Annabelle Parga's Story

"Shut your mouth, Sarah." Annabelle could hear her parents' constant bickering from her tiny room. "Oh, I'm sorry, Harvey if your stupid ears can't hear anything." She tried to ignore them as she put up her hair, closely watching her brother who was playing in the corner of the room with his Legos. Little Tommy didn't know what their parents really were but at least she could be the parent for him.

Dressed in a green shirt with a pair of black jeans and jacket, she grabbed her bag and opened her bedroom door. Her parents' voices muted almost instant, "C'mon Tommy, we gotta go now if you wanna see Dru and Sally," she mentioned his best friends and he was there to hold her hand. The siblings went down together to greet their parents who were acting animated as usual. Mom was making breakfast and dad was reading the paper.

"Morning guys," her mom greeted them as they proceeded the breakfast table. It seemed to be a perfect-looking setting, making Anna hope that it would just stay like that.

She left after breakfast, dad sent Tommy to his friend's house before sending Anna to the mall. All they did was just talk to each other, whatever the topic. She entered the Ontario Malls, watching everyone open each store.

Isabella ran through the mall, not paying attention to anything else. If she didn't get her shirt in time, she'd end up having to wear somebody else's or having to buy a new one. Buying a new one would mark the third time that month. "I'm dead," she mumbled to herself as she turned a corner.

Almost immediately she hit somebody else, crushing the foam coffee cup between her and the other person. Hot, dark liquid (which smelled incredible) dripped onto her hand and then onto the floor. The red head bit her lip and took a step back, shifting the remnants of the drink to her other hand and shaking her left hand, trying to get the coffee off of it. "I'm so sorry," she said hurriedly, looking at Anabelle with a panicked expression. "I was trying to get to my car and I wasn't watching where I was going."

***

Jude laughed a bit and pretended to be organizing some papers. "I guess so," he commented. It was then that he noticed they were blank and oddly sticking together. A bit disgusted, he tossed them in the waste basket just as somebody came in and Nikki asked him a question. "Knock, knock!" a voice called happily, leading Jude to fool himself into thinking Nikki had a twin sister. But it was only Harper.

"Hi Harper," he said quietly in comparison to Nikki's bright 'good morning'. He didn't mind Harper, but this much noise in the morning was a bit troubling for him. It was also bugging him that she was so close. Speaking of which, was she really sitting on the counter like it was nothing? Jude did his best not to twitch and sat down on his stool.

"We just got here. Not that much changes in a matter of..." he looked at his wrist, forgetting that he didn't own a watch. "Er- twelve or so hours?" He wasn't exactly sure how long it had been since he'd seen either of the girls, though he guessed it was sometime after his shift yesterday.