There's never really much at home, so she tries not to stay there.
Maya Hart. She misses hearing her father's voice around the house, even if it was often harsh and loud - especially when he was arguing with her mum, which was all the time. An angry voice was better than none.
She feels angry all the time now. Without her father there to be angry at her mum, she's taken it upon herself to fill that void. Whenever she sees her mother crying over her father's absence alone in her room, she'd shake with rage. Maya would shake and tense until she'd burst out her bedroom window.
She made him run away.
She wouldn't leave him alone on days where he was struggling to find jobs.
She kept making him mad.
She chased my dad away. So what right does she have to cry?
One of these nights, she's running in a world of nothing when she bumps into a big kid, falling flat on her behind. Hiccuping and sniffling, Maya Hart glares up at him through the tears in her eyes. What, just 'cause she was crying and smaller she can be pushed around?
Meeting blank brown eyes, she continues to glare. The big kid cocks his head to the side slightly, assessing her.
"What're you looking at?"
He stays silent for a beat, adjusting the hands shoved into the pockets of his shabby jean jacket.
"One of us."
Us? Creasing her forehead, Maya cranes her neck to look behind him, sensing presences. A group of kids stare back, all of them with the same blank look in their eyes as the one towering before her. They range from scruffy teenagers to unnaturally wary children, all wearing clothing with varying degrees of tears, dirt, and paint covering them.
"Hey." One of the scruffy teenagers nods at her.
Maya looks down at her torn jeans, muddy shoes and bleeding hands. With a newfound anticipation unfurling in her belly, she pushes herself off the concrete firmly and smirks.
"Whatever you're doing, count me in."
Whooping and cheering, three red-faced little girls run for cover, occasionally glancing back over their shoulders at the policeman chasing after them breathlessly.
"What's wrong tubby, eaten one too many doughnuts to run after us wittle giwrls?" Renee calls back, her young sweet voice tinged with mockery. In response, Maya and Carla let out howls of laughter, Maya especially loudly.
"When I catch you girls-" the panting policeman gets cut off when he trips over a pipe the girls had expertly led him to and maneuvered their way around seconds before, and is promptly met with shrieks of sadistic glee from the trio.
"What was that you were saying?" Carla yells, eyes darting to Maya and Renee - lighting up when her comment is acknowledged by short, amused barks.
Running on a high for a few more minutes, the three eventually reduce from fits of shrieking to small puffs of shaky breaths when they get back to the hideout, moving with ease through the debris and subtle traps on the ground. Adrenaline fading, Maya collapses to the ground in a dramatic fashion, holding up their stolen shirts to Will.
In his trademark fashion, Will cocks his head to the side slightly, scanning the shirts before he silently holds his hand out from the pockets of his jean jacket. Smirking, she tosses them to him with ease, Carla and Renee looking on with pride in their eyes as Will acknowledges their shoplift.
"Thanks."
Maya rolls her eyes, still breathing a little heavily. "Will, I think we passed by a statue that talked more than you do."
Renee purses her lips as Carla stares on in confusion. As usual, Maya is the only one who dares talk in such a brazen manner to the unofficial head of their gang. Will never seems to mind it coming from her though, as he curls his lip in response.
"Thank you."
"Close enough, buddy." Maya rolls her eyes again playfully.
She knows she impresses him - no one can quite sweet talk their way out of trouble like she does. Three out of five times guaranteed - Maya Hart has a glib tongue, is fearless, and does whatever she wants. Maya Hart is a force to be reckoned with.
As Will dismisses Carla and Renee with a short nod, he strolls over to Maya, whose little forehead is covered in sweat.
Eyeing him carelessly, Maya smirks. "You gonna convince me to go to school again, Will?"
"Yeah."
Sighing, she pushes herself off the grimy floor of the hideout. "Look Will, I've told you - my mum can afford it, but barely. I don't wanna go anyway. School's for chumps." Maya glares up at him in defiance.
Will merely cocks his head to the side again. They stare at each other, defiance meeting blankness. "Friends?"
I'm Riley! Innocent singing floating from a big bay window.
Shaking her head abruptly, Maya shifts her weight to one foot. "None."
Will stares a little longer. "Sure?"
You have a family that loves you very much. You're lucky. I don't know where my daddy is. Soft brown hair that reminds her of chocolate cake. Warm hugs. How was school today Riley? It was great, Dad! Warm meals around a table, happy chatter filling the place where silence should be. Climbing out of a warm bay window and into the cold night nothingness.
Why can't you just go to school like a normal little girl, Maya! Why didn't you have daddy stay? I don't know where my daddy is.
Maya fights the rush of emotions that swell up in her throat, as she kicks a pebble. "Yeah."
Eyeing the debris on her shoes, she starts in surprise when she feels a hand on her head. It's neither kind nor condescending, neither comforting nor angrily envious.
Wrestling with her emotions, Maya jerks back from the first time she's been given anything in months. Meeting Will's blank stare, she steps back slowly. Holding his stare, she takes a few more steps before turning around and running.
Outside the hideout, she runs into Carla and Renee, both of them waiting listlessly for her return. Slipping back into her comfortable cockiness, Maya struts past them and waits for their footsteps to scramble after her.
When they do, she smirks.
It's been three months since she's joined the gang, but Maya fits in nicely.
Don't tell Will, but one day when he didn't show up, they got into a little trouble with the cops, and she sweet talked all of them out of it. That was her one-month anniversary gift for them. In exchange, they gifted her with begrudging respect.
Today however, her mum stays at home a little longer in the morning to see her to school - any more truancy and she's getting kicked out.
As usual, Maya ignores the happy buzzing world around her and stares blankly out the window.
School's for chumps. Especially math.
She lives on the high of stealing, vandalism and manipulating police officers to get them to forgive her. When she's always on the go, she doesn't have time to think.
School gives her time to think, which brings only bad thoughts to her - she feels resentful, she feels abandoned, she feels angry, she feels… everything she doesn't have to. She feels the emptiness in her gut when she receives homework and knows no one at home will help her with it. She feels the twist of her heart when teachers threaten to call her parents, and she is able to lightly reply that they wouldn't care and have it be true. She feels everything in school, and she hates it.
Catching herself spiraling, Maya pinches her forearm. "Ow."
Desperately grappling with her thoughts, Maya tries to come up with other things to think about. Will, Renee, Carla… Riley. She slumps into her seat again, guilt festering in her fingertips. She hasn't seen Riley in three months, and the last thing she'd said to her was: "Goodnight." Knowing Riley, she was probably worried sick.
Catching herself just as the thought flashes across her mind, she scoffs. Of course she wouldn't be worried. No one would be. Blankly gazing out the window again, Maya feels an acute emptiness in her as she turns over her new motto in her mind repeatedly.
Hope is for suckers.
Even so, the sound of innocent singing doesn't quite leave her heart.
"Watch out!" familiar gleeful shrieks fill the air as Maya tosses a heavy rock at a statue, booing as it connects with the statue's neck instead of its head. Renee snorts particularly loudly at this, half unwillingly in awe of Maya's boldness.
"Darn, so close." Maya dusts off her hands on her washed-out shorts.
"Hey! You kids stop right there!" A voice boomed out across the park.
"Damn it. Split up!" Maya yells, running off toward the trees as Carla and Renee split off. She stumbles through the trees blindly, looking over her shoulder till she realises the policeman has abandoned her. Snorting in amusement, Maya eases into a slow jog, then her usual confident strut.
She picks up a pebble, tossing it up and down carelessly. She'll go back to the hideout later. It's a nice day for a walk in the park. Maybe she'll find more statues.
After a few minutes of casual brooding, Maya comes to a clearing. It's nothing special, just a little space with a bench and a statue. She approaches the bench and sits quietly, a sudden calm washing over her.
For a long time, Maya stares at the statue. Four friends holding hands. They look happy.
She stares, until she eventually realises how much time has passed when the sky gets dark. Getting off the bench, Maya reluctantly walks away from her quiet clearing, looking back at the statue once more before she disappears into the trees.
She'd be back another day.
"Really, Will? You'd… you'd leave us?" Maya takes an involuntary step back and hugs herself, the feeling of betrayal washing over her as she tries to mask her hurt.
Will nods slowly. "I can go to school now, but I gotta move."
Maya stares incredulously at the usually silent boy, scoffing. "School is for chumps, Will! I can't believe you'd leave all of us here to fend for ourselves, just… just for school!" She pauses, her throat tightening in anger. "You know what? Fine. Go, Will. We don't need you. We don't need anybody."
Will stares at her a little longer than she can bear, and Maya breaks eye contact. Tentatively, in a patient voice, Will answers: "I'm going. I need this. You do, too."
Maya bites her lower lip as he shuffles away, watching him leave with sadness in her heart and anger in her eyes.
"I know," she whispers. "Bye, Will."
"Come on Maya, we haven't done anything fun since Will left! Can't we go steal something today or something? It's been a week!" Renee whines, walking annoyingly close to Maya.
Maya spins back and glares at her so hard Renee takes a step back.
"Go yourself." She growls. An air of danger around her, Maya stalks off.
Carla comes up behind an embarrassed Renee. "So, we goin' or what?"
Renee punches her on the arm as Maya turns the corner.
She walks for a few blocks, trying to sort out her thoughts - the thoughts she's been having for the past week because of what stupid Will said to her. She comes to a slow stop when she realises she's walked to a place she hasn't been to in eight months - and hears a familiar soft singing.
Why did she come back here? It's been so long, Riley's probably forgotten all about her.
I need this. You do, too. Shut up, Will. She admonishes the little voice in her head, but feels an expectant silence in its place. Damn it. Taking in a sharp breath, Maya gathers up all the courage in the world and hesitantly climbs up toward the open bay window. Hearing the rustling sounds, Riley turns her head toward Maya as she's approaching her.
Riley's face lights up, and Maya feels a mysterious burden lifted off her chest that she hasn't acknowledged since she last saw her friend.
"Maya! Where have you been! I've been worried about you! Mummy and Daddy too!"
Riley scrambles forward, shooting out of the window and hugs Maya. The latter reflexively wants to push her away and brush herself off when instead she tenses up and relaxes slowly into Riley's warm hug, her small arms hesitantly circling around the ball of sunshine. "Hey Peaches. I'm back."
Riley smiles a toothy smile at Maya and leads her into the warm bay window, chattering merrily about the things Maya's missed since she's been gone.
Holding Riley's hand, Maya climbs into the familiar space and exhales slightly, a lightness taking over her. She smiles at the excitedly chattering girl, listening patiently to her stories and enjoying the warmth she's allowed to feel.
It feels like home.