Stratton Headley

Chapter 3

Its been a shit week. So if this sucks im sorry. Im not in a writing mood, yet im being forced.

Penelope sat on my kitchen floor, playing on her phone. I didn't bother to ask what she was doing, since I was almost positive it was boy band related. I was cooking, like I do everyday. It's supposed to be my only chore in the house, but in reality, I do everything. Quinn likes to say my food is horrible, but he's not fooling anyone when he goes back for seconds.

I was just about to take the lasagne out of the oven, when I heard the door open.

"Hello?" I called. The only answer I got was the door closing. I started to worry.

"Probably the wind," Nell said, not looking up from her phone.

I didn't buy it. I grabbed the knife I was using -- just in case -- and walked slowly into the living room. I looked around and saw nothing out of place. I was about to forget about it, when I heard something upstairs. By this time, Penelope was standing behind me, cowering. She looked like a scared, little child, whereas I looked more like a crazy psychopath.

I heard something crash, it was coming from my parents room. Nell almost whimpered, and I scoffed at her, not taking my eyes off the closed door. Suddenly, the door knob turned, and out stepped a young man, almost twice my height with dark, shaggy hair. He turned around and I recognized him immediately. But I hadn't yet lowered the knife.

He spotted me and pressed himself against the door. "Jesus, Amelia!" He gasped, "are you trying to kill me?!"

"Elliott!" I was equally confused and happy. I quickly dropped the knife, making Nell jump, and hugged him.

"Um..." Penelope trailed off, obviously confused.

"Nell, you remember Elliott. My brother," I still couldn't contain the smile stretching it's way across my face.

Elliott's face brightened. "Little Nelly!" He smiled and I saw myself. "Holy shit, you grew up. I haven't seen you since--"

"Since you got expelled and your mom kicked you out," she rolled her eyes, "yeah, it's been awhile."

"Well," Elliott said, looking away, "I'll be going now. I just needed... well,"

We didn't need to ask. Elliott comes home once a month, usually when we aren't around, to take money from our parents. I don't blame him, I would do the same. Our parents are, well, unsavory people, to say the least. Elliott had been living a few towns over, so I hadn't seen him in almost a year.
He walked past and patted Penelope on the head. "See you later, Nelly."