Chapter Five: Caged Bird:

Aoi appeared like an angel to Atticus. She didn’t talk much. In fact, the little girl stayed by Atticus’ side. Aoi seemed nervous about something.

“Are you okay?” Atticus would ask. Aoi shook her head in response. He tried to cheer her up afterwards. They would meet up at the playground. He’d find her on the swings waiting for him.

“Waiting long?” Atticus asked. The little girl shook her head.

“What do you want to do today?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. They spent most of summer in the park. The kids would talk and play. Kelly sat at a distance, watching them. Aoi looked up and saw her one day.

“Your mom’s really nice,” she said. Atticus frowned.

“She’s not my mom,” I said.

“Huh?” Aoi asked, tilting her head.

“She’s just a neighbor of mine,” he said. “My mom doesn’t care about me.”

“Oh,” she muttered. Atticus shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “What about your family?” Aoi lowered her head.

“I don’t want to talk about,” she mumbled.

“Oh…” her friend said. Aoi forced herself to smile.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. That was another thing about her. Aoi never seemed to want to go home. She tried to come up with an excuse to out longer with Atticus.

“Please?” she asked. “Can’t we stay out a bit longer?” Her friend sighed.

“Alright, fine,” Atticus would say. Aoi bowed her head.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied. She rested her head on his arm. He couldn’t figure out why his friend didn’t want to go home. It didn’t want to go home. It didn’t matter in the end. Atticus found himself happy to have a friend at last.

Around sundown, Atticus and Aoi raced up to Kelly at the park bench.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

“Yes!” the kids said.

“Okay,” she said.

“Come we have dinner at your place?” Atticus asked. Kelly blinked at the kids.

“You sure?” she asked.

“Please?” he asked, pressing his hands together, bowing his head. Kelly giggled.

“Alright,” she said. The three of them headed back to her house.