Chapter Text
“We're almost there Mittens,” Emira said as she kept her eyes fixed on the road, “Only an hour left till Gravesfield! Are you excited?”
“Not really,” Amity replied, “Hard to be excited about a place I know nothing about.”
“I know,” Emira sighed, “But this is a very nice town with a very nice school system, please just try and have an open mind.”
In truth, that was only half the reason Emira had moved herself and Amity all the way across the country to Connecticut from California. It was to get as far away from their parents as possible.
After a year and a half of court battles, Emira was able to wrestle custody of her baby sister away from their parents. Now, the 21-year-old was the guardian of a 14-year-old and the first thing she thought to do was get a change of scenery for the poor girl.
“I still don't know why we couldn't have found some place warmer,” Amity pouted.
“Because this is the only place I could find a job that works around my schedule,” Emira answered. That was a half truth. Sure, she was able to get a job as a receptionist at a local hospital while she continued college online, but she also felt that Amity needed someplace different than where she grew up. Gravesfield was small, cheap, and quiet, the exact opposite of Los Angeles.
“Listen, I know you're not exactly happy about this change but please have an open mind,” Emira pleaded for what felt like the 1000th time since she told her they were moving. Amity never did well with change.
Amity just gave a grunt before she angrily put in a pair of earbuds, seemingly ready to ignore Emira for the rest of the drive.
The hour passed with few other words being said by the two. Amity mostly just listened to old 2000s emo albums and spiraled, dreading her new life.
She felt bad that she wasn't looking forward to this. Emira had spent so much time and effort to get her away from their parents which she was really grateful for. She was overjoyed to no longer be forced to suffer their abuse. She was happy that she got to stay with her sister now.
She just wished she could do it someplace more interesting than a town in the middle of nowhere, Connecticut.
Eventually, the dense forests of New England gave way to the small town of Gravesfield. Amity made sure to observe everything she could as they drove through. They passed the high school first, where she was supposed to start tomorrow. Eventually, they made their way through the town square, and Amity noticed a building labeled “Gravesfield Historical Society” with two statues next to it. Nearby was a libary and next to that was a couple of local businesses. There was a park in the center of everything. There were a couple kids her age hanging around, no doubt enjoying their last day of freedom before the new school year.
Before long, they pulled into a single-story house near the edge of town. A moving truck, parked outside their new home, was already half empty.
“We're home.” Emira smiled as she put the car in park.
“Yaaaay,” Amity let out sarcastically as she unbuckled and quickly left the car. Amity made her way to the trunk and pulled out her duffle bag. It was filled with the clothes she packed for the hotels they stopped at on their drive from Los Angeles. One night in Colorado, one night in Missouri, and a final night in Ohio.
As Amity began to walk from the car up the porch, she took a glance to the side to one of her neighbors houses. As she did, she noticed someone looking out their window at her. They had light brown skin, but that was the most Amity could make out from where she stood. It seemed the figure noticed Amity looking and quickly darted from the window.
Amity continued to make her way up the porch with her sister following close behind. Amity opened the door to her new home and walked inside to find boxes littering the floor, and a certain older brother placing a stack down near the kitchen.
“Welcome to your…new home,” Edric huffed out, clearly a bit out of breath. Edric had offered to drive up the moving van filled with stuff and help unpack everything.
“Hey there Ed,” Emira said as she placed her duffle bag down, “Glad you made it in one piece.”
“Yeah….same…” Edric continued to breathe heavily, “Mittens…how are you?”
“Same as I felt when Emira said she was forcing me to move to Connecticut,” Amity snarked.
“You'll get used to it, this town is lovely,” Edric replied, “A weird lady with grey hair sold this Rolex for super cheap looks,” Edric said as he held up his wrist to show off a fake watch with its gold paint already peeling off.
“Yeah that's great,” Emira sighed as she rubbed her temple.
“Anyway,” Edric said, “Can you help me unload the rest of these boxes?”
Emira let out a loud sigh as she unfolded the last of the lawn chairs that would have to make for their sitting arrangements until their needed furniture was delivered in a few days. An old computer monitor with a dvd player had been placed on the ground to work as entertainment for the time being, and both girls' rooms were fitted with air mattresses.
“Congratulations, you two have officially moved in,” Edirc said with a smile.
“Thanks for all the help, Ed, and not just today, through all of this,” Emira said to her twin.
“What are big brothers for?” Edric smirked.
“I'm older than you,” Emira reminded him.
“By 5 minutes,” Edric sighed, “Anyway, are you sure you don't want me to stay? I can take a few personal days.”
“No,” Emira answered quickly, “I can handle this on my own, you need to get back to the zoo. Plus you already bought the plane ticket back and I don't have a third air mattress.”
“Fine, whatever you say,” Edric sighed, “Speaking of which I need to take the moving van back now if I'm going to catch my flight,” Edric turned to Amity who had been mostly silent since they arrived, “Mittens, come give me a hug.”
Edric moved in to give Amity a hug and she promptly stepped away from her brother. “Please don't,” she pleaded.
“Ed, you know how she gets,” Emira scolded.
“Right, sorry,” Edric said as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Can I at least get a high five?”
“That I'll do,” Amity replied as she held up her open palm for her brother who promptly connected his own palm to it, gently of course.
“Please be good to your sister,” Edric asked before he turned to his other sister, “Can I get a hug from you?”
“Of course,” Emira said before she and her twin embraced for what was likely the last time for a while.
“Good luck,” Edric said as he held Emira tight. “If you need anything at all, call me and I'll catch the first flight from San Diego to here.”
“I'll keep that in mind,” Emira replied before the two let go of each other, “Make sure you send me a request for the money I owe you for the Uber to the airport.”
“Will do,” Edric said as he began to walk towards the door. Before he exited, he turned around, “I love you two, by the way, just hope you both know that.”
“Softie,” Emira chuckled, “but we love you too.”
Edric just rolled his eyes before leaving his sisters alone in their new house.
“I'll go order us a pizza,” Emira said once Edric had left the driveway, “You go pick out a movie for us to watch.
“Okay,” Amity sighed as she started to dig through the pile of old DVDs, “Please don't get any pineapples on it this time.”
“You're no fun,” Emira pouted as she pulled out her phone to search for any local pizza places.
Emira sat back in the uncomfortable plastic chair as “The Good Witch Azura 2: The Tale of the Wand” continued to play on the TV.
“Never letting you pick out a movie again,” Emira sighed.
“Oh hush,” Amity snapped back, “At least let me enjoy something today.”
“Fair enough,” Emira said as she took a bite of her pizza. Emira glanced over to her sister to find that she had still only eaten a single slice, “Mittens, do you not like the pizza?”
“No it's good, I'm just full,” Amity replied as she continued to watch the movie.
“Amity,,” Emira gave a worried look over to her sister, “You can have more pizza if you want, no one's going to stop you anymore.”
“I'm fine,” Amity said sternly.
“If you say so,” Emira turned away, a bit frustrated. Ever since she got custody of Amity it'd been a battle to get the girl to actually eat a healthy amount. The girl was thin in an unhealthy way. But she had been conditioned to eat as little as possible, and short of shoving food down her throat, Emira couldn't do much at the moment. Hopefully her therapist could help her out.
Before Emira could dwell on it any further, someone suddenly knocked on their door.
“Someone's here?” Amity asked, panicked.
“Probably just one of our new neighbors coming to say hi,” Emira explained.
“Shoot, I already took my make-up off,” the brunette said before she stood up and rushed toward her new bedroom.
“Amity, wait-” Emira tried to convince Amity that it wouldn't matter but another knock on the door interrupted her and Emira let out a frustrated grunt before heading towards the door.
The green haired girl peered outside the peep-hole to see an older woman with tanned skin and tired, kind eyes standing outside holding a container of something. Emira opened up the door to be greeted by the smiling face of her new neighbor.
“¡Hola!,” The woman said cheerfully, “My name is Camila Noceda, I'm your new neighbor,” Camila pointed to Emira’s right at a nice two story house, “and thought it would be nice to bring you some leftover enchiladas from my family's dinner tonight!”
“Oh, thank you so much, Ms. Noceda,” Emira said as she happily took the plastic container from the older woman, “I'm Emira Blight.”
“Please, just call me Cam,” Camila replied, “So what brings you and your child here?”
“Child?” Emira stepped back, a bit shocked, “I don't look that old, do I?”
“Was that not your child that moved in with you?” Camila asked, confused.
“No, Amity is my sister,” Emira chuckled, “It's a long story, but I'm now her legal guardian and decided she needed a change of scenery from Los Angeles.”
“Oh, this must be a very difficult time for you,” Camila consoled.
“You're not wrong,” Emira sighed, “So, uh, do you have any kids of your own?”
“Yes I do,” Camila’s mood seemed to brighten up at the thought of her children, “I have two girls, one is 16 and the other is 20.”
“My sister is 15!” Emira said excitedly, “But she turns 16 next month."
“Maybe we can set up a playdate or something?” Camila suggested.
“I'm pretty sure they're too old for playdates,” Emira chuckled, “But it would be nice to help Amity get some new friends, she didn't exactly have any back in LA.”
“That sounds good, maybe you two can come over for dinner one night? I can make our world famous Noceda cocktails! It’s a secret family recipe.” Camila added with a wink.
“That sounds lovely,” Emira answered, “But can we skip the cocktail, Amity doesn't exactly do well around alcohol currently.”
“Of course,” Camila said, not even a second thought about accommodating her baby sister.
“Then let me see if I can get Amity on board at some point,” Emira replied.
“Sounds good, I'll be in touch,” the woman said, “Oh and welcome to the neighborhood, you two will love it here. Goodbye for now, encanta.”
“Bye,” Emira said with a slight blush at the woman's term of endearment. Emira proceeded to place the leftover enchiladas in the mostly empty refrigerator before she made her way towards Amity’s room and knocked on her door, “Mittens, they're gone, can I come in?”
“Sure,” Amity called out.
Emira opened the door to find Amity sitting on the floor, looking sad, “You okay?”
“Not really, someone almost saw me like this,” Amity's hand seemed to instinctively run along the noticeable scar that ran across her chin. She used a hefty amount of concealer to cover it most of the time.
“Mittens,” Emira sat down next to her baby sister, “You can't worry about it too much, you'll drive yourself crazy worrying about what other people may think.”
“It's not about what they think,” Amity replied as she curled in on herself, “It's about how I feel.”
“Amity…” Emira was at a loss for words. She was in no way qualified to comfort Amity about this. She was barely qualified to handle raising a kid who wasn't traumatized beyond belief.
“Why don't you get ready for bed, you should be well rested for your first day of school,” Emira finally said.
“Alright,” Amity sighed as she got up to go take a shower.
“Hey Mittens,” Emira said before Amity left the room.
“What?”
“I love you.”
“I know, you said that already,” Amity replied coldly as she left Emira alone to contemplate how she was going to do this.