Beautiful Soul - cash au -

Trash

Nash Grier is tired. He isn't only tired, he is exhausted. He can feel the exhaustion seeping into his bones. He trudges down the dirt path in the trailer park as he heads towards Mrs. Kaplans trailer to pick up his siblings. All he wants to do is crawl into his bed and fall asleep for hours. But he knows that isn't possible. He knows that his siblings will be wanting dinner, and he is going to have to cook for them. Even if their deadbeat father is actually home, he will most likely already be drunk and therefore useless.

He works as a farm hand at the ranch owned by the Dallas family. He is very lucky to have gotten the job, considering he had no experience with farm work, but Mrs. Kaplan attends church with the secretary who works for the ranch and that's how he got the job. Mrs. Kaplan is an angel, she watches over his siblings while he works and she doesn't even accept payment. She claims that they're the grandchildren she always wanted, her only daughter never married and never had children.

She is aware of how strapped for cash they are. His father spends most his money on cigarettes and alcohol. If Nash doesn't demand money for the bills on the day that his father gets paid, then he just considers that money gone. It's a lot of responsibility for an 18 year old but Nash feels he really has no choice. If he doesn't take care of his siblings then who will?

He knocks lightly on her trailer door and it doesn't take her long to open it. He smiles at her as he enters her small but well-maintained trailer. Hayes is lying on the couch, staring at the tv that is playing cartoons and Skylynn is asleep on his lap and sucking on her thumb. They are the reasons he stays, he never could abandon them. Especially not after they lost their mother. Skylynn is only 6 years old, she's the light of Nash's life, Hayes is 10 and reminds Nash a lot of himself at that age.

He gently picks up Skylynn, he doesn't want to wake her up.

"Can we stay a little longer?" Hayes asks quietly, pleading with his eyes. "The show is almost finished..."

Nash sighs softly, he is so exhausted and he just wants to sleep but they don't own a tv anymore he had to pawn it in order to keep the lights on a few months ago. The only time Hayes gets to watch tv is when they're at Mrs. Kaplans trailer, Nash feels guilty because he was the one who took away the television but he had no other choice.

"Fine," he agrees softly and he sits down next to him, repositioning his little sister carefully so she doesn't wake up.

"I fed them dinner," Mrs. Kaplan told him, she has a sympathetic look on her face.

"Mrs. Kaplan, you didn't have to do that," Nash replies to her, his cheeks heat up with embarrasment. He always has a hard time accepting help.

"I know, honey. I just want to help," she tells him quietly.

He smiles gratefully at her, he's relieved that he doesn't have to scrape together a barely edible dinner for his siblings, they will sleep comfortable with full bellies tonight.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Kaplan. I don't know how to repay you for everything you do for us," he says softly. His own stomach growls, he's only had a turkey sandwich and a bottle of water all day. He knows they don't have much left in their fridge at home, he's scraped enough money together to stop by the grocery store tomorrow and pick up a few things. Tomorrow is Saturday and it's his only day off, as much as he would love to lounge around all day he knows he has errands that need to get done.

The show is over in a few minutes and Nash hears Hayes sigh in disappointment. He gets up and positions Skylynn as Hayes gathers his bookbag. He reaches into his pocket to pay Mrs. Kaplan but she stops him by placing a hand on his arm.

"Please keep it, sweetie. Use it to buy some good food for you guys, I know you're barely eating and you need more sustenance for the kind of work you do," she tells him gently.

Nash blinks back tears that threaten to fall. His voice breaks slightly when he answer. "Thank you, Mrs. Kaplan."

She gives him an understanding smile and watches the 3 siblings leave her trailer. She knows things haven't been easy since Mrs. Grier died 2 years ago. She never met her, the Griers moved in next door almost a year after her death, but she does all she can to help them out.

Nash and Hayes walk quietly further down the road to their dingy trailer. It was a shock having to move into such a small home.

Before their mother died their father was actually working a well-paying job and they lived in a nice house, but he didn't take the death of his wife very well. They were high school sweethearts and her sudden death sent him into a downward spiral. Not even his children were enough to keep him going. He began drinking and because of that he lost his job, it didn't take long until the bills started piling up and the mortgate got behind.

They lost their house and actually found themselves homeless for a few weeks, they had nowhere to go. They lived in their car until he finally managed to get them this small trailer after finding a job at the local junkyard.

Nash opens the door and steps inside, flicking on the light. He sees his father passed out on the couch and rolls his eyes. He makes his way to the small room that the 3 of them share, it is only big enough to fit 2 twin size beds. Nash sleeps in one and Hayes and Skylnn share the other one. He carefully sets Skylynn down on the bed and he turns to Hayes.

"Did you do your homework?" he asks him quietly. Hayes shrugs, crawls into bed and pulls the covers over himself and Skylynn.

"Hayes..." Nash says in a warning tone and Hayes sighs loudly.

"Yes, I did my freaking homework." Hayes spits out and Nash stays quiet, he knows Hayes is lying to him but he doesn't have the energy to argue with him.

He leaves the room and closes the door behind him. He approaches his father and stops in front of him. He looks at him in disgust and kicks his leg with his foot. Chad grunts and looks at Nash blearily.

"What do you want, boy?" He mutters, annoyed at being woken up.

"I need money for the light bill. We got a shut off notice yesterday," Nash tells him flatly. He knows Chad got paid today, he just hopes he didn't spend all of it at the bar.

Chad digs into his pocket and takes out 30 dollars, he hands it to Nash who looks at him incredulously.

"Is that all you have?" He asks, the light bill is 75 dollars so the 30 dollars doesn't even cover half of it.

"Yeah, now fuck off before I beat your ass," Chad tells him angrily. He stands up and stumbles into his room. He slams the door shut and Nash clenches his fists at his behavior.

He sits down at the small kitchen table and puts down the money Chad handed to him. He digs in his pocket and takes out the money he was going to give Mrs. Kaplan. He feels a sudden rush of gratitude at her insistence that he keep the money. He has a total of 50 dollars, he's still 25 dollars short. He begins to do mental calculations in his head, he figures he can buy milk and cereal for Skylynn and Hayes. A loaf of bread and bologna for their lunch and ramen for dinner. They still have water, Mrs.Kaplan gave them 2 packs of 24 water bottles, claiming that her daughter brought them over and she doesn't like that brand. That should only be 25 dollars and the rest he can use to keep the lights on. It's getting colder outside and he doesn't want his siblings to be freezing at night.

He briefly contemplates asking his employer for an advance on his paycheck but shoots that idea down right away. He is still new there and he needs to make a good impression. The winter means they need less people to work and he needs to be one of the workers that makes the cut. He doesn't know what will happen if he loses his job.

He carefully puts the money in his wallet and stands up. He goes into their small bathroom and takes a quick shower, the hot water doesn't last long. He would love to stand under the soothing heat of the water for hours like he used to but it's just not possible. It's funny the things that you miss that you don't even think about until you don't have them.

He finishes showering and changes into his pajamas, they're getting worn but he definitely does not have the money to splurge on clothes. Mrs. Kaplan tries to mend their clothing as much as she can, but she's old and her hands don't work as fast as they used to.

He slides onto the hard mattress, it's not comfortable but that doesn't matter. Nash is too exhausted to worry about a hard mattress, it doesn't take him long to fall asleep.

A/N- Comments? You like? Not like?