THE WICKED

3

—LEAH—

She scratched her head. She had a horrible night of sleep after her argument with Wisteria. Leah had fallen asleep only twenty-five minutes earlier because she'd stayed up all night worrying about her and hoping she was home.

Leah crept down the stairs to find Kenna frying eggs.

"Is Wisteria home?" Leah's voice was so dry she sounded like she'd been crying; she probably had.

"Leah, dear, you don't sound good. And no, Wisteria went out again."

Leah wanted to shout, 'You don't understand, Kenna!' Even though she was probably losing her voice of all things.

(Losing your voice = no noise when speaking for a day or two. It happens when your voice starts quieting down, and it strains your voice to speak. It does come back, dw)

So she sat down.

Kenna made eggs and bacon and a special cup of energy drink for Leah, even though that probably wasn't a good idea. Leah couldn't complain.

She tapped her fingers impatiently. Where in the world was Wisteria? What if she was lost?

The questions ran through her mind. She felt like she was going to break down any minute.

"Are you okay, Leah?" Kenna asked, raising a worried eyebrow at Leah.

Leah nodded. She hated straining her voice when she felt like this.

"If you say so, sweetie." Kenna went back to her cooking and didn't bother Leah any longer.

There was a knock at the door.

"Could you get that, Leah?" Kenna asked.

Leah nodded eagerly. Maybe it was Wisteria! She had to be back now, right? Leah was too miserable to be mad right now.

She opened the door.

"Hi!" A girl with freckles, bright blue overalls, blonde hair that's in a ponytail, and dark skin smiled politely at her

It was not Wisteria.

"Hello?" Leah asked, tired.

"I'm Hannah. I just moved in last week:

"The abandoned house down the street?"

"No, the one right next door!"

"..what happened to the other people that lived there?"

"No idea."

"So, Hannah, why're you here?"

"My mom wanted me to get to know the kids on this block, and it seems you're actually the only one."

"Huh. There's another one, too." Leah's voice almost stopped dead in its tracks. Why did she say that? Wisteria could be dead.

"Who?"

"Her name's Wisteria. She likes to hang in the forest a lot, so you won't see much of her. She's almost like a cyote."

Admitting this to herself made Leah feel better.

"She sounds fun. Why don't you go with her?"

"My mom won't allow me to."

Kenna turned to Leah as she said, 'mom'.

Hannah kept her attention on Leah as they stared at each other awkwardly for either of them to say something, anything.

"You can let her in, sweetie." Kenna finally said, and reluctantly, Leah let Hannah inside.

They sat on the couch. Leah turned on a movie, but she wasn't paying attention to it. She was observing everything around her.

The TV was on a wooden entertainment stand, with streaks of dark oak wood slicing through it like dirt trails.

The walls were painted green, with a vintage flower decoration on them. (Leah didn't like it. She thinks only old people have walls like those) and the large couch they were sitting on was beige and looped around both ends. Big enough for three cushions on the side facing directly to the TV, one cushion for the loop-arounds.

Leah knew she was being this observant because she missed you-know-who. Honestly, she wasn't sure what she felt right now.

And that was the last she could remember before she fell into sleep again.