I’m Dephoria May, but people who know me call me D. I guess I’ve never really had a normal life. Other than the occasional car, the city streets were vacant. No one was looking for anyone or anything. I’m by myself. Oh yeah, I should get home to Ray. He’s probably wondering where I am. As I walked, I looked at the Golden Gate bridge, watching the cars go by. I wandered another mile or so on the streets I’ve lived on Monday y entire life.
“Hey,” I whispered. Ray came out from his sleeping bag.
“Where’s the food?” he murmured. I told him I was sorry. I gave him my granola bar which was saving.
“Tomorrow, we should keep moving,” I said. “I’ll ask for something for the move.”
“Okay, goodnight D,” He looked into my eyes, and I felt so sorry for all we’ve had to go through, especially at his age.
“Goodnight.”

Flash Forward
I looked up, and I could see the nurses and doctors bustling around with Ray. He was shaking really hard. A woman in dress clothes came up to me. She asked to talk to me. I stood up. I was filthy; I haven’t showered for a month, and tears were streaming down my face. She said, because of Ray’s young age, he was put on life support. She said they were going to take him off in a few minutes. I stifled a sob. I needed to leave, but first I asked to visit Ray one last time. I entered his room; I talked to him about what had happened, and how it shouldn’t have. I told him how sorry I was, and I deserved to be the one in that bed. I told him I loved him, I held his hand, and squeezed. He didn’t squeeze back.
Afterward, I had to talk to a few people, about things I didn't have time for. He didn’t have a will, because we didn’t have anything to put in it, or money to pay a lawyer. I told them that I needed to go to the bathroom, instead, I grabbed my stuff and departed. I had found a 20 dollar bill on the street, that I had been saving, and an apple that I snagged from a market. I ate the apple and stuffed the little money I had into my ripped up jeans. I headed for the train station. It was time I visited my wonderful  father.
I bought a ticket to Beverly Hills. Here I come father, and you will never see me coming.

Flash Forward

When I arrived, I really had nowhere to go, dad probably moved, nor did I know how to get there if he stayed. Ray was always better at directions. I started walking. My stomach grumbled. I needed to eat. I hate stealing, but I didn't really have a choice. I needed to save my money. Deli’s are hard to find around here, but eventually I saw a CVS. I needed something substantial. So I snagged a energy drink, a water, and a few snacks. I'm pretty sneaky, so I was able to escape, only with a sketchy looking customer noticing. He wasn’t gonna rat me out, he probably stole from there too.
I remembered my old address and hoped for the best. It was Beverly Hills, what’s the worst that could happen?
While I snacked, I walked a few miles. It was getting dark and I should find a place to set up camp, which was actually just my sleeping bag. I was still in shock about the whole situation. What was I doing here? I sniffled and held back a sob, I couldn't draw attention to myself, but still, I quietly cried myself to sleep.

Flash Forward
Suddenly I felt a shaking. When I opened my eyes, someone was shaking me awake. I was a little nervous, being a 16 year old girl on the streets of Beverly Hills, where either you’re super rich or super poor, but fortunately, it was a kid. He was about Ray's age. I rubbed my eyes and sat up.
"I don't have any food, what do you want?"
“I just want someone to talk to, an adventure. Can you help me with that?”
"I don't know kid, I’ve had a bad few weeks. I don't know if I'm ready for another child around."
"Please, I'll be good behaved."
"What's your name?"
"Collins. Yours?"
"Dephoria, but you can call me D."
“Cool! So can I, can I, can I?
Collins looked about ten, and he was filthy.
"Listen, you can stay, but one wrong move and you're out."
“Got it boss!”
“Don’t call me boss. C’mon.”
“Where are we going? Are we getting food-”
“Collins, please, just shut up, we’re dropping by a deli. Take something very small, and then, we’re going to the bank.”
“Cool! I never went to one of those before. The bank I mean.”
He went on and on, and would not stop talking. He reminded me of Ray, but I won’t think about that now. I can’t.
We dropped by a deli, snagged a few things, and kept walking. Eventually, we arrived at the bank, and I went up to an ATM. I always remembered how my mother and father deposited money into the bank. And, you know, I was pretty sneaky when I was little, so I saw the pin my parents put in, and I hoped for the best. I pressed withdrawal, and Collins, of course, being the kid that he is, wanted to press buttons. I told him what to press, and finally, it said, “Enter your pin,” I slowly, but surely, pressed my fingers over the numbers. 3-9-5-5-1.
Next, it showed a sign saying, “put in your social security code,” I always loved pressing this one when I went with my father. I always remember it was 4-9-3, because I lived at house 491, and the people at 493 were never home. Like my father. The ATM flashed, “Your withdrawal is complete. Would you like a receipt?” I pressed no, and the machine spit out 500 beautiful dollars.
“Woah,” Collins remarked. I stared for a second, and ripped my eyes away.
I replied, “We’re going now.”

Flash Forward

“I wasn’t expecting you, Dephoria,”
“Yea, I know. That was sorta the point. Well anyway, here I am.”
“with, a friend I presume.”
“Sort of.”
“Hi,” Collins interrupted.
“So, how’s your other family?”
“Oh, they’re fine. Speaking of which, how’s yours.”
“Hm, let’s see. A few months after you left, Mom committed suicide.” He looked shocked.
“And as for Ray?”
My eyes teared up as I spoke.
“He died of a large tremor in the heart.” I sniffled.
“After Mom died, we ran away, because we didn’t want to get put in the system, or see you. We lived on the street for a few weeks with some money we had left over. We moved from place to place for over a year. And, two weeks ago, we got into some trouble, and Ray tried to protect me. Somehow, he went into epileptic shock. At the hospital, they found a heart tremor that wasn’t treated. So, yeah.” His eyes didn’t fill with tears. Nothing happened. That made me mad.
“Do you not care that your son died after us living homeless? You don’t feel sympathy or guilt, for Ray, or even me?”
Collins intercepted saying, “Maybe I should give you guys a minute?”
“Thanks” I muttered.
“I’m so sorry,” He cried. He left.
“Collins, you can come back in now,”
“That was fast,”
“Yeah, I think he’s in shock,”
“Well, I would be too,”
“What’d you mean?”
“He didn’t hear from you when you lost your mother, or when you lost your house, or when Ray died. How would you feel?”
“Oh.” I looked down, I hadn’t looked at it that way.
“I’m gonna find him, wait here.”
“Alrighty,” He exclaimed with a gitty smile.

Flash Forward
“Dad, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that stuff to you. I didn´t tell you, that’s my fault. But you left, that wasn’t me, that was you.”
“I know. I was conceited, oblivious, and I didn’t care. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Ok, moving on. I need money.”
“How much money are we talking about?”
“Enough to start a new life.”
“Dephoria, that’s a lot of money.”
“Well, you can make up for all that time and money you didn’t have when you cared about us.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t.”
We argued for a while and eventually I said that I needed the money to survive and I would leave him alone as soon as he gave it to me. And if he didn’t, I would find a way. I know, this sounds bad, but trust me, he has enough money to retire early 25 times. It wasn’t like he was running low.
Okay, 1st option, get hurt or seem injured, so he’ll pity me. Option 2: Get arrested or continue withdrawing money from their account. And finally, option three, kill him.
Let’s try option 1. I can’t tell anyone what I’m about to do. Not Even Collins. I just need to.
I told my father thanks for nothing and that I would see him soon and Collins and I would be going now. He said he was sorry and I kept walking.
Collins asked, “Why do you treat him like that?”
“You don’t know what we’ve been through.”
“In the time I’ve known you, which isn’t that long, you’ve never, not once asked me why I was on the streets, why I came and talked to you.”
“So, why?”
“My dad’s in jail, and my mom and brother are alive, but they smoke and drink a lot, so I ran away, and they haven’t even noticed.”
“Oh,”
“Yeah, so anyway…”

Flash Forward

I was standing at the top of the scaffolding, only about a story high. I thought, Am I really about to do this?  Yup, I was. I closed my eyes, feeling my eyelids clinging to my cool, pale skin and taking an icy deep breath, I leaped. People screamed. I hit the cold, hard pavement. Black.

When I woke up, I was in a bedroom, in a hospital, that looked strangely similar to Ray’s. He came in. I asked him how, and what he was doing here. He responded with a wonderful smile, and it brought tears to my eyes. Except it didn’t. There was nothing, I couldn’t feel anything. Black.

I woke up in a regular, old, hospital room, vaguely remembering the events that just occurred. I saw Collins, my dad and a doctor, rushing towards me. My head swam wondering what on Earth the big deal was. Dad didn’t understand, no one understood how much I need this. That’s why I did it. Black.

I woke up (again) with a killer headache. There was a bag next to me, I puked and kinda missed the bag. My dad and Collins were sitting at my bedside. They called for a doctor. I said I was ok, but I need that money. I kept repeating it, over and over. Black.

I woke up in Dad’s house, surrounded by nothing. No flowers, no chocolates, no get well cards. It wasn’t worth it. Black.
When I woke up, this time I decided I would stay up. Collins was here, and he simply asked,
“Why? Why’d you do it?”
“You don’t understand. I need money! I need a new life. You’ve been great and I hope I gave you enough of an adventure. But I think now it’s time to say goodbye.”
He laughed through his tears, wholeheartedly saying,
“I love you," and hugged me.

"Please let me stay with you, you’re my family now. Please.”
“Let me sleep on it. Not literally.”
We both laughed. We laughed until it hurt, not because it was funny but because, we needed to.
He left and in came my unbelievably horrible father. I chuckled.
“Do you have something to say or give to me?” I said pleadingly, almost greedily.
“Unfortunately for me, yes. I’ve made you a bank account with 100 thousand in there, for now. The password is 3-9-5-5-1, I think that’s something you’ll remember, ”
“Thank you, dad. You don’t know how much it means.”
“I do, Dephoria. But I do have two conditions. One, you must take Collins with you, he’s a good kid. And two, I’m not just going to let you go like this. I made that mistake once, I’m not going to do it again. And, you can’t keep hurting yourself. And finally, you must see me at least 2 times a year, for a holiday or something. We’ll have a family dinner, Collins, Annie-
“You mean the step-monster,” I said jokingly. He chuckled.
“The kids, you and me,” He continued.
“I love you,” He said.

Flash Forward

Collins and I turned out ok. We moved to a small town outside of New York. I’m getting a college degree, and work as a waitress, and Collins goes to a local school. We live in a small apartment and visit my dad pretty often. I visit the cemetery to see Ray every Sunday.
Life will surprise you like that, it can take a turn for a minute, but you realize, time moves slowly, we’re still young, and I’m moving on.