The Way We Are

03

Lola walked out of the building which she was currently calling home. Sure, a hostel wasn't exactly the cosiest of places, and more times than not she had to fight it out with her fellow occupants for somewhere to actually sleep; but it was the best that she had at the moment, what with being temporarily homeless and all.

Life had well and truly handed Lola a bunch of lemons, and she had full intentions of creating lemonade. She had been given a bad hand, and she was opting to ignore all and enjoy life for what it was; one big, massive, amazing adventure, full of interesting people. Not that she had actually met that many people...but she intended to! Once she actually managed to muster money, from somewhere, and you know, actually look into a passport...not to mention plane tickets, or train, or whichever mode of transport she decided to hop onto. Yes, Lola intended to get the heck out of the country and see the world. This place was becoming very boring. And she didn't like being bored. She hated being bored. She wanted something fun to do. Something fun which didn't revolve around her means of either getting money, or food. Both of those ways, in fact, involved stealing...a lot.

In fact, the earlier three muffins were actually chowed down eagerly with someone else's money. She didn't know the man, but his wallet was right there. Well, not literally, she did have to swipe it from his pocket first, minor issue. Yes, Lola knew full well that stealing was wrong. But no one else was offering her food. The hostel and its supply of food was stretched thin as it was. Lola was very much capable of feeding herself, just she had to steal to do so. It was wrong, but yet again, she needed to eat. And she never took much. Only enough for something to keep her going through the day. Those muffins were the first thing she had eaten in about four days. And she enjoyed them very much. And she actually wished she could've got more. But she couldn't, she needed the remaining money for something to drink, something in a bottle which could be rationed wisely.

Lola's life wasn't always like this. Daughter to a hairdresser and a banker, oddest mix ever, she always thought; sister to a younger brother, passed and Lord if she didn't know her parents hated her for it, they made sure to remind her most days she still lived with them.

His name was Henry, and he happened to pass over through mere accidental circumstances. Some hot weather had struck, a heatwave in all its glory had started fires, the air and ground were both so ripe for it, it was a miracle there hadn't been one already. Her home was caught in the middle, along with several others; only, her parents weren't home, because though they wanted children, neither seemed too go out of their way to get less involved with their own lives to look after them. Not saying her parents were horrible from the outset, but Lola did muse that they loved themselves too much to possibly love two little extensions of themselves. The point was proven when left alone with a baby brother with a wildfire going on. She had only just managed to get out, whereas her brother wasn't so lucky, despite being carried against herself. Smoke inhalation, apparently. It was several weeks later after being caught in an argument that Lola disappeared, literally, from in front of her angry parents.

So not only had their son just died, they had also discovered their eldest was a mutant. To say that both parents didn't cope well was an understatement. They put up with her for as long as needed before she was old enough to move away for schooling, and then she was put on the first bus. They didn't particularly care with what she was studying, just like they didn't care that she had actually, shockingly, done well at school to even get into anything else. She hadn't grown up in the most stable places, she was reminded daily how old her brother would've been on that day, and if she was quick enough to leave the house, then he would probably still be alive now. Then of course there was the actual berating for being what she was. That was a whole new ball game.