Away ≫ l.h. {COMPLETED} {EDITING}

Three

Amelia shoved the vacuum into the closet and wiped her hands in her jeans, "Oh, you know, cleaning."

Scarlett tossed the apple to her mum, who caught it with grace before taking a bite out of it, "How was school?"

"Usual." Scarlett mumbled, shrugging.

"Usual can mean a lot of things to you," Amelia laughed sitting next to her daughter.

Scarlett shifted so her mum had room had the couch, "Okay, fine, it was interesting."

Amelia sighed in defeat but accepted her daughters answer anyway, "That's good, did you make any friends?"

Scarlett nodded, taking the apple out of her mum's hands and biting into it.

"Any guy friends?"

Scarlett groaned and dragged herself off the couch, she was not in the mood for this conversation, "Oh, Jesus, mum."

"Fine, fine." Amelia threw her hands up in defeat, deciding not to push further.

Scarlett sighed, starting to walk away and up the stairs. She's never talked 'boy talk' with her mum, and she didn't plan on starting that now.

"Any chance you can leave the house of a couple hours at 7:30? I'm having people over," Scarlett asked, the stairs creaking beneath her feet.

"Yeah, I have to run errands anyway," was her mums response.

"Thank you!" She shouted towards her mum, and all she heard in reply was "Yeah, yeah."

The relationship between her and her mum was rather shaky, to say the least. Her mum has taken two jobs, so during the very limited time she was home, she spent it sleeping to have energy for her other job. Scarlett never understood the need for a second job, they always seemed financially stable, so she just assumed that her mum just wanted away. Away from the family, and away from the broken home.

Scarlett sat down on her bed, and pulled a copy of 'The Maze Runner' off her nightstand and opened it up. Continuing from the part where Theresa was throwing things from the tall outpost. She checked out of reality and got lost in the words of James Dashner.

It was only an hour later that her thoughts were interrupted by the front door slamming, signaling that her little sister was home. Scarlett threw her poor excuse of a bookmark in the book and placed it on her bed sheets and swung open her door.

"Nicole, come here please!" She called out.

Scarlett heard her groan but she stomped up the stairs and into her room anyway. Nicole stood in the doorway, her bag slinged over her shoulder and forced a grin on her face, "Can I help you?"

"I'm having friends over, so either stay in your room or just don't bother us."

Nicole shrugged her off, "I'm going to Ema's, so you don't have to worry about me!" Then she retreated to her room.

Scarlett sighed and let her head hit the pillow. Glancing at her alarm clock, she remembered what Ashton had told her about how they like to eat a lot of food, so now she was going to get some.

Before she knew it, she was running down the stairs, grabbing the keys to the car, shouting to her mum that she was getting food.

➵

The convenience store was only a short ride from her house, and she picked out different varieties of candy, cookies, and pints of ice cream. Her little basket was filled and heavy, so she managed to lug it over to the counter.

The cashiers eyes were wide with all the different type of food, "Having a party?" he joked.

Scarlett didn't bother laughing, she just watched the cashier unload, scan, then put into bags.

"Can I get a box of Camels?" Scarlett asked, putting her fake I.D on the counter.

The man didn't bother to check it, he just reached under the counter and slid the box over to her. He told her the total, which she paid for then walking out.

➵

In the car, Scarlett sat there, tapping the box against the steering wheel. She's been meaning to quit for a while now, but she couldn't. The feeling of the smoke enter her lungs was too much to give up.

The radio clock read '5:15', and she took breath before deciding to visit the graveyard. It's been over a month since she last went, and decided it was time to bum a smoke with her dead father.

The grave site is a more lengthy ride, but she didn't mind.

➵

The parking lot was dim and eerie. The sun was setting behind the thick clouds, and she knew she didn't have a lot of time before the sun went down completely. Scarlett grabbed the box, a lighter from the center console and exited the car. The grass was wet and she almost slipped, twice. As she neared close to the grave, her breathing started to get labored. She blinked back tears as her father's headstone came in sight.

Scarlett clutched the box in her small hands and she stood over the grave, a pained smile on her face.

"Hi, daddy," Scarlett said, her voice low. As she sat down on the wet grass, she couldn't help but cringe at the gravestones reading.

David Johnson

1971-2012

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

Husband, father, brother

"I started public school today," Scarlett said, playing with the wet grass with her fingers, "It's going okay, it's better than being home-schooled. There's a lot of people, and I even made some friends. You'd like them, I think."

She wiped under eyes and retrieved two cigarettes from the carton, she put one on the headstone and she kept the other to herself. Scarlett lit both and fell back onto the grass, putting it to her lips.

"I know you don't smoke," Scarlett exhaled, watching the smoke float into the air, "It's just the thought."

After a couple of minutes, Scarlett stood up and kissed the gravestone. She put out the two cigarettes and walked over to her resting brother, who was only two graves down.

Andrew 'Andy' Johnson

Loving and caring brother

1995-2013

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night."

Scarlett didn't bother to sit on the grass, instead she sat down on the headstone. She can hear his voice, scolding her for never respecting his stuff, "I wish you were here, Andy."

She drew in a shaky breath and held in her tears, "I've been thinking about it a lot, why you died exactly one year after dad. Was it on purpose? Did you purposely throw yourself in front of the car? Or is it what the police say, a hit and run?"

She didn't know why, but she waited for his answer.

"It doesn't matter, really," She grumbled, looking down at her lap, "Whoever did it is going to have hell to pay."

Scarlett could feel him rolling his eyes.

She stood back up and kissed his gravestone as well, "I'll be back soon."

Once she shut the car door and started the engine, she let all the tears she's been trying to hold in, fall.

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