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PART I
"Turn off that cartoon and go to sleep."
"No, I don't want to learn alphabet with you."
"I'm tired, kid. "
"No, I can't go to the park."
"You can't have a dog because I don't like dogs."
"You are so annoying."
"Play with your kid friends, not me."
"I'm not in the mood."
"For Christ's sake, leave me alone."
"Go away."
"Elizabeth! Get your fucking ass down here and make the kid go out for a walk!"
He rarely ever called her by name. To him, she was just a kid, maybe a foreign one. She was ever only an annoying obligation he found hard fulfilling.
He wasn't violent towards her, or her mother, yet, his emotions, hard as stone and cold as ice, were the kind of soul abuse no physical violence could ever grow up to.
"Let's go, Laura.", bright brown haired woman spoke to her child, tugging her by the hand.
Laura turned towards her mother, after giving her father a long, disappointed stare and nodded slowly. She went to put on her shoes, her mom following her side patiently. That's when the familiar voice boomed once again.
"I didn't tell you to go.", he got up and looked his wife in the eyes. His arms crossed on his fired up chest. "You stay. I need to talk to you about some things."
"But I can't let her go alone. George, she's only six-"
"That's not my problem here. Don't worry about her. She's smart. She can make it.", he glances down at the little girl who helplessly stares at her parents. "Go, Laura. It's time to go to school anyway. You woke too early."
Time was around 7:00 am.
Laura stood up after putting on her shoes and ran upstairs, to her room to search for her bag. Downstairs, she heard yelling yet again.
"George, are you crazy? You can't demand of me to stay here just to talk when Laura's about to walk out on her own!"
"What do I care? It's all your damn fault! You didn't teach your child not to bore me with questions and demands. She always wants to do things I don't really give a fuck about. If she wants to play that much, let her go out and find someone to play with her. ", his grunts and complaints were heard all the way to Laura's room.
Her curly brown hair fell around her face as she bent to pick up her backpack. She raised her small hands and wiped the tears formed in her eyes. Her small self always knew daddy didn't care for her existence. He never wanted to care or show affection. Laura was stubborn trying to get to his heart but she always ended up in tears over his harsh words and blow ups. She couldn't understand why he was like this. Her heart couldn't take much more.
And the way he spoke.. As if she weren't even his own child. As if she were some bagger, foreigner picked up on the street against his will. It hurt the little girl so horribly that her caramel brown eyes drowned in tears every day. Not to mention that he fought with mom each and every day, over simple things people shouldn't really fight about. Usually, about her.
She fixed the green shirt and put on a blue skirt length to her knees, being it the elementary school uniform. Laura immediately reached for tissues standing on the table and dried off her wet lashes. Right after, her light and quick steps coming down to the living room tapped against the stairs.
"I'm going.", she announced, ready to take on another day of first grade, which she didn't find particularly interesting. Except for the two boys that made her days better.
"Sweetie. Wait for mom outside.", Elizabeth told her in a soft voice.
Her husband walked around to get a glass of water and poured it down his throat. "I remember telling you to go, Laura. You don't need mommy to get to school. You know where the school is."
"George.", Elizabeth Marano seethed in what could be called anger then. It took only one look of George Marano for her reaction to disappear.
"Laura, go.", her father ordered.
"You are being unreasonable! I am going with my child!", her mother protested and hurried to get to her shoes. Before she could do that, George Marano stopped her in her tracks by grabbing her wrist and he put her up against a wall. The way his eyes looked at hers terrified the woman. She shut her mouth and he openly stared at her, giving her mental scolding.
Without paying attention to the little girl, two of them kept struggling against the wall when Elizabeth tried to free herself of George's grip.
"Okay!", Laura cried and ran for the door. "I'm going, daddy! Just don't hurt mommy, please."
George nodded sternly, having his eyes on his wife's face still. Laura ran out the door, able to hear their yelling all the way from front yard. She wiped her eyes yet again and continued running down the street. Laura kept walking around the quart for a long time, making a pause at a familiar park where she usually played after school. She sat on the swings thinking about the way her parents act around each other, and herself. It wasn't normal, she thought. She thought married people were supposed to be way nicer to each other than her parents were, and that fathers usually are more protective over their children than hers was.
Her small head couldn't comprehend it then, yet she only knew years later about the cause of their quarrels and later occurred disasters.
A half an hour of sitting passed by quickly and the girl moved her feet to get to school. She quickened her pace, beginning to run just for the fun of it. She liked running to cool down her raging emotions.
After turning at the familiar corner, she bumped into a body a little taller than hers. Not being able to get back her balance, she fell backwards on her butt. Eyes of the small girl rose to meet her new acquaintance. New for today, yet old for the whole six years old life she had lived.
Colton Prior, her first cousin by mom's line, widened his eyes looking at Laura. He offered her a hand, helping her stand up. Laura let out a small sob.
"That hurt.", she whimpered.
"Watch where you're going, doofus.", he gently smacked her head and then kneeled in front of her. "Your skirt got messed up."
Colton was only a year older than Laura, yet very mature for his age. The maturity of the boy showed in actions like this, when he started fixing her skirt and cleaning it of the dirt it picked up from the concrete.
"There.", he said, proud to be taking care of his little cousin. "Why are you walking alone? Where are aunt Liz and uncle George?"
Laura only shook her head, not saying a word. Colton's eyes soften at the sight of the little girl he adored so much crying. He wrapped her up in a hug and patted her head.
After the embrace, two of them parted but only to be left holding hands."Come on. I'll take you to school."
Laura nodded, feeling quite content with that information. Her cheeks dried off and she could now speak more calmly as they began walking.
"We will just pick up Ross before going. I was planning on going to his place for a game but, I guess we could just hang out.", her cousin says.
Laura crinkled her small nose. "Games? Don't you guys get tired of that?"
Colton shrugged. "I guess not."
"Where is Ross' house?", Laura questioned curiously as they both kept going forward through Colton's street.
A minute later, Colton slowed down in front of a big white mansion with a beautiful front yard mostly covered in grass and small elf figures, decorated with purple flowers. Laura's eyes stayed mesmerized on the place as she stood in awe. She thought it was some kind of beautiful castle hiding princes and princesses inside, along with the king and queen.
"Whoa.", the little girl expressed her amazement. "I wonder what kind of people live in this house."
Colton chuckled as the front door opened.
"Mooom! I'm going!! Bye!", a boy with bright blonde hair ran out of the house with one shoe on and the other gripped tightly in his hand. He ran down the stares with one foot only having a sock on, as if trying to get away from someone.
"Ross! Get back over here and take your jacket with you!", a middle aged woman's voice was heard. Laura stared in surprise while her cousin just giggled by her side, being used to his best friend's vagabond behavior.
"I told you I don't need it!", Ross shouted as he put on the other shoe while keeping up with his pace.
He ran through the big entrance in the middle of the fence and ran straight into Colton and Laura.
"You live here Ross?", Laura asked him but he didn't have time to answer.
The blonde boy grabbed their wrists instead and pulled them to run along by his side. "Come on! We have to get away or she'll catch up with me!"
He struggled to keep the backpack on his back.
Colton and Laura squeaked out a sound of surprise but caught up with him soon.
"Why are you running away?", Laura asked. "Was that your mom?"
Ross nodded and they made a turn on the corner. As they slowed down, Laura breathed out of frustration.
"Both of you are running too fast!", she exclaimed.
"It's not our fault that you're wearing a skirt.", Ross teased her in his usual light tone, trying to calm his heart from running too much.
"Or that you're a girl.", Colton backed up his best friend and chuckled.
Laura's hands crossed on her chest. Suddenly, the look in the little girl's eyes wasn't the little bit pleasant. She gave both of the boys a glare, only to be stepping on their feet a second later as she passed by.
They both winced.
"I don't care who. One of you will carry my back pack for me once we are returning home. I need to teach you manners. ", she ordered and made a light jump on her feet, turning around to take another look at them with now a goofy smile on.
Colton sighed and rolled his eyes. Ross only chuckled and walked up to her, having that same amused expression.
"Fine. I'll carry it for you."
Laura grinned and gave Ross a kiss on the cheek, then glanced directly at her cousin looking at their exchange of affection from behind his friend. She ruffled Ross' blonde hair while the boy blushed too hard, still thinking of her previous action.
"See Colton? Ross is actually sweet.", she defended the blonde now.
Ross looked away, hiding his reddened face. "You shouldn't just kiss someone like that Laura."
Laura frowned, turning her attention back to him after Colton's theatrical eye roll.
"Why not?"
Ross stared around the school's front yard without a focus, thinking what he'd say next. "Just because."
"But I didn't just kiss someone. I kissed you. It's your reward for being nice."
He felt a shiver run down his spine. They were both dense in the childish kind of way, yet they knew that kissing meant something more. At least Ross thought about it. She affected him. It was his first kiss on the cheek from a girl, that wasn't his mother or sister. It meant to him, to the childish innocence.
As Ross kept being emotionally struck by Laura's simple gesture, a group of youngsters of third grade slowly passed by. The seven kids openly stared and whispered words coherent enough for the three to understand.
"That's the one I was telling you about. I think her name is Laura.", a nine years old blonde girl speaks. "It's March already, yet her parents never showed up in school to check her grades and that. Or at a parent's meeting."
"Maybe that's why she's so weird.", a brunette kid said. "She always carries comic books to school. Her parents should really pay more attention to her."
"I think I saw her mom and dad fighting in the park where we usually play. He was so scary..", the third commented.
Ross and Colton drew their looks back to Laura whose face was hardly seen. Her chin was hanging low and her long curly hair fell around most of her face. Colton swallowed a lump in his throat and started slowly approaching Laura.
"I bet she's the kind of girl who just kisses boys for the fun of it.", a dark haired boy said and looked at Laura. "Hey, Laura. Come give me a smooch!", he started making kissing sounds while teasing her.
Laura fisted her backpack's shoulder straps tightly and began walking away, pretending like she didn't hear a thing.
"Hey!", suddenly a voice boomed in her defense. Ross' bright hazel eyes openly glared at the kids as he approached them. He mostly glared at the boy who teased Laura and pushed him back in his tracks. "Stop talking like that. She doesn't do that."
Something inside Laura's chest triggered. She had never felt more excited yet more comforted than then, when Ross stood in her defense.
"Yeah, go away. You have nothing to do with her. ", Colton backed him up.
The dark haired boy who teased Laura looked Ross in the eyes."She doesn't? We saw her kiss you."
"That..", Ross couldn't really explain since he was surprised by it himself, but Ross knew it didn't hold that kind of mischievous motives. Ross didn't even think about that. He knew Laura appreciated him and they were good friends, that's why she kissed his cheek.
"They must be boyfriend and girlfriend!", one of the girls stopped to make a conclusion.
"Same thing. Then she kisses him all the time.", the boy Ross pushed before pushed him back. "And don't you push me, Mr Boyfriend. I can say whatever I want to. "
"Yeah, if it's not about Laura.", Ross defended.
"About your girlfriend."
"We are not like that! ", Ross said, opposing to the pink color that invaded his cheeks. "We are friends."
"Whatever.", the boy said. "Hmph. You must be doing all kinds of nasty stuff."
Nasty? Laura thought. She understood the terms of boyfriend and girlfriend but she didn't know what exactly he meant by nasty. Did the boy mean kissing?
"Laura is none of your business!", Ross yelled, now losing control and running into the boy, crashing him to the ground. The dark haired one was older by two years and a little stronger than Ross but not like he cared.
"Ross!", Colton ran for his friend and Laura ran behind Colton to give him a hand at getting Ross off of that boy.
The blonde slapped the cheek of the intruding kid. "Shut up already!"
"Ross, you're gonna be punished! We are at the school! Let go of him!", Colton grabbed his shoulders and started pulling him off. He didn't even understand what's happening or why Ross was fighting since he'd never seen a scene like this before, and not to lie, they were all too young for that. Colton only knew he had to help his mad friend so he wouldn't end up at the principal's for his madness while only in the first grade.
"Stop hitting me!", the boy underneath Ross grunted and trashed around to get away. He kicked Ross in between his legs and the blonde groaned in pain, but kept the strong act. The one beneath hit Ross in the face with a fist and Ross fell off, rolling about a meter away.
Colton was now mad. Laura only stood there, afraid of what was happening. Colton leaned down and grabbed the dark one by the collar.
"Don't hit my best friend, you jerk!", he threw him to the ground.
Meanwhile, Laura approached Ross in all her worry and kneeled next to him. He lied on his side while holding himself between the legs with one hand and his red cheek with he other. Her hand gently removed the mess of a hair that's fallen across his forehead and eyes. Ross' eyes were squeezed shut.
"D-does it hurt?", Laura stuttered in fear, not knowing what to do.
Ross' eyes shot open and he looked at her. Her face was there above his, like a worried guardian angel's. He took a moment to recollect himself and shook his head no, bravely, even though it hurt pretty bad.
"Liar.", she called out on him and removed his hand from his cheek. He stared at her as she touched the bruise. "Why did you do all this? They go away when you ignore them. You shouldn't fight."
Ross now held a darker expression to his face. "What do you mean they go away when you ignore? Does this happen to you all the time?"
Laura looked away, embarrassed. She shouldn't have told him about the kids talking rumors and calling out on her since he was a little dense and he wouldn't notice it himself.
"Laura.", he sat up. "You should have told me. Or Colton. And you can't ignore. You have to fight for yourself. If you keep ignoring them, they'll just keep coming after you."
Laura's eyes prickled with tears. "But it's all true. What they say isn't wrong. Mommy and daddy don't come to school. And they fight all the time. I'm not even sure if they love each other. And daddy.. He keeps.. He keeps being mean."
Breeze tickled their exposed faces. Even though not wearing a jacket, Ross wasn't cold. He wasn't even thinking about the weather, or about the fact that his groin was hurting or that his cheek screamed pain. His eyes followed every teardrop of the little girl, the next being it his fingers that follow. He wiped them away and stood up, helping Laura stand up with him.
They all heard a bell ring inside the enormous building, which triggered adrenaline of being late. Colton and the older boy split up due to the other girls and boys calling for the dark haired one to hurry. They left quickly but Ross' eyes remained on Laura's teary ones.
"Ross. Laura.", Colton called for them. "We have to go to class."
"Don't cry.", Ross whispered and patted her head. "Parents can be fools sometimes. We will talk about it after class."
Ross' protective behavior over Laura showed very often, as he helped her studying, comforted her when she was sad and now started defending her from bullying kids that wandered around school. He really cared about the brown haired girl ever since they met through Colton. Colton was his shield made of steel, as a guy best friend, there to make jokes about other people and defend him physically when necessary, later giving him rational conclusions, yet Laura.. She held the emotional side to him. Laura was like the amulet on the chain of a swordsman who ran off to battle. Irrationally giving strength and causing different emotions to twirl when looked at. If Colton was his shield for defense, then Laura was the will to return home.
She nodded and the three of them hurried to the school entrance.
The three kids, two boys and the girl, were something like three musketeers ever since they met. Throughout their parents' relations, who were all friends since high school days, they'd known each other practically since birth. They had grown to be best of friends since Laura and Ross were four and Colton five years old. Thus began the story of the children who shared dreams, hopes and every day lives, the friends who were each other's comforts from the mare which undoubtedly made its way through their little lives, and the destroyers who brought each other the worst kind of chaos there is to exist.
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This is a prologue added long time after the first chapter was published. It's the prologue that will maybe make you understand the emotional ties of the three characters later in the story.
Hope you like it.
IT'S STILL IN THE PROCESS OF EDITING THOUGH.