We make our last trek to the mansion at the end of the week, still following Jesse's original plan even though we don't have a lot of hope of getting our house back. Almost every time we went back to check this week we saw somebody there, sometimes the original four guys who came that night and sometimes others we didn't recognize.

Tonight I'm praying with everything in me that we will find the place dark and empty, like we did so many months ago, just waiting for us to make it a home. I don't believe in God but I always pray when I feel desperate, just in case there is one and It's willing to help me out for whatever reason.

I must pray to the wrong one tonight though.

The walk to the mansion started getting hazy a few blocks back, and we've been smelling smoke for a while but can't identify a source. As we turn the corner of "our" street, I look for the familiar hulking figure of the mansion at the end on the corner, but nothing is there but a hazy cloud. I'm thinking it's gotta be really foggy or something, but then I hear Hex gasp beside me.

"It's gone," she whispers.

We all stop walking at the same time as we realize she's right. The house is gone, and we have simultaneously found the source of both the haze and the smell. They burned it down.

I start running, hoping my eyes are playing tricks on me or we're all experiencing a shared hallucination or something. The sidewalk takes its familiar curve that once led up to the steps and the front door. Now it leads to a smoldering pile of black debris with caution tape all around it.

"No!" I cry, falling to my knees in front of the charred mess.

I can't help it. I start sobbing. The house was so old, so beautiful in its own sad and lonely way. It had survived for so long on this street! It housed countless families, including ours. It absorbed thousands of stories and witnessed hundreds of events. And in just a matter of hours, it has disappeared from the face of the earth like it was never there.

Everyone else starts crying too, except for Hex, but she has a look that makes me wanna hide, and if those guys were here she'd probably take them on by herself without a weapon. That's how pissed she looks. I think the rest of us are just cold, hungry, exhausted, and broken-hearted, and this is the straw that breaks us. We were all hoping so much that we could come back here and curl up in its safe and cozy rooms, sheltered from the coming winter. Now we have nowhere to go.

What hurts the most is just how senseless it is. Why did they burn it? There's no question that they did it on purpose- and for what? For shits and giggles? Did they stand there watching it burn, laughing like the imbeciles they are? Was it worth whatever pathetic bits of satisfaction they got from destroying it?

We all sit there on the sidewalk for a long time, holding each other and crying. I think we're just too exhausted to walk anymore today, and the mere thought of having to make the journey out of here to someplace else is too much to bear.

"I told you we should have left when summer started! Now it's getting cold and we have nothing!" Hex shouts at Adam.

"How the hell should I have known it would burn down? Why is it my fault?" Adam yells, tears streaming down his face.

Hex is wrong about saying it's Adam's fault, but she's not wrong for saying we should have moved on at the start of summer like we always used to. We got comfortable in the house, started dreaming, then imagining, then living like we could stay there forever. It's a bitter lesson.

"Stop fighting, guys. We gotta make a plan," Jesse says, wiping his eyes on his shirt sleeves.

"We can't go to a shelter," Gus says softly.

"Of course we can't!" Hex snaps.

"It's getting too cold to stay at the bridge," I say.

"I'm freezing right now," Adam says, arms wrapped around himself. "And I'm fucking starving!"

"Oh you think YOU'RE hungry? Try being pregnant and wandering all over the damn city!" Hex shouts.

"I would GLADLY be pregnant if it meant I didn't have to listen to you BITCH about it anymore!" Adam yells.

"Guys! Seriously, stop it! We're all in the same boat! We're all cold. We're all hungry," I say flatly.

"No. If it's my fucking fault, then I'll be the one to fix it!" Adam says.

He starts stomping ahead of us, quickens his pace, then starts running. We have no choice but to follow. I take one last look at what's left of our home, and then I grab Jesse's hand and move on.

Adam is going to do something desperate, and we beg him not to. He runs far ahead of us as we yell things at him. We tell him it's not his fault. We shout at him to come back and talk to us. He doesn't care. It's like he doesn't even hear us.

He runs straight to nearby Washington Park, which is the red light district. This is where kids like us get nabbed, either by cops or by traffickers, and we never chance it down here because of that. The opportunities for cash are huge, but so is the risk.

The last we see of Adam is when he dips into a strange car. The car drives off, and we all just stand there like idiots, staring after it. Anyone could be driving that car. It could be an undercover cop, a serial killer, a rapist or a gang banger looking for kids to drug and sell. It was reckless and stupid what he just did, and we're all pissed, but mostly we're scared we won't ever see him again.

We're far from the bridge and far from the house, the only two locations Adam would know where to find us. So we wait right where we last saw the car, just hoping and praying it'll come back.

A whole hour later, it finally does.

Adam gets out, sees us, and walks over to us. Without saying a word he throws a wad of money at Hex's feet.

Jesse picks it up. "Five hundred," he whispers, relief in his voice.

"What did you have to do?" Hex asks Adam, and she puts a hand on his back.

He shakes it off and glares at her. "I did what I had to so we can get a room tonight."

"I didn't ask you to do that," she says softly. "What did they make you do for this much?"

"Forget it," he says. "Let's find a hotel."

"Baby..."

"Hex, you're pregnant. Let's go, NOW!" he shouts, his voice catching as he holds back tears.

Jesse's eyes are on the pavement. Gus is biting his lip, trying not to cry himself. I start walking, and everyone follows me.

We get a room for the night with 150 of the 500 dollars Adam made. It's heavenly to be warm. We all just breathe a deep sigh of relief when we step foot inside. Adam heads straight for the shower while Jesse orders us a few pizzas.

By the time Adam returns from the shower in a cloud of steam, the food has arrived and we're all watching TV, sharing the two beds in the room, relaxing for the first time in weeks. For once, we don't have to be on our guard, scared to sleep. For once, we can just be normal teenagers.

We make a space for Adam and he finally relaxes, starts eating and laughing with the rest of us. Hex rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. That's her way of saying she's sorry, and Adam puts his arm around her and holds her close, playing with her hair, which is his way of saying it's okay.

That night, full and satisfied and finally safe, we get the best sleep of our lives.

I know it won't last. Tomorrow we'll have to get a gun and start adjusting ourselves to living on the streets. Our group has been lucky for years. We've always had each other for protection and most of our time in Chicago has been spent squatting in one abandoned location or another, safe from the elements and the multitude of other dangers. I feel like our luck has run out though, and times are about to get tough for us in a way they never have before.