[color= “firebrick”] Cherry Chapstick [/color]
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To be honest, anything was better than their current home. It would be perfect if Killian and Megara weren’t here. You might think Hera would give them the benefit of the doubt because of #gayrights, but no, she hates everyone the same <3. If anything, they hated these people a little bit more. In fact, she was currently getting pretty to sneak out. Her bedroom window netting was already way torn, she carved a big, gaping hole in it the night she got there with their pocket knife. Don’t ask.
Okay, maybe there’s one valid question that stems from that. Hera, is that imprint not a little too obvious? Yes, yes it was. And the fair maiden did not give a damn. Their mothers had security cameras installed when Hera got there. They didn’t even try to hide it that they thought she was no good. If they didn’t expect anything good from Hera, what was the point in hiding her flaws? If anything, she’s giving them what they want. A challenge. That was all she probably was to them. They imported a child from africa because it made them look nice, and when that got old, they took her in. The poor child, desperate for their salvation. How insufferable do you have to be to think like that? The girl rolled her eyes at the thought of it.
It was whatever, really. Hera just needed to escape this pretty prison. So they uncapped their [color= “firebrick”] Cherry Chapstick [/color] and rubbed it all over their lips for when the ice cold wind rippled through the crisp air, fanning at her roughly. It was wintertime in Beryl Heights, but Hera didn’t need a jacket after all of the winters she spent without conditioned air, without warmth. The Montgomeries decided to take her in around the holiday season, so she wouldn’t spend another winter out in the cold. To Hera though, they only made the holidays worse.
Every year, on christmas eve, and the morning after, she sat in a crowded room. Surrounded by peoople, yet still so alone. Every few months or so, they were placed with new people. She didn’t have the chance to get close to any of them. The kids at school always described the holidays with their families as annoying, everyone finally had to confront their problems when they were united by the fireplace. I mean, at least they didn’t have to deal with that. But in a way, it made them jealous. Yes, Hera threw hands with basically every other kid she had lived with, and they always had reasons to hate eachother, but at the end of the fighting, there was no love to reunite them. No bond built from years upon years.
The only person that they were beginning to feel like that with was a girl by the name of Daiane Meyer. She was unlike anyone she had ever met before. She was kind, and cute? It was strange, Hera is usually percieved as unemotional and lusty. However, this woman had them under some sort of spell that made her soft. Hera didn’t realize it though. Not even a little bit. In fact, in their mind, she was just going to visit out of boredom. They’d hung out a few times and she only memorized Daiane’s schedule (physics, geometry, eglish, lunch, fashion design, theatre, us history, physical education), favorite color (baby blue), mother’s maiden name (ribeiro), school email ([email protected]./org), favorite movie (moonlight), book she’s reading right now (the space between), address (5059 redfruit lane) and many other random things that are perfectly normal to remember about a friend. Totally.
Speaking of the girl’s address, Hera had to go before her little angel went to bed. They found it astonishing that anyone could go to sleep that early when there’s so much to read, sm0ke, and worry about. That was her night routine, at least, when they get home at like 1am. It’s almost impossible for Hera to just let herself relax, that’s the way it’s always been. She’s always needed to be on high alert. The one time she fell asleep before everyone else out of exhaustion, her roommates shaved her head. But we’ll cover that later.
At last, Hera stood up and dusted herself off. Then, ripped another bit of the netting in the fishnets she wore under her denim shorts before poking through the window into the frosty weather that probably should have fazed her but didn’t, heavy boots dangling as they reached for the tree branch to climb onto. When Hera was latched onto the tree, she slowly climbed down before letting go when it was safe to drop (and by that i mean she squirmed down the tree like two steps and then stopped caring.) Her feet hit the slow with a thump, her legs bending slightly for her to let out a short breath of belief that formed a cloud in front of her mouth, bringing back memories of pretending to sm0ke with the other kids when she was a small child. Oh, to go back to when the clouds in front of her mouth were fake and the ones in the sky felt real.
Quickly, the tall child ran off, into the more open part of the neighborhood. Her adoptive mothers’ house was a bit secluded by the forest, so this place seemed much brighter. They had streetlamps, and wide sidewalks. It was everything Hera pictured her life could be one day. She didn’t even have to think twice anymore about walking around alone at night, that was how safe it was. She still did it, habitually carrying pepper spray in her bag, but one day it would fade. Hopefully.
Eventually, the girl knew she found Daiane’s street when the green board read “Redfruit lane.” Don’t worry, Daiane knows that Hera can find it. However, Daiane’s parents did not. Hmmm Hera thought, questioning how to work with this. Oh!! It finally occurred to Hera that she could text her. This phone was Hera’s first, now that they had someone to pay the bill, so they often forgot they could use it as a resource. Most of the other orphans were covered by their grandparents, Hera never knew hers though. They had virtually no apps downloaded, only ever really using it to talk to Dai.
To: Ane
Hey.
Look outside your window
Ane. That was what they’ve called the girl from day one when they met at the party and she said to call her whatever they like. Ane called out to Hera. Apparently no one else called her that, which made Hera sad. To everyone else, she was Dai. Fitting name for a girl who was born right after her sister’s death. According to her family, that’s who she is. A symbol of grief. Hera felt like the first person to see her for something other than that. To Hera, Ane’s smile was brighter than the intricate christmas lights outside of her house, and her eyes were much deeper than the grave people think of when they see her.
They rushed to back up to a place where Ane could see her, up against the brick wall of her next door neighbors’ house, looking up in pure admiration as the girl presented herself at the window in her pajamas. She had no make up on, with bags under her eyes, hair in a messy ponytail like theirs. She’d never looked more beautiful. Hera was in pure awe, that was until she saw the reaction to her arrival, that made her laugh way more than it should have. Everything Dai did brought them so much joy. “Let me in, loser” She joked.
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