fae-ted

Hazel stared out the passenger side window at the passing forrest and sighed deeply. Her skin felt tight, restrictive. Everything about the car was uncomfortable, from the stale air, passed through too many lungs, to the persistent pressure of little Sophie's legs as she pushed against the back of Hazel's seat, over and over again. "Stop that." Hazel swatted at Sophie half-heartedly, not able to muster the energy to be very annoyed. She had shouted and stormed, slammed and sighed back home but all to no avail. It was a done deal, her life was over. Her mother made a clicking noise from the driver's seat. "When are you going to get over this bad mood Hazel? The whole moody teenage thing is a bit of a cliche, isn't it?" Hazel turned back to the window, too disgusted with her mother's comment to respond. She wasn't "moody," she was heartbroken. Her friends, her hobbies, her school, her life...all of it had been left behind. Sure, Chelsea and Louise had promised to call but their messages had already become less frequent. In the week leading up to the big move she had almost started to feel like a ghost, an out-of-place memory that no one wanted to acknowledge. And as for being a teenager...sure, technically she was still 17 but she felt old, old enough to take responsibility for her own life at least. As the oldest, she had always been the mature one, constantly picking up the slack. With a single mother and six very silly sisters, a lot of the planning and preparation came down to her. She didn't mind, she was naturally suited to management. Over time she had acquired the decisiveness of a leader, if not a few domineering tendencies besides. "Hazel." Sophie pipped up from behind her, removing one of her legs from the back of the seat and resting it in the cupholder between Hazel and her mother. "Can I tell you something?" "What is it E?" Hazel sighed, removing her frilly white sock-shod foot and placing it firmly on the ground. "Alan told me, guess what he told me?" Sophie bounced up and down a bit, excited. "Since we're moving he's finally going to leave us alone?" Hazel's mother shot her a warning look. "No," Sophie tilted her head, confused for a second. "He said there are going to be deer in the forest!" "Yeah and probably a bunch of other nasty..." "That's right!" Her mother interjected cheerfully, cutting Hazel's sentence short. "Deer and rabbits and if you're lucky, maybe even some owls." "Wow." Hazel heard the wonder in Sophie's voice and felt a prang of guilt. She didn't want to make Sophie's life difficult. As the youngest of the sisters, with long blonde hair the colour of warm summer sunlight and a smile to match it was hard not to want to love and protect Sophie at first sight. Hazel knew however, that beauty was the least of Sophie's good qualities, falling well short of her inquisitiveness, confidence and unfailing kind heart. "And guess what else Hazel?" Sophie kicked her chair again, causing Hazel to roll her eyes. "What, E?" "Alan said that your hair is the exact colour of their fur! How pretty!" "Alan had better keep his weird comments about my hair to himself." Hazel sniffed. Beside her, her mother redoubled her grip on the steering wheel, then sighed. "I wish you wouldn't actively try to find things to hate about him Hazel." She shook her head disapprovingly. "He's done a lot for this family and he's never been anything but kind to you." "Kind and creepy." Hazel shuffled down into her seat, folding her arms. In truth, she didn't really find Alan creepy but he was the first man her mother had ever introduced them to and from the moment she met him, everything had gone downhill. He owned the "house" they were going to live in and, in her mind at least, the move was partially his fault. "I get that you like him mum, I just don't understand why we had to move out into the middle of bum f-" Her mother slapped her hands down hard on the steering wheel, causing the car to veer for a moment. Sophie let out a little squeak. "I just can't with you today Hazel." She shot Hazel a stormy look. "Do me a favour, let me know when you're ready to fix your attitude and rejoin the family and until then keep your thoughts to yourself because, like it or not, the world does not revolve around you and, like it or not, we are moving." Hazel crossed her arms tighter, slinking further down into her seat. She decidedly did not like it.