Against the Wall

Climbing the Roof

"How do we get up?" I asked, and Griffin gestured towards the old garbage cans and a couple stacks of crates.

"Put the crates on top of the garbage can, and then I'll give you a boost up," Griffin explained, and I nodded. Together, we picked up the crates and started piling them on top of the garbage can. I made sure that they were stable, and then I leaned against the brick wall as Griffin put the last crate on top.

"Have you done this before?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Griffin replied. "Are you ready to go up?"

I nodded and Griffin helped me climb on top of the garbage can. He spotted me as I climbed onto the crates, and then helped boost my feet up as I pulled myself onto the roof of the school. I looked over the side of the roof and watched as Griffin pulled himself up onto the garbage can and then lifted himself onto the roof like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Wow," I commented, tightening my sweatshirt, "You do come up here a lot."

Griffin nodded and crossed the roof slowly. "I come up here to think when my house is too suffocating."

I tilted my head to the side. "How's that?" I asked, sitting down on the roof. Griffin came and plopped down next to me, and he leaned back on his elbows.

"Remember how I said my parents' got divorced a while ago?" I nodded, and Griffin sighed. "Well, it was a nasty divorce. I don't really talk to my dad anymore, but Jake does."

"Why don't you talk to him?" I asked curiously.

"He cheated on my mom," Griffin said, his jaw clenching. "That's why they got divorced. I know it happened awhile ago, but it just makes me so mad that he did that. I can barely get through a conversation without wanting to punch his teeth out. I just don't understand how Jake can talk to him like nothing happened."

I didn't know what to say, so I just slipped my hand into his and rested my head on his shoulder. Griffin pulled me close and kissed me on the top of the head. After a minute of just quiet and staring at the sky, Griffin pulled away so that he could look me in the eye.

"Will you tell me about your dad?" He asked.

"Sure," I replied after a moment. I knew that this was going to happen, and I'd forced myself to come to terms with it. "Seems only fair since I didn't tell you before and you just told me about your dad."

I took a deep breath and pushed the hair out of my face. "My dad's been in the drug business since before I was born. He isn't your idea of a drug dealer, I guess. He doesn't actually do the drugs he sells, and he apparently makes a lot of money."

"You don't seem all that thrilled," Griffin noted, and I shrugged.

"To me, the money never mattered," I said, "I never felt safe in that house. My dad's coworkers, I guess you'd call them, were dangerous people. There was more than one occasion where they threatened me to get to my dad. That's why I ran away. I thought the streets were safer than my house."

"Seriously?" Griffin asked, his jaw dropping.

I nodded, "Yeah, but now I don't think it's all that safer."

"What do you mean?" Griffin asked, and I averted my gaze so that I was looking at the old soccer fields of the school.

"Remember when I had you pull over? And I went and talked to that guy, Danny?" I asked.

"Yeah," Griffin replied slowly, "What about it?"

"Well," I said, pulling my knees up to my chest. I didn't actually know how to put what Danny had told me gently, so I guess I'd just have to be blunt. "There's a man named Marcus, and my dad owes him a lot of money, which is why he fled the country."