The Monster's Hippy

The Odd One Out

Lily had never been afraid to admit she didn't fit in with her family. Her parents had been one of the many that died too soon and so suddenly. She had moved in with her bratty cousin Jackson and his mother, her aunt Gretel, who spoiled the boy rotten. 

On a daily basis, Lily felt as out of place as a white rose in a field of black ones. Having been exposed to death early, she was more resistant that her entire family should've been. Once upon a time she had wept over her parents, but after those years were gone she stopped feeling sad and learned to let go, becoming a hippy in the process. Secretly she dreamed of running away from home to live life as free and happy as her mother would've wanted her to.

Lily returned back to the large mansion with a heavy heart, and it wasn't from the funeral, more like her just-about-broken nose. She had a small dinner before retiring to bed early, her room two doors down from Jackson. She sighed as she undressed and slipped into her oversized tie-dye shirt and sat at the window, thinking back to her folks.

Mom drowned in high tide, dad died in a car crash. I feel like I've moved on but at the same time I feel so dependent on keeping them alive. I wish I knew who to turn to but no one really pays attention to me anymore. I have my family but they sure don't feel like it anymore. She sighed, twirling a strand of raven black hair around one finger. In that instant, an idea struck her and she got out her black suitcase.

~

Lily made a decision that night, one that she knew would be just about impossible to completely recover from. Calling up an old friend of her mom, she went out to the end of her neighborhood and waited. Sometime later, a tie-dye van with a '70s hippy theme rolled up and the door opened, revealing a colorfully dressed redhead female with a rainbow of beads braided into her hair.

"Your mom had a feeling you'd do this, always said you were the type to run away from the never-ending string of funerals." Lily smiled. "Thanks again Peach Blossom." As she slipped into the back the older hippy spoke.

"You're gonna need a new name yourself. Anything in mind?" The teen smiled from her spot in the back seat. "Clover." The adult nodded lightly. "Groovy." The younger was silent with glee, watching her old life melt into the night.