𝑴𝒚 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒚 ~ JJ Maybank

𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑶𝑮𝑼𝑬

"I'm done with your bullshit Aria! You are sixteen years old, grow the hell up or you'll be living in the cut!" His familiar, outraged voice echoed outside Aria's freshly painted bedroom door.

The young brunette wasn't granted even the slightest moment to care about her father's fury before an agonising thud landed on the outside of her door. 

She jumped in surprise, only to roll her eyes and fling her tanned body across her bed at the sound of her fathers screaming voice, annoyance outweighing any fear or hurt she felt deep down.

Her eyes fluttered closed, forcing back her scoff. Life had been the same before they moved, she knew it wasn't going to change when they stepped through the double doors of their new home in the Outer Banks, the North side.

As much as she'd fought the hope of a fresh start, it wasn't going to happen. Life in the Outer Banks was going to be exactly the same as it was in Detroit, minus the few differences.

City Center's and Ocean waters nobody swam in would be replaced with fish markets and golf courts, not that she really paid any attention to those kinds of differences anyway.

"Do you have any idea how hard I worked to bring us here?!" Silence. "No! Of course you don't! You've never worked a day in your life."

Aria sat up in her bed, a dumbfounded expression written all over her face. Had Daniel Covelli, her own father, seriously forgotten about the last three years of her life? Was he really that pathetic?

Her ears followed the sound of his footsteps thundering away, further down the corridor of their large white house taking up space on Figure 8.

She waited a few more moments until his footsteps were faint before pushing her infuriated body off the soft duvet, unlocking her door and throwing it open.

Ignoring the mark of a footprint on the outside of her crisp white door, her stepped into the hall and allowed her own voice to raise to the tone her fathers had been at mere seconds earlier, even louder perhaps.

"WELL MAYBE I'D BE BETTER LIVING ON THE CUT! IF IT'S FURTHER AWAY FROM YOU, I'M ALL FOR IT!"

A dead-weighted silence purred through the hallway, almost like it was building up to a jump scare. Aria swore she could hear the pattering of her heartbeat, increasing in speed.

A door further down the hall opened slightly, revealing a large pair of eyes gazing at her, filled with both amazement as well as uttermost fear.

One glance in the direction of the open door caused five year old Valentine Markenstein Covelli to quickly shut the door, closing off her younger sister from witnessing the horror, bound to take place soon enough.

As if the eldest Covelli child could predict the future, fast heavy footsteps made it's way down the hall towards her. 

The source of the footsteps, of course, belonged to her father, Daniel Covelli. Who no doubt had come back up the stairs despite his second wife's pleadings for a relaxed move-in day.

Aria stood, hands by her sides, barely breathing as her father came to a sturdy halt in front of her, mere steps away. His newly polished shoes tapped furiously against their newly polished floorboards. She could practically feel the sweat dripping from her fingertips.