Round 3: Li-Brennan

Lacey Li and her boyfriend Silas Li are Adults. Lacey’s daughter Winter Li, and Lacey and Silas’s daughter Phoebe Li, are Children.

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Winter hated watching Silas with Phoebe. With Phoebe, he was a loving father just like any other. He never showed any of that affection to Winter. Seeing the two of them together reminded Winter that this wasn’t really her family anymore. Her mom and Silas and Phoebe were a family; Winter was the leftover child that no one wanted.

Even she and her mom couldn’t be in the same room anymore without yelling. Even when they had been living in the park, she and her mom had always gotten along. Now she couldn’t even remember what that had been like.

Some nights she lay awake thinking of ways to get rid of Silas. But she wasn’t even sure that was what she wanted. Silas and his sketchy job, the one that had him sneaking out of the house at all hours of the night, were the reason they had a place to live in the first place. Without him, they’d be back to scrounging food off other people’s picnic tables in the park. Maybe there were worse things than being yelled at all the time.

Besides, there was Phoebe. However much Winter hated having Phoebe’s dad around, she liked having a sister. It was good to have someone around to play with and to talk to late at night. She just wished she could talk to Phoebe about her problems with their parents and actually have Phoebe understand. Phoebe still thought their family was perfect. She didn’t even understand about their mom yet. She still thought talking to thin air all the time was normal.

Winter, on the other hand, could see things for what they were. She knew that without Silas, they’d still be living in the park. She knew Silas wasn’t a night watchman like Phoebe thought he was. And she knew Silas’s relationship with her mom wasn’t as perfect as her mom thought it was, either. Her mom still talked about him like he was her own personal fairy tale hero, but Winter saw how often he made her cry.

Winter kind of hated hanging out in the park now, after having spent so much time sleeping on benches there. But Phoebe loved it there, and was always begging Winter to take her. So sometimes Winter would bring Iris along, and the two of them would talk while Phoebe played on the monkey bars.

Winter had lost most of her other friends back when Phoebe was still a baby and she was angry all the time, but she and Iris were still as close as ever, if not closer. She still never shared any details about her family with Iris, though. She didn’t want to risk saying something that might drive her closest friend away.