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0. Leaving home

When Louise Rainchild was five years old her parents decided to break up. Well, only her mom wanted to break up. Her dad got on his knees and begged Louise's mom to please change her mind.

"Look! It's just not working out! All you do is work all day and I am always so lonely at home by myself," said Louise's mom.

"Please baby, I'll do anything Just don't leave me, please. I love you," cried out Louise's dad. He was on his knees, tears streaming from his eyes, his face all red.

"Just stop, okay? It's already difficult enough as it is," said Louise's mom, looking annoyed.  "And besides I have already found someone else."

"No one can love you like I do," whispered Louise's dad. "I don't care if you have a thousand lovers. I just don't want us to never not be together."

Louise watched her mother regard her father. There was only pure tiredness in her eyes. Her mother was only twenty years old at the time and oh so beautiful. Her name was Kristina and she was still so young and pretty despite already giving birth when she was 15. Wherever Kristina went the boys just could not keep their eyes off of her. It was really foolish of Louise's dad Eric to assume that such a beautiful flower would be his forever.

Eric was a good man. He had only been 16 when he became a father to Louise. He could have just ran off or something like that, but he didn't.  Instead he dropped out of high school and started working as a landscaper to save up money. It was because of this that when Kristina turned sixteen she was able to go live with Eric and their baby, rather than spend the next two years in a group home. Louise herself had already spent that one year before Kristina turned sixteen in a separate foster home because Kristina's current group home didn't allow babies to live there.

"I'm leaving today. I met a guy and he is willing to let me move in with him," said Kristina.

"What about Louise?" asked Eric, his voice desperate.

Kristina looked right at Louise then and Louise had never seen eyes so empty before in her entire five years of life. 

"Motherhood is just not for me,'' she said. "I want to actually live my life. I'm so sick and tired staying here all day in this crappy townhouse with only a kid to keep me company."

"I'm saving up money,'' whispered Eric. "Soon I'll have enough for us to move into a really nice place and you can even enroll in high school again. And Louise is going into kindergarten next year anyways."

"I've already made up my mind," Kristina said. Then she turned and walked out the door. It would be a long time before Louise ever saw her again. 

After Kristina's mom left Eric just stayed kneeling on the ground for a long time, tears splashing onto the floor. After a moment Eric got up and left the house as well, leaving Louise alone.

For a while Louise just stayed home and watched Treehouse, but as the hours passed by she got more and more anxious wondering when her parents would come home. She eventually decided to leave and look for them herself. As her feet left the doorstep the house moaned, knowing she was stepping into a world of isolation and terror and that she just didn't know it yet. The house knew that it would be the last place she would ever  consider home for a long, long time.