"Sila?" I sighed and looked up from Aire's story, which I had been immersed in for- I glanced at the clock- almost five hours?? Wait, that meant it was five o'clock.

Shit! Walls! Paint!

"Oh, I'm really sorry, Abigale, I completely lost track of time," I apologized, springing up from the chair that had been placed in the corner.

She smiled. "I can see why. You write?" she asked, jerking her head towards my writing pad.

I resisted the urge to say 'duh', and merely nodded instead. She smiled.

"I used to write- I prefer designing now, though," she said, then walked out, saying, "If you want to get paint today, you should hurry up- and hide that writing pad, Davyd doesn't like reading or writing much." I scowled- I knew there was a reason I didn't like him! Other than the 'eyes of fire' bit- I really, really hated fire.

I hid Aire's story- I was working on another, better name for it- under the chair I was sitting in. It was a nice, green almost loveseat chair- smaller, but still big enough to fit two people- barely. I shuddered as I wondered who might have thought up getting me this; it seemed like something up Davyd's alley- a dark, cold, menacing alley to me.

Of course, I often imagined such things- at least, that's what I deluded myself into thinking. Sometimes, the deluding worked. Other times- bitter memories.

I walked out of my room after checking that my writing pad was hidden successfully. Abigale was sitting at the bright blue kitchen table, reading a newspaper. When I coughed to announce my presence, she looked up, smiled, and put down the newspaper.

"Hey! You ready to go buy some paint?" she asked, smiling up at me. I nodded, and we set out to get paint.

The paint store was very small- so small, I wondered if any of the paint colors that Abigale had shown me were here- it looked like there were barely two or three swatches worth of colors here.

"Hey, George," greeted Abigale, "I'm here to pick up some paints." The man behind the counter smiled at her, then grinned at me.

"This your adoptee? She looks like a seascape kind of gal." I blinked in shock. How had he known that?

Abigale laughed at the expression on my face. "George here is amazing with auras and how they tell what people like. The first time I walked in here, he told me that I needed some bright yellows and blues." So that's where the kitchen came from. Maybe she just used too much.

She turned back to George and said, "So, have anything that she'd like?"

He smiled, nodded, and disappeared into the back of the shop, appearing a few moments later with an armful of paints.

"Here," he said, spreading them out on the counter, "Take your pick."

I chose a dark, almost midnight blue, a nice blue-green, a dark sunset- violet, and a few sunset colors. I like dark colors- they make me feel safe and warm. I was going to use the sunset colors to paint something around the window, make it less gloomy and lighter.

Abigale paid for the paints, and we left the tiny paint store. I had a feeling that someone was watching us as we walked back to her car, but when I looked around, there was no one there. It gave me the creeps. In fact, the entire town gave me the creeps. There was a weird perfume pervading the air, one that was unpleasantly familiar. It put me on edge, wishing to be home- the first one I had, I mean. At least there, things made sense. At least there, I was safe from the outside world.

Abigale drove us back to her house. I wouldn't think of it as my house- at least not for a few weeks. It made leaving again easier. As it was almost inevitable that I was going to be leaving pretty soon, even if Abigale thought otherwise. I was never really home. At least, not anymore. Not since...

But I won't think about that.

"Sila? You coming in?" I jumped and sighed.

"Yeah, one sec." She nodded and walked in.

I tried to gather myself- it wouldn't do any good for me if Davyd decided that I was weak because I was crying. So I hid my true self, wiped away the few tears that had leaked, and made my way into the newest house that I was staying at.

Temporarily.

Gosh, I feel so bad! I haven't updated in a while! I meant to get this up a LOT sooner, but school started.

Sorry, that was a pathetic excuse- for a pathetic excuse of a human being!

I'm depressed again- I think it's school. Which has been in for me for... six weeks, I think.

Yeah.