_{Collab with: @lovely complex & @Viciousmarrow}



BOOM!
‘Everyone to Checkpoint Bravo! We’re mustering up a counter attack!’
‘Go! Go! Go!’
‘Xx.PrincessMassacre.xX is destroying us…’

Kylie’s deep blue eyes were fixated upon the computer monitor in front of her, watching the explosions and sprinting soldiers fly by with guns ablazing. The volume was up way too loud, and it would be a miracle if anyone in the rooms beside her was able to shut out the noise. The tall yet petite redhead had both hands on an elaborate controller and moved her fingers with incredible dexterity, absolutely blowing away the competition in the first person shooter she was playing.

Right now she was on a 50-0 killing spree, and she could only chuckle as the complaints rolled in. ‘Fucking hacker.’ some of them complained, while others just left the game entirely. She was a one woman army, dominating the competition. ‘Stick around, boys, and I might just blow you away ;)’ she quickly typed up, smirking deviously.

Suddenly, a rarely seen error popped up: ‘Could not connect to server. Retrying.’ Her expression went from glee to abrupt horror in the matter of seconds. “Fuck! No, no, no! I was just about to win.” she cursed to herself, rapidly pressing the A button to try and speed up the reconnection. Nothing happened though. Switching to the computer’s keyboard, she flipped to the desktop, only to find that the Wifi wasn’t connected at all.

A flare of rage coursed through the tiny girl’s body as she flung herself from her chair, stormed through her messy bedroom, and wrenched open the door. “Who turned off the fucking Wifi?! I had fifty kills and zero deaths! What the fuck?!” she screamed hysterically. If there was one thing that pissed Kylie off the most, it was an interrupted gaming session.

In the kitchen, whistling “It’s a Small World After All”, Riley, the flamed haired male, brought his spatula down to the pan and scraped under a fluffy, chocolate chip pancake, throwing it high up in the air. On the counter to his right laid crispy bacon on a plate, ready to be served and devoured. Oh how the smell of breakfast filled tears of joy in his deep blue eyes. The table was set for all his siblings and fruit (strawberries, bananas, apples) had been cut up and placed onto a large serving plate in the center. There was orange juice and milk for the youngins’, coffee for the older kids, especially him. Yes, especially him.

Catching the pancake, Rye sighed and thought back to the previous night that led to this wonderful, Tuesday morning...

Lying in his bed with his night lamp pointing at his Playboy magazine, Rye’s ears perked up when he heard moaning sounds coming from his twin sister’s bedroom. ”What the fuck is she doing?” He thought to himself with concern, but mostly annoyance. Not bothering to let his mind wonder on the idiocy of his twin and feeling accomplished from his “research” for the night, the young male (shirtless and with black and white stripe boxers on) turned off his lamp, threw his magazine to the side, and called it a night (or at least tried to).

Unfortunately, somehow, moans turned into loud explosions. BOOM! CRASH! VROOOOOOM! Staring at his ceiling, he prayed to some higher power to blow her computer to smithereens. Why didn’t their parents buy a house with thicker walls? Taking a deep breath in and exhaling out slowly, he closed his eyes and tried to think about peace… tranquility… naked ladies. Failing horribly and unable to fall asleep, since Kylie was a mindless prat, Rye kicked his crimson comforter off his bed and jumped up raging.

”Fuck it. I’ll just start breakfast early.”

Pissed at his sister, who destroyed any sort of sleep he could possibly have, Rye quickly threw on some random outfit (a white tank, dark jeans, a maroon casual suit jacket, mitch match socks, gray van sneakers) and trudged to the living room to where the router was. The twin boy had already taken a night shower so he wasn’t worried about his hygiene, he smelt quite nice with his Axe deodorant. Reaching the back of the router, the twin pulled the wire out angrily and unplugged it from the outlet. Taking the cables with him, he hid it under the cushions of the living room couch and proceeded to the kitchen with a satisfied expression.

Returning back to present time, Rye realized his mix had enough for one more big pancake so he poured the last of it into the empty pan. Suddenly, he heard the lovely, look alike beast yell out her door (such an annoying screech to hear this early in the morning). He decided to ignore her and continued to cook.

Radiant blue eyes snapped open at the sudden scream of a banshee throughout the house. Sophia sat upright in her bed immediately, her heart racing at the rude awakening. “GOD DAMN IT!" Sophia screamed back in return, furious at her lack of sleep for yet another consecutive night. The banshee was no doubt the shrill voice of her little sister, Kylie. Why was she ALWAYS so inconsiderate?!

Throwing off her comforter, Sophia marched up to her door and flung it open, looking down the hall just in time to see Kylie heading downstairs. Taking a deep breath, Sophia ran a hand through her long brown hair and lingered in the doorway for a brief second. “ It’s okay…. It’s….oh-kay…. breathe…. ” She thought, trying to talk her own anger down before heading downstairs to follow Kylie. A screaming match would get them nowhere. At least that’s what her mom would always say.

The past week had been practically a nightmare, and not because of having to move into her dead parent’s bedroom. It was because of her terror of a sibling, who at any given moment was throwing a tantrum or completely engrossed with a computer screen. Honestly, she had barely gotten any sleep this past week. How her parents did it, she had no idea. How she even managed to live most of her life with this sibling, she couldn’t even remember. Sophia had clearly been spoiled the past three years when she lived in a dorm with only one roommate who was basically a hermit. Apparently it was possible to get more sleep in a dorm room with college students partying around every corner than it was to get in your own house.

“ Kylie, I’ve already had to listen to you playing your stupid video games all night. Can you not let anyone in this house sleep…. ever?” She called down after her, sleepily trailing into the kitchen as the smell of breakfast caught her nose.

Seeing a plate of bacon on the counter as she entered the kitchen, Sophia snagged a piece for herself. “Wow, thank’s Rye.” It was like she had almost forgotten about only having a total of 3 hours of sleep for the night, lost in greasy goodness.

Quick reflexes, Riley slapped his older sister’s hand with the spatula, ”OYE. You know the rules. Wait until everyone is at the table.”

Sophia shot Riley a glare, though a slightly playful one. “ Fine… mother goose.”

Like a whirlwind, Kylie flew down the stairs in nothing but her undergarments, her phone in one hand, and into the living room where the router was, only to find there were no wires connected to it. She glowered, marched into the kitchen where her brother stood, and immediately jabbed a finger into his chest. ”Where are the cables, Riley!? Where did you put them?!” she interrogated him frantically. As she questioned her brother, her sister made a snide comment about her hobby. “Well I’m so sorry I can have fun, unlike you. No one ever asks me to turn the volume down anyway...” Kylie jabbed back at her sister.

Before her brother could even begin to respond, the redhead pulled her phone to her face and began to Tweet about the start to her morning. She’d actually have to use her phone’s data for once. ‘OMG MY BROTHER IS A FUCKING DICK. #RUDE #WHOEVENDOESTHAT?!’ her latest status said, typed out in split seconds. Lowering the phone back down, she waited to hear her brother’s explanation, leering at him like a monster waiting to devour its next victim.

”I might start taking the cables out every night. Maybe that’ll teach you.” He glared at her with obvious bags under his eyes. Putting the last pancake on the stack and turning off the oven, he picked up the two plates (the bacon and the pancakes) and brought it to the dining room table.

Revoking Kylie’s internet privileges, he chided, ”Don’t expect any wifi for the entire day. You have a long day ahead of you.”

Pleased with her little brother’s “parenting” of his twin sister, Sophia decided not to intervene. Instead, she smugly walked past the table and leaned over the railing leading to the basement where her other brother’s room was. “ James! Breakfast!” She called; he was probably the only one who was getting any sleep in this house, but he would at least hear her from the staircase. With that, she walked back over to the upstairs and called out again, “Zoey! Olivia! Breakfast!” Her younger sisters had no doubt heard all the commotion going on considering they all shared the upstairs bedrooms, but it was courtesy to call them down at least.

“What the hell are you babbling about, Riley?” Kylie inquired, cocking her head as she did so. An idea struck her promptly, and her eyes widened in response. He wasn’t going to make her work at the diner today was he? “Oh HELL no. I know what you’re thinking, you ass. I have social anxiety. Do you know what that means?! I can’t waitress for the stupid diner.” she proclaimed, refusing to do such menial work. She had real records to set. She couldn’t be bothered to set tables.

Rolling his eyes, drained at all her talking… so early… in the morning, Rye placed the plates down on table and crossed his arms like their father use to do, “You can shove your social anxiety up your ass. You’re gonna pull your weight for this family whether you like it or not. I expect a large sum of tip money in the youngins’ jar or you know the wifi you love so much? Yeah, you can kiss it goodbye. Now sit the fuck down and wait to eat your damn pancakes.” The difference between Riley and his dad was, he wasn’t afraid to tell his twin sister off and refused to cater to a brat. He also wanted Zoey and Olivia to have spending money when they needed it so filling their jar was absolutely necessary to him.

At a loss for words, Kylie could only glare angrily at her brother before she walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a cold Mountain Dew, closing the door with more force than necessary. “Mom and dad never made me work at the diner…” she grumbled before sitting at the table and sulking. Her hands ran up the bottle and cracked it open. Close to a week ago, Kylie had started to receive cases of the stuff every other day through the mail, much to the confusion of her family, and the whole bottom shelf of the fridge was filled with the green substance. Kylie had practically been living off soda since then, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had a glass of water.

Sophia smirked as she poured herself a glass of orange juice, listening to her brother talk to Kylie. If anyone could knock some sense into their sister’s head, it would be him. He was probably the only reason Kylie wasn’t absolutely exploding and throwing things around the house at the moment.

Hearing the unmistakable sound of carbonation exiting a soda bottle, Sophia looked over at the Mountain Dew her sister had just opened. She narrowed her eyes and snatched the bottle out of her sister’s hands, “ Oh no you don’t.” In place of the soda, Sophia forced the glass of orange juice in Kylie’s hands. “ I don’t know why you’re getting all this crap, but it’s awful for you!” She shook her head and immediately started pouring the entire bottle down the sink. “ I should just throw out the rest while I’m at it…” Bottle empty, Sophia tossed it into the nearby trash can and grabbed another glass to pour more orange juice into for herself this time.

“Orange juice? Seriously? This crap has just as much sugar as a soda, except it tastes like pure garbage.” Kylie complained, swishing the juice around in its cup. Ironically though, she pulled up her phone and snapped a picture of her semi-naked self holding the glass. ’I <3 OJ! #healthy #yum she scrawled on her Twitter feed before commencing to put her head on the table. Today was going to be terrible, wasn’t it?

Worn out within seconds of the presence of his twin, Riley slumped into his go-to-seat at the table and waited for their other siblings to join the chaos. He kept a close eye on Sophia and Kylie to make sure they didn’t touch the food until everyone was seated.

@Saint Girralo @BilboTheGreat @Emma

Olivia sat up in her bed, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned. A morning full of yelling and door slamming was nothing new, and tended not to bother her, but today she just wanted to keep sleeping. She was not in the mood for social interaction, and faking a smile. She had silently cried herself to sleep the night before after looking through a family photo album, and did her best not to wake Zoey on the bunk below her. Liv climbed down from the top bunk, threw a stuffed animal at the lump of blankets that was Zoey. "Wake up. Its time for breakfast." she said tiredly.

Olivia Slowly made her way down the hall to the bathroom to brush her teeth, as her mouth tasted terrible and probably smelled even worse. Opiates did that to you. She had just gotten her braces off two months ago, and was bent on keeping her pretty straight teeth, sparkly and white. Though she had a habit of not looking in the mirror when ever possible. She glanced briefly at her reflection. The puffy face, dark under eye circles, and tangled mess of brown hair stared back at her. She hardly recognized herself. She opened the medicine cabinet and looked over the prescription. She took out the bottle that said Roderick Reese Oxycodone on it, and took two pill and poured the rest in her pocket. They had been prescribed to her dad after his back surgery last summer, but now they were going to waste. She took a deep breath as she walked down the stairs to join the others for breakfast, her least favorite meal of the day. The smell of pancakes and bacon made her slightly nauseous, but that was typical. "Morning..." She said quietly as she sat down at the table, looking over the feast Rye had created.

She was dreading school today, not that anyone could tell, at the moment she still looked half a sleep, and in need of a hair brush. She had on one of her dads big old tees, and some baggy sweatpants with a poke-a-dot pattern. She slept in one of her dads shirts every night, since her parents died. When Sophia moved back in and took over her parents room, Olivia threw a fit, something she never does. It was a surprise to everyone, when she started yelling and crying since she was normally quiet and passive. Olivia had wanted to leave their parents room untouched, and unchanged, to let it stay the way it was when her parents were alive. It was nice having Sophia home, since she was not really happy with her leaving in the first place, but she wished that Sophia had just shared Kylie's room like the use to before she moved to the dorms.

She placed a handful of strawberries on her plate, and poured some water in her glass. She briefly scowled at the stack of pancakes, but decided to take the smallest one, so Rye wouldn't nag her about how breakfast was the most important meal of the day. As her siblings squabbled and laughed Olivia sat quietly and yawned waiting for Zoey and James to get to the kitchen.

Oh, I should shave.

There was no motivation behind the thought as Elliot stared at himself in the mirror. It was a simply a hopeless observation. Much like, oh, I should win a million dollars, or oh, I should find myself a hot babe with neck-down alopecia, or oh, I should get a job. That last one, at least, was doable. Hopefully.

In lieu of a brush, Elliot simply ran a hand through his hair until it looked somewhat neat. He didn't have an interviews or anything to go to after all, he just needed to pick up some applications around town. He also half-heartedly adjusted a tie over his button-down shirt, before deciding better of it and tossing it across the room. At the very least, he did adjust the cuffs at the end of his sleeves, before taking a glance down at his pants.

Or rather, lack thereof. Letting out a tired groan, he sat down at the edge of his bed and got to work making himself actually presentable. Elliot took a look at his prosthetic as he slid the pants up his leg. When he had left, years back, he though that it was him hiding his leg from others, but he knew better than that now. His leg had been hiding him. Anxiety gripped him at the thought, but he intended to walk freely from this day forward.

It was a Red Letter Day.

The day's goals were twofold, and both equally unlikely. First up, he wanted a job. His... other income was enough to get by, but a little more wouldn't hurt, and he wanted to feel like a human being again after so much time. Millington had always been a small town, without the best employment prospects, so the idea worried him.

However, the day's second task outright terrified him. The best possible outcome is that in between hearing about the death of the senior Reese's the rest of the family managed to sell the house and move far away. Then he wouldn't have to see them, wouldn't have to explain himself, wouldn't have to talk about their parents or their diner or anything else.

That was the best case scenario, right?

As if responding to his own question, Elliot grabbed his cane and shook his head, locking the door behind him as he left the apartment. He took a moment to admire the cloudless sky and the morning sunrise, fresh air filling his nostrils. However, he didn't wait around too long, he needed to get to the east side of town before he could do anything, and the surrounding neighborhood bothered him. It was the sort of neighborhood he would have avoided when he lived with his parents, and yet here he was.

Limping as he always did, he began to make his way east, filled with hope and terror at what awaited him today.

BEEEEEEEEP

"Guhhhhh....

BEEEEEEEEP

"Five.... five more minutes." Anthony Noll's hand popped up out from the pile of sheets on top of his bed, thrashing about until it slammed down on top of the alarm clock, and scrabbling, searching for the 'snooze' button, found it, and pushed it with an index finger extended. Sighing, Anthony relaxed, and was about to go back to sleep, under his warm, cozy covers, but was rudely jolted to full consciousness by a klaxon, right below his pillow. Cursing, and flinging his pillow into the wall, Anthony squinted into the phone's glare, and pressed the 'Off' button for his phone alarm.

Rubbing his eyes blearily, he cast off the sheets to the side, and shivered, as he stepped onto the hardwood floor, which was altogether too cold. It was March, dammit! It wasn't supposed to be cold and misty outside! Shuffling his way over to his closet, he pulled out his hoodie, some sweatpants, boxers, and a white t-shirt. Walking over to his small bathroom, he stripped down, and stepped into the shower, cursing as the water was absolutely frigid at first, and then sighing as it got warmer, steam filling the room.



Stepping out of the shower, water falling off of his body onto the bathroom mat, Anthony took his white towel off of the rack, and began to dry himself off. Looking in the foggy mirror, his eyes fell on the gothic quatrefoil tattoo on his right shoulder, as always, and something began to tickle the back of his mind... Whispering in his ears...

Shaking his head, he hung the towel back up, and pulled his boxers on, and immediately afterward, his sweatpants. Looking at his hair, he sighed, and pulled the shirt and hoodie over his head, fitting snugly into the well-fit clothing. Grabbing a hair dryer, he waited until he couldn't feel any moisture, and then combed it straight down. It would get mussed up, anyway, but he could try. Exiting the bathroom, he went over, and sat on his bed, grabbing his phone, while pulling on some socks and running shoes. As always, there was both a text and a notification from Maddie, one for her followers on twitter, a "#SunnyDay! Have a wonderful morning! @M4D13Noll", and one for Anthony alone. "Hey big bro, hope you remember to have a wonderful day today! Do well in class, and don't forget your meds!" Quickly tapping out a reply of, "Haha yeah okay squirt. Have a good day!", Anthony went over to his dresser, smiling. Maddie could always make him smile, even if he wasn't feeling too well. Pulling out a seven-day pill container, he opened the second one, and took his meds dry. It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but it was quick.

Taking his headphones off the top of the messy dresser, Alex plugged it into his phone, turned the music to his "Jogging Songs" playlist, and walked outside the apartment, stretching in the hallway before jogging down the flight of stairs, and out of the lobby, automatic doors parting with a swoosh.



By this time, Anthony was about halfway done with his jogging route, and, as always, he made it a point to visit a rotund Italian man who stood on a street corner, near the heart of town where everything happened, selling various magazines, newspapers, and other print. Named Adriano, the chubby guy kept in business in the Digital Age with his winning personality, charming smile, and wide variety of magazines. It seemed that his stand was subscribed to every magazine published, it was that many. So, wallet ready, and almost-smile on his face, Anthony jogged over to Adriano's stand. And so the routine began.

"Ah, hello, my friend, how might you be doing this morning? Magnificent, I hope?" The large Italian's mustache twitched with every word. Steam puffing from his mouth on the coldish, misty morning, Anthony jogged in place, and replied,

"Yeah, I'm doing okay.... So how are your girlfriends?" As he said this, he handed Adriano a five-dollar bill, and received a magazine in return, Thespian Weekly, a magazine, which, despite the title, was more of a general arts magazine than just an acting one, although the leading article was usually on a play, actor, or screenplay. He enjoyed it.

The rotund Italian laughed, and said, "Ah, they're doing okay. They still have no idea that I'm married!" Laughing quietly, Anthony rolled up the magazine, and held it like a baton from a relay in his hand, and waved back at Adriano, as he began to jog off around the block, reaching the final half of his normal routine.



As always, after jogging in squares, around a couple blocks around Main Street, Anthony headed to the Queen's Orchid, a few minutes after the proprietors would usually arrive. Seeing the lights on, he jogged up to the door, and finally stopped, breathing briskly. Opening the door, he stepped into the room, little bell ringing over his head.

That day in the morning, Axel had decided to make good use of his time and play some game or other in his laptop.

Quite the expensive gaming laptop, must be added. Lights and other things exuding from the keyboard.

He was wearing a headset to talk with his teammates and a controller in his hands, the sound of buttons being tapped away filling the whole room.

Still, and despite not lacking communication with his squadmates, they were being obliterated by a single person. Probably a woman.

Xx.PrincessMassacre.xX was living up to her name. She killed everyone in sight but, unlike most of his teammates, Axel whistled every time he got killed.

"Way to go, princess. I wonder how she did that?" He said in the headset, only to be received by insults of pissed off gamers who were tired of being killed by this possible hacker.

"Hey, hey, chill. It's just a game dude." He tried to calm the others down. "Hm? What do you mean 'it's no longer a damn game'? I'm sure nothing as trite as 'I've been trapped inside the game' has happened, has it?" He chuckled, and he could hear some more chuckles too from his teammates.

The man then proceeded to disconnect. Axel just laughed more.

"How fun. People really need to learn how to chill." He reached to his side, picking up a single cigarrette. He smoke a bit before turning his attention back to the screen. He smiled at the sight before him.

The princess had stopped moving. Lag? Disconnection? Regardless, it was their chance.

"Come on, people, let's get that revenge you wanted." And so, Axel went on to get a perfect headshot on the woman's disconnected avatar, getting the first point for their team.

Another one approached the corpse and started teabagging it, and several others joined after that. Axel laughed his head off until the corpse disappeared, and the game continued.

"Welp, I'm getting off now. Good luck guys, hope you don't see that girl again." He laughed some more and then took his headset off.

He stood up from the spinning chair he was sitting in and left his controller in a shelf near his bed.

The room was messy, yeah, but Axel knew where everything was. He went on to take his shirt and scratch his abdomen some.

"Guess I should bath, huh?" The man yawned. Welp, four hours of sleep, getting up at 4 was definitely not good if you wanted to be productive. Luckily, Axel wasn't planning on being productive today.

---

Some time after that, Axel was already dressed in a simple sleeveless shirt and a zipper hoody, opened in the middle, and a pair of skinny black pants. Like always, he wore mostly black.

He was wearing sunglasses and had the sleeves of his hoody rolled up, showing the tattoos he was so proud of. With that, he walked to the Queen's Orchid. He would skip his first classes and just go eat something. He wasn't feeling like being in class anyway.

He arrived and opened the door, the bell on front of it chiming when he came in.

"Hey, I'm here." He announced his arrival with a smile in his face. "Good morning to you too, Anthony." He greeted his roommate.

"But man, you sure are the early bird. Got any worms you would care to share with me?" He said, laughing a bit. "Do you want to eat together? Or will you tell me to go to my class? Cause if you do, I'm getting my pancakes in another table, lemme tell you." He smiled again and then took his sunglasses off.

Hopefully, his deodorant would cover the distinctive smell of weed. He had smoked some before getting into the place, after all.

---

@Athinar

James rolled onto his side and yawned. The amount of sleep he's been getting this past month has been abysmal, and it was taking its toll on him. Next semester he wouldn't be able to take as many classes, not if he still wanted to feel anything. Climbing out of bed, he walked to his closet and unlocked the door, and pulled open a drawer, revealing a variety of outfits all ready to go. He grabbed one of his work uniforms and quickly got dressed. The intoxicating aroma of a well made and healthy breakfast wafted down the stairs. "Shit," he had meant to be up sooner than this, to help Riley make breakfast for everyone, but he had crashed before he had even managed to set his alarm. "Ugh, please tell me I finished all the paperwork first..." he groaned, walking to his desk, and sighing in relief at the pile of completed paperwork.

James neatly organized the paperwork and placed it all into a work envelope so it wouldn't get lost or separated. He returned to his closet and locked the door again. He then climbed the steps at a calm pace with the envelope in hand. Upon reaching the kitchen, he set the envelope on the counter. "Sophia, here's the paperwork. If you're not up for it, I'll file it when I get there, but can you take it to the Restaurant. I already made copies for ourselves. Hey, Riley, it smells great, and sorry I didn't get up earlier to help with it like I promised, I was so beat after finishing the paperwork I forgot my alarm." he offered in apology as he took in the sight of the wonderful food, before grabbing a glass and pouring some orange juice. He began drinking it, and as the tart drink slipped down his throat, he could feel some semblance of energy entering his veins, the bags under his eyes becoming slightly less prevalent as he wakes up. Looking at a clock, he was horrified to see the time. "We got to get moving. We're supposed to be unlocking at Eight today, and some of us have to get to class."

James practically ran back down the stairs to grab his book bag, and bolted his way back up the stairs. He barely slowed down as he grabbed his keys, and a few slices of bacon. "Alright everyone, See you, Love you, Bye." He said loudly enough for the entire house to hear him as he bolted to make sure he reached class in time. He climbed onto the bus he took to class, the bus driver smiling at his incredible sense of timing. Setting a timer for twenty minutes, which would be how long it would take by bus to reach the University, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Miyasaki Ami--

The bus ride was pleasant, passing by all of the fluorescent lights as she gripped onto the flyer that she had came upon earlier, stating that someone was in need of a roommate. Her new home and her new school.

Ami simply couldn’t stay at the place before. It was much too far from all of the places she needed to be at.

She smiled brightly, a piece of candy in her mouth as she got off the bus. Exhaling, Ami began to walk on the sidewalk, smiling at everyone that she made eye contact with on her way.

Apartment 2B… I wonder what it will be like. New roommates. I suppose girls? I’m not sure... I hope they are...sweet, I suppose. Hehe, someone that wasn’t so nice wouldn’t be bad either of course. Ami giggled as she felt the candy begin to dissolve in her mouth until there was only the sweet lingering aftertaste of strawberries.


Soon, she came across the cafe that she had interviewed for before and stepped inside, wanting to greet the people before she was on her way once again. It was only her first week but she had already gotten acquaintance with practically every employee as well as meeting a few regulars.

“Good morning!” beaming, she looked around and smiled at the individuals, spotting a regular. “Stella! You look beautiful today as well, I see~ Hmmm… You haven’t been served yet? It’s not my shift right now but…” She looked around, realizing that it was quite busy and turned to the customer with a finger over her lips. “Hehe, i’ll go ahead and get you your caramel latte~ Don’t tell!” With that, she ran off, chatting with someone that was sitting near the kitchen as she made the latte.

Humming a lullaby as she put in some delicious whipped cream, she looked at the time and quickly sped up, advancing over to her table quickly but steadily, making sure not to drop the drink. “Well, it was nice seeing you all! Have a great day!!” With that she waved and went out of the door, once again heading towards the apartment.



Ami had finally found her way to a place that seemed to resemble the photo in the flyer. A nice neighborhood. Or maybe a bad one. She couldn’t tell the difference if there wasn’t any actual blood around her. It couldn’t be bad since she had seen some people smile at her before she even got the chance to do so.

“Apartment 2B… Apartment 2B… Apartme- Ah!” She had finally found it. Her new safe haven. Or her new hell Either way, it was perfect. She could already see things twinkling around her as she smiled, her baby blue eyes full of hope and content as she looked at the entrance door.

She looked down at her frilly angel like dress, all the way down to her white flats that had a black bow on them. Exhaling deeply for the second time that day and looking back up. This was it. There was nothing to be nervous about.

Ami was touching her flower pin once for good luck, this lasted for about 10 seconds. Then, she knocked on the door about 5 times before she stopped, not wanting to bother the attendants. A smile on her face as always but it soon vanished.

They weren't home.. Sighing, she sat on the pavement in front of the door, leaning her head as she let go of her suit case. She took out one of the books that she had with her, titled: I hunt killers by Barry Lyga. The title itself is quite explanatory. It was a nice, small, and cute book that she had. One of her many books in the horror/psychological genre.

She read for around 15 minutes. Soon, before she even knew it, she was fast asleep. Her book placed in her lap with her hands gripping it gently, a finger in front of page 47 and not a care in the world about the fact that she was outside.

@GrafRoy Zeppeli@Athinar

Wakes up, tosses, and goes back to bed.


Wakes up in cold sweats, pulls covers over body, and goes back to bed.


“Fuck it.” A curse could be heard from a frustrated insomniac as slender legs kicked off a Carnage fleece throw. Spiderman.

One can become immune to pills should they take them repeatedly. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case here. This past week the sleeping meds prescribed by her doctor had gradually become less effective. Although school work wasn't suffering, yet, her mind was awfully fatigued. Sometimes she found herself falling asleep while eating and couldn't remember what had happened prior, like now. How did she manage to take a shower when she couldn't remember hopping out of bed just moments ago?


Cold water cascaded down porcelain flesh, trailing over healed wounds where ridged scars remained. Although the bullet holes were closed the nightmare remained. A shiver streaked throughout her body like a flash of lightning. 'Freezing' she thought to herself before hands shuttered twisting the knobs to shut off the water's chill. Had she even conditioned her hair? Who the hell cared? Fresh air would be lovely right about now along with some of the Reese's famous stuffed french toast.

'Oh, that's right. They lost their parents not long ago. How sad...' Hadley knew the feeling all too well and wanted to comfort each one of them and tell them it would be okay...though it truly wouldn't. 'Life is a mutha fawkin' bitch.' She nodded to herself in agreement while drying off with a monogrammed towel. Her day would continue with narration by none other than, herself. With no one else to talk to since moving here not long ago, who else to keep her company? Talking to yourself didn't make you crazy, did it? Hadley suddenly stared into the mirror with a doe in headlights glance but soon shook her head.

“Still sane.” She spoke aloud and smiled sweetly.


After readying herself, grabbing a studded black leather purse, and locking the door it was time to leave this hellhole. In a moments time Hadley noticed a peculiar sight on the steps leading to and from the apartment's entrance. Examining this blond haired angel snoozing away with a book in tow, something else however caught the criminology student’s attention. What enormous--assets covered by a rather charming dress. A double take was in order but just a quick one. Hadley was not into women but could appreciate a fine pair of bosoms when credit was due. Shoulder's lifted shrugging lightly as she began to feel under-dressed and certainly under developed. Life was quite unfair, wasn't it?

Compared to this woman Hadley looked like a hobgoblin. Wearing worn denim jeans and a baggy zip up hoodie; the only flashy thing found on the pharmacist tech was pale pink tresses swept up into a messy ponytail. Tousled bangs hung above intense sky blue eyes, which kept darting to the sleeping newcomer and across the street. How many others saw this poor girl sleeping here and yet avoided waking her? This would not do. Shady people resided here and who knows if one would have stolen a squeeze.

“Um, sleeping beauty?” A hand gingerly shook blondie's small shoulder trying not to startle her. If someone dare try this with Hadley a gun would be pointed in their direction, on a bad day.

@sakurasan

On the bottom bunk of the bed in the room of the youngest sisters laid Zoey. She was curled up into a ball, underneath a mess of blankets and pillows all pushed up against one corner of the bed leaving the rest of the bed with just the creased white sheets on. For some reason she always seemed to wake up in that position, a ball in the corner of a perfectly big bed that could fit her on it twice, maybe three times. Even if purposefully the night before she had set out her bed nicely, laid down on it completely straight on her back and looked up at the bunk above her she would always find herself like that. The girls chest gently rose and fell in rhythm as she dreamed, breathing softly and quietly before something hit her bundle of sheets and pillows. Groaning quietly, she slowly opened her eyes and looked around in the darkness for a few seconds before letting out a deep sigh. She threw all of her sheets off herself and either onto the other end of the bed or onto the floor and stretched out her curled up legs. She looked at her sister was a blank expression as she slowly shook her head. "Already?" She asked, but Olivia had already left the room and probably didn't hear her question. She swung her legs over the side of the bottom bunk and sat upright, stretching her arms up as she yawned loudly.

She stood up, looking around the room and immediately walked over to the mirror that was on the far said of the bedroom. She stood in front of it and looked over herself. Her eyes were full of sleep, another spot had popped up on her forehead and her hair was messy, but clean. Looking at herself more closely, the spot was just looking worse and worse. Nobody, not even her siblings, would ever see that spot. She raised her hands and squeezed as hard as she could, wincing as she did so before the spot popped. She wiped anything left away and threw it into the small pink bin that was next too the mirror. "Zoey! Olivia! Breakfast!" She heard her oldest sister shouting up to them. She sighed again, turning around and walking out into the hallways slowly as if she hadnt actually woken up yet, slow like a zombie. She looked too the closed door of the bathroom and closed her eyes for a second, before turning around and going back in her room. Olivia allways got in the bathroom first. Every. Single. Morning. Zoey closed the door as she walked back into her room and stood herself infront of the mirror, looking over herself again.

She was wearing only her underwear. She didnt sleep in much else, it was usually too hot for her and she would keep waking up throughout the night. She looked over herself for a moment, looking for flaws, anything she could potentially fix before she went to school. She needed makeup on. She needed to do her hair and she needed to put some nice clothes on. For now, one of dad's old shirts would do. She walked over to the drawer, got a shirt out and pulled it over herself. It was a black shirt and it came down to just above her knees, it was baggy all over and one of the most comfortable things she could put on in the morning. After she was done putting it on, she heard the bathroom door open and her sister walking out. Making sure she would be next in there, she ran out of the room and rushed past her sister to get inside.

The girl spent ten minutes brushing her teeth and washing her face. She got rid of all the sleep and made herself look presentable before she dried herself off and left the bathroom. She walked down stairs, looking over at all of her siblings sitting at the table except James who had just closed the door as she got down. "Good morning" She said quietly, smiling gently before she walked over to the table and pulling out her chair. She sat down next too Sophia and looked over the amazing breakfast that her brother had made. "Im sorry for being so late". She said, being the last one down. She knew that Riley wouldnt let them eat until everyone was at the table and she didnt want to keep everyone waiting but she had to look okay. She turned to her side, looking up at Sophia as she spoke "are you all going to the diner today?" She asked. Sophia had always been the girl, or now woman, she looked up to. Ever since she was young. Especially in the last couple of years since she got into her performing arts course, which secretly was all Zoey wanted to do.

Miyasaki Ami--

She couldn’t breathe. It was her father. He was there and he was hurting her. Torturing her. Why couldn’t she see his face? Why? Why? Where was he? I can feel his hands wrapped around my neck but I can’t see his face. I can’t see my precious father? Wh-where- With that, she awoke abruptly. “Nnnn~” She mumbled as she opened her eyes slowly, not fully awake. “Hm? Were you hurting me?” She asked sweetly, observing the woman in front of her. She couldn’t tell if her dream was based on the reality that someone was choking her or not. “Ehehe, nice to meet you~ My name is Miyasaki Ami!” She glanced at the hand on her shoulder for a moment.

“Oh! Are you an attendant here? I am going to start rooming with whoever is staying here but… They aren’t home at the moment.” Looking down, she glanced at her book and quickly ran her fingers through it. She had lost her place when she was asleep and the stopping point was a highly anticipating one. Looking back up at the woman she realized that she had a bit more of a “mature” air to her. Much more than herself. She kindly smiled as she awaited her response. Hmmm... I doubt that she is the one that lives here somehow... I suppose I would have felt the door open behind me.

@Temperance

_{Collab with @The Muse, @lovely complex, and @Viciousmarrow}

Pulling up by the curb, in between Millington High and Millington Grade school, Riley put the white Dodge Caravan on park (the car that had once belonged to their mother). Both Zoey and Olivia chose to sit in the backseat together, leaving the passenger’s seat empty. Looking through the rear mirror and letting his eyes rest on his sisters, Riley exclaimed, “You two have a wonderful day at school! Call me if you need me. Remember I’m speed dial 2. And please, please, PLEASE, don’t forget your lunch boxes. I hate putting all your food in brown bags.” He listened to their responses, if any at all, and watched them as they exited the car. Rolling down his window swiftly, the twin yelled (so both girls could hear him), “BE GOOD! STUDY HARD! AND IF ANYONE BOTHERS YOU, I’LL KICK THEIR ASSES.” He waved with both of his hands in their directions, not really caring if there were students, parents, and teachers looking at him. Once they both were inside, he pulled his car out of park and drove forward.

With a nod of accomplishment, he left the school grounds and turned onto the street of the University to get an errand out of the way. The semester was more than halfway through and somehow, he got kicked out of an online class he was aceing. He hated having to deal with these menial tasks, but it was something he had to do. Ain’t no way in hell he’s taking this core course again.
_{@BilboTheGreat@Emma}

---

‘People actually come to eat here?’ the apron-clad, redheaded female thought, spinning around on a stool she had dragged behind the welcome podium. Two customers had just entered, a skinny man that seemed to be athletic and some edgy kid with lots of tattoos and a Flock of Seagulls haircut. All Riley had told her to do was to welcome people, seat them, and then take their orders while he went and took the younger ones off to school. Ron, the other chef, would take care of the cooking until he got back. The thing is, she didn’t know the first damned thing when it came to being a waitress. After all, this was her first time actually doing anything related to the family business.

‘Okay, like we practiced: Welcome to the Queen’s… What was it again? Um…’ Kylie didn’t even know the name of the diner. Not to mention she wasn’t sure how to address these two. Despite her family’s growing disbelief in her social anxiety, Kylie could not socialize with strangers at all. She froze and locked onto both of them.

“W-wel…” was, embarrassingly, all she was able to say before her mouth just hung agape, unable to say anything more. ‘You’re blowing it, Kylie! Just fucking say it!’ she tried to urge herself, feeling like her Rock Meter in Guitar Hero was quickly heading towards the red area of failure. She could practically hear the booing. Clearing her throat, she tried to welcome them once again.

“Sup, dudes. Welcome to whatever...” she finally said with an attitude. Her eyes went down to the sheet of paper in front of her, filled with a diagram of the tables in the restaurant. The already awful waitress drew a smiley face with an emo-styled haircut and a frowny face with a deadpan stare to the table closest to the front door. While this to normal, restaurant-faring people would be recognized as the worst seats, it logically made sense to put them there so they could get out as fast as possible. Her hands reached into the podium’s inner compartment and grabbed two menus, gesturing for the two to follow her.

‘Okay, that wasn’t what we had practiced at all… But we’ll roll with it.’ Briskly, she strode over to the table that was practically right in front of her and sloppily tossed the menus down. She tapped her chin, feeling like she was missing something. Right! The water and the biscuits! Spinning on a heel, this walking disaster strolled back to the kitchen, ignoring whatever the two customers were saying. She didn’t have the faintest idea where they kept the clean cups, but there was a stack of them near the sink.

A second later and Kylie had placed two glass cups filled with lukewarm water on a platter alongside a basket of biscuits. Trying to imitate the waitresses she had seen before, she held the platter aloft in one hand and promptly headed back out. While the redhead didn’t inherently show it in her expression, her nerves were going off the wall. How could she know if she was doing everything right?! As Kylie got closer to the seated duo, her hands began to quake under the mental pressure that hit her.

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed throughout the diner as the platter she had been holding tumbled to the ground. The glass cups shattered, although the rolls had fortunately remained in their basket. All except one, anyway. Swift as cat, Kylie grabbed the lone biscuit and threw it in the basket anyway, serving it to the guests at the table.

“Five second rule. That last one is still good.” she stated, almost proudly. Glancing back at the mess she made, Kylie resigned to clean that up after she had gotten their order. “Okay, Gerard Way and Skrillex, what can I get you today?” the redhead insultingly asked, wincing as the words poured out. Riley was going to kill her if Sophi didn’t get to her first.

Back in the kitchen, Sophia attempted her best to help set up in the kitchen. She had apologised profusely to their cook Ron, who had been here on time like he was supposed to be. Sophia and Kylie, on the other hand, had been about two minutes later than opening time because of Kylie dragging her feet and protesting the whole time. Normally on a good day Sophia would have arrived at 7:30am to prep before the customers began to arrive.

Leaving Kylie at the front seemed like an awful idea, but somehow it had to work. Riley told her what to do… that was good enough… right? They were currently down on staff, considering they were missing two important full time employees, so it would have to work until they could find new employees. Hesitantly, Sophia put her trust in Kylie, hoping that she would handle the hostess stand with grace. That all came crashing down, quite literally, after about 5 minutes.

Hearing the glass shatter from inside the diner, Sophia immediately stopped mixing pancake batter and set it down to rush out into the guest area. “ What was th-” She stopped herself, watching Kylie pick up a roll from the ground and put it back in the basket with the others. Not to mention the ground that it had just landed on was scattered with glass shards. Sophia groaned, “ Why, why, why, why, WHHHYYY?!”

Quickly, Sophia ran over to the table with the two men as Kylie was attempting to take their order despite the disaster behind her. One of them happened to be a regular of the diner, one that Sophia had continually noticed but had never made an actual conversation with. Despite never really talking, Sophia still knew his name thanks to the his credit card that he often used to pay with. He was cute, how could she not want to find out his name? Unfortunately, circumstance had never allowed her to have a chat with him. She had always been busy with something in the restaurant before he was gone again.

“ I’m so sorry about that!” She cut in before Kylie could do any more damage, grabbing the basket of rolls from the table. “ HAH! Such a kidder, right?” She forced a smile and attempted to paint Kylie in a better light, hoping her sister hadn’t just severed the bond between restaurant and regular customer. “ We’ll get this mess cleaned up, how about I seat you at our best table? It has a great view of the river from the window!” Still forcing a smile, Sophia gestured for them to get up and follow her. As they stood, Sophia grabbed the menu’s on the table and shot an ice cold death glare at Kylie. As she turned to lead their guests to their new table, Sophia spoke to Kylie under her breath through gritted teeth. “Clean. IT. UP.”

Facing the two men once again, Sophia’s glare melted back into sparkling eyes and a big heartwarming smile. Those acting classes were paying off after all. “ Right this way!” She spoke in her cheeriest of voices, stepping forward and leading them to the other side of the restaurant, which showed the view Sophia had promised. “ Here we are. ” Gingerly, she handed them their menu’s as they took a seat. “Once again, I’m very sorry about all that. Your meal is on the house. Now, what can I get you boys?”

Shrugging, Kylie backed away and let Sophi handle the rest. She wasn’t exactly sure what they expected. They had literally just thrown her in here, expecting her to know all the tricks in the trade. With that, she marched back to the kitchen and went to go find a… broom, right? ‘I don’t think you can mop glass away… Or maybe you do?’ she thought to herself, inspecting the cleaning tools against the wall. Having never done a single hard days work or even really contributing to the chores around the house, Kylie was severely lacking in basic skills.

“Fuck it.” She grabbed the mop in a random guess and carried it to where the mess was. Staring at the mop’s hair, she deduced this was probably the best tool for the job since the glass shards would stick to the yarn. The redhead began dry mopping the area, but apparently this wasn’t working. The shards just ended up being misplaced and only a few got stuck in the mophead.

“Oh my god, this is fucking impossible.” she cried in frustration, thrashing around with the mop. Some of the glass got crunched up, making the area more of a mess, while most of it was just being tossed around the room now. Somehow, the woman managed to get it on the tables too. Apparently, this task was harder than beating Dark Souls 2 without getting hit for her.

Arriving at the diner in good time, Riley parked the car in the back and stepped out the van stretching his arms up to the sky, ”Alright Rye, ready to take on the day?” As one out of two cooks, he usually ended up working all day with a couple of breaks here and there (one break being when he had to pick up his sisters from school). They seriously needed to expand their staff. Getting one, big yawn out, he made his way to the front door. He was prepared to cook his ass off and make some of the best, damn diner food that anyone’s ever tasted!

Pulling the glass door open and making the bell jingle briefly, his presence was known to those in the dining area of The Queen’s Orchid. His mild smile immediately turned flat when he saw his twin mopping...glass? Mopping glass. Glass was literally all over the floor and tables.

How in the hell?!

His other sister was busy taking care of guests. With furrowed brows, Riley approached his dimwitted twin and ripped the mop out of her hand, ”Kitchen. NOW.” What did he miss? He could have sworn she’s worked here before… perhaps it was sleep deprivation that made him believe she was capable of more than she could actually do. Within seconds, Riley paced himself into the kitchen put on rubber gloves, got a thick garbage bag, a tiny hand vacuum, and a wet rag with some cleaning liquid on it. Going back to the dining area, he swiftly picked up the big shards and then vacuumed the rest. Using the rag, he scrubbed the table squeaky clean and then marched back into the kitchen.

Staying completely silent, he grabbed the warning sign “Slippery Surface” and brought it to the section Kylie had dumbly mop. With one last glance, he analyzed the area to make sure there was no glass to be seen. With a sigh of relief, he went back to the kitchen, cleaned himself up, and grabbed his apron.

“I’m gonna take a wild guess here: I’m doing an absolutely fantastic job, aren’t I? Where’s my raise?” Kylie made a snarky comment as her brother came back into the kitchen. She was sitting on a counter, eating an ice cream cone she had found in the freezer. Both eyes leered at her brother as her tongue danced across the ice cream’s delicious surface. As sloppy as she was, a small pool of vanilla liquid dripped down to the counter from the corner of her mouth.

Riley’s veins began bulging out of his neck, he took a deep breath in and tied his apron on. While he did so, the sound of dripping ice cream entered his ears and his anger grew expeditiously. Not bothering to raise his voice, he grabbed a frying pan and looked at what needed to be made all the while exhaling. Venomously, he muttered, ”Get the fuck out. I don’t want to see your face right now.” He ended it at that and prepared to make his meal. The big, muscular chef known as Ron kept to himself and avoided eye contact with the twins feeling extremely awkward.

“I…” She didn’t bother to finish the sentence. There was a sincere look of hurt in her eyes, and she really wanted to cry right now. But she held back her tears and simply stood up, doing her best to be strong. With a toss, the ice cream cone landed into the trash can next to her and she stormed out of the diner, both fists clenched tightly. The redhead didn’t bother to acknowledge Sophi, simply focused on getting away. Outside, her feet carried her to the sidewalk and Kylie took a deep breath.

‘He didn’t mean it… Did he?’ she inquired, bringing out her phone and trying to flag an Uber down. The woman wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

_{@Athinar@GrafRoy Zeppeli}

By the time he had reached the eastern end of town Elliot was thoroughly chilled by the morning air. Checking the weather hadn't occured to him before he left, and the fact that it still might be a touch chilly right after February had slipped his mind as well. Still, by now he was committed to his journey, there would be no turning back for a coat. Or a scarf. Or a cup of coffee.

Thoughts of the latter filled him with regret, how could he have been so stupid as to skip his morning brew? Sure, he didn't even own a coffee maker at this point, but he'd make it on the damn stove if he had to. He was grumbling, and ignored the increasingly familiar environment around him as his irritation rose. Caffeine addiction was no joke.

The irritation didn't last long however, increasingly replaced with anxiety as he became more and more aware of where exactly his was. In his lamentation of the skipping of his morning brew he had bypassed most of the businesses in town during his walk. In fact, going forward, there was only one place left ahead of him.

The Queen's Orchid

Fuck.

He paused, panic beginning to seize him. He had entirely skipped plan 1 of the day! Apply for jobs around town, kill time, work up a good explanation for his absence and waltz in with confidence, joking about his missing leg like it was nothing and leave an extra large tip like a smooth motherfucka' even though he was broke. He spun in a circle until he was nearly dizzy, torn between just biting the bullet and coming back later. Finally, forcing himself to calm down and breathe, he summon the willpower to move forward. He could do this. He could totally do this. Just walk in, be confident-

The door nearly hit him in the face as Kylie stormed out of the diner in front of him.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! Fuck, that's Kylie! Fuck she's grown up. Fuck she'll see me!

It was then that he realized how woefully unprepared he was to run into the Reeses again, and with what he thought was the smoothest motion he could possibly muster Elliot scrambled into the diner while she pulled out her phone. The place was nearly empty this time of day, there seemed to only be two customers and... Sophia.

There was, in all likelihood, never going to be a time where Elliot's brain was going to be more completely and utterly blank than in that moment. His heart seemed to have either given up on panic, or simply gone full circle until it was calm again. He didn't have time to ponder which it was, but instead limped over before she caught sight of him and leaned on the podium, thinking desperately for a good way to break the ice. Something perfect to greet an old friend after half a decade of absence. Something utterly cool and smooth and perfect. However, she finished taking their orders before he had time to come up with anything, and instead he panicked, tapping his cane on the top of the podium to get her attention. God forbid it seem like she noticed him first.

"Excuse me miss, I was wondering if you were hiring here."

Smooth motherfucka'.

Zoey had been sitting in the back of the car with Olivia before they pulled up too the schools. She would always talk to Olivia for the first few minutes of the car ride but would eventually put her earphones in and listen to music or text her 'freinds'. This was all of course after rushing her breakfast and picking out an outfit that made her look good but didnt require much time because she allways woke up last. Today she had settled on a light grey jumper that had long sleeves but cut off just above her belly button with a star on the front, and not one of those kiddie stars that would make you look silly, a good looking star. A mature star. She also had on a pair of her blue skinny jeans that fit her quite nicely and a nice pair of white shoes. When they pulled up at the school, Zoey was the first one out. She didnt wait until her brother had finished talking before she jumped out of the car, holding her embarresing lunchbox behind her back as she turned to her brother, nodding and smiling. Whatever it took, just to make him go away and stop embarrresing her infront of everybody. Just as she was about too walk off, she heard his voice again and stopped in her tracks. "Just go!" She said just loud enough for him too hear before quickly walking off. "Bye Olivia!" She said, without turning to see where her sister was or was going.

As soon as she had walked far enough away, and she couldnt see mom's old car anymore, she threw the lunchbox in the bin. There was no way in hell she was walking around high school carrying a lunchbox. She had freinds to impress, not to loose. She didnt stop to think about the fact that she would be hungry at lunch time, or that there could have potentially been something really good in there. Just as she was walking over too the building, she heard her name called. She turned, not realising who it was before it was called again. "Zoey!" She heard from across the grounds. She turned too her right and saw a group of her freinds all sitting or standing in a circle infront of the bushes, just too the right of the staircase the lead into the school. She didnt shout back but changed the way she was walking and quickly headed over, smiling too them all as she got there. Around the circle there was; Zoey, a brown haired tall boy called Luke, another brown haired boy who wasnt so tall called Zack, A blonde girl called Louise, a girl with ginger hair called Rebecca or Becky, and a third boy who was blonde, tall, muscly, handsome and attractive in every way possible called Daniel. They all gave her a smile as she got there and said hello. She did the same and then she went to go stand next to Daniel. He was in the grade above, as was Rebecca. There were more people in their group but they hadnt gotten to school yet, they were either late or were somewhere esle right now.

Daniel put an arm around her and pulled her into him for a hug, and she gladly accepted. "How have you been?" He asked her, looking downwards at her as everyone else carried on with their conversations. "I've been okay. My sister was up all night again so I hardly got any sleep. My other sister was crying last night but she doesnt know I heard her-". She said quietly yet fast as if she was scared of talking and just wanted it to be over before she was cut off. "You look great today" He said to her, smiling as his eyes lingered over her. She hadnt noticed him doing that the whole time she had been speaking. She blushed and gave him a smile. "Thank you. I, um, I try". She said quickly. He probably said that too all the girls. She knew that all the other popular boys did. "After school we were all going to hang out, Luke managed to get us some more beer. They all just assumed you were coming, but I wanted to make sure. Are you coming, beautiful?" He asked her, his hand on her shoulder slipping ever so slowly down her arm. She thought about it for a second, before quickly nodding. Anything to fit in, to not be that girl she was in middle school. "Of course". She said too him, smiling.

Oh? Ahaha, no need to get so worked up~ It’s okay.” She said, smiling happily at the woman’s overreaction. As she finally began to stand with a smile, dusting off her dress gently. The woman seemed to be a little bit... awkward? I wonder if that was the word for people that couldn’t quite understand my actions or words that flow out of my mouth.. Nonetheless, a kind woman who obviously only wanted to help.

Once she fully stood up, she looked at her bright a sweet smile. “Is that so? Of course you may! I will call you Hadley then~ Ehe, it’s fine, it’s fine. I would be more than glad to get something to eat. I haven’t eaten anything at all yet so that’s a nice turn of events. Maybe they’re there as well!” She said, chuckling a bit at the thought of such a coincidence. “Well, lead the way!” She said, visibly radiating happiness at the fact that she was was finally making a new friend in this unknown territory.

“Hurting you?! N-No! Never!” Hadley said in a rather distraught tone.

After being caught off guard Hadley dug the toe of her high top sneaker into a stale piece of gum on the sidewalk. For some strange reason she felt awful and scratched the side of her nose quickly in contemplation. Although the little princess starting speaking again Hadley remained focus on that salmon colored spot on the ground. It wasn't until blondie finished her question that blue eyes focused on the person asking.

“I stay in this apartment too. 1A. Not sure if that's where you are headed. Mind if I call you Ami? I am Hadley by the way...I just moved here not long ago too but I have no information on who your roommates are. Sorry”

This was kind of an awkward situation and she was not sure how long to keep up the idle conversation. Before this event Hadley was going to make her way to the Reese owned diner and company is always welcomed. Holed up in her apartment with homework or listening to customers ask questions about their disgusting ailments at the pharmacy, she needed a socialization with humans instead of her thoughts.

“Can I buy you breakfast? I mean, I feel pretty lousy for waking you up. There's this excellent diner owned by a family here. Their stuffed french toast is pretty delicious. It's called the Queen's Orchid.”

“Perfect, it's this way. Since the town is small, everything is within a moments notice.” Hadley motioned for Ami before heading in the direction of The Queen's Orchid.

Ami was already a pleasure to be around. With such an uplifting spirit and forgiving attitude one could easily find themselves friends with her in no time. The sweetness brought along a sense of naivety and perhaps a less authentic individual would take advantage of that kindness. Hopefully she wasn't fully soft as a kitten like it would appear to be. In either case, her roommates would probably watch after her in due time. Ami had that kind of little sister effect where one wanted to protect her.

“What made you move to Millington? This place wasn't my first choice but it's quiet. I think that's why college student's flock here, the serious ones at least. Perfect place to study and lose yourself.” She smiled faintly.

In hindsight, Hadley did not want to lose herself at all. She wanted to find herself. Why had life been so quick to move forward but left her slacking and barely able to catch up? Would everything continue to be this way? In five years the nightmares occurred weekly. The medication remained the same but the doses increased. What progress had been made? Sure, she had a job, moved by herself, and went to school when able but that wasn't enough. She was going through the motions of life. Nothing made an impact on anything.

The walk to the place was lovely, being able to observe the streets once again but this time with a bit more alertness. Hadley seemed to have gotten more used to me I suppose, that’s a good thing.

The question she had asked stumped her a bit. What had made me come here? “Nnn~” She thought about this for a second or two before she finally spoke. “Father wanted me to leave so I left. I suppose he got bored of me~” cheerfully speaking about quite sad things. Ami didn’t really know what was so sad about it other than the fact that her dear father felt like it was finally time for her to be discarded. However, she changed subject once they arrived at the Orchid, admiring the cute restaurant.

“So this is the place?? It’s adorable! Haha, do you see anyone from your apartment?” She asked, quite jokingly as they walked in.

Hadley remained silent but glanced over to Ami who wore a gleeful grin seemingly unfazed by her father's demand to have her leave. This topic did not warrant any smiles or seem like something one would be content with. The way Ami worded her reply, it was almost as if she had no choice in the matter but would have rather stayed. There was something behind those bright blue eyes. Overly cheery people were usually hiding something or were just psychotic. Who could be happy all the damn time?

The two passed by a young man with messy brown locks and woman with russet colored hair outside the shop. Hadley hadn't heard any of their conversation and frankly she had never seen either of them before. “Pardon us.” Hadley said to the same people before opening the door to enter the building and waited for Ami to walk inside.

“Hmm.” Eyes scanned the tables trying to find familiar faces she really had never seen before.

“To tell you the truth...” Before she finished her sentence she saw two males chatting amongst themselves. One who stood out from any other in probably the whole of Millington.

“He's in our apartment building, pretty sure. I've seen the back of his head before walking outside the front...but he could just be visiting someone.” Hadley frowned not able to give her new acquaintance the information she desired.

”You could always just ask them.” She smiled while grabbing a seat a couple of tables away from the guys and waited for the server.

So there was a possibility that they could be her roommates? 2 guys? Oh well, pay no mind I suppose. Ami put a finger up, politely excusing herself from Hadley’s side. “Wait just a second, i’ll be right back!”

With that, she swiftly walked over to the two men that were sitting at a table and her head automatically turned to the one that had a distinct and… familiar smell… I’m pretty sure it was called weed? Unconsciously, leaning in a bit to sniff him for a second.

“Uwaaa, you smell wonderful!” But she quickly took a step back, turning to look at the both of them. ““Excuse my manners as well as interrupting your breakfast. My name is Miyasaki Ami! My new friend over there said that you might be the people occupying apartment 2B?” she began to shuffle through her pockets, looking for the flyer and placing it on the table. “If that’s true and you’re in need of a roommate, I will gladly take that spot. I am in desperate need of a new place to stay.”

Smiling her bright and cheerful smile as she stood up a bit more postured, waiting for their response. She couldn’t get over the smell. The smell of the weed as well as something attempting to cover it. Her father used strong axe but this man was most likely using deodorant.

@GrafRoy Zeppeli@Athinar

Breakfast had been rushed, and she could only manage to eat three bites of pancake and five little strawberries anyway. Though that might be because she drank two tall glasses of ice water before she began eating anything on her plate. She had lost five pounds in the last three weeks, and that was comforting somehow. She didn’t think she was fat or anything, but being able to control something in her life gave her some satisfaction. Kylie and Rylie bickered about dish duty at the shop, and Zoey chatted with Sophia about homework and the scheduled pep rally for this afternoon at school. Olivia asked to be excused from the table, so she could get in the shower before anyone else took over the bathroom.

Unfortunately her typical twenty minute shower was cut short as she remembered that she forgot to do her history homework last night. She only had about thirty minutes before it was time to leave for school, so after washing her hair and rinsing off all the soap suds, she quickly wrapped her thin willowy frame in a big fluffy towel and sprinted down the hall to her room. She dried off, and changed into her outfit for the day; a knee length gray skirt, with a white button up blouse, and a mauve jumper over the top. She popped the Peter Pan collar of her blouse over the top of her jumper, pulled on her white socks, and the tied on her pastel pink convers. She quickly brushed out her hip length brown hair, and braided it into her signature pigtail braids. It was the last hairstyle her mother had done for her before the fatal crash, and thus now the only way she would wear her hair.

She grabbed her backpack off the floor in the corner and got out her history homework. She glanced over it but nothing looked familiar, and she could hardly remember the last time she paid attention in class. Mr. Stevens had the most monotone and nasally voice on the planet, and that particular class seemed to draw on and on. She had always been a straight A student, and a teacher favorite, but over the last month she had basically done no school work, and had spent quite a bit of time skipping class by sitting alone in the handicap stall of the girls bathroom drawing and writing in her diary. She closed her history book and stuck it back in her bag. She poured the pill she had pocketed out and placed them in her tiny ballerina music box, that she kept on top of the dresser. Sighing as she looked at her cozy bed and wished the school would just burn down.

------------------

The car ride to school was rather quiet in comparison to the routy breakfast, and subsequent rush to get out the door. Olivia listened to Zoey talk about the gym teacher’s new bizarre haircut, how the seniors were going to be dissecting fetal pigs in bio, and how vice principal Ellsworth had it out for her friend Luke. But most of the car ride was filled with silence, except for the radio playing the 80s greatest hits. She rolled down her window and stuck her hand out; feeling the rush of the air whined around her fingers as she glided her hand up and down making waves in the cool morning air. She was thankful Zoey didn’t complain that it was cold, and that her hair was going to get messed up by the window being down.

School was her least favorite place in the world at the moment. With no friends, slipping grades, the taunts, and the possibility of Him appearing at every turn. She just wanted the place to disappear. She use to have friends, two best friends in fact. But they had moved on to new friends and cliques a few weeks into the school year leaving Olivia behind and all alone. It was only March, and already it was shaping up to be the worst year in her entire life. It couldn’t possibly get any worse. Rye dropped her and Zoey off in front of the school, and she got out after Zoey. She lingered by the car as Rye spoke, and then she hugged him goodbye through the open window. “Love you. See you later right?” She said trying to reassure herself that Riley would not die before he came to pick her up after school. She could see the pity in his eyes as he smiled and laughed and said “Of course, see you after school Ollie.” She waved good bye as he drove away. With a deep breath she made her way into the school.

The pills she took this morning where kicking so she didn’t feel all that bad, but she still dreaded the walk to class. She took the long way to the second floor where her locker was located, bypassing His locker completely. Panic attacks where not something she wanted to experience first thing in the morning. She put her backpack and pink lunchbox into her locker, and took out her English text book, and binder full of notes, and doodles. That when she looked over her shoulder to see Him walking down the hall in her direction. She held her breath and she slammed her locker shut and did her best to weave her way through the crowd of students. She ducked into the first open door and watched for the corner of her eyes as He passed her, laughing and talking to His friends on the swim team. She waited for the feelings of fear to subside, before the rush of self-loathing replaced it. She was relieved that He had not seen her. Avoiding Him was her daily if not lifetime task.

She made her way to English class, sitting down at her desk just as the bell rang. Her normal self would be taking notes and listening intently to the teacher. But she had not been herself in over a month, so she just doodled butterflies into her notebook as she wished she could turn back time to exactly 34 days ago. It was her fault that her parents were dead, at least that’s what she believed. It was her phone call at 1:00 in the morning that woke up her parents. She was the one that called them hysterically crying for them to pick her up from her friend Taylor’s house in The Oakland community. She was the reason they were in the car, when a drunk teenager going 80 miles an hour slammed into their car as they came rushing to pick her up. Needless to say it was a closed casket funeral. Taylor’s popular older brother had been throwing a raging house party that night, and Olivia had told her parent that she was just having a sleepover at Taylor’s house. It was really a lie, so that she could go to her first high school party, and not worry her parent who still saw her as a little girl. Sadly the events that took place that night at the party were not something she would ever forget, or ever talk about.

After waiting for hours at the end of the block for her parents to arrive, she got a phone call from James asking where she was. He had sounded upset, and then he told her that there had been an accident.

Nathan woke up in a surprisingly good mood. For once, he had finished his report on time and was excited to turn it in and see the look on his professor's face. "He'll be so proud," he thought with a loopy smile on his face as he began to pack his stuff. He had to make sure that he wouldn't pull the classic "actually doing the assignment for once but leaving it at home" bit. He had already taken a shower, shaved, and brushed his teeth earlier so he was pretty much ready to go. He grabbed a questionably ripe apple from the top of his kitchen counter to eat for breakfast while he waited for the bus to arrive.

As he was waiting for the bus, he messed around with his black hair. He wanted to look nice but not like he tried too hard. Effortless sexiness was a hard thing to pull off, but it reaped a sweet reward. He thought about that cute brunette in his Stats class. What was her name again? Tiffany? Joanne? Sarah? Whatever it was, he was feeling pretty lucky today. Maybe he should ask her out. Then he'll have a date later, for the weekend.

Finally, the bus arrived, interrupting his train of thoughts. He paid for his fare, and began to look for a seat. There he saw a familiar, sleeping face. He took the seat across from his best friend, not wanting to wake him yet. James had probably been up late again and who was Nathan to deny him these precious few minutes of extra sleep. That however, did not stop Nathan from taking a picture of his friend dozing off, drawing a princess tiara, and sending the picture to mutual friends with the caption "Sleeping beauty <3".

Still, he wished he could do something to help his bud out. He was overworking himself and it was not good. Nathan didn't need to be studying (sports but still) medicine to know that. He'll try his best to convince James to go out with him this weekend of what's her name rejects him. He spent the rest of the bus ride, whistling a cheerful tune and ignoring the looks of tired passengers that probably want him to stop.

---

---

_{@Saint Girralo}

_{A collab with @Athinar, @GrafRoy Zeppeli & @Snagglepuss89}

Almost immediately after Anthony reached the shop, Axel showed up. Smiling back, and waving, he listened to Axel's banter, then said, "Good morning, Axel. And sure, why not. You're a grown man. Do what you want."

”Then we are cool dude.” Axel smiled back at Anthony.

“Sup, dudes. Welcome to whatever...” Anthony barely noticed the girl approach, but when she spoke up, he turned to her, and smiled, nodding for her to lead them on. He recognized her, one of the Reese's. However, from what he could tell, she wasn't in all that often, and when she was, things got... interesting. He didn't blame her though. Some people were just like that, y'know?

Okay, what was with the teetering mess that this girl was? Axel couldn’t help but laugh at her approach. She wanted to look rude, but the hesitation moments before that didn’t escape Axel’s eyes.

And Skrillex, huh? He hadn’t been called that in a loooong time. Mainly since the guy stopped being mainstream. The girl was cool, though, trying to be tough like that.

Gerard Way? Anthony wasn't quite sure who that was. However, he didn't hold her clumsiness and possible rudeness against her, he just wasn't that kind of guy. Anyway, Anthony accepted the biscuits with grace, and said, "Thank you. I'll have a plate of pancakes, plea-" he was interrupted by another Reese, one of the older ones, running out and taking charge of the situation. Her name was... Sophie, if he remembered it correctly. She was one of the reasons he kept coming back, in fact, because her service and management in the restaurant were usually phenomenal, and good service, while not unusual, was appreciated by Anthony. Didn't hurt that she was pretty cute, too.

”Well, I like my biscuits with protein, but glass is a bit too much for me. Got anything less… crunchy?” Axel said back to the redhead, after her blunder and attempt to recover the biscuit from the floor. Filled with glass.

At her offer to sit by the seat with a window view, he stood up, and saying, "Thank you," followed her over, looking back at Axel with a shrug. It wasn't a big deal for him, these sorts of things happened. Taking a seat, he listened to Sophie, and smiled as she said the meal was on the house. See, this was the sort of customer service that kept people coming back. However, he shook his head, still smiling. He wasn't going to let her give them the meal on the house, even if his budget didn't account for paying for Axel's meal as well.

”Yes, she’s a natural born clown.” Axel smirked at the interference of the big sister. ”But you should also lighten up, or you’ll sprout gray hairs. Let’s get to that table, then.” Axel followed behind Anthony once he also headed for the table with the panoramic view.

"Thank you again, Miss Reese, and I would like some pancakes and orange juice. However, I won't accept a meal on the house." Looking back apologetically at Axel, he said, "Although, Axel, if you want a free meal, I'll pay for yours as well. No reason to make her lose money."

“ No, no, I insist! I won’t give you the receipt.” Sophia joked, beaming a smile at him. “ Order whatever you like, even the most expensive items on the menu. You should try our Mimosa’s, they’re delicious!” She laughed, completely thrilled to finally be having a conversation with this dark haired man, despite his friend sitting across the booth. “ So, what’ll it b-”

Suddenly, a small blonde girl made a squealing noise and interjected herself into the conversation. “ Excuse my manners as well as interrupting your breakfast.This will only take a second! I'm sorry!! My name is Miyasaki Ami! My new friend over there said that you might be the people occupying apartment 2B?”

Sophia stepped to the side a bit, trying to get a little further away from the girl completely invading her personal space. She stayed silent, her blue eyes going from the girl back to the two men at the table. “ So he lives in an apartment…With this other man?” She took note, hoping that her little crush hadn’t just been ruined. Hopefully he wasn’t gay.

“ If that’s true and you’re in need of a roommate, I will gladly take that spot. I am in desperate need of a new place to stay.”

“ Damn! He needed a roommate? And I’m stuck living with my train wreck of a family again?” She nearly sighed out loud in disappointment, but realized that she shouldn’t be thinking those sort of things. Her family was going through a rough time, it was best for her to be with them. Even if Kylie made it a living hell at times. Even so, she wasn’t sure if she would have wanted to live with the man sitting across from Anthony as well. He seemed rather…. sketchy, in her opinion. Although at least this guy would probably let her get more than a few hours of sleep.

“ Uhm,” She paused, interrupting the conversation, “ I will leave you three for a moment… It seems you have some things to discuss. I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your order. Remember, on the house! ” One more bright smile and Sophia regrettably turned away, leaving Anthony once again.

”If the guy doesn’t want the meal on the house, then I’ll treat him.” Axel smiled as he turned over to Sophi and then to Anthony. ”I’ll have pancakes too, with some bacon please. Make them extra greasy, I could use the extra fat.” He simply said while flashing a smile at Sophi, or at least where Sophi should have been. ”Well, that was fast. The girl broke the record on how fast they run away from me.”

He then turned to the newcomer. A blonde girl. With a frigging complicated name.

Goddammit, the weed would certainly backfire here. Axel wasn’t confident at all of his pronunciation skills right now.

”Pleasure to meet you, tongue twister Ami.” Axel shot a side glance at Ami, ”Why not sit with us and have a pleasant chat with us? I’m sure we can arrange your need for somewhere to sleep like that.”

Anthony nodded, and pulled out a chair for Ami. Seemed like a nice enough girl.

It was then that Axel’s eyes caught a redhead storming out of the place. My, what had happened with the star waitress of the place?

”Actually, hold that thought.” He stood up, wobbling a bit before he headed outside behind Kylie, not quite at the same speed as her, though.

He arrived outside to see the girl calling an Uber. Axel was surprised to see the girl already planning to take a cab to wherever she could.

”Hey, what’s the rush? Did they really make you THAT angry? More importantly, do you even have cash on you? If not, how are you going to pay for that overpriced taxi service? Why not chill down a bit and think things through?”

_{@Viciousmarrow}

---

After Axel had left the table, Anthony shrugged apologetically to Ami. He didn’t know why the redheaded girl had stormed out, nor why Axel followed. Tapping his fingers on the table absently, the dark-haired young man looked the other girl over. Seemed… innocent.

”So you’re in need of a room? I don’t know about Axel, but I’m fine with you moving in. Although, from what I know about him, it’s most likely cool with him, too.”

Drumming his fingers on the table some more, Anthony stared absently at Ami, contemplative. What would life be like, now, with a third roommate? Particularly, a female roommate. Shouldn’t change much, but… Anthony worried what people might think about her and Axel. Some people were cruel, Anthony knew that. Rumors flew like birds, especially in towns like this, and his hometown. He would be doing her a disservice, if he didn’t think about this.

_@sakurasan

---

As Sophia left the table, she noticed a man near the podium where Kylie was supposed to be. Of course, no one was there. The glass had magically been cleaned up, though. Perhaps Kylie had actually done something right.

At first she smiled at him, ready to greet him as a normal customer, but her smile slowly faded with each step closer. “ Why does he…. look so familiar?” Her steps slowed, until she finally stopped about five feet in front of him. Her heart sped up at first, her face blank, and then her heart sunk into her stomach. “ That’s…”

“Excuse me miss, I was wondering if you were hiring here.”

“ ELLIOT?!” She nearly screamed it, her eyes narrowed on him as if she didn’t believe what she was seeing. It couldn’t be! The guy was a ghost! Poof, gone! Out of her life like a damned imaginary friend. Suddenly, the realization came. “ Elliot Longstreet?!” She took another step forward, her hands slowly clenching into fists. She hadn’t seen his face in years but she would have loved to put a fist in it at this moment.

He had disappeared from her life five years ago. After graduation, suddenly he was gone without a trace. His parent’s wouldn’t say anything to her despite countless efforts. Sophia had searched for him online dozens of times throughout the years, but never found anything. It was like he never existed, and he didn’t care. At one point he had thought he was dead, but came to the conclusion that his parent’s would have told her that at least. Something was up, but apparently she wasn’t important enough to know. Eventually she had to let it go, but it took some time.

“ Where the fuck have you been?” She moved in closer now, not even noticing the cane he leaned on. Tunnel vision was real. As he opened his mouth to speak, her hand came flying at his face. A hard open handed slap resounded through the nearly empty diner. “What is WRONG with you!?” As if he was the one who had just slapped her. In her defense, Elliot had probably been one of the greatest feelings of betrayal that she had ever felt. She had been his best friend for nearly seven years, and he did this.

As this happened, Anthony’s eyes focused on Sophia, beginning with the loud, “ELLIOT?” As the events unfolded, his eyes widened, and he stood up from the table, and moved over to the conflict quickly. He didn’t know what the guy had done, but he saw the cane, and if he didn’t do something, the guy could get injured.

However, his concern for the cripple’s well being didn’t stop him from getting slightly annoyed at the man. Whatever he had done, he had caused Miss Reese to yell at him and slap him in the middle of the diner, for crying out loud. Swooping in to the conflict, he helped stabilize the man, and looked at Miss Reese, hoping she wouldn’t make any more of a scene.

Was he prepared to die? It was a question Elliot only had a few moments to come to terms with. At her first scream, her reaction could easily have been mistaken for a joyous shock. However, it quickly became apparent to him that what lay behind her eyes was mostly rage. Well, all rage. He had to stop himself from involuntarily taking a step back as she approached him.

“ Elliot Longstreet?!”

This

“ Where the”

Is

“fuck”

Not

“have you”

Going

“been?”

Well

SLAP

His medication dulled the pain of the blow, but he had to scramble to keep his balance, leaning hard on his cane to prevent himself from falling over. He was saved from his inevitable fate of falling on his face by one of the strangers who were ordering when he arrived. Elliot had no idea who this guy was, but he was winning more points than Elliot’s old friend at the moment.

“What is WRONG with you!?”

Truly, this was the definition of a disaster, and he held his stinging cheek while he tried to desperately find some way to smooth over the situation. Surely he had seen her this angry before. He had to find some way to calm this beast before he ended up served in a dish here. Instead he said something stupid, like:

"Geeze, I missed you too Sophi."

Immediately afterwards he flailed his hands in front of him defensively, trying to ward off any more blows. Blood was already starting to pool on his face where the slap connected, and he wanted to avoid having a fist in his eye as well. Surely she was overreacting a little, right? Maybe? He had felt bad about it for so long, seeing his fears confirmed about the affect it had hurt far more than any slap could.

"I mean, look! It was a dumb decision then, but I can explain! And I'm sorry! Really really sorry!"

“You’re a liar!” Her voice cracked, clearly becoming choked up. Finally, she glanced over at Anthony who looked aghast at what she had done. This day was going well.

“ Take your “sorry’s” and shove it up your ass, Elliot!” With that, she turned, blue eyes filled with tears seconds from falling, and stormed off toward the kitchen. The big double doors slammed and swung a few times as she disappeared behind them, leaving the diner with an awfully tense atmosphere.

Seeing Riley in the kitchen preparing something with Ron, Sophia wiped her eyes and continued storming off towards the back door, very obviously distraught. Acting lessons weren’t helping her in this situation. “ I’m taking a break!!”

Anthony had no idea what was going on, but it was clear that “Elliot” was at fault. For what, Anthony didn’t know, but he was very much annoyed at the man for making Miss Reese upset. Not even her sister’s disaster had appeared to make her this angry. Looking at Elliot somewhat accusingly, Anthony asked,

”So… what did you do?” The simple question hung in the air like a grenade, with the pin waiting to be pulled.

_{@lovely complex}

Miyasaki Ami--

Ami stood in shock. She had ruined something. She had done it again. This is why father didn’t want her. She stumbled backwards, bowing to the man that was still seated at the table@Athinar"N-no..I-I didn’t mean to be rude and ruin your breakfast.. H-have a nice day!” She smiled happily as she turned around before she could hear the loud slap.

Walking outside, she saw the man that had been sitting at the table, now trying to cheer up the girl that seemed to be distressed. Ami walked by them with her head down, not wanting to interrupt them.

Where would she go? I could always sleep outside like I used to~ Ah, memories, memories. Hmmm… I would need to… to… No. This wasn’t right. She was happy. She was cheerful and she was being positive, right? Why wasn’t things working out? Remembering her time at home, she frowned. "Why the fuck do you smile so much?!" The question had caught her off guard. She enjoyed getting hit and she deserved it, did she not? This was the only thing that her father said that Ami couldn't follow. She had to smile. What else could she do? She enjoyed getting hit. That was her entire situation. She was supposed to smile and get abused, wasn't she? I was obnoxious and loud. That's why I always end up scaring people off.

She looked up to see that a few men were clearly staring at her boobs with no filter. She sighed, lifting her arms a bit in hopes to cover up the two pieces of unwanted extra meat. Yup, that’s all she was after all. I’m the daughter of a beautiful porn star. Maybe i’m meant to be a slut. Ehehe, it’s fine I suppose. I don’t deserve any better. Smiling as her lip quivered, facing forwards as she walked to who knows where.

Soon, she saw a bus that was headed towards the university and went over to the bus stop. Might as well go to school and study. The food there wasn’t that bad as well. She wasn’t broke but she wasn’t going to be spending her money on any luxuries such as hotels and fancy restaurants. Most of the money she got from her writing went straight to her home. Not a thank you note in sight but she always hoped that it was helping them in their daily lives.

She could feel water begin to well up in her eyes a bit. This isn’t good… Oh no… I don’t like this… Heading to the back of the bus as she smiled sweetly to the passengers. She sat down, staring out of the window as she got out her book. I can’t cry because i’m happy. I’m glad to be here and I-I’m not allowed to. She smiled to herself but it vanished rather quickly as she immersed herself into the book. Her father never liked it when she cried. Calling her pathetic and disgusting.

“The night fell.

I could hear my breath, looking deep into the mirror with my wide green eyes.

I was hideous. A sight to run away from. A sight that you scream at and yell.

“Someone kill it!”

No one was near me.

I was alone in this place.

Alone in this place with black walls and a white ceiling, screaming at me.

Telling me that I had made a mistake.

You can’t kill a monster and hope to find peace.

You kill a monster only to find nightmares that will haunt you for even longer.”

"Give up and go home"

"Alone"

"And suffer some more"

Kylie brooded in silence, impatiently waiting for her ride. She was still wearing an apron and the stupid outfit her brother had deemed "appropriate". In her head, she already had plans: she was going to go back home and tear the place apart. Her idiot twin probably didn't hide them that well. Probably hid them under the couch. Then she'd go back to playing Call of Duty and regain that kill streak.

”Hey, what’s the rush? Did they really make you THAT angry? More importantly, do you even have cash on you? If not, how are you going to pay for that overpriced taxi service? Why not chill down a bit and think things through?”

The voice was immediately bothersome. Practically growling, she spun on her heel and faced the familiar face of Skrillex or whatever this guy's name was. This woman was a flurry of mixed feelings right now, and Hell hath no fury like an emotional Kylie. "What the fuck did you say to me, you little bitch?" she roared, a fire burning dangerously in her deep blue eyes. "Do you think I'm some kind of cheap slut you can cater to? Ha! I bet I make more money in front of my camera than you do in an entire month. I'm a fucking princess next to your mangy ass. You couldn't afford to get me to 'chill down'." The gamer girl was absolutely seething now, venting all of her frustrations on this guy. As if to prove her point, one of her lithe hands reached into her back pocket and pulled out wallet decorated with black and white polka dots. Opening it, she revealed the contents: a solid stack of $100 bills along with a debit card.

"Do you think I have enough money now, you wannabe-edgy asshole?" Kylie was about to continue ripping into this guy, but her Uber had finally pulled up. Shooting him a dark glare and stowing away her wallet, she flipped him off and entered the SUV without another word. Even as the vehicle took off, she still had her middle finger against the glass. Sure, it may have been excessive to bitch out a guy that genuinely seemed like he was trying to help, but damn did she feel better.

Out of the blue, a thought came to her. Instead of gaming, she really needed some retail therapy, but she didn't want to go alone. Her brother was being a fucking ass, Sophi was too pretentious to do anything with, James was in class, and the two kids were in high school. However... Her younger sisters wouldn't mind a day off, would they? If she did this, it was definitely going to piss her older siblings off. 'But, you know, what? Fuck 'em.'

It was settled. She was going to have a girl's day out.


@GrafRoy Zeppeli

---

Approximately 15 minutes later, Kylie was strolling into the familiar high school she had spent 3 or 4 miserable years at. Nothing personally bad had happened to her, but it was so boring. Who in their right mind wanted to spend an entire day learning about some crap like Aristotle and long division? Dweebs, that's who. The redhead immediately walked into the main office, approaching the bigger lady that sat at the front desk.

"Hi there. How can I help you today?" the lady asked her. "Uh... I need to sign out Olivia and Zoey Reese. There's been an accident, and they really need to come home. I'm their big sister, Kylie." the Reese twin answered, producing her ID from her wallet and flashing it toward the woman. It was strange to be picking up kids so early in the day, but important matters were important matters. With the secretary's approval, Kylie signed a paper acknowledging she was taking the kids home.

"Olivia and Zoey Reese to the main office, please. Your sister is here to pick you up." the female's voice announced over the intercom.

Taking a seat outside the office, she waited for her siblings and typed up a new Twitter update. 'Girl time! Gonna live large! #sisterlylove #theysocute' Kylie couldn't remember the last time she actually had any quality time with Olivia and Zoey, now that she thought about it...

@Emma@BilboTheGreat

The teacher was going over what the underlining themes of Romeo and Juliet were with the class, when the speaker system crackled on. Everyone looked up from what they were doing to hear it, expecting it to be something about picture day next week, or the football game with Quinten High school tonight. But they all looked disappointed and bored when it just called for Oliva and Zoey to the office.

After hearing her name over speakers system, a wave of hysteria bubbled up. She grabbed her books off her desk and practically ran out the door and down the hallway. She was stopped half way there by Mrs. Porter who thought this was the perfect time to lecture her about running in the halls. She nodded along politely to the woman’s incessant babbling about responsibility and school policy. Olivia was on the verge of pushing the old woman out of the way. All that was running through her head was; who died? What happened? Was everything ok? Is someone hurt? She was jumpy, and scared. So as soon as Mrs. Porter said she could be on her way, Olivia walked slowly till she reached the corner, and turned out of the teacher’s sight to start bolting down the hall again.

She made it to the office out of breath, and stood outside the door trying to brace herself for the worse. Opening the doors she peered into the office. The secretary Ms. Erica looked worriedly at her, and then over to Kylie. Olivia had a look of terror in her eyes. She spotted Kylie sitting down. In her panic she had run right past her sister sitting outside the office. “Is everything ok?" She asked a little breathless. The fact that Kylie looked just fine, made her calm down a little, but she was still just as confused. Kylie was not the person you sent to give bad news to someone; in fact she was the complete opposite of the right person for emergency situations. The fact that it wasn’t Sophia, James, or Riley sitting in that chair was kind of reassuring.

Olivia held her books under one arm, and nervously twisted the end of her left braid with her free hand. The bell rang signaling first period was over, and you could hear the ruckus begin in the halls, as people got out of class and meandered around chatting, and laughing before second period started. Olivia got out of the doorway to the office and sat next to her sister. She had geometry next and a French test after lunch. Not that she particularly cared at the moment. She was just concerned as to why Kylie was here, and kind of unhappy that she was sitting outside the office in the busy hallway only a few yards away from where His locker was.

Her cellphone vibrated in her pocket proclaiming she had a notification. The only place in the high school building were you could connect to wifi was in the office or outside so her phone had only caught up with Kylie’s updates at that very moment. She took out her phone and glanced at the tweet from her sister. She looked up at Kylie who was smiling. Relief flooded her system. Then the fact that she was getting out of school for the day made her heart speed up with appreciation for have such a cool older sister like Kylie. "Awesome." She whispered to her sister, well aware that the secretary was eavesdropping for any juicy gossip on the tragic Reese family to tell her book club about.

@Viciousmarrow