Ashes swept across my bare feet, still a bit warm. My friend, Ashley, winced as she saw them. She was not the one who burned my shoes; she would never do that. She just felt bad for me.

"That's not good," she commented, frowning.

"No," I agreed. "It isn't."

I glanced up at the sky, which was turning a deep share of purple. "We should be getting home," I said nervously.

"With no shoes on?" Ashley snorted. "I don't think so. Anyway, you were sick yesterday."

"I wasn't really-"

"You dry heaved all day, and threw up thrice."

I sighed. "I guess. I feel better today, though."

"You're still too weak for the journey," Ashley protested. "Especially without shoes on. Let's stay the night."

"Where?" I asked.

The junkyard was full of nothing except--well, junk. Rusty cars were hidden behind broken things--cracked computers, shattered mirrors, old, broken beds, and many other odd things. There was a small shack in the corner--but it looked like it couldn't hold even one of us, not to mention two of us lying down, sleeping.

Ashley's eyes were turned to the shack, also, as the sky decided to sprinkle rain on us. Small raindrops stuck to her hair, making it seem as if her hair had tiny jewels in them. She nodded toward the shack.

"We will have to stay there," she admitted. "There's nowhere else, unless you want to get wet."

I didn't like either of the choices, but staying dry was better than getting wet, I guess. So we made our way toward the shack, and squeezed inside of it as soon as thunder boomed through the sky, and the sprinkle turned into a steady drizzle.

There was one window in the shack--a very tiny window, but still a window all the same. It was a small shack--that's why they call it shacks, obviously--but it was not as small as I thought it was. Two people could sit up inside of it, or even lie down, curled up, but you could not fully stretch out. So me and Ashley curled up together, trying to stay warm, as it started to pour down rain, and water leaked from the roof right into our faces, mouths, and eyes.

It was a long night of falling asleep, waking up again, trying to get comfortable, falling asleep again, etcetera.

When the sun's warm beams finally streamed through the tiny window, we were more than ready to get out of the shack.

We stepped onto the wet dirt, although it had stopped raining sometime in the night. Ashley stretched out her arms, yawned, and spoke.

"Well, you'd better get ready, because we have a long day ahead of us, traveling home."