The first thing that comes to mind when her parents announce that their going overseas to volunteer in countries that need foreign aid, is that this was a bad start to a horrible cliche fanfiction. But she pushes that thought to the back of her mind and questions her parents about the trip.

Where were they going?
Somewhere.

How long will they be gone?
Awhile.

Who the hell is going to take care of her?

Her parents laugh at the last one, ruffle her hair and say she was old enough to take care of herself.

Oh hell no.

They are NOT leaving me by myself!

Besides the fact that this trip was indeed happening and there was sudden trust in their only child, nothing else was out of the ordinary.

But then again, this entire situation was out of the ordinary.

Her parents never trusted her. Her mother would nag and worry like Mona was on the verge of death when she wasn't near the older woman and her father would constantly call and fret over her like she was a defective pigeon. The fact that they were suddenly leaving her, not for a day but for an undetermined amount of time, was heavily suspicious.

Needless to say it made Mona paranoid.

Her mind jumped to conclusion after conclusion. From her parents abandoning her to being killed by a top secret and very illegal organisation. So when the day finally came that the two adults would leave her, she was downright sobbing and gripping their suit pants to stay.

They ignored her, hell they didn't even acknowledge her!

It was then she swore to her best friend that her parents were being controlled.

"Pouting makes you look like a constipated duck, stop it." Poppy sighed, not looking up from her phone.

I pouted harder. Ignoring her snappish tone.

Poppy sighed again, harder this time.

"Look, I get that you're really attached to your parents and what not but you can't seriously be this upset about it?"

I didn't answer her but she seemed to get the message. Yes.

"Wowwwww, really? Do you know how many kids would kill to be in your shoes?" She exclaimed but carried on. "Man, I can't even get my mom to leave alone for half a day, let alone a whole year!"

"It's just not like them," I mumbled, biting the collar of my shirt. "They normally wouldn't do this, you know my parents are just as bad as yours."

"Yeah, and look how I turned out." She joked. I stared at her, giving her a once up. Yeah, look at her.

Our parents were best of friends due to their deep love for Greek mythology and Shakespeare plays. So you can imagine when it was time to name their only daughters, they had a tough time choosing. Poppy became a Persephone and I was deemed a Desdemona. Oh what bullying we received throughout our past four years of high school. And oh what rebellion Poppy's mother received from it.

If I remembered correctly, Poppy's hair used to be dark brown and lengthy. Now in our second-final year, Poppy had dyed her hair bright orange, had it cut into a chunky lob style and sported multiple piercings on both her ears and her face. Leather jacket, black ripped jeans and tacky year old converse, she was the definition of punk rock now, going against everything her name stood for.

Me on the other hand?

The most rebellion I did was the uncalled for septum and venom piercing, along with a tongue split. That and rejecting everything that involved Greek or Shakespeare. Now the last one was what really put my parents in a slump.

"I mean sure, it is a bit suspicious that they would just leave you, but look at the bright side!" Poppy exclaimed, giving a weird anime style close-eyed smile.

I raised my eyebrows, indicating Poppy to carry on.

"We could use this opportunity to be normal! Ya know, parties, alcohol, a little weed." Poppy giggled, excited at the possibilities.

I thought about this and found that I agreed. We never really got to do normal teen things but I'm sure not all teens did this risky shit.

"I could tell my mom that I'm sleeping over by your house, we can sneak out and call an Uber and stay out all night!" She raved over every idea that popped into her head, gushing over the parts where we would do something scandalous.

Poppy wrapped me into a side hug. "Just you wait, we'll be good-for-nothings in no time." She and I laughed.

"But whyyyyyy!"

I stifled a giggle at the sound of Poppy whining. On our way to my house, we stopped at Poppy's to ask her mother about the sleepover. To my utter surprise (sarcasm) her mother had rejected the idea.

"I said no Persephone, now get out of my way."

"Stop calling me Persephone!"

"I named you Persephone, so you damn name is Persephone!"

The mother and daughter always fought when Poppy's full name was brought up. Poppy hated the name and her mother hated that Poppy hated it.

I sighed as they continued to bicker, debating whether or not to step in.

A crashed came from the kitchen and I took that as my cue.

When I walked into the where the two were, the kitchen was a mess. Flour littered the floor while eggs laid cracked on the tiles. Poppy was a pale white while her mother was was just as bad.

"Auntie Tan? I'm sue Persephone and I can take care of ourselves for a few nights." I smiled sweetly as Poppy's mother relaxed at the sound of her daughter's name.

Poppy fumed silently and I murmured an apology as I walked pass her.

Auntie Tan, first name Tanya, smiled in return. "I know you can Desdemona but until your parents give permission, I can't let Persephone run a mock in your home."

"Well-" I started but was interrupted by the ringing of a phone on the kitchen wall.

While Auntie Tan went to answer, I looked back at Poppy and silently asked.

"Who the fuck still has haves a rotary dial telephone?!"

"A crazy woman who names her child Persephone!"

When Auntie Tan came back, she looked pleasantly surprised and a little wary.

"Desdemona, it was your parents..." I perked up at the mention of those two and ushered her to continue.

"They called to say that Persephone may stay at yours..." Auntie Tan trailed off, going silent.

I felt a shiver go down my spine and a chill settle in my bones.

Something is definitely wrong with my parents.

"Okay, so maybe something weird is going on, so what? It's not like they're here to fuck with you." Poppy said after a silence.

It was a couple hours after the weird phone call incident with Auntie Tan. The older woman had waved us off with a shaky smile and kissed us both on the forehead. We were now laying in living room, using the expensive bed couch for the night. They had just finished an episode of Naruto and were sitting in silence.

"Doesn't feel right." I mumbled under the many blankets.

We both fell into an uneasy sleep, not seeing pearly white eyes that watched them.