Thread: Second Chances (Evelyn and mila stark)

Leila closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the pillow once again, having just woken up to her parents fighting yet again. The noise downstairs was loud and unbearable, and yet she was stuck, forced to endure another grueling day of their inability to see eye to eye on anything at all. Their shouts were soon followed by the all-too-familiar noise of yet another glass shattering, and then by the slamming of the front door. No doubt her father had thrown yet another glass of his whisky at the wall before taking off for the day. He always said that he was going to work or going out to clear his head, but Michaela knew better. She knew that he was leaving to go sit at the bar all day, drowning his sorrows in gin and booze. Her mother, on the other hand, took out her anger on everyone else. The woman was always incredibly bitter after their fights, and to talk to her or to even look at her was suicide. No, it was best to just hide out in her room and pretend like she was still asleep. Wait it out. That was all she ever did. Wait. Wait for the fighting to end, wait for the day to be over, wait for everything to get better, wait until she could finally move out of the house. But her solitude didn't last long until her mother came charging up the stairs and pounded on the door. Jesus Christ, Leila get you lazy ass out of bed! her mother hollered, shaking the door. In her growing years Leila had found the lock on the door to be quite useful. I'm already up, she called back, trying not to sound annoyed. The last thing she needed was her mother to get pissed over an attitude. She heard her mother mutter something under her breath, but she couldn't quite hear what it was. Leila waited until she heard her mother's footsteps going back down the stairs before she unlocked her door. It was almost nine a.m. She still had another three hours stuck in the house. Her parents were... controlling, to say the least. The only times she was allowed out of the house was for school, errands and babysitting. Summer vacations were the worst. Mostly because no school meant there was an extra eight hours a day that she was stuck inside. Study, read, work on her ballet - she needed to be perfect. Because that was what her parents wanted. But what her parents didn't seem to grasp that it was being stuck in such a chaotic home that had caused her to seek some sort of release. She had to get out of this house... had to get away. Leila didn't want to be a doctor. She didn't want to spend years in college slaving away over books and essays. All she wanted was to get out. Babysitting was a blessing. She got paid to get out of her house for hours on end. Leila felt as though she should be paying her neighbor, not the other way around. She had no idea what she was saving her from each and every time he called her to come babysit. And today was no different. She just had to stand her ground until it was time to go, and then she would be out that door in a flash. Trying to kill time, she showered and shaved, taking extra care in getting ready. It wasn't that she was trying to impress someone - she was just bored. She needed to distract herself, and in the house, this was the only way she knew how. Staring at herself in the mirror as she dressed, she let out a soft sigh before she finished getting dressed, then set about drying her hair and applying a bit of makeup. And finally, it was time to go. It took her nearly five minutes to walk from her house down the street to her neighbor's home. The whole way there, she hummed Sweet Home Alabama to herself. It made her think of the days when her parents were still young and in love, and they would sit out on the back porch on hot summer nights and listen to the radio. She really missed those days. Leila rang the doorbell and stood back, waiting for someone to answer. In all honesty, she was actually really excited to spend the day away from home.