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"HAPPY FUCKING HOLIDAYS"
Screaming is the first thing Elise is aware of. Screaming, two people are hurling insults at each other and they don't seem to be ready to stop anytime soon. They're loud and she can't block out the noise. Her alarm clock says it's two in the morning. She gets up, stepping on a book Mae gave her, Babbity Rabbity with something about a cauldron, so far it seems okay. She waits a little longer for the screaming to stop, it doesn't. When she realizes she can't make out the words, she opens her door.
"She's your daughter, Amaya," someone is shouting. Aunt Galinda, Elise realizes, it can't be good. Aunt Galinda never screams.
It's not hard for Elise to put two and two together. Her mother is freaked out and it's a lot to take in. Elise looks completely different. Sure, she could be handling it better but it's new and different and kind of scary. It's okay for her to be upset.
"Then why are you telling me how to parent her," her mother shouts back. "She's not your kid!"
Please stop, she thinks. Aunt Galinda, it's fine. You don't need to do this, she thinks, please don't do this. Please, please stop. It seems her aunt can't read her mind.
"Well, I seem to be better at parenting than you are right now!"
"Stop messing with stuff you don't understand."
"I understand enough!"
Another door opens and whoever it is, seems angry. Their footsteps are loud, whoever it is is stomping. "Galinda, Amaya, both of you need to stop."
"I'm sorry," Galinda snaps. "Are you saying it's okay?"
"No," her father says, tiredly. "I would never say that. Just go home, okay. I can handle this."
There's silence, the three of them don't make a single move. "Fine. But don't think I won't check up on everything."
"Fine, you can come over in two days," her Dad says, he sounds absolutely exhausted. "Please, go."
Her aunt says something and leaves and Her Dad and Mum go into a room too far away for Elise. to hear what they're saying from her room. She gets into bed, staring at the ceiling, wishing.
Elise is scared. She hates this. She hates it all, why does everything have to hurt her and why can't people just not hurt her more than she already is. Theres so much pain, enough to drown in. It's everywhere. She just wants everything to go back to the way it was. The worst part of all that is she can't remember the way it was. She wants something she can't remember.
She can't remember what her life was like last year, before the incident. She can't remember it. Funny, how she's adapted but not adapted at the same time.
