1 ~ Nana

Nana opened her eyes to find herself in a place she hadn't been in so long. The abandoned remains of her old home.

     She started wondering how she got there, but then she realized the empty bottle of beer in her hand and saw the empty case not far. There was broken glass across the room, so she figured she got drunk and threw the empty bottles once she was done.

     "Demon Lord," she mumbled, throwing the bottle and hearing it shatter once it smacked the brick wall. "Why have you cursed me?"

     She sat up and leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes and trying to remember what happened the previous day.

     Her dad was a drunk. He brought home another woman for yet another one night stand, she remembered. It was three in the afternoon, too.

     Nana gave up remembering what happened after that. Her hangover was too powerful. But she knew she was annoyed, and also an alcoholic at the age of seventeen.

     "Damn," she muttered, standing up and walking around the empty apartment bedroom. The room she once shared with her older sister. That is, before her sister  committed suicide. Her name was Nani. After Nani killed herself, they moved out and abandoned the place.

     Then Nana's parents started fighting a lot, and they got a divorce shortly after. Her mother moved to Europe, and left Nana to live with her father. They never got along to begin with, and it only got worse as time went on.

     And then he started bringing home hookers and girls he met at bars. Nana couldn't take it. She drank to ease the feelings of disgust and abandonment from both of her parents.

     It was obvious before that their whole lives were centered on Nani. She had perfect grades, perfect health, perfect friends, perfect boyfriend, and a perfect body. Nana had none of that, and they were only a year apart. Now with Nani gone, her parents' visions of success for one of their children completely shattered and vanished.

     Nana was a loner who drank and had no figure, but she wasn't fat. Fortunately, Nana had a high metabolism, but the fact that she hardly ate anything wasn't a positive thing. Her parents were displeased with how their youngest daughter turned out, a teenage punk rocker by the age of fourteen with short black hair and a black leather dog collar around her neck. The usual clothes, besides her school uniform, were white or black T-shirts with the sleeves ripped off and large leather wristbands on her wrists. Black leather jeans, or dark blue ones with holes in the knees were common bottoms she wore, with black and white high-tops. Nana didn't care what her parents thought about her, only her opinion mattered in her world.

     Nana took one more look around Nani's old room before exiting and closing the door behind her. She walked into the kitchen and dining room area of the apartment. Across the room was the other bedroom and the bathroom. The apartment was now completely empty of their old furnishings.

     "What a sad little hell hole this has turned into," Nana muttered as she studied the dust on the counters. Then she looked around a bit before she asked herself, "How the hell did I get in here?" She walked to where the small entryway was and the door was closed. She tried the handle, and it was locked. Then it hit her: the room was on the first floor. She probably snuck in through one of the windows like she always used to. Mostly sneaking out, though.

 

"Where the hell have you been, Nana?!" her father yelled at her when she walked into the apartment room they moved into after Nani killed herself. It was in a different building about two and a half miles from their old one.

     "Definitely not banging some random hooker I met at a bar," Nana said like the smart-a*s she was. She went to the refrigerator and took a Capri-Sun juice pouch out of it.

     "Don't push it, girlie," he mumbled, not even denying it.

     "So, what was her name this time?" Nana asked, sitting on the counter.

     "Junko..." he said, a faraway look in his eyes, which quickly cleared when Nana started laughing.

     "The perfect name for a ho!" she exclaimed.

     "She's not a ho!" her father shouted at her.

     "Think whatever you want, pops," Nana said, sliding down from the counter. "Maybe try thinking of mom for once."

     She was going to go to her room, when her father blocked the way. "I still want to know where you were, Nana," he said.

     "I spent the night at home," she said.

     "You weren't here, I know you weren't."

     "Old home."

     "There's nothing left there."

     "My childhood and your visions of success still linger in the air, old man," Nana said, taking her father's hand and giving him her juice pouch. "Not to mention you can still smell Nani's perfume."

     He didn't respond, so Nana squeezed past him and went to her room. She slammed the door closed and looked around at the My Chemical Romance, Breaking Benjamin, Drowning Pool, and other posters of various rock and metal bands. Her current favorite was Bullet For My Valentine. She often listened to "Bittersweet Memories" over and over again.

     Now, she laid on her bed and stared at her ceiling, thinking again that it was her fault Nani killed herself.

     "Demon Lord," Nana said. "why did you make me say those things to her? It wasn't her fault, after all." It happened on July 7th. Nana and Nani got into a fight. Nana kept yelling at Nani how she was always the golden child and how their parents loved her more than the other.

     "It's always Nani this, and Nani that!" Nana shouted.

     "It's not like I want it this way!" Nani shouted back. "Do you know how hard it is staying like this?!"

     "Oh, yeah, must be real difficult being Little Miss Perfect!" Nana sneered sarcastically. "Why don't you do us all a favor and go ahead and die, Nani!"

     "Fine, I will!" Nani cried. "It'll be better than having a good for nothing sister like you, Nana! And I'm sure you blame that stupid Demon Lord of yours for all this!"

     That was it. The night after that fight, Nana hung herself from their ceiling fan. Nana didn't stay in the room that night, she left and bummed around the neighborhoods instead. 

     Nana still blamed it on the Demon Lord. Nana meant "seven". Nani hung herself on the seventh day of the seventh month. That was the year before, seven days after Nani turned seventeen. Six days after Nana turned sixteen.

     Nana believed she was cursed. Everything seemed to revolve around the number seven.

     She turned on her side, staring at her bedroom door, hoping that Nani would walk in at any moment and forgive her for the things she said. It might be possible, but with Nana's luck, probably not.

     She closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep.

      Suddenly, there was a loud pounding on her door, and her eyes shot open. But it was only her father shouting, "Get ready for school, girlie. You're not skipping." Nana looked at her wall clock and saw that it was seven in the morning. She groaned and got up, going to go get into uniform.

Reviews

[halflives]

I did read this, but I was on my iPod so I couldn't leave a review. When I heard you said that you needed a review, then I'm going to review. this is a lovely story with much potencial. I sympathize for Nana and her cruelty that was surely not meant towards Nani that lead to her death. And the father is an interesting character as well. He's like any normal man that's been through too much and just plain doesn't care anymore. This story has a lot of potiencial, and I'd love to see you write more.

[Emunah June.]

Re-reading for the sake of not being stupid. :P I just remembered how in love with this book I am.

[Angie Diane♥&hea..]

This is a good start to the story. I think it was sad that her sister killed herself. But sometimes people need to find a way out and to her that was the easiest way. I love Nana already. She is awesome. Can't wait to read more. :D

[Alexis]

Ohhhh sounds interesting so far. The part about how Nani hung herself made me feel really sad. I kind of found Nana to be an amusing character with her sarcasm and all that. But, I like that character. Her father freaks me out a little, though lol. Great work on the first chapter!