Spirit

One

"Lillian Elliot! Get your hairy gargoyle out of my kitchen!" I heard my mom scream from the kitchen.

"It's not my fault he escaped! He just wanted to see what you were making for dinner!" Lillian, better known as Lilli, is my ten-year-old little sister. Her pet tarantula, Midoriya -named after the main character of her favorite Japanese anime series- was known for escaping whenever Lilli experimented on him.

"GET! IT! OUT!" My mom screamed.

"I was trying to make him into a bi- HEY! DON'T SWING THE PAN! YOU'RE GONNA KILL HIM!" Lillian warned.

"THAT'S THE IDEA!" Mom retorted.

Chaos. As usual.

Three knocks sounded on my bedroom door, which I hadn't noticed was closed, considering how clearly I could hear my mom and sister in their shouting match.

"Come in," I said softly, knowing exactly who it was.

"Homework?" Joshua, my seventeen-year-old brother asked.

"Nothing gets between me and my homework." I said flatly, switching the tabs from a Google New Tab to "Ellie Elliot - Refugee by Alan Gratz Book Report" on Google Docs.

"Your teacher gave you a book report on the first day of school?" Joshua asked. I nodded.

"That's tough."

"Not really. I'm almost done, and I've read the book a million times over." I admitted. Plus, homework had always been my outlet, letting me drift away from my unwanted thoughts about my dad.

"Of course you have." Joshua laughed. I shrugged as Luna, my black, slick-furred cat, jumped into my lap. And yes, I named her Luna. Stop judging.

"YES!" Lillian screamed, charging through the door of my bedroom, her sandy brown, curly ponytail, matching mine and Joshua's hair, was splotched with blue. "It worked!"

"Oh god... what worked?" Joshua asked cautiously. Lillian pulled out a small dog whistle and blew into it. A neon blue pitbull came barreling through my doorway, slamming into Joshua's shins before he could stop himself. 

 "OH MY GOD, LILLIAN! WHAT DID YOU DO TO PIG?!" Joshua screamed,(mostly in pain) making Luna scurry off my lap and out my open window, onto the roof of the house. Her usual hiding place. Then scurried back in and hid in my closet, soaking wet from the pouring rain.

"I bathed him." Lillian laughed. Pig shook his soggy fur, spraying blue all over my fluffy, light blue area rug.

"In what? Kool-aid?!" Joshua asked, gapping at his poor dog. On our tenth birthday, we each got to choose a pet. Lillian had Midoriya, her tarantula, I had Luna, my black cat, and Joshua had Pig, his pit bull. Luna hated Lilli, so I didn't have to worry about Lilli "experimenting" on her.

"Of course not!" Lilli promised. "I made a new dog soap with peanut butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and blue food coloring, for a fun effect."

"Is that why he smells like a rotten-raccoon flavored snickerdoodle cookie?" I asked, gagging and plugging my nose.

 "Well that's a bit of an exaggeration, dont'cha think?" Lilli said flatly. "Ugh, what is that smell?" Mom asked from downstairs, hints of disgust prickling her voice.

"No. No, I don't," I told her.

"Well, I didn't think the food coloring would work on Pig since he's a dog and not food," Lillian admitted. There was a joke there. Me, nor Joshua, decided to make it, to spare Lillian's innocence.

"Aren't you in like, third grade? You should be smart enough to know the food coloring stains everything, even if it's not food." I told her.

 Again, a joke opportunity no one took.

"Well, you might not wanna use your bathroom, Joshua. It got a little messy there." Lillian warned. 

 "A little messy," Mom scolded, stepping into the room behind Lilli. "doesn't even begin to describe it."

The blood drained from Lillian's face. Everything about our mom was... absolutely terrifying... sometimes... most of the time. Okay... all the time. But she was still a good mom. She had long blood-red hair, dyed of course, and big light green eyes with a warm light brown skin tone.

 "Here comes the sentencing," I announced.

"First, you will clean that bathroom- spotless," Mom announced. Lillian opened her mouth to argue, but Joshua wrapped an arm around her shoulder and put his other hand over her mouth, muffling her protests.

"Second, you will clean the blue out of Pig's fur in your bathroom." Another round of muffled protests. "And third... two weeks probation."

 Probation was what mom called grounding since she was a Probation Officer. That meant: No TV, No Phone, No Tablet, No Computer, And No human interaction other than school and home. Aka torture. For two whole weeks. Lilli wouldn't last three days without hurling a brick at someone's head. I would know. Lilli gets probation very often.

"EW!" Joshua yelped, ripping his hands away from Lilli and rubbing them on his jeans. "She licked me!"

"I woulda bit you, but your hands are dirty. I would know, I could taste it." Lillian scowled, making me gag.

"Good thing she didn't bite you," I told Joshua. 

"We would've had to take you to the ER to get your rabies treated."

Lillian stuck her tongue out at me and I returned the gesture as she and Joshua turned to leave. Mom stayed behind to collect the blue-stained rug. Pig followed Lillian and Joshua. She bent over and I noticed something black and hairy on her back. I took a closer look. Oh crap. 

Midoriya.

I jumped up and scooped him off her shoulder blade, putting my hand behind my back, pretending to fix mom's hair with the other. That little brat left Midoriya on mom's back to get back at her for punishing her. Lilli might be a brat, but she was smart.

"Thanks?" my mom said, confusion in her voice. She turned to leave but circled back just as I set Midoriya on my desk

"I know your sixteenth birthday party isn't for another month, but I want you to hurry and pick a theme so I can start planning it."

"Yeah, I'll think about it," I said gently. Mom left without another word. I turned back to my desk.

"Now, you ugly little furball. Let's get you back to-" My voice caught as something appeared under the dim light of a cement street lamp outside the house. It seemed to notice me almost immediately. No, not it... He. Big, beautiful, blue eyes, messy blonde hair, and a smirk. A hot guy to be honest. One more appeared next to him, out of thin air. I gasped as the dark hair, green-eyed boy followed the other's gaze toward me. They locked eyes on me. 

I backed away from the window. Stashing the spider under the glass, grabbing my black umbrella, shoving my feet into my yellow rain boots, and rushing down the stairs. I flew out the door, opening my umbrella on the covered porch and marching out into the rain. My ankles soaked as I marched to the end of my driveway, looking up and down the street.

They were gone. 

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Hey lovelies!!! Super long chapter I know, don't worry there's more where that came from . gotta keep y'all fed , hope you enjoyed!✨❤