It

2008

2008, Approximately 8 years ago
1 year before the crash

A soft knock coming from the front door made Aspen look up. She went to go get it and turned to see that her younger brother, Elliot, was following her. She smiled at him and he gave her a cheeky smile back.

She went to answer the door, opening it to see Elliot's friend, Brendan, standing in front of his parents. "Hello, you must be..." the mother began after Brendan and Elliot ran inside together, screaming.

"I'm Aspen." She says, plastering a wide grin onto her face. The mother politely smiled back. "Would you like to come in? The kettle is boiling."

Aspen opened the door even more and stepped aside, giving them room to pass through. But the mother held up a hand in disapproval. "No, no. It's fine. We don't want to disturb-"

"Penelope." Aspen's own mother said from behind her. Aspen turned to see her mom standing with her arms wide. "I haven't seen you in... I can't even remember."

Both the mothers chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Hi, Lucy, how are you going?" The mother - Penelope - asked.

They pulled each other into a hug and Lucy said, "I'm going great. How about you?"

"I'm well, Lucy." They pulled away and Lucy basically dragged Penelope to the kitchen.

Aspen looked at the father who was still awkwardly standing outside the door, waiting patiently for an invitation. She gestures for him to come in and he did, slowly walking through the doorway and taking his shoes off before walking into the kitchen. Aspen almost closed the door until she saw a familiar girl standing outside, too. Aspen opened it again and she observed her, trying to remember why she was so familiar. Then it hit her suddenly.

This girl - Monica, her name was - was in Aspen's class. Aspen blinked at her and realised that Monica was staring at her with an expecting expression. She cleared her throat and said, "you can come in."

"Thanks." Monica said so quietly Aspen almost couldn't hear it clearly. Monica walked into the living room of the large house and looked around. "You have a nice house."

"Thanks." Aspen gushed. She remembered how she helped with decorating after they moved from London. Her mother was wearing leggings and a baggy singlet and Aspen was wearing her pyjamas, which was a pink one-piece that had Tweety all over it. Her dad was still looking for a job, but her mother stayed home to look after Elliot and Aspen. They painted that day, too. They painted the walls white.

"It's a big place." Monica nodded and Aspen did the same.

"I know." She then smiled at Monica and said, "do you want to see my room?"

Monica nodded and let Aspen grab her hand and drag her up the lot of carpeted stairs. They walked through a wide hallway which was decorated with many family photos. Aspen's room was at the end of the hallway, near the small closet - which was where the monsters hid, says Aspen. They walk into the warm room. The carpet was a creamy white and the walls were painted a light grey. Her small bed had white sheets and her room was neat; dirty clothes in a small laundry basket beside the small desk by the window. Her closet doors were open, showing a blur of colours. "Wow," Monica gasps, "this is amazing. Much better then mine."

Aspen giggled. "Yeah, I'm very lucky. That's what my mom says." She gave her guest a big, toothy grin before they both sat onto the bed.

"Hey, are you into superheroes?" Monica asks. Aspen turned to look at her before very enthusiastically nodding her head.

"Yes!" She shifted on the bed to look at Monica properly. "I love superman, especially." She spat as she pronounced the 'P'.

Monica giggled. "He's my favourite, too! And when he flies and burns things with his laser eyes!"

"He is so cool!" Aspen said, throwing her arms around dramatically.

"I know!" Monica did the same and they both giggled.

They continued to talk about their superheroes for hours. And before they knew it, it was late and time to go.

"Okay, bye Aspen!" Monica waved goodbye to her new friend as her mom drags her out bye her shoulders. "I will come over for a sleepover, okay?"

Aspen giggled. "Okay! Bye, bye, Monica! May superman be with you!"

And they didn't speak again until around 8 years later.

«»«»«»«»