☽★𝑽𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝑰𝑰 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒐 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒆𝒔★☾

Italy

You live in the past

The past lives in you

1994

Sunlight pours into my room in streams. I reach out to open one of the windows and lean outside a bit. I shut my eyes, enjoying the warmth spreading in my veins. "Hey, dork!" I open my eyes and find my little sister, Amanda standing underneath my window next to a rosebush. She's already dressed in jeans and a pink t-shirt. She has tied her long, light brown hair in a high ponytail. There's a mischievous glint in her light grey eyes. "We're having breakfast in the garden!"

"I have a name, you know", I say indignantly. "Dork suits you." Amanda sticks her tongue out. I attempt to flip her off and accidentally hit my head on the window. Amanda bursts out in fits of laughter as I massage my head and grumble unhappily. I draw my head back. "Finnie, come help your sister with setting the table!" my mother shouts from downstairs. "In a minute!" I yell back. I duck under my bed and pull out a pair of extremely faded jeans. I put them on and search for a shirt. In a few seconds I have successfully changed my pyjamas into a decent outfit. I pound the stairs downstairs to the kitchen. "You took your time." My big sister, Cassidy grins at me from the cutlery drawer. Her hair falls in shaggy waves down her back. Her eyes are bright green. "What's everyone's rush today? It's Saturday." I grumble. "Aunt Meredith is coming over. I suspect Mom's been cleaning like crazy since three am. I swear I could hear some noise from my room." Cassidy wrinkles her nose. "Anyway, Annabel and I are going horse riding today just to avoid her. I want to have breakfast before all hell breaks loose." In my opinion this sentence was a tad on the dramatic side. Cassidy tended to be quite dramatic at times. Aunt Meredith isn't that bad. Sure, she's super judgmental and always asking if we're dating (I'm thirteen, Cassidy is sixteen, Amanda is fourteen and Andi is fourteen) or if we have jobs. When we say no she breaks into a rant of how accomplished she was at our age. The biggest problem is that these rants are in Italian of course and Italians tend to talk with their hands so she is extremely hard to take seriously. We have to keep hiding our snickers when she comes over and of course she thinks we're completely lost our marbles. When we would attempt to leave the situation something strange would happen, we would trip or slip on something and there would be a malicious glint in her eyes. Oh, scratch that, Aunt Meredith is exactly that bad and much, much worse.

I nearly run into my mom after throwing open the glass doors to the garden. Carefully holding the cutlery so I don't accidentally end up stabbing my own mother, I step aside. "Good morning." I smile. My mom surveys me carefully. "No, no, Finnie, that won't do." She shakes her head. "My sister is coming over today. You have to look neater."

"I'm wearing jeans, aren't I?" I ask indignantly. "I could show up naked, you know. Put up a proper show for Aunt Meredith." My mom stares at me sourly. "And drop the sassiness, will you?"

"I can't just drop it, it's part of who I am." Before my mom can answer I walk to the garden inhaling the sweet smell of the roses and crocuses. I walk to the table in the middle of the yard and set down the cutlery. Cassidy brings plates. "You pick up the glasses", she says, setting off to the fence. She climbs on the top of it, perching herself on it. I've teased about it many times and told her she's like a cat. Lucky for me that I'm very quick so I can run away when she sets off to chase and murder me. This time she waves to someone. A small form walks down the street, slowly coming nearer. "Annabel!" Cassidy exclaims. "You want to join us for breakfast?" A funny feeling fills my insides when I see Annabel. My feet seem to leave the ground. I'm willing to let them float up in the clouds. I mentally slap myself. Seriously? "You're early", Cassidy remarks, pulling Annabel on the fence too. She smiles cheerfully. "I know, it's such a nice day so I wanted to come over earlier. My mom's cleaning so I needed to leave." She smooths over her chin length hair, despite the shortness it has a habit of flowing on her face. Her face is tanned from being out in the sun and up close I can see a cluster of freckles on her cheeks and nose. The sun paints flecks of gold in her grey eyes which seem to melt into the sky sucking its colour slowly. Annabel's hair curls around her head in the colours of turquoise and light brown. "You're staring." Amanda has appeared from somewhere and nudges me in my ribs. "I'm not." I feel my face growing hot gradually. "Hi, guys!" Annabel calls out. "Hi", I say shyly as Cassidy nods with a crooked smile. She's pretending to be all chill and cool but I've seen her stay up all night to read a whole book series (she's as much of a dork as everyone else). Annabel's gaze rakes the yard. "Where's Andi?" she asks. "Sleeping, probably." I shrug. Like on cue Andi steps outside still in pyjamas, her long, caramel hair rumpled and her hazel eyes sleepy. "Good." Annabel smirks at Andi's dishevelled look. "I want to talk to you guys."