The Paroxysm of Pyromania

Ch. 1~ Banishment

Brown was Victoria Stone's least favorite color. It was the color of the ground, the sky, and the walls of the ravaged settlement her family called home. Victoria Stone was six and the youngest of five other siblings which meant she had to fight in order to be heard, to be seen, and to be loved. Her parents only had so many children in case they started to get picked off, the people in their town were not nice and weak little girls got the worst of it. She was constantly bullied and pushed around, having to mostly rely on her older sister for help. Aside from Odessa her next oldest sibling was her brother Kade, he was already 15 so it was pretty clear Victoria was probably an accident. Well, she was treated like one at least. The shack that they lived in was small but it worked out considering three of her other siblings had already moved out. It was just Victoria, Kade, Odessa, and their parents. Kade never paid any attention to Tori, that's what she liked to be called, he was always pushing her around and stealing her stuff. It wasn't like she could fight for it back anyways.

Odessa was her protector. The older sister didn't mind watching out for Tori, deep down she knew she was going to have some potential when she grew up. All of the Stone children did. Plus it was easy, Tori knew when to be quiet and she knew how to steal things, she knew how to follow the rules and stay low, most importantly she knew when Odessa needed her most. The two sisters were extremely close, even if they were 12 years apart, all of their other siblings were boys so it was nice to have one sister. Especially on days like today.

Odessa sat in the corner of the room, twirling one of her throwing knives through her fingers. Victoria sat very close to her, their mother was at the table nobody ate at together, her head in her hands. Neither of their parents had actual jobs, they stole from people in order to get by, and whenever their mother was stressed out it meant that something had gone wrong. The last time this happened their father had come home badly beaten and bruised, four other guys had jumped him. He was still recovering from those injuries. The eldest sister was sick of her parents getting in trouble, she knew sooner or later they were to be exiled, she just didn't know if that included her and her siblings too. Mason Fowl was the current "king" of Junkertown and he was not a nice man. Schooling for the children wasn't taken as seriously and none were really taught how to fight or fend for themselves which resulted in high mortality and alcohol rates. Under Mason's rule, Junkertown was quite miserable.

"What's the matter now mum?" Odessa pried, hoping for somewhat of a good answer back. Tori just clutched onto her big sister's arm, also waiting for a good response.

"Nothin' it's just... Your father was supposed to be back by now." She paused to look towards their front door, "Maybe he's grabbin' Kade." She said, trying to convince herself it was okay. Odessa just sighed, their father coming home late was normal she didn't know why her mother was so worried about it this one time. Even so, it was getting late and Victoria needed to go to bed. She got up from the corner and reached for her little sister's hand, putting her knife away in the process.

"Come on Tori, it's bedtime."

"Okay," Tori's voice was small and quiet compared to Odessa's, it made the bigger junker remember just how little she was. "What about daddy?"

"Dad always comes home late, this time ain't no different. Dontcha worry ya little head bout it." She ruffled Tori's hair and led her into the other room. Their house had three rooms, one with the kitchen, one with their parents room, and one for the kids. It would have been homey if it wasn't always so cluttered.

"Why do I have to go to bed?" She asked as Odessa brought the covers up to her shoulders, tucking in her little bear as well. It used to be her own but she passed it down to Tori when she was born.

"Cuz, you've got school tomorrow. Ya need to be rested," She sat down on the edge of her sister's bed and brushed a piece of hair out of her face.

"I like school." Tori said proudly. Odessa laughed,