CHAPTER 2
The front door of their new home was slightly ajar.
“Hello? Mum? Dad? You in here somewhere?”
No one was in sight. Stephanie mounted the first step and paused. Silence. She inched her way up to the next. The house was still. Were her parents in there? She bit her lip, hoping they were. At the top of the stairs she walked down a short hallway, checking the rooms on either side. Through the last doorway, her parents lay on the floor of what looked like the master bedroom.
Her father rolled over to face the doorway. “Steph, good morning. How did you sleep?”
She ignored the question. “Why didn’t you tell us you got in?”
“Just as it was getting light, your father decided to check under all the pavers and rocks for a spare key.” Her mother chuckled.
“They left a key?” Stephanie spat the words.
“It appears that way.” Dad yawned, stretching.
“Why didn’t you check last night?”
“Is April awake?” Dad asked.
“That’s crazy. We could’ve been inside.” Stephanie spun the doorknob between her thumb and fingers. “That’s so typical of this family!”
“Stephanie!” Her mother sat up.
“Not much we can do about it now.” Her father climbed to his feet.
April pushed the door away from Stephanie’s grasp. “Can we go to McDonalds for breakfast?”
“Good morning, love. Yes, McDonalds sounds good. I could do with a coffee.” Diane pushed herself up off the floor.
Stephanie looked from one to the other. Is this some weird fairytale I’ve woken up in?
#
When they returned to the house, Stephanie cheered. Finally something was happening as scheduled. The removal truck doors swung in the breeze and two burly men were ready to unload.
Stephanie helped unpack box after box. By the end of the day most things were re-homed, so she left the confines of the house.
Her mind spun with the all the changes. Tabbie wasn’t a five-minute drive away. There would be no dance rehearsal this week, she was no longer a student at Hill Top Private College and she no longer lived in Sydney.
Stephanie took long strides away from the house as dusk approached. Perhaps a walk would clear her mind. The grey sky seemed to hover low, like it was falling on her, choking the voice that wanted to scream. The weight of fear forced her back home and inside. Her heart raced and her head pounded as she darted into her room.
She found her posters, the ones she’d carefully taken off the walls of her Sydney bedroom. With no order or pattern, she slapped them on the walls—anywhere. Blu-tacking them haphazardly to cover the duck-pond green paint. In her out-of-control state, everything began to spin. Stephanie fell onto her bed, smothered her face with her pillow and sobbed.
“Stephanie,” April called.
“Go away,” she mumbled from under the pillow.
“Steph!” April flung the bedroom door open. “Steph, I’m practising a new routine, come watch.”
Stephanie pulled a tissue from the box to wipe her face. She grabbed a handful more and dragged her feet along the short hallway and halfway down the stairs. Slumping over her knees, she hugged an arm through the vertical posts to watch her sister flipping and cartwheeling around the empty lounge room. Stephanie glanced at her mother standing in the kitchen doorway and clenched her teeth. April. Always the favourite!
