In Pieces

***** 

Hallo people! 

So... first story, huh? This was something I was supposed to enter in a contest, but on the due date, my internet went out and I couldn't turn it in. :/ 

Oh well, it'll find it's home here. I hope you like! 

P.S. The song is there mostly for the glass references. It's the only song I can think of with a glass reference in it. Besides Chemicals React by Aly and Aj. But I felt that this was more appropriate.  

If you can find another song that fits better, or is more musically tasteful, please comment so. 

Toodles, and Happy Reading! 

*****

There're only ever two types of children in families: those whom the parents are proud of, and the ones that become artists. 

This was what Cassidy mused upon while Ada made a wide right turn with the BMW that, unlike her sister, she could afford, "Listen, Cass, you're a twenty-something year old woman now, and you don't have a proper job, you live in a small flat downtown, you dress like a hobo, you don't hang out with any of your friends-," 

"What friends?" Cassidy snapped before she could stop herself. 

"-And frankly, soon you'll be broke. I mean, if you were a normal artist, you might actually get money," Ada continued, and turned from the road to face her, "But all you ever do is that glass stuff." 

"My art medium is none of your business," Ada's younger sister's voice was barely above a whisper.  

"Well, people used to buy it, right? Whatever happened to that?"  

As a good District Attorney should, Ada hit it where it hurt Cassidy the most. Cassidy rubbed the soft fabric of her old, faded jeans between her fingers. 

She counted the holes where the denim had been burned from the furnace. 

10. 

"I... I haven't been able to make anything good anymore," she admitted. 

"Why not? It's not that hard. All you do is melt a bunch of marbles or wineglasses together." 

Cassidy stared at her toes and murmured, "You wouldn't understand, Ada. It's not that. I'm just too... unmotivated to make anything anymore." 

"It's because you're so depressed, Olivia Cassidy Dressler!" The light turned red, allowing Ada to turn fully toward her little sister, "If you'd just hung out with your friends a little more-," 

"I don't like them," Cassidy replied with steel in her voice, "Name any of my friends and I'll tell you why I don't like them." 

"We're not doing this again, Cass," Ada peered into the bright sunlight in order to see the road, "You wanna get some lunch? It'll be on me." 

Cassidy knew this was Ada's form of charity, and she wasn't taking it, "No, I'm full." 

"Then let me drop you off, at least," Ada insisted. 

Windforest Road was lined with red-brick apartments and small stores that seemed tired and grey. They passed by the pet shop, the minimart, and the liquor store before reaching Cassidy's apartment complex. 

"Thanks for the ride back from Mom's," Cassidy picked up her second-hand leather duffel and opened the door, "See you at Thanksgiving!" 

She watched the shiny grey car turn at the end of the street before she climbed up the stairs to her apartment. She counted the stairs, and the cracks she passed by.