It was dark when she left the large house, her jacket pulled tightly around her in an attempt to stay warm, her hair was once neatly pinned back and now loose blowing around her face. She had been crying, and her red lipstick was smudged from some random drunk she'd had the displeasure of walking past.
Another argument with her damn parents, this time in front of her younger brother, he was only six. She, on the other hand, was nineteen. She hadn't had many chances to make memories with her brother, her mother always taking him on holidays with her newest toy boy. Her father was work obsessed, and she knew about the girls he would off with on the long weekends. Giving her time to herself in the large house, she'd often have a few friends over or the occasional party.
The argument itself was after one party, it was calm and she usually got everything cleared up before they returned but this time they were early and they blew up at her. She remembered her mother saying she was disappointed, her father saying she was a disgrace. Her brother wailing at the top of his lungs. She stormed out after screaming that she hated her parents, that they didn't know her and that they were the real disgrace, married with no love for each other and new love for others every week. That if they didn't love each other then divorce because they don't care about there children anyway.
Her biggest mistake, because she didn't know those words would be the last thing she said to her parents. She heard in the papers the next day that the house had burnt down, that her brother had escaped to get help from the neighbours while their dad tried rescuing their mother. She had no way to get back to find out what happened to her brother, he was probably with his godfather or with their aunt. She was getting back to her brother, she promised herself.
The next day, an old lady picked up the news paper her husband bought, frowning at the headlines.
"What a shame, the poor boy is all alone" she said, her husband nodded in agreement, setting down the paper again.
'GIRL GOES MISSING AFTER HOUSE FIRE: Valerie Stark, 19, is reported missing after fire kills parents, leaving her and Howard Stark, 6, orphans. Police have started the search while Howard Stark is kept by aunt'