Girls of Portland

Chapter One: Harper

It was a stormy evening, the rain pounded on the windows to the rhythm of my racing heart. It's scary living alone. I moved to Seattle for an intern program for the summer. Juniper Medley used to live with me, but she left.

I cuddled on the big orange sofa in the front of the apartment. The apartment is pretty beat up. It has a small kitchenette, a sofa, and one of those old tv's which still has the big antennas sticking out. Then theres a bunk bed in the back. When I was a kid, I always wanted a bunk bed, its not as comfortable as you may think.

Juniper would always take the bottom bunk, she had a fear of enclosed spaces, and the top bunk almost touched the ceiling.

Juniper...

Our mother's met when they were kids. It's some sappy story I prefer not to think about. Almost as soon as I came out of the womb, Juniper and I were pushed at each other. I didn't mean to kill her. Our mom's wanted us to be "best friends" just how they had been. But it would never be that way. Juniper was nice to everyone, she volunteered at every place imaginable, and everyone loved her. While she would have been saving abandoned pets, I'd be in my room. I still don't understand how my mother could be friends with such a selfish, arrogant woman.

Something crashed against the window and glass erupted onto the carpet. I heard screams running up and down the hallways. "Fire! Fire!". I panicked. I'm not one to panic. I ran to my room and grabbed my old duffel bag from the closet, I threw in anything that was around me. I grabbed my phone, and ran out the door. There was more smoke in the hallway then air. I leaped down the stairs two at a time. I have never breathed so hard in my life, my chest was about to explode. For less then a moment, I almost considered falling, letting the smoke eat me up. I had no one left to go back to. I fell to the ground.

Its scary living alone.