Chapter 4

Kiva was still confused by the whole day when she realised that at the end of her road the large house that had been empty for years had now been bought. She glanced over to see if she could see it's inhabitants but couldn't so she headed to her front door. Her house was a small cottage next to a small lake. Her front door was old and rusted so Kiva had to put all her weight behind pushing it open. She was a greeted by the warm smell of her sister's cooking. As she walked through into the kitchen she saw her sister lift a large dish full of meat onto the top of the stove.

"Hey Cat," Kiva said putting her bag on the floor. Car turned around and smiled at Kiva. Cat was a short girl, like Kiva and was always smiling. She had just started her new job as a businessman's personal assistant. Iva guessed it wasn't her grades that got her the job as she looked at her sisters short black dress.

"Hey Kivvy. Dinner wont be long. I'll go wake mum up while you finish this." Kiva rolled her eyes and slid out of her seat. She quickly carved the meat then went to call her sister. Just as she did she heard a large crash. It came from outside so Kiva quickly stepped out and looked down the street. At the end of the road there were two people stepping out of two cars that had just crashed. Kiva recognised one as her older brother Richard. Kiva ran down the street quickly and reached him in no time. As she did the door to the house at the end opened and out stepped Elexis. She was running down the drive towards them when Richard started yelling at the driver he had crashed into. Kiva could suddenly smell the alcohol on him as Elexis pushed him away from the other man. She must've been strong because he staggered backwards.

"Eric are you okay?" Elexis said quickly.

"I would be if that maniac wasn't on the road." he said signalling at Richard who was now making his way to him again.

"What…. What are you talking about? I was driving perfectly fine…." he hiccupped in-between his slurred words.

"You were driving on the wrong side of the road."

"And you smell like a mini-bar." Elexis added. Suddenly Richard stepped forwards and swung a fist towards the boy. Before Kiva had a chance to move Elexis had caught it and had twisted his arm behind his back. "Go home." She said sternly then she pushed him towards Kiva's house. Elexis looked at the cars then sighed. By this point around a dozen other people had walked out of the house. "I'm sorry about the car." Elexis said to Kiva. "We'll pay for any damage."

"Really that's not necessary."

"It's okay honestly." Kiva looked at Elexis who looked a lot less happy than before. Her skin was even paler than usual and she was surrounded by a feeling of darkness.

"Kiva come on!" Cat had started yelling from down the street. Kiva turned back to Elexis then looked at the car. Elexis turned to a tall boy stood behind her.

"Ash, you and Quinn get the car down the street."

"But why us? I mean-"

"Just do it." With that Elexis turned and walked back to the house. Kiva turned and jogged back to her house. When she got in she found Cat yelling at Richard.

"Do you think we have the money for you to go out and break our car? How the hell are we going to get that fixed?"

"Don't worry that bird said they'll pay." Richard said lying on the sofa.

"That "bird" is a girl and if she did then you're going to go thank them for not suing us. I'm pretty sure that other kid must've been hurt as well!"

"Shut up will you. Everyone's fine, everything is fine now go get me my dinner."

"You can make your own because I want you out of here! You never think about anyone else apart from yourself. Think of our mother Richard! What do think this would do to her nerves if you had been hurt? And me I'm the only one who works in this family because you're always either drunk or stoned and even then you manage to do thousands of pounds of damage! And what about Kiva?"

"What about her?"

"It was her birthday three weeks ago and you haven't said anything about it! You didn't even say happy birthday!" When Cat calmed down Kiva saw she was breathing heavily. "I want you out by tonight. I don't care where you go I just don't want you here." Richard stood up and wordlessly left. Cat sat opposite Kiva in the kitchen and put her hands on her head. "I swear this family's going to be the death of me." Kiva sighed and walked up to her room.

Her house wasn't very big so she had a room which was more like a cupboard. She was only able to fit one bed a wardrobe and a desk. The only good thing about it was the tree which grew outside of her window. Kiva lay on her bed and stared at her ceiling. She suddenly felt a cold chill fun through the house so she moved to the window. She looked over the lake and when she did she saw Elexis was stood at the opposite side of the lake. Kiva looked around her to see if there was anyone with her. Kiva couldn't see anyone so she slid silently out of her house and down to the lake.