He shivered, rubbing his forearms, as he realized he had stormed out without a coat.

As the sun set on the last day of May, a chill rose in the city air. But he wouldn't go back, no way. He kept walking, unsure of where he was going. But he didn't care.

He was fed up with having his ideas ignored and his comments brushed off. It had been building up for a long time, as if his brothers were shutting him out of the creative process, and he couldn't take it anymore.

Turning off of the main street, he decided to risk the stereotypical dark alley. However, he didn't run into any homeless people, heard no cat's crying, and no one jumped out of a dumpster to stab him.

As he neared the street on the other end, something came flying around the corner and crashed into him, sending him to the ground.

"Oh geez," he said, standing up, "Are  you okay?"

"Sh, sh, sh!" the person said, urgently.

He looked on in confusion as the girl pressed herself against the wall of the building, as if trying to blend into the bricks. She pushed him back too, as a man in his early twenties stormed past the alley, menacingly.

"I'll kill you when I find you, bitch!" he was calling out, "I'll kill you when I see you!"

She let out a breath once he was a safe distance away, then turned to Isaac.

"Sorry about that." she looked up at him, confidently, with large brown eyes. She was a lot shorter than him and of slight build, he could tell, though she was completely covered by a ratty trench coat. She had long black hair, that she pushed out of her eyes with hands hidden under the long sleeves.

"It's alright." Isaac said.

Before either of them could say anything more, another man slunk into the alley.

He was thin and his hair was so blond  it looked almost white and he was wearing a smirk on his face.

"Hey Peaches, is Rick after you again?" he asked the girl, casually.

She pushed her right sleeve back to show him a large bruise on her thin arm, just above her elbow.

He shook his head in mild disapproval.

"Stop straying away from  the crowds, kid, and he can't touch you."

"This is New York, Draco, no one would do a damn thing if they saw, anyway."

Draco looked passed her to Isaac, who was still standing there, watching quietly.

"Who's your friend, Peach?" he asked.

She looked at Isaac in surprise, having forgotten he was there.

"Haven't caught his name yet." she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Ike." he answered the implied question.

"New to the streets, Ike? I'm Draco and this is Peaches."

"What's your story, Ike?" Peaches asked.

"Oh, actually I'm just trying to get away from my family for a little while." Isaac explained.

Peaches nodded in understanding.

"Abuse? Neglect?.."

"Well.." Isaac started, feeling a little inferior, "They're just kind of ignoring me."

Peaches and Draco exchanged a look that said, quite clearly, 'this kid needs to rent a real problem'.

"Oh." Peaches said, "Well, it's dangerous out here, you can stick with us if you want. We all meet up at night to protect each other."

"Yeah, come on, Ike." Draco slapped him on the back as he followed Peaches out onto the street. Isaac went with them, thinking  it might do some good to give it a night before he went back to the hotel to deal with his family.

They walked a little farther down the street and turned in to another, wider, dead end alley. At the end of it, about half a dozen people were sitting around. There was light streaming out of a low window in one of the buildings that lit the spcae dimly.

"Hey, guys!" Peaches greeted, "This is Ike. Ike, this is Jimmy, Madison, Frank, Joe, Lucy, and Ira." she said, gesturing to each of them as she said their names.

"Yeah, Ike, he's a Hanson. What are you doing out here?"

"A Hanson?" Draco asked, lazily, "What are you doing here?"

"Hey!" Peaches scolded, "We don't interigate any further than what people wanna say, remember? He's having family problems, leave him alone."

"Defensive a little, Peaches?" Lucy grinned.

"She's had quite a day." Draco told them in his same lazy, unaffected tone. "Ran into Rick again."

Joe looked up quickly.

"Did he hurt you?" he demanded.

"No, Joey, I'm fine."

Draco prodded her in the ribs.

"Liar."

Joe came over to her.

"Let me see."

She sighed and held out her arm, and he pushed her sleeve back to look at the bruise.

"Dammit." he said, "I'm getting sick of this. I'm gonna break his legs, Peach, I swear to you."

She rolled her eyes, sitting down against the brick wall. She waved Isaac over and he sat down next to her.

"Empty threats." she grinned in Joe's direction.

"Who is this Rick guy, anyway?" Ike asked her.

"My boyfriend." she smiled, "At least, that's what he thinks. I broke up with him over a year ago."

Isaac nodded and they were silent, drifting off into thought, while the others all sat around, talking.

"The police are probably looking for me." Isaac said, thinking out loud.

Peaches turned to him.

"it's nice to have someone looking for you."

"I guess." he muttered, "But sometimes you just don't want to be found."

She smiled, and he could not even begin to wonder what she was thinking.

"Peaches." he said, thoughtfully, "That's a really odd name."

"Yeah, well, how many Ike's do you meet in your life?" she grinned, "Actually, my name is Mattie. They just call me Peaches because....well, I don't really know why they call me Peaches." she laughed.

Across the alley, Lucy was drifting off, curled up on the ground, with her head resting on her dingy sweater.

"And you guys spend every night this way?" Isaac asked. He got the impression that none of them really knew each other very well.

Peaches smiled, sadly.

"It's our only choice, Ike."

They looked around the group.

In the end corner, Madison was sitting, her knees pulled in and her head against the hard exterior of the building. She was sleepily watching Draco, who was across from her, making a tower of assorted pieces of garbage.

Frank, Joe, and Jimmy were sitting up, talking about something. And Ira was asleep on his back, laying on the concrete.

Isaac shivered a little.

"I guess my problems seem pretty minor."

Peaches sighed.

"You can't compare yourself to anyone else." she said, "In the world spectrum, there are always gonna be people who have it worse and people who have it better than you. That's why we don't look at the world spectrum, we look at our own. You biggest problems might be the same as someone else's smallest. But they sit at the top of your spectrum, Ike. So your biggest problems will feel just as big as their's to you."

"Wow," said Ike, letting this sink in, "How did you come to be so insightful?"

Peaches smiled.

"We've all got our gifts." she layed down on her side, resting her head on her sleeve covered hands.

"The thing is," she continued, shutting her eyes, "Big or small are your troubles..you have to look at the pros in your life. They could be just as big. Maybe bigger."

"Goodnight, Isaac." Peaches whispered, drifting off.

"Goodnight." He whispered, putting his head back, against the wall.