-5 year old Annabel & 7 year old Daryl-

A seven year old Daryl watched out of his window as people started moving into the house next door. It was just the moving company for now and he hoped for a family with children so he could have someone new to play with. He was excited to see a new face. He waited patiently waiting for something to happen. He hoped it was a family with a boy. He watched as a minivan pulled in with a truck behind that. He could see a kid sitting in the seat of the truck next to what he assumed was the father.

The doors opened and Daryl got closer to the window to see the family. A mother and father got out of the truck, but the child that got out on the other side hadn't appeared yet from around the truck. To say he was disappointed when he saw it was a girl that came around the other side of the truck was an understatement. He grumbled crossing his arms over his chest watching down at the little girl as she smiled looking around at her new home.

She stopped and looked up into the window where Daryl was watching her. She smiled and waved at him, but he didn't move. She frowned, but she didn't have enough time to worry about her little watcher as her dad came and picked her up and swung her around kissing her cheek. She giggled wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek too.

"How do you like your new house, baby girl?" he asked looking at the house.

"I love it, daddy! It's wonderful! It's a lot better than our old place." He put her down and told her to run into the house and find her room. She nodded, but looked back up into the window where the little boy was, but he was gone. She narrowed her eyes, then ran into the house. She ran upstairs hoping her window faced the little boy's room so she could try to say hi to him again. She knew she had found her room when she found a light purple colored room. Her mother suggested that purple was her favorite color even though it was green just like the color of her father's camoflauge suits he wore to go hunting.

Her bed was already set up, but she didn't like where it was. She was going to ask her father to help her move it whenever the movers left. She didn't want them to feel bad for moving her bed into the wrong place. There was bags and boxes all over her room. She wanted to start unpacking, but what she really wanted to do was say hi to that little boy next door. Her mother said it was important for her to make friends as soon as possible so she could fit in sooner. Her father didn't think it mattered too much since it was the beginning of summer and she was going to be spending most of her time in the woods alone.

"Annabel! Come on, dinner!" her mother yelled from downstairs. Annabel dropped whatever she was doing and ran downstairs to eat. She was starving. Hopefully she wouldn't be eating fast food for the rest of her life.

As soon as dinner was over, Annabel was dragging her father out back so he could take her into the woods. It was only about five o'clock giving them plenty of time to explore. Behind all of the houses lined up their side of the road was a huge patch of forest and Annabel was determined to know them. She carried her pellet gun to kill squirrels and rabbits. Her mother hated eating squirrels and rabbits, but she still made them for Annabel and her father.

They walked through the woods quietly, searching the ground for tracks of any kind of animal. They mainly found tracks of kids who go and play int he woods around the outskirts, most likely at their parents request, but the farther they went in, they thinned out more and more until there was nothing left but Annabelle, her father, and the animals. They moved slowly, watching all around them with each step they took. They heard a shuffle in the leaves near them and Annabel aimed her gun towards the sound, but the boy next door came out of the brush.

"It's you," Annabel exclaimed pointing a finger at him. The boy just stared at them. Annabel smiled at him. "I'm Annabel Lee Simms. What's your name?"

"Daryl," was all he said. He turned and walked away from them. Annabel looked at her father who shrugged. Forgetting about their little encounter, they kept searching for some type of rodent to kill.

A couple hours later, they emerged out of the woods with six squirrels and two rabbits. They hung from small ropes and were draped over Annabel's father's shoulders. They walked into the shed out back of their house to skin and gut the animals. Not too long after, they heard screaming next door. They couldn't make out what was being said, but they knew it was a fight between the married couple.

"I feel sorry for Daryl," Annabel whispered to her dad. Her dad just looked down at her. They finished their work in silence.

-The next day-

Annabel was up with the sun already dressed in her daily clothes, ready to go back out into the woods and find herself a good hiding spot. She liked to find places where she could hide just in case she needed to get away. It had to be perfect. In a tree, in a hole, somewhere. She normally hid the skulls of the animals she killed in this place because her mother didn't allow her to keep trophys. She said it was strange for a girl to want to kill things then keep something of them as a trophy. Her father defended her saying it was just where he kept the heads and such from the animals he killed and put them on the wall. Her mother just said it wasn't lady like and she was raising a lady.

Annabel ran through the woods keeping her gun in her hand ready to kill anything that ran across her path while keeping an eye out for anywhere she could call her own.

"Hey!" someone screamed from somewhere above her. Annabel stopped dead in her tracks looking up where the voice came from. Daryl climbed down the tree quickly as if he had done it a million times before. Annabel watched in awe at the ease he was moving.

"You gotta teach me how to do that!" Annabel said walking over to him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked glaring at her. Annabel shyed away from him unsure of how to react to that. She had tried nothing but to be nice to him and all he ever did was be rude.

"I'm trying to find somewhere to hide my trophys," she said a little ashamed. For the first time ever, she was afraid that someone, other than her mother, would call her weird and unladylike.

"Trophys?" Daryl asked giving her a strange look. She nodded her head reaching in a little pack hanging over her shoulder and pulled out a rabbit skull from one of the rabbit she killed the day before.

"My mom won't let me keep them in the house. She throws them away."

"Come on, I'll show you a place." Annabel smiled as big as she could and followed behind him as he walked through the woods.

"Can you show me how to climb a tree like that?" Daryl looked over at her as she caught up to him.

"Yeah," he said slowly.