SWEET CREATURE // Luke Patterson

- connections -

Despite not knowing Julie Molina very well, her room presented herself in the most perfect manner. Stepping through, into the girls realm, the room exploded with colour. Bejewelled with accent pieces across her space. The area screamed Julie in every sense from her choice of bedding all the way to the posters and pictures adorning her wall.

The two girls had escaped the chaos originating from downstairs back in Julie's garage. The group had come up with the idea of having a chill evening and inevitably flowing in the direction that the girls were going to stay and have a sleepover.

Danielle wouldn't lie and say she was ecstatic for this evening because she wasn't. Ever since she was little she had always valued her alone time and this completely defeated the purpose of it, ridding it out of her evening routine.

As much as she hated to admit it, it was also a very foreign concept for the girl. She couldn't remember the last time she had been invited to someone's house, let alone been asked to sleep over. She felt incredibly out of place being here, despite the warm welcome she had received from the curly haired girl begging her to stay over not wanting to deal with the boy's complaints alone and she couldn't help but feel unsettled about it all.

However she wasn't given much of a choice from everyone trying to convince her, almost guilt tripping her into being there. It wasn't like she didn't want to spend time with them all, because she really did. This group of people made her feel seen as a person instead of just another washed up care kid who will likely move on in a couple months. She didn't want to take advantage of it so she made herself useful helping Julie gather the supplies that had been requested.

As Danielle rummaged through the colourful chaos of Julie Molina's room, she couldn't help but marvel at the organised chaos that seemed to define the girls space. Posters of bands adorned the walls, overlapping each other in a collage of musical homage. Clothes thrown about, evidence to the eternal battle between fashion and comfort that every teenage girl fought with. Her bed was coated in different textured blankets and pillows seeping warmth into her space.

Her room felt like home. In the case of being a room of comfort, where you could run off to away from life's harsh realities and bury yourself under the heaps of fluffy blankets laying at the bottom of your bed. Julie's room reminded her of her room. Not the numerous rooms she had collected over the years; her room. The one that collected dust in her mind and the place where the world seemed a little brighter than what she was now used to.

Amidst the clutter, Danielle's gaze fell upon a pair of sunglasses perched on the girls dresser which she generously helped herself too. The glasses were thin and sat on her nose resting at the tip. With the newly found glasses in place, Danielle continued her exploration, her eyes darting from one item to the next.

She knew she was in Julia's room for a reason: that being to help gather any sort of skin care items they could find. However, right now Julie wasn't in the room; looking in the bathroom instead for anything helpful, so it was only natural for her to get an insight of the girl while she waited.

She picked up a photo frame she noticed sat beside her bedside. Julie sat frozen in time mid pose in a photo of her and a slightly older looking woman laughing hysterically at something not decipherable through the glass holding the photo. A pang of grief washed over Danielle as the picture became more clear to her, this was a photo of Julie and her mother who had died not so long ago. She traced the outline of their smiles, a reminder of the grief she had once gone through.

The two girls hadn't talked about it but rumours fly when you're in highschool no matter what you do. She understood the girl on a level that they both didn't even know yet.

Moving on, Danielle spotted Julie's collection of vintage vinyl records neatly arranged on a shelf. Each album seemed to convey a moment of Julie's life, a melody waiting to be heard. She ran her fingers over the worn covers, marvelling at the timeless classics that Julie seemed to have collected through the years making her envious of the heaps of collected items the girl held.