Chapter 1

A Chapter by Melissa

“This may be the last time I come visit you for a while. I know I’ve practically lived here for the past few days but they’re sending me to live with Natalie. I haven’t seen her since she abandoned us. I’m sorry, Mom. I miss you.”

The flowers I held in my hand dropped and landed safely on the grave at my feet. I stood up from my crouched position and waved goodbye to my mother’s grave before turning away and wiping the tears from my eyes.

My pace on the walk back to my house is slow and consistent. As soon as the house comes into my view, I see Natalie and a couple people in suits. They notice me soon after I notice them.

“Are your bags packed?” my caseworker asks. I nod, holding her stare with my own. “Good,” she nods. “Go get them.”

I break eye contact with her and turn toward the house I’d grown up in. I lived my whole life in this house. It’s difficult for me to believe that I’m being torn away from it. My bags are in my room, and I grab them before taking a last look around. The room is plain, with white walls and a neutral carpet.

A small sigh slips from my lips as I leave, carrying my two bags.

“Only two?” Natalie asks. I nod, refusing to look at her. My caseworker, Maria, excuses herself and Natalie stares at me, her blond hair falling from behind her ear. “Listen, I know Mom’s death was hard, but I’m your sister and I’m trying to help.”

“You are only my sister by blood. I didn’t need your help then and I don’t need it now.”

“Hayley…” she tries.

“Please just don’t talk to me.”

My sister sighs before Maria comes back. She leads me over to Natalie’s car and puts my bags in the backseat. She closes the door, but I immediately open it again and sit with my stuff, determined not to be close to Natalie.

Maria and Natalie stand outside and talk for a few more moments before Natalie climbs into the driver’s seat.

“Are you hungry?” she asks. “Do you want to go out to eat or pick up food on the way home?”

I continue to stare out the window silently, and she lets out a long sigh before going silent and focusing on the drive.

The ride is about fifteen minutes, but it’s far enough that I would be forced to switch schools. Natalie doesn’t attempt to begin another conversation, because she’s learned quickly not to try. The silence is almost eerie, and the tension is pretty thick.

“We’re home,” Natalie says as we pull into a driveway. I turn forward and my eyes land upon a very large house. It looks about three stories high and the house itself is pure white. Slowly, I climb out of Natalie’s car and grab my stuff. The driveway is long, and Natalie reaches her purple front door before I do She pushes a key into the lock and leans against the door to open it. “Please take off your shoes.”

I slip my shoes off and she leads me up to the third floor, where my room is located. She then opens the door and I’m welcomed by a room with purple walls, and an animal theme worked in throughout the room. The bedspread is zebra, while posters of cheetahs, leopards, and pumas lie on the walls. The carpet is black, with small throw rugs of tiger print throughout the room.

“When we were little, this was your dream room. Remember?” Natalie says.

“Yeah, that was before you abandoned us.”

“Hayley, stop it.”

I shake my head and drop my bags on the floor next to my new bed.

“Okay, well… I’m going to make dinner. Hot dogs are okay, right?”

“Yep.”

She lets out a small sigh before turning away. After she leaves I get up and close the door. Then I look around the new room. There are two closets, as well as a bureau. A medium-sized TV is located near the bed.

I open the closets first. Both are medium-sized and empty. Next I open each drawer of the bureau. All of them are empty. Finally, I open the top drawer of the nightstand located on the right. Inside it lays a notebook with a pen and pencil.

Next, I open the drawer under it. Inside it there was a cell phone, will a note that reads:

“I figured you’d want to keep in touch with your friends.”

I move on to the bottom drawer of the left nightstand. There’s a laptop with pink plaid as a cover, as well as an iPod.

Finally, I open the last drawer. There are pictures inside. I pick them up and see that they’re pictures of me and Natalie. In them, I’m very young, which makes sense, because she left when I was eleven.

“Dinner’s ready!” Natalie calls.

I place the pictures down and go down the stairs.

Natalie is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. “You haven’t been in the kitchen yet, so I figured you wouldn’t know how to get there.”

My only response is a slight nod.

She begins walking, and I follow. I’m led through a living room that contains mostly blue furniture. The door on the other side of the living room leads to a hallway, which has the front door in it. There’s a door on the other side of the hallway, and when we walk through it I find myself in a kitchen. The kitchen is full of orange appliances and furniture.

On the table in the middle of the room, there is food spread out. A plate sits in the middle with four hot dogs, and buns are in the bag next to the plate. Corn on the cob, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, and sodas are also there.

“Help yourself,” Natalie says. She approaches the table and picks up a plate before serving herself. “I made a lot because I remember being hungry a lot after Dad left.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” I say defensively.

She gives me a look, and just sighs. I walk over and pick up one hotdog, and one piece of corn on the cob as well as a small handful of chips.

“That’s it?” she questions.

I nod and she sighs again before leading me through another door and into a mostly green dining room.

After a few moments of eating in silence, Natalie begins talking. “So there’s something that we really should talk about…”

“What?” I say curtly.

“I’ve been seeing someone since college. His name is Jordan, and he’s really good for me.” She waits for me to say something back, but when I don’t she continues, “He’s moving in tomorrow.”

“Okay?” I question, wondering why she’s making it out to be such a big deal.

“Both his parents were killed in a car crash when he was 18. Since he was technically an adult, he was given custody of his two siblings.”

‘There’s the catch,’ I think.

“They’re twins. Katy-Lynn and Jason, and they’re both seventeen. They’ll be in the same hallway as you, so it would be nice if you’d make friends with them.”

I say nothing and resume eating.

“Promise you’ll try.”

“No,” I say before standing up, throwing the rest of my food away, and walking to my room without saying anything else, my stomach growling slightly as I walk up the stairs.

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