They won't tell you fairytales
Of how girls can be dangerous and still win.
They will only tell you stories
Where girls are sweet and kind
And reject all sin.
I guess to them
It's a terrifying thought,
A red riding hood
Who knew exactly
What she was doing
When she invited the wild in.
-Nikita Gill
Every day, eight hundred and thirty women die from pregnancy or childbirth related causes. No one ever blames the baby, but because my baby sister was born, I lost my mother.
We moved around a lot, growing up. Dad seemed to jump from job to job, leaving me to look after my two younger sisters and get us settled each time. We never heard anything from grandparents or aunts and uncles, and Dad's face would get all sad any time we asked about them, so after a while, I stopped asking. But I didn't stop looking.
I found them when we were living in Minnesota. I was sixteen, and halfway through high school. There wasn't much to do around there, so I had plenty of time on my hands. Lucy would watch Cameron, and once I had names, I started making phone calls. Turns out that Dad's parents died a long time ago, before I was even born. He didn't have any siblings, so that was a dead end. Mom, on the other hand, had a younger brother and sister that were currently living on the West Coast. They seemed to move around as much as we did.
I met my Aunt Kate around Christmas that year. The mall where we agreed to meet was full of Christmas decorations, so much so that it made my eyes water. The sparkling tinsel and garlands on the railings flickered and winked as the light reflected off their shiny surfaces. The giant Christmas tree in the center was an actual tree. One of my classmates lived on a tree farm and they had donated it. I was there when they cut it down too, it was pretty cool.
Cameron wanted to see Santa and that's where we were when she found us. Cameron had just told Santa what she wanted for Christmas and was giggling behind her hands while the mall workers dressed as elves took a picture. It was the cutest thing.
"Cute kid." Her voice was so familiar. It sounded almost exactly like my mother's. My hands suddenly started shaking as I turned, with involuntary tears forming in my eyes.
"A-are you Kate Argent?" I took a quiet, steadying breath to calm myself down. Show no fear. You can do this. You need to do this. I looked up and saw how similar we looked. Same dirty blonde hair, same hazel-green eyes…
"I knew you were Grace's daughter the second I saw you." She grinned and pulled me into a hug. I laughed, startled, but hugged her back. She chuckled at my reaction, but held me close. I was amazed at how much hugging her felt like hugging my mom.
"Mallory?" Lucy's voice crept up behind us. "What's going on?" She eyed Kate warily. Cameron came bounding up then, jumping and landing with both feet right next to Lucy with a loud bang.
"Did you see me?" She grinned as she shook Lucy's jacket excitedly.
"We sure did! You did great!" I smiled, pulling Cameron over for a hug. "What'd you tell Santa?"
"I can't tell you! You'll just have to wait." Cameron scrunched up her nose. Kate smirked beside me.
"You're a sassy little squirt." She said, crouching down to look her in the eye. She smiled and reached forward to move a piece of hair out of Cameron's face. "You know, you remind me a lot of my niece, Allison. She's about your age and she just loves Christmas." Cameron beamed up at her.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lucy move slightly closer to our baby sister.
"Do we know you?" She glared suspiciously at Kate. Sighing, I moved into her line of sight.
"Lucy, this is Mom's younger sister. She's our aunt." I smiled brightly, my eyes flashing a warning at her to behave.
"We have an aunt?" Cameron's eyes went wide as saucers. "Awesome!"
"Oh, sorry." Lucy blushed. "Uh, hi. I'm Lucy."
"And I'm Cameron!" Cameron piped in.
"I'm Kate!" She pulled the two of them into a hug. She smiled mischievously. "What do you girls say we head over to the food court and stuff our faces? My treat."
Cameron cheered and ran over to the elevator. Lucy and I shared a smile. Kate had no idea what she was getting into.
Kate stayed in town for about a week before she had to head home, saying she had missed too many days at work and she better hurry if she still wanted a job. She wasn't entirely serious though. She was the most laid back yet energetic person I had ever met.
We stayed in touch, and things were good for a while. Then, Dad got a new job and we moved again. I didn't see Kate again for another four years, when we met the rest of the family and learned about the family business—hunting the supernatural.
Cameron was too young, but Lucy and I started training right away. We moved closer to Kate, and she, along with our Uncle Chris, began preparing us for this other side of the world that we knew nothing about. Between the rigorous training sessions, we began to experience things as a normal family. Holidays and weekends were the best, because we finally had a family bigger than the four of us.
The best part of this move was that we stayed put for almost two years. San Francisco was the best thing that had happened to us. Lucy graduated high school, Cameron made a few friends, and Dad was around more often. I even started taking college classes at a nearby campus. For the first time in years, we were all happy and everything was going right, which, I guess, is why everything went so horribly wrong a few weeks later.
Now, in the aftermath, we were getting ready to move again. But this time, Dad and Lucy wouldn't be coming with us.
As Kate drove away from San Francisco, Cameron cried into my shoulder, and I felt like the world was crumbling at my feet.