FLAMES

Chapter one: dream land.
“Daddy, you know how you love me extreme amounts?”, I said, emphasising the word ‘daddy’, and speaking in a pleading tone.
“Yes, Amber?” He sighed, shuffling in the driving seat of the car. His brown curls bobbed slightly as he moved -his beer belly probably did too- making me smirk a little, but I still played along and pretended to  be his little six year old girl again, so he’d give me money for the  countryside fair.
“Well, everyone’s going to the fair soon, and I really want to go...” I trailed off mid-sentence, expecting him to hand me a twenty pound note, and give in to my amazing six-year-old voice.
My dad -Jerry- nodded in agreement, but continued to plead his case; his case being the one where he was so cheap, that he could never even spare a fiver for his sweet little daughter. “Amber, I don’t know if it’s too hard to wrap your head around, but we’re not exactly the wealthiest family in town.” Jerry said, solemnly hunching his shoulders as he spoke, “I know it must be hard for you, but the busboy job I’ve got at the moment just isn’t working out very well!”
I inhaled sharply, yeah, it was hard. Especially when all of his money went towards me going to a private all girls school, with a bunch of teen celebrities, who got what they want, whenever they wanted it.  Why couldn’t I just go to a normal high school? Probably because me getting a good education is all my mum wants, I thought. Wherever in the world she is now. She could be in Spain. Or France. Or Greece. Or on the other side of the world for all I care. She never did me and my dad any good.
“Oh. I guess I could still go... I’ll just walk around with Sophie for a
bit”, I exclaimed, already deep in thought.
What sucked most about going to a private school, was that it was an all girls school, which meant I didn’t get to socialise with any hot boys, or any boys at all for that matter.
Have I ever even spoke to a guy other than my dad..? Whoa, that was a scary thought. What if I never get a boyfriend, and I just die lonely? I smiled at the idea of having one of those cool supernatural boyfriends, like the ones you read about in books, one’s that could take you to the underworld, cast spells with you,  and be unnaturally fit, so fit that your friends would be jealous.
Nothing supernatural would ever happen in Skyview, a sad little countryside village in the middle of nowhere, -surrounded by pine trees, endless lakes, and tons of old people in their little cottages, dubiously feeding squirrels that probably lead crazy little armies in the middle of the night, and all of that crap- Skyview is just too plain for that.
“Look, sweetie. When your mum comes back, we’ll move somewhere nice and I’ll get a somewhat better job...” He sighed, parking the car down our gravel driveway, and turning off the engine solemnly, “Life will be good.”
I exhaled sharply. “Sorry dad, it’s cool and everything, but we both know mum’s not coming back”. I hated to be that cruel to him, but what was the point in letting him get his hopes up, and then having to watch them getting torn viciously into little shreds on the ground? There was no point in that. None whatsoever.
As I opened the door and walked down the driveway, I listened to the gravel crunch icily under my feet. Puddles had frozen everywhere
in the front garden, and I loved the sound of frost crunching underneath the soles of my leather boots.
I stood to stare at the tiny wooden cabin –or shack- that was my home. It looked a lot different now my mum was gone. It used to smell like freshly baked Christmas cookies and cinnamon cakes, things that I imagined mums to smell like. It really, really didn’t smell like that anymore. I couldn’t really tell right then, but I guessed it would smell like the late autumn breeze, freshly fallen leaves on the ground, and timber. The cold nipped at the tip of my nose, my whole body was beginning to go numb with the cold.
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