Hampton, New Hampshire

"Shelly, Dominic…LET'S GO!"

"Oh my gosh…" Shelia Briar breathed, turning to look at her brother with wide hazel eyes, "I just went deaf."

"Shhhh." Dominic hissed through his laughter, "We said five minutes and it's been fifteen."

Shelly rolled her cat-shaped eyes and went back to straightening her thick ebony hair. She and her brother currently occupied the room at the back of the church, changing back into their day clothes after a long day of choir practice.

She was seventeen and stood at 5'6 with a curvy and slim figure, a body she had literally worked her cute butt off for. She had beautiful red-brown ochre skin that glowed in the sunlight from its orange-red undertones and full lips that hid her teeth. It used to bug her, but now she appreciated it because her lips hid her pink braces. Luckily, she was getting them off in two months. It would be before Senior year started.

"We need to get a new air conditioner," she told Dominic, "I thought I was gonna pass out, and both Amy and Deetra said the same thing. I could see a few people swaying on their feet."

Dominic snickered. He was nineteen and stood at 5'9 with a rectangular and thin body shape. His skin was a shade darker than his sister's and he had the same hazel eyes, though they were a little bit wider in shape. His dazzling smile would reveal the bronze in his cheeks and he wore his kinky black hair styled short with a fade.

"Maybe we just need lighter robes?" he suggested, replacing the studs in his ears, "We'll have to run it by the choir director."

Simultaneously, the siblings looked at each other and in a perfect impression of their mother said, "You got new robes or air conditioner money!?"

"We got the money," Shelly ran her fingers through her hair, wincing at the heat that lingered, "What else are the church funds for?"

"Competition-

"What are you two doing!?"

Shelly turned her head just at the door slammed against the wall. Her mother, Vanessa stood there, her mere presence filling up the bathroom. Not because of her size, but because of the professional air she carried. Some people would call that intimidating, but Shelly was sure they were just stereotyping.

Vanessa was 5'3, the shortest adult in their large family. Her dark brown hair was dense and bouncy in tight curls, pulled back in it's usual ponytail. She had an awkward body shape with large breasts and a small waist, but large hips. Looking at her, no one would guess that she basically lived at the gym and only partook in clean eating. She was probably the healthiest in the family and would live until she was one hundred.

"We're changing," Shelly said under her mom's stern stare, "Mama, it's so hot out, I can't walk around in my church robes."

"How long can it take you to change?" Vanessa demanded, "You wear your day clothes under your robes, don't you?"

"If I did that, I would sweat out all of my body weight," Dominic grumbled.

Shelly laughed when her mother popped Dominic on the back of his head for muttering under his breath and handed her the straightener when Vanessa came up behind her. Her mother had always done the back of her hair for her when she wore it straight.

Vanessa shrugged, "I don't hear no one else complaining."

Shelly shared a look with her brother and she winced when she caught her mother's glare in the mirror.

"Who complains!?" Vanessa demanded.

Shelly frowned, "I'm not telling you."

"Oh?" Vanessa's eyes widened, "And why is that, young lady?"

"Because people find you intimidating," Dominic said easily, going to the sink to wash his hands.

Vanessa scoffed, "Are you saying that because I'm black?"

Shelly had to close her eyes to keep from rolling them, 'Everyone in this room is black.' she wanted to say, but instead said, "You're intimidating because you make fun of people."

"Who do I make fun of!?" Vanessa exclaimed in disbelief.

"You just made fun of Jade the other day because she didn't know what she wanted for lunch," Shelly reminded, wincing when her mom burned her scalp, "Ow."

"How damn hard is it to pick a place for lunch?" Vanessa ranted, "Either you want teriyaki or sandwiches. I know, so, scary. Oooh," she drawled sarcastically, waving the straightener about.

"You see?" Dominic pointed out with a chuckle, "That's what we're talking about."

"Whatever," Vanessa shrugged it off, "There, Shelly, you're done."

"Thanks," Shelly smiled at her reflection, "Why are we in such a rush? Daddy's not comin' home until late. He said."

"We need groceries," Vanessa said, "You're out of toothpaste and we need to stop by the Algren house. I told Everly last week I'd ship another box over. I'm sending all their pictures."

Shelly ran her hands through her hair one more time and unplugged her straightener, wrapping the cord around its base.

"Oh," she mumbled, "What'd she say?"

"Everly?" Vanessa asked, to which Shelly nodded, "Nothin' really."

Shelly wasn't satisfied with that and twisted to look at her mother as she led the way out of the back room, "Well, did she ask about me?"

"She always does," Vanessa said, "I told her you were fine, doing good in school and still going to church. Dom on the other hand…"

Shelly sighed quietly as the conversation moved towards her brother. While Dominic was still in the choir thanks to their mom being in charge of it, he often missed practices and skipped out on church days to hang out with his friends. He didn't have a job, but was looking for one, as well as attending college.

"Okay," Shelly said, wanting to bring the conversation back to her, "What else?"

She flinched when the bright sunlight hit her eyes and brought her hand up to cover them. She could hear the car running, which meant that Dominic had taken the keys and occupied the passenger seat. She hated it when he did that. She was usually the one who sat up front.

"What else what?" Vanessa asked, getting into the car.

Shelly got in behind her mother's seat and was about to answer when Dominic opened his stupid wide mouth.

"She wants to know if Kit asked about her because all of a sudden they're BFF's."

"Shut up, Dominic!" Shelly snarled.

"No!"

"Knock it off!" Vanessa said loudly, pulling out of the parking lot, "When are you two going to learn to grow up?"

"He doesn't need to comment," Shelly quipped, "We weren't even talking to him."

She scowled and folded her arms across her chest, having to say one more thing, "And you don't know nothin' about me and Kit, Dom, so shut up."

"Shelly!" Vanessa scolded, "Girl, what did I just say? Be quiet!"

"Anything," Dominic corrected under his breath, but of course, his mother didn't hear him.

Shelly wanted to huff, but did as she was told and slumped back in her seat. Being seventeen, her mother had stopped spanking her years ago, but that didn't mean she couldn't get punished other ways. Once, after she had been caught sneaking out, her mother had literally removed her bedroom door for two months. It had been pure torture.

They drove in silence for awhile, until her mom spoke, "We're gonna go shopping later, so does anyone want Aroma Joe's? We have a lot of stuff to do at the house."

"I do," Shelly muttered, then was quick to add, "Please."

Her tone was short, indicating that she was still annoyed with her brother. He was so immature sometimes and there were days when she really couldn't stand him and wished that their parents would just kick him out already. Right after high school, when she was eighteen, she planned to get a dorm when she went off to college and was looking into UCLA as her dream school. She was hoping to get in to their Anthropology program.

"What do you want, Shelly?" Vanessa asked when they were next in line at the drive-thru.

"Grande iced caramel latte with an extra shot of espresso," Shelly recited. She got the same thing every time. Unless it was cold out. Then, she got a hot latte or one of the holiday drinks.

"Thank you," she said, when she received her drink at the next window, "I'm so thirsty."

"All that singing," Vanessa explained, "Dom, you want anything while we're out?"

"Nah," Dominic shook his head, "I'd rather wait until dinner."

Her mom turned on the radio, filled the silence and as they sang cheerfully along, they drove by plenty of beaches and Shelly could see all types of people, adults and kids alike running around. As the summer months approached, more tourists would be coming. That was going to be annoying.

"I don't think M'gonna straighten my hair, this summer," Shelly thought aloud, mostly to her mother, "It's too hot and it takes too long."

"I told you not to straighten it, anyway," Vanessa scolded, "Your hair breaks off and then it's all over the place. We'll get it cut and you can leave it curly. Wear it in the puff-puffs. Those were cute."

Shelly made a face, "They make me look like I'm six."

"You already look six," Dominic remarked, which Shelly maturely ignored.

"And you know we're with the family in July," Vanessa reminded, "Bob said he secured a house. A big one and you and your cousins always wanna go swimming."

Shelly shrugged to herself. That much was true.

"I'll just wash it when we get home, then," she decided, making another face at how frizzy and split her ends were.

If the whole family was going up to the resort, then that meant all the "important" family members would be there. Her great aunts always made annoying remarks and comments and that was part of the reason she always tried to look good and get her life together.

'I hope Jacie isn't there,' she thought, envious of her cousin who was oh-so perfect and whom everyone praised.

"Is Jacie going, this year?" she asked, speaking her thoughts aloud.

"Oh my gosh, Shelly," Vanessa shook her head, having heard this before, "We have to do this every year? Every holiday? Every family event?"

"I'm just asking!" Shelly said, getting defensive.

"Well, I don't know," Vanessa said shortly, "We don't need to worry about that, right now."

"Maybe you don't," Shelly grumbled.

"What did you say!?"

"I didn't say anything!"

Her mom responded by cranking up the radio and Shelly rolled her eyes dramatically, going back to sip her coffee.

When they arrived at the Algren house, Vanessa drove up the long paved driveway, parking in front of the double garage.

The gorgeous colonial house, originally belonging to Katherine Blythe, now belonged to Everly Algren. Thus, it had so recently been nicknamed the 'Algren house.'

"Go in through the back or the front?" Shelly asked, looking at the wooden staircase that led to the generous deck overlooking a fabulous back yard, teaming with nature.

Vanessa pulled the keys from the ignition, "The back door is locked."

"Go through the back," Dominic mocked through a loud snort, "Idiot. Are you trying to get us shot?"

"Hey!" Vanessa tsked, sucking her teeth, "I told both of you to quit it."

Still, Dominic smirked at Shelly, making her stick her tongue out at him as she unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car so that her mother could lock the doors.

It was a perfect house, Shelly thought, looking up at it. When she was little, she was sure it had been something out of a fairy tale.

It was artistically designed with varying colored patterns of brick front siding and large palladium windows, four on each side. There was another window, high up near the peaked roof and right above the white door. She had learned, years ago, that the purpose of the window was to let in natural light. The whole house looked like a castle being 2.5 stories and 3,200 square feet with four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. It was only one mile from all the beaches and nestled, hidden at the end of a cul-de-sac in one of Hampton's finest neighborhoods.

Shelly would have killed to live in this house. Being as poor as the Algren's had been, Shelly couldn't understand why when the house was turned over to her, Everly would pack up the whole family and move them to pokey little Washington state, to a town that Shelly couldn't even remember because it was that small and no one had ever heard of it.

'It probably got too expensive,' Shelly concluded, 'Or maybe it was too painful.'

She climbed the long wide brick steps that only led to the brick walkway that went up the house. She was the last one to go inside. It smelled like emptiness and cleaning supplies and out of respect for Katherine, Shelly slipped her shoes off and left them by the door.

The foyer was nice and Shelly turned her head. The house was so big that there was even a spare room attached. Looking outside of the building, it looked like someone had connected a smaller house to the left side of the structure, but it was just another room that Katherine had used as her "formal living room". It held her grand piano covered by a crisp white sheet and there was a couch some feet behind it so that people could listen to her play.

She walked out of the foyer and into the living room. The living room was big too, with a high cathedral ceiling. The television was there, but none of the electricity worked and neither did the heat or the water, which was disappointing. She could see the impressive stone fireplace gathering dust, though it was too hot to use, now.

"Shelly?" she looked up when her mom called her name and saw her mom on the staircase, "We left some stuff here last time, remember? So, get the tape out the drawer in the kitchen and bring it up. The scissors too."

Shelly nodded and took a long sip from her drink. She switched hands as she headed to the kitchen, through the windowed double doors, wiping off the condensation that had built up on the cup.

Because both Katherine and Everly had loved to bake, the kitchen was the heart of the home. Everything was smooth bright wood and slick black granite. The counter was so big that it acted as a table, though there was a separate dining room. The floor was tiled and there were an abundance of cabinets and a double sink. All the appliances were still there, but were unplugged, all made of stainless steel. There was a window above the sink where she could gaze out to the deck if she didn't want to stand in front of the paneled sliding door.

She remembered going over with Kit and helping Everly bake once for one of the church's many successful fundraisers. They had made espresso cheesecake and of course, being only eleven, she and Kit hadn't been allowed to have any.

"Did you get the tape?"

She jumped with a gasp, having not expected her brother to appear over her shoulder and she turned to glare at him, though he looked completely innocent.

"Do you see tape in my hands!?" she snapped, stomping over to one of the drawers to look for it after abandoning her drink on the counter beside the sink.

"Hey, screw you!" Dominic snapped back, "Mom said, get the tape, so get the tape! What's your problem?"

Shelly rolled her eyes and pulled out the thick roll of clear shipping tape, "You scared me. Obviously," she extended her hand, "Here."

Dominic's thick eyebrows knitted together, "No, you gotta help. You're doing Kit's room because, you know, you're 'Best Frie-

"Okay, Dom, got it," Shelly drawled in a bored tone, bumping Dominic's shoulder as she walked past him and up the stairs to the spacious second level, "Mama! Tell Dom to leave me alone!"

"Both of you knock it off!" Vanessa yelled from wherever she was in the house, "Ya' know what? Just don't talk to each other!"

Shelly walked down the hallway and into one of the generous bedrooms where she found her mother taping up a box. The bedroom was still completely furnished as were all the other fifty thousand rooms in the house. None of the furniture had belonged to the Algrens. All of it belonged to Katherine who had been extremely well off. Clearly.

"Why do I have to do Kit's room?" Shelly asked her mother, trying not to whine, "Kit took all of her stuff with her."

"You have to dust," Vanessa pushed some loose hair back, "We haven't been here in two weeks."

Shelly knew better than to question her mother any further and risked hearing the firm "Because I said so!", but she was still a teenager who had teenager feelings and right now, she was kind of irritated.

"Just outta curiosity," she chose her words carefully, not wanting to back talk, "And I mean no disrespect, but why can't we wait until they come back to clean? They can't live in Forks, forever. They can't clean their own house?"

"We're not cleaning their house for them," Vanessa said evenly, "We're doing this for Katherine. I promised Everly I'd do it for at least a little while. It makes her feel better, it makes me feel better and just like us, Katherine loved herself a clean house."

"Do they pay you for it?" Shelly regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth and she winced, right when her mom's head snapped up to give her a firm look, one hand on her hip.

"Is that your business?" Vanessa demanded in a no-nonsense tone.

Shelly shifted her weight, pulling on her fingers to avoid crossing her arms or placing her own hand on her hip. She was already in hot water and had been all week.

"No, ma'am," she mumbled.

"What?" Vanessa leaned forward, "What was that?"

"No, ma'am," Shelly repeated, louder.

"I'm getting sick of your attitude, Shelia," Vanessa's voice wavered and Shelly frowned at the use of her full name, "All week, I've put up with it and if you think people out in the real world are gonna put up with it, then you're in for a rude awakening. You talk like that and end up gettin' killed," she gestured, "You see it on the news all the time."

"Okay," Shelly said, just to show her mom that she was listening.

"You get that from my grandma, your great grandmother," Vanessa said firmly, "There is a time and place for everything, Shelly and you can learn that the easy way or the hard way. You'll be learnin' it the hard way from me, if you don't knock it off. You think me taking your door was a punishment?" she snorted and shook her head, "You don't know punishment."

"Okay," Shelly said again.

"Don't say okay, just change your attitude!"

Shelly breathed a quiet sigh through her nose. Any other time, her mom would demand that she say okay, then shut her mouth. It made her wish her dad was here. Being his only daughter and the baby had its perks. He was super easy on her and would scold her mother when she scolded Shelly.

'Just because you had a rough day at work, doesn't mean you get to treat me like shit,' she grumbled inside her head. Not only was her mom choir director, but she was a substitute teacher, and sometimes worked long hours.

"Go, Shelly!" Vanessa waved her off, "We have a lot to do and I didn't want to be here more than an hour."

Considering her mom was looking down, Shelly allowed herself to roll her eyes heavily and stalked out of the room to go to Kit's old room. Like Everly and Blake's room, the furniture was still there, even the bed and it's ugly bright floral comforter that made Shelly want to vomit.

She took a seat on the mattress, bouncing with how hard she sat down. She probably could have fallen asleep. She had a long day at school, then a three hour choir practice, it was hot out and she just wanted to go home and take a nap.

With a sigh, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket, smiling at all the text messages she saw. She was popular in school and always had been. She liked to party and was on the cheerleader team and because she was going to be a Senior next year, she was desperately hoping that she would be captain…or at least co-captain if the current captain couldn't decide between her and another girl.

Not only was she a cheerleader, but she was the Vice President of the Black Student Union, in ASB, Honor Society and a bunch of other stuff.

The only thing that sucked about being so popular, is that she had a prepaid phone. She swore that she went through a million minutes in just one day.

"Wow, I can see you're really getting some cleaning done."

Shelly rolled her eyes again, mid-text, "It's not going to take me that long and I can text if I want to," she looked up when she heard her mother's cellphone ring. She cocked her head at her brother, "See? Mama's on her phone."

"Are you going to Tanner's party?" Dominic asked, to which Shelly shook her head.

"Ugh!" she pretended to gag, "No! His parties are gross and someone always brings drugs and alcohol," whether she liked to party or not, she was still faithful and knew better than to underage drink or use drugs, "And you can't go."

Dominic snorted, "I'm grown."

Shelly shook her head, "Not when you live with mom and dad, you're not. And Tanner's a creep. He got suspended when he was a Freshman and if you go I'm telling. No one likes him."

Shelly hated all of her brother's friends. They were all loudmouth airheads who couldn't tell the difference between their left and right feet. They would make obnoxious, crude boy comments and she was pretty sure that one of them had been arrested for vandalism. Besides, when Dominic was with them, he changed and pretended that he wasn't a boy who had grown up middle-class.

It was safe to say that Dominic hadn't met his friends in church.

Clicking through more of her texts, Shelly frowned and looked up, "Hey, Dom? Did Ca-

"WHAT!?"

Violently startled by her mom's shriek, Shelly shot to a standing position and hurried out of Kit's old room after her brother Dominic who had already rushed down the hallway.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness," her mother was saying, one shaking hand covering her mouth, "Yes, yes, I hear you, okay. Right, okay, honey, I'm coming, then! Yes! Soon, soon, I promise!"

The phone was hung up without her saying goodbye and Shelly's eyes widened when she saw her mom's face begin to crumple. Her mother never cried.

"Mom!" Shelly gasped, forgoing her usual term of endearment, "What's wrong?"

Vanessa shook her head and quickly composed herself, running out of the room, with her phone in her hands, "No, let's go. We have to go! Dom, let's go! I need to text your father and tell him to come home!"

Shelly was starting to get scared and almost wanted to cry. She had never heard her mother speak like that in such a frantic way. Her mom had mentioned their father so nothing was wrong with him. Was something wrong with her grandma or her grandpa? Had one of her cousins died or any of her aunts or uncles? Her uncle Sam had a stroke last summer. He had made a lot of progress, but had he had another one?

Through all her panicked thoughts, she ran so fast that she almost fell down the stairs and she cried out when her foot twisted, causing her phone to fall out of her pocket. Quickly, she picked it up and put on her shoes, stumbling out of the house so that her mom could lock the door.

"What's going on!?" Shelly demanded, but no one answered her.

"Just get in the car, Shelly!" Vanessa snapped.

Shelly did as she was told and she hadn't even closed the car door yet when her mom tore out of the driveway, the tires screeching against the pavement.

"Mama, where are we going?" Shelly's voice wavered.

She heard her mom take a deep breath and the car slowed down a little. Though when her mom spoke, Shelly could hear the tears and panic in her voice.

"I'm taking you and Dom home," she said, "I have to pack some clothes and get on a plane."

Shelly bit her lip, "Can I come with you?" she felt like a child when she asked, but despite fighting all the time, she hated being away from her mom.

"No, baby, you're staying here with your dad," Vanessa said firmly, "You guys can't come, just me."

Shelly swallowed thickly, "Well, where are you going? How long are you going to be gone?"

"Shelly," Dominic warned, "Leave her alone."

"I don't know how long," Vanessa answered, "Not too long, okay?"

"Where are you going?" Shelly asked again, hating how whiny her voice came out.

"…I have to go to Forks," Vanessa's voice cracked, "Everly needs me."

Everly? That stopped Shelly short and she leaned back in her seat, appalled. Did something happen to Blake?

"Did Everly call you?" Dominic asked, "What happened?"

"Oh, so you can ask questions?" Shelly scoffed, but was ignored.

"Please, I need to focus on driving, right now," Vanessa said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Shelly opened her mouth, but Dominic beat her to it, "We want to come with you. We love Everly and Blake just as much as you do. You're always saying that we're grown. Why can't we come?"

"It's not appropriate," Vanessa took a sharp turn, "And I'm sorry, no offense, but you're gonna be in the way. I can't stay with Everly and watch you two or get you food or anything like that."

Shelly bristled, "You don't need to watch us."

"BE QUIET!" Vanessa boomed, "Stop, okay, stop! You're both staying here, with your dad—he's on his way—and that's that, no back talk! This is grown up business and like it or not, you two are still my babies and as long as you live under my roof, you will do as your mother tells you."

It was tensely silent after that and Shelly realized, a little too late, that she had left her iced coffee on the kitchen counter. She hadn't even drank half of it.

She perked up, straightening in her seat when she saw her dad's Lexus parked in the front. She wondered how he had been able to come home like that. Her father, Raymond worked as an executive director for a car company and often worked long hours and sometimes didn't even get weekends off.

"Daddy!" she cried, when she saw him still in his car.

Quickly, she jumped out, just as he was getting out, carrying his briefcase and looking at his phone.

Raymond was forty-six and tall, wearing a crisp suit. He had salt and pepper hair in the same texture as his son and had a small mustache and a goatee speckled with gray. His wide forehead had a few deep wrinkles from stress, but he was still handsome.

"Shelly!" Raymond said in his deep voice, opening up his arms, "Hey, you."

"Daddy, what happened?" Shelly demanded, fixing her bright eyes on him.

She frowned when her father grimaced and glanced over at her mother who was quickly approaching.

"Hey, baby…" Raymond's eyes followed Vanessa as she rushed into the house, then he sighed and looked down, addressing Shelly, "It's okay."

"No, tell me what happened!" Shelly insisted, "Did Blake have a heart attack or a stroke? Tell mama I have to go with her. Kit's going to be upset and Indigo's going to be upset and Everly's going to want to be with Blake so-

"Nothing," Raymond interrupted her firmly, getting Shelly to stop her rant as he touched her shoulder, phone still in his hand, "Nothing happened to Blake."

Shelly blinked. It had been three months since the Algrens left and two years since they had stopped speaking to everyone and going to church. Indigo had been six, then, so how old was she now? Eight? Nine? The small child had always been hyper and bouncing all over the walls, so Shelly wouldn't be surprised if she had gotten hurt on the school playground or at home.

"Did Indigo get hurt?" she asked. She bounced on her toes, "I'm going crazy, please tell me! What happened!?"

Raymond sighed heavily and Shelly bit her lip, noticing that her father's dark brown eyes looked a little weird. Had he been crying?

"Shelly…" he started in a gravelly voice, "I'm so sorry, sweetie."

Shelly's heart began to pound in her chest as her father swallowed thickly, then inhaled and opened his mouth to speak.

"Kit's in the hospital. She tried to kill herself."