ᴏᴜʀ sᴏᴄɪᴇᴛʏ| ʜ. ʙɪɴɢʜᴀᴍ

thirteen

Effie stood in the living room of her new home, a warm smile across her face. She held Eden in her arms as she stared at the photos of the best day of her life. Becca had needed someone to watch over her daughter as she ran a few errands and Effie insisted Grizz and Sam took some time alone. She swung her niece in her arms as she placed framed photos on the mantle. Among the many photos, a picture of a young Effie and her brother laughing stared back at her.

It was so surreal. It felt like yesterday when she'd stepped foot off that familiar yellow bus. In the back of her mind, there was another Effie. A young, innocent Effie that had been abandoned. Her heart ached as she thought back to her first time here, the Other West Ham.

Things weren't so easy in the beginning but now, she was happy; so was her husband.

Her life finally felt like it had gotten itself together, she wondered if this is what all married people meant when they had 'found their happily ever after'. However she of course wasn't special, everyone began marrying after Luke proposed to Helena all those months ago. That being said, very few ended up working out and as laws weren't exactly a thing in this world and divorce was free, people were getting them left right and centre.

Eventually Allie made sure to tax divorces so people weren't so distracted with their love lives and more on the fact that they were in fact trapped in a parallel universe. Whether her happy ending was with harry or not, she had no choice but to stay with him because she couldn't afford to lose out on desserts for a year.

A screeching ring from the doorbell echoed throughout the house. "Looks like mummy's here." Effie smiled at the girl in her arms, walking towards the large oak door. With one swing it opened, instead of Becca, she was greeted with Sam and Grizz. A smile spread across Effie's face, one wide enough that the pair followed in unison. In a swoop, Eden was pinched out of Effie's arms and into Grizz's. He flung her up in the air, catching her before she fell, pulling a weird face as he talked in a baby voice, then throwing her up again. "Was she okay? Did she cry a lot?" Sam signed to Effie and she shook her head in response. "She was great, not a single tear, I feel like I cry more than her." She spoke slowly, using her hands to sign the sentence, beginning to feel comfortable enough in the language that she could even joke. However, she cringed from the choice of humour, as it sounded like something her mum and her middle aged friends would say and laugh hysterically about.

"Thanks for watching her." Sam signed, sighing in relief that all three parents got a day off. "No problem, anytime." Effie smiled, taking one last look at Eden's tiny face. The pair (and Eden) began walking away before Grizz shouted, "Oh and congrats, Eff."

"You're like so grown up now." He said sincerely. "You literally have a child, Grizz." Effie joked in response, waving as the three left her sight.

Even though they had left less than three minutes ago, she still found herself staring at her lawn blankly, her eyes defocused like a camera. She found that her eyes began to act up more often and dumbly, thought it was due to age. I mean could she be wrong, she had aged what felt like so many years in the space of a few months, the idea was plausible.

She shook it off, closed the door and walked back through the living room. Effie paused for a moment, a rustling sound coming from the kitchen. The least it could be was another student stealing some food, probably for another pathetic party but she still felt an overwhelming fear take over her. Slowly, she crept towards the kitchen, her body following the sound her ears heard. On her way, she grabbed a blunt decoration her mum had bought a few years ago in the real world, although she never liked it very much so hitting someone across the head if she needed with it was no problem.

She tiptoed through the archway, coming face to face with the intruder. A genuinely terrified scream echoed through the  kitchen yet Effie noticed it wasn't hers. However, she felt the need to scream back, dropping the heavy object on the floor in front of her.