Rain 》a.i. au [SLOW UPDATES]

Chapter Three

On the drive home, I just couldn't keep Ethan out of my mind. When the police came to our house in the middle of the night, they told us that he was trying to get everyone out that he could, when we all knew damn well that he was just trying to cover up the fact that it was his best friend blazing up that started the house fire. The officers knew that too, which made me even more angry that they would try to tell us otherwise. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to distract myself before I began to cry.

It turned out that Ashton didn't live too far from me, so the car ride was short. I pulled into the chalked up driveway, my front right tire resting on what seemed to be a rainbow, although I couldn't be sure do to the lack of artistic ability in my family, as well as the rain washing part of it away. From what I could see from standing outside of my two story house, every single light was turned on. This wasn't too surprising, considering the fact that my mother was not home yet.

"You pulled up five minutes ago Erin! I need some help here!" The front door opened revealing my steaming sister. "I won't wait all day! She keeps asking for you."

I sighed, finishing my quick moment of peace to help her out. After hanging my coat and closing the door, I ran to my mother's bedroom. I fell onto my stomach, so that I could slip under the bed frame. I found myself nose to nose to Emily, her clutching her ratty teddy bear that she loved so dearly.

"Again, Emmie? What's wrong?" I tried making myself higher than her, but my head hit the bed.

"I just want someone to read me a story," She whined, going along with her pout. I let out a long breath, because I was always the one out of Elaine and I that had to read her a bedtime story, even though I was sure that Elaine would end up strangling her.

"Alright, alright, let's get you outta here," I pulled on her feet and dragged her out from under the bed, while I wondered why she couldn't have picked a cleaner place to go when she got upset.

My youngest sister skipped off to her room, the tutu that she never took of bouncing with her. Elaine and I watched her, both of us cocking our heads to the right, as we simultaneously wondered how she always managed to be happy. Elaine then turned to me and asked, "So, what took you so long to get home tonight?"

"I just had to drive..." I hesitated, because I wasn't sure if I considered Ashton a friend, "someone home." She laughed, like she didn't believe me, and went to her room, closing her door and locking herself in.

"I found one Erin," Emily, called, her high voice traveling down the hall. Reaching her hot pink painted room, I found her sitting proudly on her bed, her copy of Goldilocks in her lap.

Smiling to hide my tiredness, I proceeded to read her the tale of the three bears and the precious porridge, and the girl who ate it all. Thankfully, Emily fell asleep when they discovered that Goldilocks had sat in her chair, which meant that I could finish early. I tucked her in and shut the lights off, before lazily walking down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen.

"I don't know why you don't quit your job at that grubby diner and just babysit," An all too familiar voice came from the under lit dining room.

"Because I would shoot myself afterwards," I poured two glasses of milk and sat down at the wood table, "Hi mom."

"But, sweetie, you are so good with the little ones," She said as I planted a kiss on her cheek. Her hair was bunched up in a clip, and she reeked of hospital. Ever since I started working at the diner, my mother has always wanted me to quit, because it didn't look good on a college application. We both finished our milk, both of us heading our separate ways, her upstairs, and me downstairs.

a/n: i started writing this right after i posted chapter two. it's only eight hours after i posted three so i will save this and post it later.

a/n: so i posted chapter two a week and a half ago so i guess it's time to update. this is just a really bad filler chapter, but it kind of gives you a look inside of erin's home life i guess. dedication goes to trashystyles because she left a nice comment on the last chapter. shout out to httpscalum for reading and putting it in her book reviews book, thank you so so much. this was a long author's note for a short chapter. i hope to update soon though. remember to vote, comment (follow?) and leave feedback.

until next time,

--the wicked witch of the west