Snippet #1540456

Conner awoke in something of a daze, the sound of Alyssa rustling around nearby likely the cause for him stirring from his uncomfortable but prolonged slumber. Lids parted to reveal those soft brown eyes which narrowed in on the girl he now considered to be the closest thing he had to a sister, now that his was dead and gone. With a little groan, he stretched, moving into a sitting position. The shift would catch her attention immediately.

“Good morning, sleepy head!” Came that every cheerful tone as she glanced toward him, fingers still working nimbly on the object she held – something that looked a bit like an old wire coat hanger. Conner’s initial response was a grumble and a scratch of his weary head. Mornings were never good when they were spent sleeping in an alleyway… even if that alleyway was covered by a nice little overhanging and even if a crafty young woman had managed to make a bed out of trash bags, clothes, and cardboard boxes. Besides, this wasn’t a morning anymore. He’d snoozed through that, and on into the afternoon.

“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” He asked finally, shaking his head as his gaze panned from the bags under those big green eyes to her hands. Alyssa’s nails were left short, broken all too often by her efforts to invent new things for the two of them over the last three weeks. Now, blood stained those thin fingers in places, making it all too obvious that the wire coat hanger was proving to be more than a match for her meager strength. He thought about mentioning how torn up her hands were getting, but how could he stop her from doing something that seemed to make her so happy? Without thinking, his own hands wandered to the pendant that set in the middle of his chest. The multi-colored charm hung from a long black cord. This was what she’d made for him the night they left that foster home. In the three weeks that’d passed since then, it hadn’t broken and he certainly wasn’t about to remove it himself.

“Sleep is for the weak.” The female responded with a wave of one hand. Finally, she appeared satisfied with the shredding of the wire, now having two short, thin strips of it sitting just off to the side. She intended to bend these into hooks for what would eventually become earrings whenever her fingers quit throbbing. “Speaking of, I went to get food while you were out” From the grey messenger bag that set behind her, Alyssa removed a large bag of potato chips and tossed it to him. When his form was so rigid that he didn’t even make a move to catch it, she merely offered the tiniest of smiles in an effort to apologize for her transgressions. Conner hated it when she went anywhere alone – it was something she only managed to do while he was fast asleep, even. The look on his face made it abundantly clear that he was not happy with her, but he opened the bag anyway and popped the first crisp into his mouth. Eager to lighten the mood at least a bit, Alyssa spoke again.

“I actually found something on the way to the store – or someplace, rather.” Her smirk had Conner quirking an eyebrow with obvious interest, even though he said nothing as he continued to munch on the chips. She smiled, starting to speak again, this time with a general gesture toward the alley’s exit at her right. “An abandoned building. It looks like a church, but most importantly, it looks empty. We may have some solid shelter for awhile, if we can break in.”