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Ameline Willow

I lazily walk over to the living room, where a blanket and glass of water sat on a low table in front of the couch. Sitting down, I pull my feet up and sip from the cup, happy for the school day to be over. Most days were difficult to begin with, because all the watching I had to do. Taking the long way to classes so I'm not in the middle of the crowd, where I can get squished and pushed, and possibly stepped on. Most people avoided me, afraid maybe I'm contagious, or possibly they're embarrassed around me. Then, there were people like Cedar Riverdale. The people who just added to my list of things to worry about. Abner told me not to let it get to me, but it did, because without him right next to me I floundered. My tongue went slack and my eyes widened, and that only made me look sillier.

"Ameline?" I hear my mother call from the back of the house. "Is that you?" I put the cup in my lap and my head goes slightly upward. "I'm home!" I say. I wait for her to ask where Abner is, but she doesn't. He didn't walk home with me today, and it worried me, but I assumed he had to redo a test or something. He wasn't the kind of person to get detention. I stretch my arms, then place them back on the cup of water and take the last sip. I wasn't the type to chug water down quickly. I liked to take my time with it, and let it run over my tongue. I doubted any other person actually enjoyed water like I did.

My mother walks into the room and goes straight to the kitchen, which was mostly just a cabinet and stove on the far wall of the main room. There wasn't any food in there, but she was going to check anyways, as if opening the cabinet multiple times would make food magically appear. I watch her from the couch, my face not changing in expression at all as she opens it and closes it twice, then turns to me, smiling. “Your dad will get some potatoes tomorrow when he sells the ewes.”  

I nod my head, smiling a little to reassure her. If she thought I doubted her she’d kneel by the couch, take my hand in hers and promise me something. I didn’t want her to do that. I wanted her to keep her fake smiles to herself for as long as I could put them off. “How was your day?” she asks, and it takes me a second to understand her muffled words. A cold shudder runs down my spine and I look away. It probably wasn’t a good idea to look away, because she walks towards the couch and opens her arms. She wants me to stand up and hug her. When I don’t, she comes to me.

“Mom, really, you don’t need to hug me. It was a good day!” I say quickly, before she can get to me. I put the cup down on the little table and sit up, letting the blanket fall over to the side of the couch. It wasn't much of a good day at all, actually. I just wanted her to settle down for a little while. She peers at me from the side of the couch, an imitation of my teacher. The look that said she knew I was lying, but she was afraid to push me. I doubted she knew about Cedar and the other boy, but I didn't put it past her to set up spy microphones all over the school that sensed my name. Wait - could parents even do that?

I think of the day, and the past few days of that week. Before, no one had really said anything to me that was extremely hurtful. In middle school, kids were still afraid of their classmate's high school siblings. Just the knowledge Abner was one building over kept most of them from saying anything, even if they found out he was harmless (to the best of my knowledge). On Monday, Cedar was my partner for some activity. I couldn't do it right, so he told me I was stupid. It didn't phase me, because I assumed he would have said it to anyone. Then he started saying it in the hallways. On Tuesday, he called me the failed art project. It went on from there.

A hard knock on the door startles my mother and I. She jumps, and I turn my head towards the door. For a few seconds we stand in silence, and then my mother looks back at me and raises her eyebrows. "Since when do we get visitors?" she jokes, and turns her head a little. I realize how long its taking for us to open the door. Not getting regular visitors pushed on our knowledge of simple things. Things such as answering the door. I push the blanket further away from me and hop up off the couch, causing my mother to inhale sharply. I dart the six feet from the door to the couch, and before I swing open the door I hear my mother shrieking, "Be careful!"

I stand before the door, one hand still on the knob with it extended enough to see into the house. I look up at the girl, and my eyebrows furrow together. I didn't know her, but I recognized her. Did she know my brother? I take in her pretty brown hair and then smile, really looking into her eyes. "Hello," I say, but no sound comes out. I swallow and begin to open my mouth to say hello again, but my mother interrupts. "Hello! Who are you? Are you Abner's friend? He isn't home." I look at my mother, and try not to glare. She didn't realize she came out clipped and rude. Anyways, I would know if she knew Abner. I hoped.

Ameline Willow

"My name is Aria Riverdale,"  The girl says. Riverdale? Like Cedar? She confirms my thoughts, and immediately I feel a horrible cold feeling slide down my back. "I was wondering if I may speak to you? Like.. Alone," she continues. I hear my mother's sharp intake of breath. Aside from the fact not many people spoke to my mother, she still wasn't used to abrupt sentences. She hhmphs and crosses her arms. Sound traveled, but my mother was respectful when I wanted her to be. All I had to do was look at her and she'd understand. I gave her the look. I needed to know what the girl was going to say. My mother continues to stare at the girl, not noticing me.

I shift uncomfortably in the doorway, unsure why Cedar's older sister had come to my house. Then, why she wanted to talk to me without my mother around. Did she want to say more rude things to me? I mentally prepared myself, changing my mind twice before anything else was said. Maybe I didn't want to be alone with a girl I didn't know. I didn't notice most people at school outside of my grade, unless they were extremely notary. This girl wasn't, but suddenly she was a big part of my memory. Suddenly, she was center of my attention.

"And, yeah, I brought you this," she says, and suddenly my mother is won over. She smiles, and waits for Aria to stop talking before taking the meat and smiling a little wider. "Thank you, Daria," she says. She pets her hands tightly over the wrapped up meat and glances down at it a few times, trying to look at Aria at the same time. We didn't need to wait until tomorrow for dinner. I let out a light sigh, barely noticeable, and look between my mother and the girl. She didn't look very comfortable, and my mom was just standing there in the doorway holding the meat like a circus clown. I knew what she was thinking. Ways to cook beef.

I listen to the girl talk about her father, and then herself, and without making a face inwardly cringe. The word slaughterhouse sounded disgusting. Of course, it couldn't be helped. They were all over the district. There was even a possibility my father would be selling the ewes to the Riverdales tomorrow. Not a large one, because he usually went to the same places, but he varied his route from time to time. If they offered him a good price he'd give the little lambs to them. I look to my mother, who is now openly staring at the meat handed to her. Sometimes it was hard to remember how much she gave up so Abner and I could eat.

“Mom," I say, looking directly at her with pleading eyes. She knits her eyebrows together and bites her lip, looking between Aria and I. To leave your daughter with a strange girl, or not? Then she sighs and nods her head. For once, she wasn't going to deny me privacy. Right before she walks away, she smiles at Aria. I give her a funny look and turn back to the doorway. Already Aria was making me nervous, standing there like that. As if she were about to turn around and walk away. I step out onto the front porch and close the door behind me, making sure not to slam it so my mother wouldn't be startled. I knew she had been standing around the hallway corner to listen. Now she wouldn't be able to hear. "Yes?" I ask Aria.

I try to stand up straighter, to at least make myself look taller. My legs were too short to give me the height I needed for my age. I wonder if being short would be a good disguise to not go to the Reaping. Did they keep track of birth certificates? Probably, or they wouldn't know to go to your house when you decided not to show up. What if you died quietly in an alley? Did they just assume you were a runaway? I push the thoughts out of my head and focus on Aria. I wanted to hear what she, the sister of one of my schoolmates, had to say about his remarks.