Hey, guys, anyone who's reading this... can you please review and stuff? If you don't review and offer suggestions and criticize me then I won't be able to update... as I said, I'm going through writers block because, frankly, I'm a newby. Soooooooo thank you, Cloud Raithwall, for actually giving me the energy to write this... I can even live off of 2 reviews, guys! 2! Okay, maybe more than that, but seriously, R&R. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, blah blah blah, everything goes to whatever company made AC... wow I can't believe I don't know what company made AC. Fail.

A fire.

Okay, it's just a fire. Doesn't mean it's your own house burning down.

I tried to council myself and I pushed my way through the crowd, making my way to the smoke in the rising dawn. But somehow, I knew, in the deepest parts of my heart, that it was my house. Do you ever get the feeling, you know, that feeling when something goes bad and you automatically know what it is and what happened, even though you have no idea how or why you know that? If you have, congratulations, you have experience the number one feeling of oh shit I am SO screwed.

I had finally reached my house.

You couldn't really call it a "house" now, because all that was left was just a couple of wooden planks and some charred, unrecognizable object. I picked it up, and realized that it was a small knife, probably used for whittling or something. I tucked it into my belt and stood up. Some people were staring at me, with puzzled looks on their faces. I tucked my hood lower and walked away.

I had no idea where to go.

I knew, for a fact, that if I went back there my parents would go into a rage, blaming everything on me, saying that I had either lit it on purpose or had been stupid enough to play with matches. They blamed everything on me. Whether it was some random merchant being a stronzo or that they were robbed by thieves, everything somehow led back to me. However, any sane person would probably suspect me for destroying the house.

Two main reasons: one, I hated that house. It was pretty, fancy, exactly what a "young, pretty lady" would like. And if it wasn't just my parents house, I might have actually liked it. But stand outside the door for just one hour and you can hear the whispered words passed throughout the streets: "There's the Costas. If you want to keep your money, stay away from them." or "Did you hear about them Costas? Rumors is that one of them is a whore, while the other is a liar and a cheater." or "Who lives over there? Trust me, you don't want to find out..."

I stopped. I was in front of the theater in which my parents were currently at. Why the hell am I here ? Of all places, I needed to get away from my parents, not closer. I shrugged and moved on. Which, of course, had to be the exact moment my parents walked out of the theater. I tried to sneak away, but they caught me. "Adelina Costa! Where were you, young lady? And what's all this nonsense about a fire?"

I cursed, stopped, inserted a false smile and my face and said, "Well, madre, apparently someone's house went up in flames. That is the reason why we have fire alarms."

My mother didn't listen to me. Typical. "It seems to be near our house. Hmm, perhaps, dear, we should see if they have anything they, ah, don't need?"

She was talking to my father. And what they meant by, "see if they have anything they don't need," is pretty much looting what remained of the house. I was disgusted. If it was someone else house, I would have helped them carry out what they needed. My parents, however, would loot it. Served them right to see that happen to their own house. Realizing that this was my chance to escape, I ducked into the alleyways and waited to hear my mother's scream and my father's howl of disgrace. I've heard it before, and it's like hearing two monkeys fight for a banana.

What I wasn't expecting was my father calling the guards to flush me out.

I cursed, for perhaps the billionth time. For one, I was stuck in the same alleyway as before, except that it was nighttime and the guards were still on high alert for me. I bet my money they were planning on raping me as soon as they had caught me. Heck, I bet they don't stay out this long to help old ladies walk across the street. Fuck, I'll even bet that-

"Signora?"

I snapped my head up. A boy, about my age, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, was standing in front of me. How the hell had he got there? I sighed, and glanced behind me. The guards were still looking around. "Yes?" I snapped.

He took a step back, almost surprised by my sharpness. "Um, I was simply wondering what you were doing in this alleyway at this time of night, signora."

Again, I sighed. "Okay, let's get two thing straight. My name is Alba. Second, please leave me alone. I'm, um, being chase by some stupid merda faccia. So, again, you might want to leave."

He blinked. "If you need some help, I have a barn in which you can hide in."

"Yes." I spoke without thinking. "I mean, if it's fine with you, I'd like to accept that offer."

He nodded enthusiastically. I had a bad feeling about this, but what choice did I have? I pulled my hood and walked alongside him as though he was my brother. Some guards looked at us suspiciously, but let us past. When we reached the barn, (a shabby thing that probably should be called an outhouse more than anything else) I turned around to thank him, but he was running away. For a few seconds, I was puzzled, but then a bunch of guards popped up around me. A trap.

Hmmm... I think I'm getting better at this. Seriously, though, guys, no reviews = no more story. I accept criticism too, guys, as long as it's nothing like "THIS SUCKS DELETE IT NOW!" But yeah... thanks for reading this.