Chains rattled and the swing set creaked. The sun was dipping low over the trees and nearby buildings, bathing everything in oranges and stretching deep shadows over the playground. Most of the children had already left, led away by their parents or older siblings. A few stragglers still lingered nearby, running around the jungle-gym or chasing each other down a slide. A few adults hovered in the shade nearby at picnic tables, huddled close in pairs of two or three. Mostly, they had their backs to her, muttering lowly. Occasionally one of them glanced her way, but when they realized she'd caught them looking their heads would swivel back around, bobbing as they leaned in just that much closer to continue their muted conversations. Allina kept sitting there alone on her swing, hunched over slightly, short-cropped black hair tickling her neck in the slight breeze. She barely pumped her legs at all. Didn't care to, since she'd be leaving here soon too. Alone.
A small boy walked up nearby, glanced at her, then quickly ran to his mother, who picked the boy up, glanced at her, and hastily walked out of the park. She quietly watched as they wandered away, down a sidewalk and across the street, not waiting for cars since the intersection was not very busy. A simple four-way stop for the few drivers who took the two crossing roads. She didn't watch the stout woman turn the corner out of sight, barely noticed the boy peek over his mother's shoulder back at her one last time- and shudder, ducking down and nuzzling into the woman's hair.
Allina sighed and pushed off the swing, hearing the gravel crunch under her shoes as she walked away. The laughter of the few kids who'd remained here immediately died down, and she caught them out of the corner of her eye peeking out over the slide at her or staring through the yellow bars of the play set. Picking up her bright blue backpack, she slung it over one shoulder and started walking out of the playground. She unzipped the front of her backpack, pulled out an MP3, unraveled the earphones, and put a bud in one ear while leaving the other out. She pulled out a pocketknife and stuffed it into her jacket pocket next, then re-zipped her backpack. As she pressed play on the MP3, a car whizzed by her, the wind ruffling her skirts as she glanced around, looked behind her, eyed alleyways and kept an ear sharp for anything approaching. She had to be this careful considering no one would be home and expecting her until at least one in the morning. And then, it wasn't like either of her parents would actually check on her. They'd be too drunk from all the partying.
She passed a large building made of warm-toned bricks, a steep roof, and a cross on top. Several cars were parked there already, one white van returning, many young faces peeking out at her. Climbing roses decorated one side of the building, a weeping willow standing on the other side, and bushes lined the walls. A walkway followed outside the flowerbed area the bushes grew in, lined on either side by pink rocks with strange crystal-looking things growing from them. A man in a grey suit was standing at the double doors on top of the paved steps, and he gazed blankly at her before smiling to the approaching children and their driver, greeting them as they walked inside. At the end of their parking lot was a road, which she turned down and followed a winding narrow path between several houses. She walked into the backyard through a gate, locked it, and slipped between fences covered in vines on her way to the house. This was simply to prevent anyone from seeing her home, since everyone knew no adults were there.
Once in the back door, Al removed her shoes and coat, then carried her backpack with her as she quietly padded up the steps, striped knee-high socks the only thing she still had on for footwear. A large yet somehow still thin calico bounded up the carpeted steps behind her, rubbing against her leg as it raced past her before stopping to sit on the top step and stare down at her with its large green eyes. It watched her approaching, yawning and stretching before running down the hall and pressing her bedroom door open with its nose. She followed it in, put her backpack down on her bed, made sure Iris had food and water, then patted the cat on the head before turning and walking out of the room. She pulled the ear buds out and turned off her MP3, only distantly realizing she hadn't even listened to what had played, had no idea what any of the songs that had just blasted in her left ear were. With a sigh, she pocketed it.
When she passed her brother's open door, her nose wrinkled. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the room was dark because he had the curtains pulled over the window. Dirty clothes sat in piles on the floor, his dresser drawers were all pulled out, and his fan was going. She could see his foot sticking out over the side of the bed, grey socks halfway off. Even from several feet away, she could smell the dirty clothes, sweat, and other boy's-room-without-parental-moderation smells. Oddly enough, she was just glad that he wasn't actually awake. If he did wake, though…she may find herself hiding on the roof. Again. Hopefully, her parents weren't the only ones currently in a drunken stupor. She walked to the staircase, cat following her as she turned and crouched down, looking Iris in the eyes.
"Let's see if he's left any food, shall we?" She smiled lightly, voice a monotone as she ran her hands gently over the cat's head, rubbing behind her ears. She then straightened and speed walked down the stairs. Iris was on her heels the whole time, following her around into the hallway, past her parents' closed bedroom door. Soon Al's feet were padding against the tiled floor of the kitchen. She poked her head into the pantry, pulling a string until a dim light bulb came on and illuminated everything for her. Then she looked around before turning the light back off, a box of cheese crackers in hand.
She walked into the living room, seeing that the thick beige curtains were drawn over the windows. Good, meant she didn't have to expect any company. She flopped down on the leather sofa and opened the box of crackers, flipping on the TV. Slowly eating each cracker one at a time, starting at the corners and nibbling until they were round-shaped and then popping the whole thing into her mouth, she flipped through the channels. American football played across the screen, a Spanish drama, opera, The Little Vampire, a dizzying array of colors and abstract lines called cartoons. No, no, no, no, and no. After a while of flipping through, she switched back to Little Vampire, snacking as she stared at a blank space of wall above the family portrait featuring her family.
Her father's dark, clean-cut features, hair chopped so short it was like a buzz cut, three months later. Grown out, but not really hair just yet. Her mother, a thin woman with long black hair framing an oval face, purple eyes peering through the thick lenses of black thin-rimmed glasses. They had their hands on the shoulders of two kids; a black-haired girl with a hood pulled up over her head, hands in her pockets, faded grey eyes gazing calmly at the viewer. No smile. Her brother had chin-length layered hair, mostly black with hints of chocolatey brown. He was tan, eyes a pretty dusk-blue color. He was smiling, but the expression was plastered on and clearly fake. Commemorated forever in their living room…the sofa they all sat on was the very same upon which Al now lounged. Upon request and the offering of a little more money, they'd been painted in a far grander looking room, however. A room they'd only seen a photograph of, in a house they'd never been in. In the end, the portrait was as wholly fake as her family. It fit right in.
"Allie?"
Her head snapped around at the sudden intrusion, and she sighed. Leaning against the open doorway was her brother, Micah. Though there were faint hints of his original hair, it was longer and shaggier, ash blonde now. The moron must've gotten drunk and bleached it. Traces of vomit decorated his chin, his pants were unbuttoned and the fly was open, sagging. His shirt was actually torn, from the v-neck all the way down to his navel. He had a jacket on, but it almost wasn't, material bunched up, hanging by the elbow of one arm and the wrist of the other. Both his feet were bare, and she could see one of his socks behind him on the floor. Funny that Al hadn't heard him coming, but then, she hadn't been paying attention. Stupid of her…
After a few beats of silence - if you don't count the noise made by the television, anyway - he dug into his pocket, holding up a green phone by its charm. "Your buddy called me earlier. Ak-kuwhateverhernamewas. Apparently… your phone is off? Anyway, didn't expect you to be home tonight." His words were slightly slurred, and he stuttered. She wasn't sure he was really drunk though, perhaps just hung over. A bit.
As she watched, he slowly turned, still leaning against the door frame, then shrugged away from it, taking a step before falling flat on his face. Iris jumped up at the sound of flesh hitting tile and ran behind a curtain. Al turned and leaned over the back of the couch, peering at him. He didn't move, and she slowly began easing up over the sofa, leaning far enough over that her belly brushed against the top. She saw he was breathing, but there was no relief. She still felt tense as hell. After a moment, she went into a crouching position, then lifted herself up as far as she could with her hands on the back of the sofa, and swung her legs over, extending them as far as she could before letting her toes touch the carpet, then rolling contact to her whole feet, bending her legs, crouching as she released the sofa, and then twisted so that she faced her brother instead of away. During that twist, she swung a leg out around the other and straightened, stepping immediately forward, never breaking stride.
She kinda wanted to kick him. Okay, more than just kinda. She really wanted to kick the idiot, especially since he'd come and bothered her for something so trivial. It wouldn't have taken long for Al to get bored and call her friends. And Acky - or Luna Articune Awa, since that was her real name - would have been first on her list. Micah could've just stayed his drunk..err, behind in bed. As she crouched down beside him, started pulling him over onto his back, and then slipped her arms under his head and shoulders to slowly start pulling him towards the staircase, she marveled at the fact he'd even managed to get down the stairs. Seeing the bruises appearing on his arms, she suddenly realized he probably hadn't, and she just didn't hear the noise. Weird. That was one important message to the drunk boy apparently.
Once she got him safely tucked away back in his bed and closed his door, she walked down the hall to her room and dug her phone out of her backpack. After waiting for a minute, Al's phone was on and she was dialing Awa-chan's number. It rang. And rang. And rang. And when it was done with that, it rang some more. She flipped her phone shut with a simple flick of her wrist when it went to voicemail, and had been about to pocket the device when it started vibrating in her hand. She rolled her eyes, flipping it open as she snapped it quickly to her ear, spun and plopped onto her bed. "Yo."
"Hey, sorry mom was yelling for dishes and the dirty clothes out of my room." The reply was immediate, rushed, and a tad breathless. "You free to hang out, or are you on drunk duty?"
Al glanced at her door, sitting back slightly and swinging her legs, then let out a breath. Her gaze focused on the curtains in her window, dark from the lack of light on the other side. "Give me thirty minutes."
"Alright. Get packed and get over here. We gotta plan for this graduation thing, I'm calling Tennie to." Click. Al glanced at her phone, the blinking stopped timer that indicated the ended call. That was how most of her phone conversations went. Quick, to the point. Done faster than she could even think to end it, and she really didn't mind. Talking to people…annoyed her. So, after sitting and quietly staring ahead, she popped to her feet. She could sit in silence all night, not remembering to move until she heard her parents walking up the stairs. And she was positive it would irritate the living hell out of Awa if she let herself space out like that.