Song: Wanderlust; The Weeknd.

'Good girls go to heaven, and bad girls go everywhere.'

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             I heard my sister's barks from downstairs, squealing and calling my name as her feet stomped up the spiral staircase, leading to the third storey of our house, before she forcefully opened my room door. As annoyed I was at her for invading my privacy, I refused to look up or pay attention for what commotion she had come us to cause or even what chatter she had for me. I was simply uninterested.

          "Addy, guess what?" her high pitched voice sang. Her face had a beaming expression, I saw her quivering at the seams with effort to hold back the full extent of her glee. There she stood, by the corner of my queen-sized bed, her plush toy; Cheesy, hugged in one arm, rocking back and forth awaiting my reply.

           "What is it, Marjorie? I don't particularly enjoy you walking into my room without knocking. Why else would the 'Knock First and Await My Reply Before Entering' poster be hung on my door knob and pasted in bold on the front of my door?" I replied her in a monotonous voice hoping her high spirits would've found their way to the depth of my ignorance.

            "We have a new neighbour! That's what. And they have children, and a girl and a boy, Addy! There's going to be real life people at my tea party." Marjorie said cheerfully and clapped her hands. Her laughter revealed two small milk teeth, her pigtails moving from left to right at her movement.

            A hand of warmth reached out and wrapped my heart as I observed Marjorie's happiness bring life into every non-living object in my room. I quickly diverted my gaze away from her before she noticed me and asked her to join her tea party. I already had an important assignment to be working on so I put back my focus in place.

            I started typing out a few words on my keyboard as a wave of ideas washed through my head when I was disrupted by Marjorie jumping, clapping and laughing simultaneously. I had already started back on my assignment which made me want to pay a minimal fraction of attention to Marjorie in my room but her laughs were not very easy to neglect.

            Part of me was ready to give her a good yell and ask her to take her tiny 4-year-old feet out of my room, but when I turned to look at her, I saw her waving out the window.

          "Marjorie, are you crazy? Who are you waving at? Get back here!" I called her sternly. I did not want her to be the centre of attention of a kidnapper or a murderer. Especially not from the window in my room.

           "Addy, it's the new boy! He said hi to me. Mama said it's bad to be rude." she replied, sulking and dragging her feet towards my bed. She jumped backwards onto my bed an looked at her legs swinging freely from the heights of my bed.

            "Marjorie, Addilyn! Girls, come downstairs for a hot minute or two, Miss Tatiana is here to see us and she has visitors!" I heard my mother's shrill voice, yelling at the top of her lungs.

            I took Marjorie's hand in mine as we walked slowly downstairs to meet our old neighbor; Miss Tatiana and her 'visitors'. Before we could reach the bottom of the stairs, Marjorie released her hand from mine and ran towards the living room as if she already knew the visitors.

           "Addy, it's the boy from your room window!" Marjorie spilled excitedly and ran towards the boy who was sitting on our couch, sipping tea even more elegant than I would and could.

            Upon seeing Marjorie, he swiftly put his teacup back on the saucer and then on the glass table. He dusted his lap and tapped it as if gesturing Marjorie to sit on it. Abidingly, Marjorie did as she was supposed and the boy's lips curved up into a bright smile.

              "Addilyn, these are Miss Tatiana's children; Shane who is your age and Liana who coincidentally turns out to be just Marjorie's age." my mother explained as I moved forward to shake Shane's hand. He had a very firm grip. If there was one thing I instantly liked about this new 'boy-next-door' was how stunningly he took care of Marjorie and how absolutely elegantly he sipped his tea.

             "I'm Shane. Hi, I doubt you remember me much from before because I was a pretty different looking kid back then. I lived here before my parents got a divorce and we had to move upstate and live with my dad. But now he turned abusive so we're here to live with our mum." he explained, not sparing any personal details. His voice was deep-- not too deep-- but usually that voice that comes straight from the stomach.

              "Oh my gosh! Shane! We used to spend our evenings in the playground catching butterflies!" the both of us chuckled remembering an old memory that filled us with so much joy.

             "I'm Liana. You can call me Lola." Shane's sister said extending out a big colourful lollipop. She passed one to Marjorie as well. I could see behind her two missing front teeth and God awful curls, she wanted to keep the lollipop for herself.

            I kneeled down in front of her so we were at the same height.

            "You know what, Lola, I think you deserve that lollipop more than I do." I said to her as a huge grin plastered across her face. Soon her two missing teeth could be seen as she leaned forward to put her small, fragile arms around my neck and give me a hug.

            I placed my palm on the small of her back. She smelled like baby powder and roses. I was hugging her when I noticed red markings on her back, as if lashed. Her sleeveless, loose dress revealed a whole lot more of lashes than I had ever seen in my entire life, All of it on an innocent girl's back. I felt my hug tighten around her abruptly.

            "I-- can't-- breathe!" I heard a small voice behind my ear squeal. I quickly let her go and straightened out the inivisible creases on her dress. Looking at her face, I felt tears well up in the corner of my eyes imagining the pain she must have gone through at such a young age.

            I stood up and placed myself on the nearest couch, quickly wiping my tears away before they broke free from their barriers.

            There were six people in the living room that day but I knew there were only three people who's heart and soul were fully there. Fully enjoying life with no pain.

            Just living their respective lives in general.

A/N: Hey guys, that was the first chapter! (FINALLY) I'll be updating as frequent as possible, hopefully once every two days. I hope you enjoy this story and I'd love to hear your opinions!

XO,
Asha