Haven

by Astra Rose

Hannah’s cop will never threaten us again, I’ll make sure of it. He will never lay another finger on her. Luke may be the one who chased him off with a gun, but if he shows up here again I will be the one to finish him. Luke is the nice one.

She’s a good thing, I think. In a life filled with bad things—Go Hang Yourself, and the car bomb that killed my parents, and being an adoptee in a family that isn’t really mine, and day after day managing the gang life when really all we want to do is get out—Hannah is relief.

She just appeared out of nowhere, in her fucking expensive, broken down car, and before you know it, she’s one of us. She just belongs here. It feels less like things have moved fast, and more like we already knew her, but had lost her somewhere along the way.

I think I’m in love with Hannah. I think we all are, and it’s why I’m worried that Micah is trying to set her free.

It wasn’t until I came here that I realized love is a real thing. It’s in the way that Luke holds me like he’ll never let me go; the way that Micah sees me exactly as I am; the way Sean will do anything to protect me. When I gave up on thinking love was for me, that’s when I found it, three times over. And I’m afraid that it will only lead to pain, because it always has in the past. Only this time it will hurt three times as much.

“I never knew how much I needed you until you got here. Thank you for staying here with us.” “Forever,” she says, and I nod. Forever. It’s just that simple. She belongs with us.

We care for each other, because we’re a family. We’re bound by love. And I feel warm and happy and safe in my hideaway. My haven. ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡