Broken glass (open to all)

The grass feels good when he sits down. He's looking at the bread ready to eat. He also wants to smoke a cigarette, but it might not be the best idea right now. He should wait until they all are done eating, or possibly until he's on his way home. It's not that he doesn't want to smoke around the food to ruin it for the other two, but he doesn't need them to ask how he got them. He runs a hand over the grass and looks around. He slowly breaks a piece of bread off and hands it to Azaria. He does the same and hands a piece to Gabe. He finally takes a piece for himself. He looks at the remaining bread wishing he hand something else to put on it, but it'll be alright.

"May I ask the name of your cart?" Joel asks Gabe. He's been wondering the name of it since he saw it. He thinks it's amazing, but might not be the best time to ask. Joel turns and looks at Azaria. He still wonders where her parents are, but he's not going to ask again. Joel takes a small bite of the bread. Oh it tastes better than anything he's eaten in the last couple days. For the time being, he completely forgets he was supposed to take the bread home to Amos. He runs one hand through the grass. It feels nothing like the hay he's used to carrying. It's a tiny bit softer.

Joel looks back at Azaria; then, looks at Gabe. "So, how are you doing?" The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them. He's just trying to keep a conversation going, but he's never been good at that. He takes another bite of bread and lets out an MMMM sound. He looks at the remaining bread. He wants to eat more, but he's going to wait until Gabe and Azaria take a bite before he does anything else. He keeps looking around hoping with all his heart Amos doesn't show up.

Joel never imagined he would be sitting here with two complete strangers. He never thought he would disobey Amos. He just hopes Amos doesn't do anything rash and kick him out. Not that Joel would care because he could finally be away from this house, but he needs a place to stay. He also has to think about his animals. He sighs and wraps the bread back up. He'll take the rest home and think of something to tell his father. He's never been afraid of his father. He's not afraid of anything right now.

He lays the wrapped bread down on the ground when Gabe speaks up wanting us to tell a little about ourselves. He's surprised this is even brought up. He's not even sure what he should tell them. Should he lie to them? He can't do that. He doesn't want to lie to these people. These are the two people he can trust other than his two friends he works with on the farm. He listens as Gabe tells a little about himself. His life sounds a lot like Joel's. His family disappeared. The people that he was living with hated him. Sounds a lot like Joel. He wonders if these people were his parents. Joel opens his mouth to talk, but he's interrupted by Azaria talking first.

Her story is different. She admits she has trouble remembering things. That makes sense. Joel thinks to himself. This explains why she was at the shops without her parents. He listens to her intently. "I'm a little different than other kids. I forget things easily and I...I see things other kids don't...." This explains a lot of things. Joel shrugs his shoulders like it doesn't matter. He doesn't care that others are different than he is. He'll do what he thinks is the right thing to do no matter what. Joel looks at Azaria with a sighty shocked facial expression.

Joel takes a deep breath and starts talking. "My name is Joel Hadley. I was born to teenage parents. You might have heard of them." Joel looks up at Gabe. "Amos Hadley, and Lillian Romal Hadley. Amos, my father, hates me for some reason. I don't know why, but that doesn't matter. I have two sisters. Titania and Belva. They both mean the world to me and I would do anything for them. I currently work on the farm my father owns. Sometimes he allows me to work with two of my friends. Mario and Josef." Joel takes a deep breath wondering if he should continue.

"I own a couple animals I bought at a selling one day. I enjoy taking care of them. Amos told me if I didn't work on the farm, he wouldn't allow me to stay there. As much as I hate staying there, I need a place to stay." Joel stops and reaches his hand in his pocket again. If it wasn't for Azaria, he would get the smashed pack of cigarettes out and smoke one. Instead he grabs the box of matches. He opens the pack and looks in. He has three matches left. He shrugs his shoulders. He knows what this means. Only three cigarettes are left.

Joel looks around confused. It grew extremely quiet fast. Must be an awkward situation. We just met and we're already talking about our life stories. Yes, this is moving way to fast. Azaria is really young anyway. Joel can't imagine what it would be like being able to walk around freely. He wonders what her parents will think when they find her, but he shakes his head. He doesn't want to think about that right now. He just wants to find out if he can actually make friends with Gabe or not. It's definitely worth a shot. He looks at Azaria waiting for her to speak , but she doesn't talk at all.

"I'm also wondering when you should get back to your parents." Joel adds after Gabe speaks. It seems strange for Joel to be talking to someone so much younger than him, but he doesn't mind. He just wants to make friends. He wants to be able to talk to people other than his nasty father. Joel looks over at Gabe. At first, he's lost for what to say. It's been an interesting time. The bread is good. Oh the bread. Joel thinks to himself. Amos is going to kill me. Might as well be prepared for that.