“I’ll find a job, too. Just like you, Landon. I’ll work hard, too,” I say, wanting to be helpful.
We search for two weeks for jobs before we finally get lucky. The grouchy old man who owns the junkyard halfway between our trailer and the school takes us in and gives us jobs. It may only be picking up trash, sweeping, mopping, and other grunt work, but any little bit helps, so we work. We work every day after school and sometimes on weekends. It’s all worth it, though, because we are together, and no one has to find out we live alone.
