Circumstances Changed

Chapter 1

Maya woke up with a jolt. She only calmed down when she realized the naked man lying beside her was still asleep and posed no threat to her. She slipped out of the bed and slid her clothes on silently, his stirring causing her to go quicker. She left the run-down apartment and the man still inside, but not before swiping his pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She lit it and smoked as she walked from her neighborhood back to the lower west side of Manhattan. 

It was still dark out and she was alone, but she preferred the walk over the subway. She had always felt more comfortable walking alone at night. There was something that felt safer about danger to her, for dangerous situations had always been a part of her life.

She put out her cigarette before climbing up the fire escape. She opened the window and crawled through. She looked over at Riley who was sitting up in her bed looking exhausted.

"I'm going to go tell my parents you're home," she informed Maya.

Maya sighed as Riley left and came back with her parents on her heels.

"Where have you been?" Topanga asked.

"Out," Maya vaguely replied.

"You can't just do that, Maya. There are consequences for your actions," Cory said.

"You can't tell me what to do, you're not my parents," Maya responded apathetically.

"I promised your mother we'd take care of you, so you will listen to us," Topanga said.

"Can we not talk about this now?" Maya asked tearing up a little.

"Get some sleep and we'll talk in the morning. Both of you, go to bed," Cory said before turning off the lights and shutting the door.

Both girls got into their respective bed. Riley fell asleep almost immediately, probably from exhaustion from staying up waiting for Maya, who was then left to her thoughts.

Maya's mother Katy was dead, but she hadn't died. She was killed by Kermit, Maya's father, and right in front of Maya herself. Kermit's behind bars leaving Maya with nowhere else to go but the Matthews. 

She had once dreamed of living with them. All that waited for her at home was an abusive father and a mother that preoccupied herself with a low-paying job at a diner. Maya saw life with them as safe, something she'd always longed to feel. 

When her parents' argument got out of hand and a fatal shot was fired, Maya was brought to live with the Matthews. But after seventeen troubled years at home, Maya knew no other life for herself. She lacked constant chaos in her life, something that she constantly left the safety and security of the Matthews searching for. Circumstances changed.