Hollowsville

.1.

January 20, 2019
3:27 P.M

Norrosa took another sip of coffee from her cup before setting it on the wet ring atop her desk from where the cup recently sat, condensated. It was almost 3:30, meaning she only had six and a half hours left to complete her final papers. She knew she could easily knock the papers out in 2 and a half hours, but she purposefully distracted herself so she wouldn't actually have to work. She'd just started on the most difficult one; an essay for her Hollowsville Mythology class. Boring stuff. She wasn't interested in the whole conflict between pixies and fairies. The fact that there were alleged sacred pixie grounds right there in Hollowsville didn't impress her much either. She didn't even know if it was true, and quite frankly, she didn't care.  What even was the point of writing essays for a mythology class? Shaking her head, Norrosa placed her fingertips on her keyboard. She could do this.

No she couldn't.

She shut her eyes and slammed her fists on the keyboard, not caring about the questionable keysmash that would be etched into her document's edit history. She let out an annoyed, loud, throaty groan that turned into a high pitched shriek. Suddenly, her older sister, Olivia, opened the door, balancing  her toddler daughter, Belle, on her hip.

"And what are we screeching about now?" She asked, hiding a smile.

Highlighting the damage she'd done on her screen, Norrosa answered dryly, "This damn mythology paper. Why are we combining literature and mythology? Ms. Nelvin is just being extra."

"C'mon, Rosy, you love writing! Every time I turn around, you're writing a new story or something."

"I only love writing when it's about something I actually like. And I have no interest in make-believe stuff like fairies and pixies."

"But you still want to be a mermaid, you made that clear."

"That's different. Mermaids are actually interesting and have adventures. Fairies aren't and don't. I was nine, and like any nine year old, I wanted to be a mermaid. H2O just gave me false hope. And we both know that neither of them exist. But it's more likely for mermaids like that to exist than fairies. They suck anyway."

"So I guess we're going to ignore the fact that you've watched all 7 Tinkerbell movies numerous times, and that you have their DVDs stacked on your shelf right there? You watched more Tinkerbell than The Little Mermaid and H2O combined."

"THE POINT IS" she raised her voice to let her sister know she was serious again, mainly peeved at being called out. "I don't like this at all."

"Well... C'mon, take a break from that one and do an easier one. Or,  you can work on some MATH or-"
"Shut," Norrosa began, making Liv erupt into a fit of giggles. "Do NOT go there."  She hated math more than mythology, even if she was good at it. "And look at it out there!" She gestured to the window. "There's a whole blizzard happening. I probably won't even have school Tuesday. We already have tomorrow off. I won't need to complete the work"

"And if you do? What are you gonna tell Mr. Dome when he asks why you don't have your homework?"

"He gives me enough anxiety that pushes me to finish his work on time. Barely. He can handle me not doing an assignment this one time. I'll take the heat."

"London." Uh oh, middle name. "The agreement between your mom and I was that if you lived with me, you would work on your procrastination."
Norrosa rolled her eyes.

Four months ago, she decided she wanted to move out of her mom's home so she could feel more free as a growing teen. She just needed a valid excuse that her mom would fall for. An idea came to mind. She had an older sister, Olivia, from her dad's side of the family who she didn't really grow up with, though they had a very strong relationship, even with the 7 year age gap.  Moving in with Olivia, who would undoubtedly let her do whatever she wanted, was the perfect escape plan. Her excuse to her mom would be "she wanted to bond with her even more, and it was a good way to spend time with Belle, her niece". When she and Liv brought this proposal to her mom, she reluctantly agreed, but with 2 conditions: One, she had to complete high school, and two, she had to stop procrastinating. It took a month of not procrastinating for her mom to give her the okay to move in with Olivia, and so far, it was better than she'd imagined. She felt like she had a life. Since her sister's boyfriend was never around, she got the privilege of taking care of Belle part time. But she wasn't exactly keeping her end of the deal. By November, she'd fallen back into the routine of quietly sobbing in her room, typing away at her computer as the clock got closer and closer to midnight. She wanted to break this habit, she really did. But the thing was, even though she procrastinated, she still always managed to get her work done on time. Deep down inside, she knew that's what stopped her from dealing with this problem.

"I know, I know, but c'mon, do I, or do I not complete my work? I mean, my grades are sexy. She chuckled a bit to lighten the mood.

Liv let out a slight chuckle. " Yeah, but you're better than that, why don't you just do the work when it's homework time? The only difference of doing it now than later is that you can just have fun later at night. Don't you think baking a cake at midnight is more fun versus when it's done during the day."

Belle squealed at the mention of cake and began bouncing on her mother's hip in excitement, making them laugh.

"Ugh. I can try. I did it before, I can do it again." She turned back to her computer, and instantly all of the emotion she felt before suddenly came back, and she groaned again. Belle blew a raspberry, which was her way of showing she didn't like the noise her aunt made.

"Y'know what? I'll be okay. I'm just gonna take a walk to clear my mind."

"In this fu- while it looks like that outside?" She caught herself before she swore in front of her daughter. "Where will you go? Are you even gonna be back in time?"

"Yeah, it'll be quick. I'm just gonna go into the woods for a bit"

Olivia raised an eyebrow at her sister, who slipped her combat boots on her sock feet. "I let a lot of things slide because A, I'm not your mom, and B, you're 16, I shouldn't have to baby you if you already know what's right and wrong. I'll just have to trust that you'll be back. But if you're not back by-" She checked the time- "5:00, I'm telling your mom, got it?"

"Aye aye, Captain." her voice dripped with sarcasm as she put her hat and scarf on. "How about I stop by Giovanni's Cafe before I come back and get you a coffee cake muffin? Because he closes early on Mondays, and by the time I get home, it'll still be warm. Proof that I'll keep my promise."

"Fine. Call me if anything happens, and be safe."

"Bet."

Norrosa kissed Belle on the cheek, ran downstairs, grabbed her green winter coat, and went out into the snowstorm. The woods were about a block away from their home, so the hike should be a quick one.