SpringCreek.

The town was once full; people living in every house, a dance studio that held classes every day all day. Now, it was empty. Only very few people lived there; they were the strong ones. After the proclaimed deaths of the town's famous Laraby family, people left and the town died, so to speak. Even the dance studio, that was the jewel of the town, was left empty, cared for by the groundskeeper, who couldn't bring himself enter the building in order to fulfill his duties. The Laraby family was the most well-known family in town. A perfect family with 'little angels' who did no wrong. But as secrets surfaced and true colors were shown, the family broke down. Aceley was the first to leave, Heather following in the youngest sister's steps. Amaliah ran away with her lover, Oakley Winters, and their parents were left in the ruins of their family. Years later Jeffery and Rebecca, the parents, died in a car accident in South Hartford. Amaliah moved into the house, getting the treasures that were given to her dead sisters.

Last three posts. It's my turn.
Finally, the door opened, and instead of being greeted with a happy, smiling Amaliah, it was a frowning, "what the hell are you doing here" Amaliah. Immediately the almost happy look on Aceley's face dissipated, being replaced with nothing. She felt hurt, to say the least. She'd imagined her big "home-coming" better and happier than it actually was. A loud sigh passed through her pale lips, eyes closing momentarily so she could get her bearings back. Once again sarcasm and a cocky grin was on her face. She wouldn't--, couldn't let anything get to her now, she was a whole new person; a stone wall. Letting the weak little dancer back would only ruin things.

Amaliah turned around and bolted up the stairs to her room, Heather hot on her trail. Instead of stepping in to be greeted by Oakley, Ace stayed outside on the porch, that dilemma being caused by another vibration in her pocket. Her pale green eyes lit up with happiness, the grin turning into a genuine smile; James. Her hand frantically shot into her pocket, retrieving the cellular phone and looking at it. It was a call this time, not a text. Skillfully she flipped it open and placed it to her ear. "Hello?" The voice was unlike any other; instead of it being cocky and sarcastic-filled, it was innocent and ecstatic. And then, James' voice hit her; a truck barreling down the street towards the small bird that was too stupid to fly away. Ace's heart skipped several beats, eyelids fluttering closed as a few small giggles left her lips. The giggles were cut short, the innocent look turning into a full on glare as Heather ran past her and down the street away from the house. Of course, that was Heather down to a tee. What girl who wants to get back in touch with their family would just bolt out like that? Who you ask? Heather Laraby; a chicken, always scared to do anything out of her natural habits, too scared to speak her mind. With a slight roll of her eyes, Aceley spoke. "Be right there." Was all she said before she was running down the stairs and the driveway, a new, source-unknown burst of energy flowing through her.

James moved away from the car, arms flying open just as Ace jumped into them, her legs wrapping around his body. After a small peck on the lips, a giggle, and another kiss they were pushing the car towards the driveway, and soon up the driveway after several moments of thinking out a plan and pushing so they would be able to turn the car around the corner. More and more minutes ticked by before they were finally at the house, car parked. "What happened?" Ace asked, eyes gaining this glint of.. something as they looked upon James' face. James shrugged and pulled Ace to him with his arm, hand resting on her side. Placing a kiss on Ace's cheek he finally spoke, "It was an old car anyways, so it doesn't really matter. Besides, I already have another car. Don't sweat it." He whispered to her, placing another kiss on her cheek before leading her into the still opened door of the house.
--
Amaliah had finished the drawings a full two minutes earlier. She was aware of the dull thuds that reverberated through her room, but she couldn't bring herself to get up, let alone open or unlock the door. Truthfully, she wanted to let Oakley in, to lie to him that everything was okay. But she can't. Because she can't lie to him. It seems so easy, but in her heart she knows that it's wrong. The one thing that ruined her family just walked in the door without knocking, calling; anything. She expects to be forgiven for that? Ami can remember the night clearly. Ami. Doing no wrong. Helping her homeless boyfriend live a better life. Aceley. Being the normal, sweet child she had always been. Heather? Getting it on...at fourteen years of age...with her boyfried of God knows how short a time, in the room next door. She was the irresponsible one. Not Aceley. Not Ami, sort of. But all had to suffer. Ami hadn't spoken to her parents since that day. She slightly heard Heather's words.

"And it's MY fault you're pregnant?" She yelled back. No answer. Ami assumed she disappeared and let out a sigh of regret, relief, and a combination of other emotions. She wished this day had never happened. Ami thought of Aceley downstairs. She'd done nothing to harm Ami, save help shatter Ami's fragile family-less existence. With a sigh she dragged herself up and across the room to open the door. She hadn't the energy to utter a word and just sauntered past Oakley down the stairs and into the kitchen, a little surprised, yet not too much, to find another lurking through the door. The pulled out an according amount of cups, filled them with hot water from the kettle, and began to steep some mint tea. "Care for some?"
--
The door didn't open. Oakley's heart cracked. His fists banged and banged against the wood, yet she didn't answer. He wanted to know everything; what she was thinking, feeling, doing. All. Of. It. But he never got the chance, the door never opened. It was locked, whenever Ami was mad or something and stormed off to her room, she locked it behind her. There was only one key, leaving him locked out in the hallway. Wanting was the wrong word. Want. There was no ounce of “want” in his body at all. He NEEDED to know. Needed to be there to comfort her, to hold her until everything was better. But he knew that wouldn't be the right thing to do. She had to face all of this, face her inner demons for everything to be all right. Oakley was.. useless. What went on in the Laraby family was a secret he knew only half of – of course what went on in Heather's bedroom that one night wasn't exactly a secret, though he pretended he didn't know any of it. Just imagining a girl of fourteen years old was losing everything she had to some guy he bet she probably didn't even know was just..
repulsive. It was Heather's choice what she did and didn't do though, and in Oakley's mind, she chose the wrong path.

The door clicked. Unlocked, finally. His heart began racing, expecting to see some torn up, crying Amaliah. But that wasn't the case. What he saw was some girl, not the Amaliah he knew. This girl was strong, her face filled with determination, she was fearless. This girl was.. his.

The realization of that burned into his mind, his jaw clenching at the mere thought.

Ami just walked past him and down the stairs. He was.. shocked. She didn't give him time to wrap his arms around her, or even kiss her head. She just walked past him as if he wasn't even there. Swallowing hard Oakley followed after this foreign girl down the stairs and back into the kitchen, Aceley and some guy already lurking at the table. His jaw clenched slightly at the sight. What was Ace getting herself into? You know what.. Oak didn't even want to know. Wrinkling his nose slightly he finally turned his face back to Amaliah, watching the girl get cups and boil some water for all of them. He only nodded his head at her offer before stepping out of the room and into the living room which he had been previously painting. The solid color glaring back at him. He knew once the paint finally set, Ami would waltz in and give the room some life. That was the Ami he knew.

He knew the Amaliah that was full of life and laughter and fun; the Amaliah who almost always had a smile on her face, who always looked to the brighter side of things. But most of all it was the Amaliah who never told a lie -- or so he thought.