the kids aren't alright

chapter one

CHAPTER ONE ↴

The group of seven stood silent, all eyes glued to the open storage unit in front of them. Boxes filled the tight space, piled to the ceiling like castle walls. Newspapers littered what ground could be seen. A breeze twisted its way around the teenagers, picking up forgotten papers as it went by. Although the sun was high, not a cloud moved through the sky; the cool weather kept them all clinging to the layers they put on that morning.

Allison's nose scrunched. Her brunette waves cascaded over her wildly decorated denim jacket. She looked up at the two boys in the whole group with a hard glare. She wished for nothing more than to smack them both on the back of the head for waking her up that early to look at a ridiculous storage unit...of all things.

However, the grins plastered to their faces evaporated the steam spilling from her pink tinted ears, "You two bought this? This abandoned storage unit?"

"Can you believe that?" Wren bounced. The blond's smile grew, wrinkles appearing at the corner of his eyes. He had this child-like wonder about him. As if the right amount of enthusiasm would carry the entire situation.

"And it only cost us six hundred dollars." Josh's grin revealed a set of crooked teeth. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through his ever-growing hair, "You should have seen how much the others were going for. It was a steal, really."

The two boys shared a celebratory high-five, grinning at each other as if they'd just won some sort of medal.

"I'm sorry..." Allison twisted to look back at them, her eyes sweeping across their faces. Innocent smiles couldn't save them now. She couldn't stop the words from tumbling from her lips even if she had wanted to, "You spent how much?"

Archer pushed up her glasses using her index finger. They were this round pair that looked like she'd stolen them straight off Harry Potter himself. Her features were stone as she crossed her arms over her chest and her words... Well, those cut through the air quicker than any knife, "This is the most idiotic thing either of you have ever done and I think that's being extremely generous on my part."

Wren's smile faltered, his broad shoulders drooping, "You... You never know... There could be something incredible hiding inside."

"I think if we keep an open mind and just imagine the possibilities--" continued Josh. Being the tallest member of the group, he easily rested a comforting hand on Wren's shoulder and sent him a shrug.

"An open mind?" Jean shot the two a dark laugh, "What a load of bullshit," the girl ran a hand through her thick hair; a small tattoo of the ace of clubs peeking out behind her left ear, "I like my mind exactly how it is, thank you."

Archer's thin lips twitched up for only a second, "And how's that? Closed and a little darker than necessary."

Jean nodded her head, "Exactly. Plus, let's be real for a moment, shall we? It's probably just a bunch of shit the owners didn't care about anymore. That's why they never came back for it."