The smell of coffee threw her senses into overdrive, opening her eyelids to face the popcorn ceiling of their aging apartment. There was never coffee being brewed in the house unless her aunt was in town.
The door swung open, hitting the wall that was too close to begin with. Her mother held a cup of steaming coffee in one hand, and a plate of blueberry banana muffins in the other. "Goodmorning!"
Eilidh knew immediately that something was not right. Firstly, she never had coffee brought to her, or made, in her mother's home. Secondly, breakfast never happened. Thirdly, her mother never woke her pleasantly in the morning.
Eilidh sat up from her bed, feeling the toll her mattress-on-the-floor bed was taking on her back. Running a hand through her hair, she squinted her eyes. "Who died?"
Her mother hid her anger extremely well, something she never did.
"Nobody," she assured the apprehensive teen. "It's a beautiful day."
"Why?" Eilidh questioned. "Did your child support increase? Did dad die and leave us some secret trust fund-"
"Eilidh, for Christ's sake, nobody fucking died!" Ah, the mother was back. She quickly recomposed herself before continuing. "No, nothing to do with your dad, and nothing to do with money."
"Well then Jesus mom, just tell me."
Her mother rolled her eyes and placed the coffee and muffins beside her bed. She sat down, causing Eilidh to jolt as she sat on her legs. "I found us a house," she said calmly. "It's beautiful, you won't believe it Eilidh. Four bedrooms, four bathrooms, thousands of square feet. It's a little over budget, but the interest is really low and with the deal I got on the apartment, it'll all work out."
Eilidh took the information in. Clearly, if it was a house, it wasn't in the same area, or even close to where they were now. "A house? Where is it?"
It would mean a new life, a new start. Eilidh both prayed and dreaded for that. She only had one more year of high school left, and she intended to stay put until she could graduate from her school. She was done with her "friends" there, but the school itself was good, small and had a high acceptance rate into good universities, and Eilidh needed that for her future.
"You know, it's in the South Highlands area."
Eilidh sighed in relief. "Thank god. I can stay at-"
"I mean in Shreveport."
The was what Eilidh Rose Winter liked to call the last and first day of her life.
AUTHORS NOTE
For those of you who remember "Fear & Loathing" about being a girl who moved with her father, stepmother and sister - I apologize, as I've revised this story slightly. That's truly the only part I've changed, it will still remain Eric/OC. Thank you to the guest reviewer who suggested the name Eilidh; it fits perfectly!
I apologize for the long wait for an update, I just realized that the little information on her being with her father just didn't fit in with what I wanted to do with this story. So thank you all for your patience, and for tolerating this small, small intro chapter; I have another one after this.
Thanks all; waiting sucks.
sparkarov