Work Text:
Before I start, this story is filled with references of abuse, child neglect, sexual assault, LGBT+ themes, inappropriate language, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide, racial issues, etc. and maybe some time skips along the way so none of you are bored.
If you are sensitive to or against any of those things, then maybe you don't want to read some things mentioned in this book.
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Days had passed by like shadows for many years as she had sat and walked up and down the same streets as she was now with her shoes that were falling apart piece by piece, ripped jeans, and stolen clothes from the thrift store they had just walked past. Through those years, she held a small hand in her own tightly, for ever since she was brought into this world, she knew that she would protect the small one, that she would forever make sure she would be there for her, her young little sister.
Piper, who was now twelve and walking by her sister on the sidewalk, having to avoid the gazing eyes of people who looked towards them. Susan watched them as they watched her, and now they would finally get to watch the day where they wouldn't be stuck with their ratted hair and clothes on the streets no longer. They will watch and will regret the small snickering or the hurtful comments towards them, and they will regret all of the hurtful looks towards her sister.
She looked into a pair of hurtful, dull eyes one last time and she smirked, catching a man in a suit beside her off guard before his glued eyes watched her step into a tenement. The smell was far much different than hers, which reeked of must and dirt while the lobby of the building smelled of lavender air freshener, to which Piper breathed in joyously. "This place looks fairly nice.." She mumbled while looking up towards her elder sister. "We will be able to actually afford all of this?" She asked, to which Susan looked down at her, she pondered that question to herself as well as she carried with her just a small, worn down bag from the thrift store that held all of the money she had worked for, as well as begged for.
"I-I'm sure we will." She replied with a raspy voice before flashing a quick grin towards her sister. She didn't know how she should approach the man at the desk who hadn't even bothered to acknowledge their existence. "Stay here, ok?" Susan whispered, a look of caution flashed on her face before stepping out towards the front desk. She watched his slow movements, how his eyes slowly scanned the computer in front of him, he was bored out of his mind clearly. "Hello?" Susan mumbled, but wasn't heard apparently until she tapped on the desk. "Hello sir." She said again, then watching his slow eyes look towards hers before he fully scanned her face.
"Sorry ma'am, we aren't a homeless shelter." He grumbled before he traced his eyes back to the computer. "I know that, actually I'd like to buy a place." Susan was rejecting the incomplete thoughts of what she wanted to do when he said that. She wanted to punch his face in so hard and to run off with his rustling keys off to a paradise up above them. His eyes looked back up at her, a small grin appearing on his face as he snickered and raised a brow. "Do you even have the money darling?" He asked.
The thoughts rushed back to her again as she stared at him, hard. The man jolted from something behind his desk "H-Hey! You cannot be here behind this desk!" He yelped, looking down towards a smaller girl with light auburn hair. "We do in fact have money! Show him!" Piper said loudly as she stood up from behind the desk. Susan would've gotten onto her for being disrespectful, but wasn't he as well toward them? Susan grabbed coins and dollar bills from her purse and plopped them onto the desk "Here" She mumbled with crossed arms, Piper returned to her and did the same. The man rolled his eyes before slowly looking down at each penny, nickel, dime, quarters even, and added them along with the many dollar bills they had.
It took a long moment for him to add it all together, as he did, a young older woman with short light brown hair had walked down the steps. She had dark circles located under her eyes, with large glasses to magnify them and her eyes, a baby blue almost, but had grown so dull. She was busy looking down at a small book, her eyes never leaving each printed word on the pages as she continued walking down the stairs before finally reaching the floor. The man finally spoke, breaking Susan's gaze from the woman "Your forty dollars short." He mumbled which made Susan catch herself with wide eyes. "But-" Susan felt herself tumbling through thoughts she couldn't even hold onto for just one moment, they were going faster than her trembling pulse. "I thought-" She stammered.
The woman had almost reached the front doors, before taking her eyes off of her book, looking back at the trembling woman. She felt guilt was pinching at her sides, she felt awful for the two. Her body took action before she could even think of what she could do for them, instead, she pulled out her wallet and poked at the smaller and shorter figure, with a face of fear.
"Here, have this, please." She mumbled towards Piper, holding out a few tens and possibly two twenties. Piper scanned her face, making sure to always remember it before smiling widely and mouthing to her a thank you before turning towards her sister to get her attention. "Sis! Look what this nice lady did!" Piper had a goofy grin as Susan scanned the money in her palms. She looked at the man, then scanning the room for the woman that was once there but had left out the door.
Susan grinned as she turned around, handing him the two twenties given to her out of the others. "Now we have enough." She managed to say before he sighed, then nodding in approval "Alright, sit on the chairs while I locate an empty place for you." He pointed towards a few chairs lined up by the wall as he spoke before unenthusiastically leaving the desk and walking towards a door and closing it shut.
Piper had a wide grin on her face, her feet kicking the floor excitedly as if she were on a swing set, just swaying her legs in hopes of going higher. Susan looked down at her, despite her messy look, she loved seeing her like this. She loved the small moments of her just being a kid, not having to worry all the time about where they would hide tonight in search of shelter, not having to worry about food or money. She knew these small moments probably would've been a façade if she had really decided to stay at home, where they say "the heart is".
It wasn't like that at all for Susan
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Susan had seen darkness before, in the night, in the shadows
But had never imagined it to be in her parents.
She had never imagined for things to turn out this way
Wasn't everything fine?
No-
She shook her head, trying to come back to the terms of what was happening as her parents were yelling towards her, "If you're going to be so disrespectful, you shouldn't even deserve to be here!" Her mother yelled. The words still echoed through her head as anger boiled deep inside. "Fine then!" "Besides, we'd all be happier without you!" Her mother replied, making her jolt as pain twinged within her before running towards her room and slamming the door shut. She wanted to get this rush of anger out of her system, but only found herself slamming clothes into a bag and many other belongings before zipping it shut. She might as well, since in the moment while her head was stuck in the smoke of a fire, she was getting kicked out of her own childhood home.
And she had no where to go.
But she waited silently, staring up at the ceiling, hearing the sounds of Pipers cries before she herself slammed her door shut.
An hour had passed in the dark, and she had reassured herself that her parents had passed out and sat up, grabbing her bag and heading for the living room. But met with them standing there, waiting for her while Piper had been dragged out from her room with tear-stained cheeks. "I-I don't want you to go.." She had whispered, looking at Susan.
"Please don't leave!" She shouted, watching her parents beginning to push her older sister out the door. "Stop!" Her yelling was echoing outside in the dark, where the lamps had flickered. She watched Susan's flickering image and ran out to it through the open front door before she was yanked back the arm of her mother she was now wrestling against. "Stop! Let me go!" She screamed loudly on the porch of their house. Their house Susan stood outside of, watching a scene unfold and staring at the house one last time. She watched as Piper was trying to elbow her way out, but her mother had her up by the waist. "Let me go!" "Stop causing a damn scene then!" Her mother yelled back quickly, startling her. "Let go of me! I want to go with her! I don't want you!" Piper continued to scream before being dropped harshly onto the wood of the front porch.
"Fine then, leave you ungrateful brat." "Go off with her then, let her ruin your fucking life and you'll wish you never left." Her mother slurred her words before stomping off, shutting their front door loudly and locking it. Before she saw the door close, she could only see the image of her father, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.
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"Sis?" Piper had mumbled, trying to get her sisters attention, she even began shaking her sister in the lobby as she noticed the man from the front desk was back. "Sis!" She shouted, making Susan jolt up quickly as her shout was almost an echo of a distant memory. "S-Sorry- I'm sorry.." Susan mumbled quietly while fidgeting with her hands. The man walked towards them "We have a room opened for you, room 129.." He mumbled while he dangled two keys in front of him, she watched them dangle, which to her it didn't make much sense to have two keys. Piper quickly grabbed them "Thanks!" She said loudly before running upstairs, her steps echoing through the whole building.
"Piper-" Susan was about to shout, but she was already heights above her. She sighed before turning towards the man "T-Thank you, for letting us stay." She mumbled quietly, to which no response before her grin turned sour. She turned her head away from him and began walking up the stairs, in hopes of finding Piper and their room. "Piper?" She saw the room with small numbers on the door labeling it '129' due to the door already being opened "Piper?" She called out again as she stepped into her new, fresh home.
The room looked so much brighter, despite it now being very cold with a grey, gloomy sky. Susan felt herself slowly take off her shoes, and once feeling her feet touch the carpet she almost cried. It was much softer than any sidewalk or patch of dirt, it was so much more. She walked around the single room she had only explored, the living room. It had pale carpeting, accompanied by a coffee table, a couch with colorful pillows and a small bookshelf. She smiled at the sight before looking into the kitchen, she did realize that they had no food, to which in response she sadly sighed. There was a small cabinet looking thing she had never encountered, so she decided to not mess with it and tamper with the fridge a little. She was glad it worked, she was glad for everything in this new home, despite not really having much to go into it besides the clothes and the single purse Susan had.
"Sis.." Piper mumbled, interrupting Susan's worried thoughts "Yeah?" she replied, trying to look for the source of where Piper was. There was a bedroom, decorated with old vintage wallpaper with pink flowers and a bed. She figured Piper would be there, but she wasn't and she turned around. Piper stood in front of a door that was opened only slightly. "Piper, what is it?" She asked, making Piper turn her head slowly. "Look.." She whispered before opening the door fully to reveal another place that was most likely a home to another.
"Wait-" Susan stayed silent and still as they heard a door open and close, which both knew wasn't their own. Chills went down both of their spines "Shall we investigate?" Her sister suggested "N-No! We don't want to get kicked out after just buying this place!" Susan replied, quietly as she tried to keep her voice as low as possible. "But-" Piper paused, after hearing a slight sound which was then recognized as humming, the person next door was humming and melodic tune which almost made their hearts flutter by the sound of the sweet melody.
The slight tapping of shoes made their way towards them, causing Susan to freak out "W-We need to stop! This is someone else's home we should-" Piper shushed her as her eyes were glued onto the figured who carried a book and a mug and presumed by the smell from it, she was drinking coffee. The figure sat on a small couch, not noticing the two, but Piper almost recognized her. "Hey! That's the lady! She's the one who gave us the money." Piper said, she wanted to get up and say hello and thank her, but Susan was holding her back. "Sis, let me go!" Piper almost raised her voice, but it seemed the woman was enveloped in her book that she almost didn't hear anything due to not paying attention.
"Shush please!" Susan begged, as her sister wrestled against her as they leaned against the door before hearing the echo of it hitting the wall, loudly. The woman that was once enjoying her book was startled, causing her hands to shake bewilderly, leaving droppings of coffee on her couch and floor before she put it down on the small table in front of her. She quickly closed her book and got up to investigate, her shoes now echoing towards them as they tapped against the creaking floor. "Piper!" "Hey, don't look at me, you wouldn't let me go!" Piper snapped back under her breath, she paused however, when noticing a pair of eyes on her.
There was a cold silence that thickened in the air as the woman stared back at them, just as puzzled as they were as to why they were on the floor.
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END.
Thank you for reading this!!
This all really means so much to me...
I don't really care if no one reads this, I'm just glad to finally be able to put this story out there.
Eventually, I will post each character mentioned in this book, a reference in case you want to illustrate scenes for this book.
anyways thank you, and have a wonderful day!!