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My fahteen years of existence That’s alh, we lived in the sahborhood, so technically, we’ve moved almost two times a year

I hateup all —all the work And then, usually only days later, e’ve arrived at our new ho, especially since I’m the one who unpacks ot stuck with the job How er sisters decided they’d only unpack their own shit, while I unpack et the picture

But I guess, since I’e of our household these days, it sort of makes sense

Afterthe oldest and most responsible in the house, the job sort of fell onLike, for instance, now

The trailer attached to his beat-up pickup is cras, and boxes are also piled into the bed and back seat of the truck The trunk of s, as well

The house we just rass surrounding it—is all cleaned out, thanks to er thanto have everything ready to go so we could get an early start, since Honeyton, the sht-hour drive from here I took a powernap at around five o’clock, and then woke everyone up at seven It’s now eight thirty We should be on the road by now, but my dad can’t find his damn car keys

Of course

He’s constantly losing or s he’s consistent with any drunk I blame most of his scatterbrained tendencies on the booze

Before he started drinking, he was more responsible, involved, a proud father orked as an undercover detective Now he can barely re weeks on end, which can get really smelly He’s unemployed more than he’s ee Currently, he’s in-between jobs, hence the reason we’restore for showing up drunk, he spent three le day and night He blew all our rentwhat my sisters and I saved up from our random jobs, on drinks

A o, an eviction notice was stuck to the door None of us were surprised It’s becoets a reality check for a couple weeks where he eases up on the drinking and finds us a new place to live, sometimes in the same town, sometimes not Then we all pack up our shit, which isn’t a lot of stuff— so much has made us become minimalists, and we don’t have a lot of extra cash to by a ton of crap—and hit the road After we get moved into the new place, Dad finds a job, and a feeeks in, he starts drinking again

And that is the Harlyton routine

And yes, it’s about as sucky as it sounds, but we do e must to make the best of the shitty situation I have rades, stay out of trouble when I can, andit to college I don’t even care where I just want to go someplace, stay put for a few years, and obtain some structure like I used to have before my mom passed away

“Did you leave theht?” I askfor his car keys

We’ve spent the last twentyfor them to no avail He can’t even remember the last time he had or used them, since he walks to and from the bar

He pats the pockets of his jacket with a crinkle for between his brows “I don’t think so” He presses his lips together as he studies me “You didn’t by chance touch them yesterday, did you?”

I shake my head, more than annoyed

My dad is constantly bla turned off, the car breaking down—stupid shit because he thinks everything ishis fault either because he’s drunk off his ass, spent the bill money on booze, didn’t keep up with the maintenance on his truck

“No,” I reply in a clipped tone

Sighing, he digs his phone out of his pocket “Let me call Larry and see if by chance they’re at the bar”

Good old Larry, the owner of the corner bar where uy also drinks as much as Dad does, so there’s a fat chance in stup

id drunkenville that Larry’s going to have a clue where my dad’s keys are

“All right, you do that” I back toward the house “Londyn, Bailey, Payton, and I will search the house again”

Ia scowl froest of the Harlyton sisters with er than ht after I turn eighteen Bailey and Payton are twins, not identical, and will be celebrating their sixteenth birthday only a week after Londyn’s My parents had us really close on purpose, or so they used to say whenever they’d re the twins, they decided four daughters was enough Although, my dad would often joke that they should’ve tried for more

He doesn’t joke about that any since our mom passed away

“Why is he always losing shit?” Bailey gripes as the four of us drag our butts inside the empty trailer

It’s the end of su hot and y, like the air outside I’m not a fan of the intense heat, but harsh winters suck balls, too According to the online city page, Honeyton has h, the small town is out in theto suck

“Because he’s drunk all the ti,” Payton ainst the wall and sends texts on her old-school, hand-me-down phone

Sighing, I take the phone fro You can have this back e do” I pocket her phone “The sun’s already going to be setting by the ti in when it’s dark”

“Dad probably didn’t even call to get the power turned on,” Bailey mumbles as she peers inside a drawer

“No, he didn’t” I start opening drawers, too “I did”

Londyn sighs as she opens a“Of course you did”

I frown at her “What’s that tone supposed to mean?”

She fans her hand in front of her face, trying to cool off “It ”

I cross ”

“It is, and it isn’t Iall this crap all the tith brown hair behind her ear “He’s supposed to be the adult, yet we’re the ones getting the power turned on, trying to keep up with the bills, and trying to figure out where the hell he put his car keys when he stu And he didn’t even bother helping us finish packing, even when he saere still up”

“Heto defend hi the sad obvious “He was pretty trashed”

“And he’s super hungover today,” Bailey adds as she opens the shbors’ bushes earlier”