The new-comer still wasn't enough to tear the girl away from her daydreaming out the window. It was interesting, but not worth the effort of turning to greet her and to then turn back to the window. Or at least, she would have stayed that way if the teacher hadn't requested her attention.

"Trinity, would you please share your books Miss Alice, she'll be-"

"In the seat next to me, right?" Trinity said as she turned to grab the books from her bag that would be required for that day's classes. "Figures..."

As Alice moved to sit, Trinity took the stack and plopped them on her desk with a 'thump'. It made the girl jump a bit, blinking slightly at the abrupt motion. "Don't you need to look at them, too?"

"I won't until you get your own," Trinity mumbled, already turned back to the window.

The student on her other side leaned over and whispered to Alice, "Don't bother talking to her, she won't answer unless she has to. She's not exactly the friendliest person alive. Pretty rude, if you ask me."

Trinity inwardly rolled her eyes. "Because of people like you," she thought to herself. However, she could feel Alice's eyes on the back of her head. That same look everyone else gives her when they first meet. It was one of the things that annoyed her most, that look. But the day continued onward. At lunch, Alice attempted to eat lunch with Trinity, whose reply was a short, simple, "no". During gym, she tried running alongside Trinity, who was by far too fast to keep up with. At the end of the day, she asked to walk home with her.

"Listen, 'Alice'," Trinity turned to look her face-to-face as she started trailing her out the school gates. "You seem like a nice girl and all, and I don't mean to be rude, but leave me alone. I'm absolutely sure a nice girl like you lives nowhere near the trash heap I live in and nothing good will come from you attempting to befriend me. Trust me. It's for your own good."

Alice didn't reply, only stood there, mouth open, with no words coming out. "That's what I thought," Trinity said, swiftly turning for the gates.

"And how would you know if you don't try?" came her soft voice.

Trinity stopped mid-step. "Just... Trust me. I think I know what I'm talking about," she said calmly before leaving her there at the gates.

She didn't have to work that day, so she found herself at the beach, staring out over the ocean. Her older brother had taken her younger brother out of town for a few weeks, so seeing him wasn't an option. A warm breeze was coming in, bringing the heavy scent of salt in with it. She sighed, curled up into herself with her arms around her on the white sand. To her right was the Pier, housing several large boats. And a glance to the left revealed a cliff side, about two stories up. There was a path from the beach that lead to the top. It was an astonishing view from up there, but it was no lover's peak. Upon the cliff's hilltop, up at the tippy-top, was Hainsville Cemetary.

Trinity sighed again and stood, dusting off the sand from her jeans. She put her hands in her pockets and walked up the trail that lead to the cemetery It wasn't a very large one, only a few lucky tombstones. Under the lone weeping willow that guarded the hill, there was a stone engraved:

"Here lay Serenity Veillah,
Beloved Daughter, Sister, Friend
1989-2001"

Trinity looked at it for a moment, tempted to return to the beach, but decided to sit beside it against the tree and overlook the ocean from there.

"Hey, sis," she said quietly, more for herself than anything else. "I know you can't exactly hear me, but I'm here. It's... getting hard at home. Mom's still in her bad habits pretty hard and dad's... nowhere to be heard from... Nicoli and his wife took Tobi out of town for some carnival. As for me... Life goes on, I guess. I mean, it could be better, but couldn't everyone's? I'm sure you're happy, though, wherever you ended up. You were always my role model, so I'm sure you ended up top. Right?" Trinity chuckled to herself, amused by the fact she was talking to a tombstone. "I miss you, Sis. I hope you know that. I love you, but... I hate you, too... for leaving us – leaving me."

She began to choke, trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes. "I hate you so much..." she cried into her hands, curling further into herself.

She stayed like that until the sun began to set some time later. With a sniffle, and a wipe of the nose, she looked to the ocean again. Fiery colors mixed into the cool blue water, making it seem as though the dancing waves were fire themselves. Trinity breathed in, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes. "I do miss you, though, sis. And so does Tobi," she sighed, standing and leaving the cemetery.

On the beach, the waves calmed and crashed gently against the shore. But on the highway some distance behind her, the sound of vehicles remained to remind her of the sad reality that she lived in. The sand in her toes told her it was about time to leave again. So with one last gaze out into the ocean, and a look of longing up the cliff side, she put on her shoes and socks and left for the sidewalk on the highway, beginning her long trek home. Along the way, she realized that she was going to need new shoes soon. The soles to these ones where sorely overused and worn too thin for relevant use anymore.

Arriving home, her mother was gone again and the door locked, as usual. The mission inside was a success, as usual. However, taped to the door in the living room, there was a note that read, "When you feel like being useful, come home so we can get food for our home."

It wasn't the first time this note found its way to the door. Her mother loosely used the term "our home" whenever she wanted something, to make Trinity feel wanted. She knew that it was just a ploy, however, for her mother to use her money. She didn't work herself, just lived off of government money and local charities. But she never missed the chance to drain Trinity of every one of her hard-earned pennies. And it was just her luck that she didn't have to work that the next day on top of it being a weekend.

When the sun rose the next morning, Trinity made quick work of her morning routine and left just as quick. Her mother managed to make it to her room last night, or so it seemed, being that she wasn't on the couch. Of course, she'd return before long to accompany her mother to the store. She really had no option in the matter, she was going to go whether she wanted to or not. As noon hit, the bell chimed at the clock across from the garden that Trinity had been napping in. This was her sign that it'd probably be best if she started to make her way back to the house. The walk felt rather short to her though, as though it would never have lasted long enough even if she truly tried to make it.

The door was unlocked, so she entered without a word. A cloud of smoke escaped outside as the door opened, the living room being hazy with it.

"So you decided to come after all," the raspy voice on the couch coughed out, not sounding approving at all.

Trinity stood before her on the other side of the coffee table that was between them. "Of course, Mother. It is what you wanted, after all. Isn't it?" Trinity masked all emotion from her voice.

"Yeah..." she inhaled one last time on her cigarette before smashing it into the already filled ashtray and stood.

Trinity was always told when she was younger that she most resembled her mother, a spitting image of her, to say the least. She would have believed them, too, if her mother hadn't visually aged so quickly in the last couple of years; wrinkles and dark spots and graying hair were all that was left of her former beauty. It was actually quite pitiful, in Trinity's eyes, that she hardly ever looked the woman in the face to make the comparison. They had the same body shape, she noticed as they began walking down the road toward the supermarket. It was quite noticeable that her mother had lost a few pounds since Trinity last seen her, the definition of "skin and bones". It was sometimes a wonder how this woman could hit as hard as she could when it looked like she had no muscle mass at all.

With an unnecessary clash, a cart was pulled out of the corral and they continued along their way. The trip through the supermarket seemed to take hours longer than it truly did, with her mother having to inspect every item in inventory like it would kill her if she didn't. About half way through the store, the torture seemed to drag on. An hour, two hours, two and a half hours, on and on it dragged. Turning down yet another aisle, Trinity's heart stopped when someone called out her name, as did her mother's half filled cart.