Well, this is my first ever attempt at writing a fic, so please don't expect fireworks! But please do R & R as I would appreciate any feedback given. The main character in this story is of my own invention, but I was inspired to create after watching Firefly and Serenity and being particularly intrigued by the character of River -my character is not a plagerism, she's merely inspired by River. There will be references to the Firefly 'Verse as a tribute to her.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Lost Boys or any of the characters therein, no matter how much I may want to. The only characters I can claim as my own are the ones exclusive to this fic and do not appear in the movie.

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CHAPTER 1:

Eliza looked at the shattered glass strewn all over the floor. She was in trouble. When her parents found out that she had broken another window there would be fireworks. Not the typical "you're grounded, missy" or "You're paying for that", which most young girls would have gotten. No, her folks weren't like that. With them it would be sheer panic that she had done it yet again. They would ask her if she was ok, why did she do it, does she feel the need to see a doctor etc.

You see, this wasn't really a rare occurance, she always broke the window. She broke the same one every few months, she just didn't like that damn window. When she had been 14 she just decided that it was a bad window, trying to keep her inside -it had to go. And once it had been replaced with a new shiny pane of glass, she would leave it alone for her parents sake, if only for a while. But after a couple of months she wouldn't be able to stand it anymore, gleaming at her, and she would break it. This time she had chosen a rolling pin as her artillary. The smiley faced stickers which her mother had put up as a dterent for breaking it hadn't worked.

The glass looked so much better this way anyhow. The sun shone in and caught each little piece of glass individually, turning them inti little diamonds, sparkling happily as opposed to gleaming horribly as one. The kitchen was much more pleasant this way as well. It let the sun and wind in simultaneously on that blistering summer day. Eliza the realised she was staring at the broken glass -not a good idea. What would it have looked like to her parents if they had walked in and saw their daughter standing over the smashed remnants of the evil window, rolling pin still in hand, a weapon of mass destruction (for windows anyway)? She placed her rolling pin onto the kitchen table and proceeded to take out the dust pan and brush from the closet. She may have like d smashing that window, but she now had to clean it up. it was only fair. She used to never clean it up, but she always felt so guilty afterwards for her parents. They were the ones paying for it time and time again, at this stage they were on very friendly terms with Alex, the window guy, his family had even been invited to their barbeque a couple of weeks ago.

She quickly cleaned up her mess all over the floor and worktops and shovelled the little daylight stars into a plastic ba before going out and cleaning up the stray shards out in the garden. Whe she was done she contentedly sat down on the grass, musing to herself as she plucked blades of grass and let them fly on the wins. She would have loved some dandelions right about now, but they were weeds and this garden was just too immaculate.

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Later on that evening the Croydon family were sitting down at the dinnertable in total silence. Eliza's eyes glanced from one parent to another every now and then. They had to have noticed the window was broken by now, so why weren't they saying anything? Then just as her father, a pudgy, greying man, was finished his food, he looked up and caught her mother's, a short blonde woman, eye. She then nodded and made a nudging motion with her head in Eliza's direction. This, of course was the well know 'Bring-it-up-now' gesture. Here it came:

"Eliza, sweetheart," began her father, "I see you've broken the window again." He didn't sound too upset, maybe it wasn't going to be too bad.

"Sorry," she said quietly, staring at her plate.

"I know, I know," he said, his voice in soothing-daddy mode, "We both know how you feel about the window. We're not angry."

"Yes," her mother interjacted in the same tone of voice, "It's perfectly fine. We understand completely."

Eliza's eyes widened with surprise. No panic? They were ok with it? It didn't make sense. Her eyes darted between her parents rapidly, they simply smiled sweetly back at her. Her hands tightened on the sides of her chair, this was taring to creep her out. She couldn't help over-reacting, after all being a neurotic was the whole reason she had to be home-schooled anyway. The slightest little thing could leave her mind racing like it was now. And hadn't it been neurotica that had made her smash the window in the first place. Fortunately she was able to relax after a moment or two.

"Mom? Dad?" she muttered, rubbing her hands together before readjusting her glasses, "have I been committed?"

"What?!" exclaimed her father, "For breaking the damn window again? God, no!" Eliza breathed a sigh of relief, she wasn't going to an asylum. Instead her mind raced onto her next theory:

Her food had been kaced with poison.

"What we meant, dear" her mother continued, "is that we were talking to Dr. Donnelly today. He feels your window complex may stem from feelings of isolation..."

She was being sold into slavery.

"...And that you feel cut off from kids your age. Naturally, I told him about those ballet classes you have on weekends and your French penpal, but he just told me at your age that's not enough. I mean why listen to me, I'm just the mother?..."

There was horse's head in her bed.

"... but anyway, I asked what he suggested to help and he said that maybe more youth clubs or a part-time job would help. He also suggested mainstream school, but i just said to Hell with that..."

Grandma was dead.

".. But anyway your father and I decided a part time job could be fun, especially since you'll be leaving for college next year..."

"Well, I actually..." her father began.

"Yes, we decided it" her mother insisted. Her father gave up his suit.

She was being thrown out the house.

"And so i gave a friend of mine a call and she said she'd love to have you. She runs a video rental store down by the boardwalk, I do their accounts every once in a while. Wouldn't that be nice?" Her mother was currently doing the psycopath/enthusiastic smile that mothers do from time to time.

"Ok..." mumered Eliza, unsure of what to think.

"Good", smiled her mother happily, "You start on Tuesday."

Both Eliza and her father looked at each other, in a moment of daddy-daughter silent communication. His face read 'Don't look at me, I wanted to get you a new shrink'.

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Thank you for reading this! Please, please, please review! I know this chapter seemed a little misplaced but it's all just setting up for introducing the Lost Boys characters back in and getting to know Eliza. I hoped you liked it:-)