Rat Race

Briar let herself into the mansion and threw her bag somewhere to the side. She wandered into the kitchen for a snack, but the sight of a yellow post-it note on the fridge stopped her in her tracks.

Hey, I stopped by earlier to leave some lemon pie when the phone rang. Your mom and dad are coming home to visit for a few days so make sure the house is in tip top shape. From what I saw, you have a lot of work to do.
-Lily

Briar snorted at her aunt's impersonal note and threw it in the trash.

“You have a lot of work to do.” She mocked out loud in the empty house. For the first time ever, Briar wished the place was bustling with the cleaning crew that came every Wednesday. She looked around at the damages done from late night parties.

A couch was tipped over. There was a big brown spot of something on the otherwise super white crystallized-looking wall and a pizza box in the corner of the kitchen that's been there for about two weeks.

She didn't even want to go see the mess upstairs.

“It just needs some sprucing up!” She clapped her hands, trying to sound cheerful and make it a positive situation. She knew she was fooling herself and sighed heavily as she set upon picking up the stinky pizza box.

~

Scarlett pulled over a mile away from Fairview, sighing in relief at the fact that she was off school grounds.

She got out of her truck and yanked a cigarette out of her pocket. Her first inhale of nicotine was like a breath of fresh air.

The sound of shoes crunching against gravel caused her to turn around. Behind her, a figure stopped. Scarlett raised her eyebrow for the second time that day as the person got closer.

“Hi,” the cute, brown haired boy said as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Scarlett blew out a billow of smoke and said, “Hey.”

“So...” He sidled up to her. “You know it's bad to smoke, right?” He slid the cigarette out from between her fingers.

She leaned against her open truck door and snatched her cigarette back before he could put it to his lips. “You know it's bad to butt into other people's business, right?” She shot back in a snarkier tone.

He smiled a ghost of a smile and leaned against her truck. He looked at her with serious dark eyes.

“Wanna go for a ride?” He asked.

“With who?” Scarlett snorted.

“With me.” His dark eyes looked into her gray ones, swirling like a dark vortex trying to suck her in and make her forget her crappy life.

“Um... no.” She threw her cigarette down and stomped on it.

“I have to go.” She smiled sardonically. She didn't understand why he had this sudden interest in her. She was nothing special.

A few minutes later, she arrived at the dilapidated structure that was painstakingly called a house.

It wasn't a home. It was a place in which she lived for a short time until she could get out of the hell hole.

“I don't understand why I can't just go out for a while, Marissa.” Scarlett heard as she walked through the door.

“Jason, I don't see why you can't just stay here and spend time with me.”

“Because the boys want to go out tonight and I just need some me time.”

“Me time? How are you gonna spend some me time if it's with a bunch of men?”

Scarlett smirked and headed toward the stairs leading up to her room.

“Are you trying to get away so you can cheat on me?” She heard her mom ask.

Jason grunted. “Come on, Marissa, how many times do we have to go through this? I'm not cheating on you! I just want to spend some time with my friends.”

“And what am I supposed to do while you're off doing god-knows-what out there?” Her mom whined. “Read?”

“Hang out with Scarlett.” He suggested.

“I don't wanna do anything with that bitch.” Her kind and loving mother said.

Scarlett rolled her eyes as she closed the door to her room. It was like a live soap opera only less entertaining.

Not five seconds later, her little sister, Albany, burst through the door. “Scarlett,” she sang.

“What?”

“Kelsey won’t leave me alone. She keeps coming into my room.”

Scarlett sat up. “It’s,” she checked the black cat clock on her wall, “Three o’ clock. Shouldn’t she be taking a nap?”

“I don’t know…”

“Why is she out of her crib in the first place?!”

“Because… I… took her out…” Albany looked down at her feet, her blonde curls tumbling in her face, and held her hands behind her back.

Scarlett pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed out of her mouth. Do not hit your little sister. She’s only eight, she didn’t know any better, she thought. Only Albany did know better. But Scarlett knew her mom would have some words to say to her if she did hit Albany.

Without a word, Scarlett got up from her bed and walked to Albany’s room. There was Kelsey, a younger version of Albany, in her diaper—which was probably full—and nothing else, playing with Albany’s Barbie Dream House.

“Come on, Kelsey,” Scarlett picked up her 2 year old sister. She squirmed in her arms and frowned. Scarlett looked at Albany, “You,” she pointed, “Don’t take your sister out of her crib again. That was dangerous. We don’t even have a gate on the stairs. If you wanna play with Kelsey, tell mom and you can play with her downstairs.”

“But mom and dad have been arguing all day,” Albany’s blue eyes were watering.

Scarlett wasn’t surprised. That was her mom and Jason’s favorite pastime. Keeping Kelsey secure in her arms, Scarlett squatted down to her other sister’s level, “How about I change Kelsey’s diaper and put her in her crib and then we can watch Beauty and the Beast?” She knew that was her sister’s favorite movie.

Kelsey smiled widely and ran to go get the movie.